The next day I have been discovering the city by foot which wasn't as easy as expected because I had the worst map I've ever used.
I started with a visit in the national mosque. To get in there I had to wear long purple robes and take off my shoes.
Here I discovered my new style but actually it is really nice just to walk along there and have a look.
I made my way past a lot of colonial buildings and at every corner the was a next temple, church or mosque.
Everywhere in the city you are being reminded that you are in a rainforest because there are a lot of them and you hear the noises they make. There are even monkeys walking around and I have seen the Hangover monkey tho it was in KL instead of Bangkok.
The next day I joined a tour because it was cheap and it took me to some places I wanted to see and couldn't get there by train.
After that we went to the new palace of the King. The country is quite not rich but they spend 100 billion dollar for a new palace...good work Malaysia...
We went to the Buta Caves with its massive golden statue and later on to a massive Chinese temple where I found out that I was born in the year of the rooster...not the most spectacular animal but at least it tastes pretty nice!
To finish that great day I went to the Patronas Towers at night!
Aaand of course the KL-Tower!
I met some cool people on the tour so at the evening we went out together and I probably had my worst hangover the next morning.
It was 30C° and humid as anything. I had to check out before 12 and get my bus to Penang. Not a nice morning but it eventually got better and I was fully recovered after some sleep in the bus.
Penang is quite small but even here you have new temples at every corner and I just wondered for whom they are built because it really wasn't that big there...
I met some Dutch guys and we went out for some drinks and pool that evening.
After a day Penang I made my long journey to Koh Tao where I was going to meet up with Luke.
Before I left Australia I burned my arm pretty hard in Perth and I met a French nurse who wanted to see the wound because she thought it was bandaged in the wrong way. Well it was good to let her have a look because she was right and the wound was already infected. She cleaned the wound and bandaged it new and in a proper way but from now on I had to attend to the doctor evey day to get it cleaned and freshly bandaged.
This shows again that you always meet the right people during your journey.
So I spent the first couple of days in Koh Tao just chilling and letting my wound heal a bit before I start diving.
Having some drinks at the beach and playing pool with Luke and beach parties in the evenings. Not too bad at all and my arm seemed to heal pretty well.
So after a couple of days I could finally go diving and had two fun dives at the first day with Luke as my buddy. Here we dived through a cave which was a new experience for me.
On the second day I had two dives to finish my Advanced Adventure diver. Again a deep dive and the second dive was a wreck dive in a second world war ship. Pretty cool!
After the dives and almost a week on Koh Tao it was eventually time to leave. I was going to Chiang Mai and Luke headed towards Cambodia so again after only a week a good bye. We went together to Bangkok and there we had to part. Fare well ginger boy!
So yeah after a smooth flight I was in northern Thailand - in Chiang Mai! (Awesome!)
First of all you will see this guy where ever you are in Thailand: the king.
Also as I am an open minded person I quickly made new friends in Chiang Mai.
A very old and cultural city with -again- temples everywhere!
Not having had a massage in Thailand yet I of course had to try one but where to go best? Why not into a woman's prison to get a massage by prisoners? Best idea ever!
The next day I went to play with big cats - also called tigers!
Good fun and really impressive animals!
And the tiger whisperer strikes again!
The next day I went on a "safari".
I could ride an elephant for an hour but only with a guide and not myself how I naively believed...but still good.
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That was followed by an elephant show where they even did paintings...and not even bad ones...my brother probably couldn't paint better.
After lunch we have been riding an ox cart for some time to a rover where we rafted down the river on a bamboo float for a long time.
Last but not least the safari brought me to a Karen village which is a hill tribe with very very long necks!
During my stay in Chiang Mai I stayed in the Baan Khun Hostel. Usually I do not advertise anything in my blog but this hostel is just incredibly awesome. It is quite cheap and very clean. The staff is just incredible, providing you a free breakfast. At the first evening the receptionist asked me if I was hungry. I replied " Yes, why?"
-"We are going to order Pad Thai. Do you want some?"
-"Yeah sure. Thanks! "
-" Okay be here in an hour."
-" Okay. How much does it cost?"
-" It's free. I'll pay for it."
So they give you food during the day and they even drove me to the hospital to get my bandages changed. Last but not least they offered me a free lift to the airport! Incredible those people. No other hostel would care that much for you!
A couple of hours later I eventually arrived in my hostel in Bangkok. The sun was shining, it was already 39 °C in the shade and it was humid as anything! Perfect conditions to explore the city!
Nevertheless I went to see some cool stuff, get food and get my bandage changed. Last turned out to be a pretty hard thing because most hospitals wanted 500-1000 baht to do the dressing and I paid only 70 in Chiang Mai. So I walked around the city and whenever I saw I doctor I went in to ask for the price and eventually found one who did it for 100. Lucky me!
Back in the hostel in the late evening I met Stef, who I met in Koh Tao before and we were hanging out playing some pool.
The next day then I went to explore the western part of the city with him and a friendly local told us that you can use the government tuktuks that day for 20baht/hr.
Even gigantic ones...
Everything in this picture is just perfect!
He´s everywhere looking at you: the king!
And another temple...since there aint enough already...
Can´t see them often enough? Here you go with another Buddha!
Good for us! So we went around the whole city for 3 hrs and had to visit 2 shops for the driver where he gets coupons if we buy something. Since we did not buy anything he got pissed off quickly.
So after 2.5hrs driving us around he just let us out at one temple we wanted to see and while we were in the temple he drove away...
So we got the next tuktuks that proved to be a little bit more expensive bit by afternoon we have seen everything we wanted to see. Nice!
So for the evening we went to Bangkok's main party road Khao San Road!
Started with some cheap shopping and a little not later it started to get a little busy in the bars tho the curfew still kinda destroyed it...
Anyway now without being racist: Am I the only one who thinks that the Thai language sounds a little bit like crows...?
That's it with Thailand now! Off to Bali!
Photos will follow as soon as I have computer access...
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