Category Archives: Epic Journey 2

A boutique hostel

Most of the hostels I have been to are just a basic place to sleep and hang out in (sometimes it is just the first part). Design is an afterthought, if present at all. Not that it really matters (a bed is a bed), but it is a pleasure to see a place designed with some aesthetics in mind. There is this hostel called Pak Up in Krabi Town, which is easily the best hostel I have ever stayed in. Not only it is super clean, has air-con, hot water and snow-white sheets, but the place has got its own unique style and character. It is like a modern art gallery designed by contemporary Danish artists. Designer lamps, lounge cushions, grey concrete, chrome and dark massive wood. Minimal, stylish and chic – just as I like. Every dorm has own its own school class related theme. Each bed in the Math dorm is square root of a number. The Music dorm names beds after different genres (mine was Ambient) and so on. At some point I had a choice between a dorm in Pak-Up for 200 baht and a really basic single room in a no-name place for 100 baht. I went for the former. Yes, it is that good.

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Breakfast drama

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A peaceful quiet morning in Pai, I am having a stuffed veggie omelette for breakfast. A hang-around dog is peacefully sleeping next to me. A cheeky cat walks nearby, recognizes me as a cat-friendly person, changes its direction and without further ado jumps on the table to have some of my omelette. I like cats, but not as much as to allow them to eat from my plate. The cat is firmly removed from the table and a piece of omelette is thrown on the floor. Now the dog wakes up to life, sees the injustice and starts barking at the cat. The cat stops eating, looks at the dog and freaks out a bit. Another dog hears the bark, approaches us and sits near the cat. This is a little bit too much for the cat. The cat gets into aggressive mode, gets her hair stood end and tail fluffed, starts spitting and clearly shows that the food is hers. One dog barking, the cat freaking out and another dog just sitting nearby just if it minds its own business. All accompanied by the peaceful Pai atmosphere. This drama goes on for some time, but eventually the second dog leaves and the first dog stops its bark. The cat finishes the omelette and without showing signs of gratitude leaves the crime scene. The first dog gets to lick the plate and then goes back to sleep. Peace is restored.

On Chiang Mai

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Chiang Mai is not that exciting after all. Positioned as one the most thrilling places in Thailand, Chiang Mai is just like a mini-version of Bangkok but without all that energy. The city itself is rather bleak and despite its rich history there is nothing much to see. There are a bunch of ancient temples, but once you see one, you have seen them all (with a rare exception). On the other hand Chiang Mai is not about seeing places, but rather doing things. There are plenty of activities to do in and around the city, but unfortunately most of them are aimed at extracting money from tourists. You can choose between a cooking school course ✓, a Thai massage course ✓, zip lining either at Jungle Flight ✓ or The Flight of the Gibbon, jungle trekking, a bungie jump, rock climbing, excursions to nearby sights and a bunch of other things. Other than that, it is all about eating, drinking and shopping. Celebrating St. Patrik’s Day in an Irish bar was an interesting experience. The place full of Irish all wearing green, drinking like there is no tomorrow and singing traditional Irish songs. Almost made me forget that I was still in Thailand.

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I thoroughly enjoyed cooking and massage courses, now the only thing needed to keep memory fresh is a lot of practice. Jungle Flight, zip lining through the jungle, was rather unexciting and not too mention expensivish and overhyped. First couple of rides were enjoyable, but after that it was all along “been there, done that” lines. There is a similar thing in Laos, Gibbon Experience, which I had tentatively planned to do first. The difference is the price is considerable higher(more than 200€ for three days), it lasts several days and you spend all that time up in the trees. Certainly not this time. As for shopping, Chiang Mai is known as the city for fashion in Thailand with plenty of things designed locally. Plus Northern Thailand is considerably cheaper than southern parts. One of my peak experiences in Chiang Mai was Sunday Market. On Sundays they close one of the streets for traffic and turn it into a night market extravaganza. Instead of buying things, I went for some photoshopping (in a literal way). As the result, I saved money and backpack space and snapped some decent shoots. I enjoy markets mostly for the food experience, as you get a chance to taste something different without going into the pricey gourmet territory. Small and cheap portions allow to taste several meals too. Plus things like fried grasshoppers, cicadas and silkworms are always a bonus. Oily, salty and crunchy just like chips.

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I spent five (or six?) days in Chiang Mai. It rained on the first two and got bitten by a dog right in the beginning, which might explain my non-excitement about Chiang Mai. Things got more on a bright side, though. Met cool people from different countries and finally rendezvoused with Noora ja Ilmari after half a year of traveling around same parts of Asia. Michael and Saara arrived too, fresh from Finland. On my last day I met Data, a traveller from Georgia. Data is the real name, it is Georgian Georgia, not the American one and he was from vipassana.He guided me through a hitchhike ride to Pai. It took three and half hours and three cars. Saved 150 baht saved and made new acquaintances along the way. Lovely. Should do it more often.

Evolution of plans

The most common question I was asked before starting my journey was about my plans. My answer was I have no idea, I choose not to choose. I was sure about Transsib-Mongolia-China, but the rest was up in the air. Frankly I did not have any longterm plans, but I had hazy ideas. However due their haziness, I preferred not to share them with anyone and seeing that most of them have not realized I am glad I did not. The initial idea was to go everywhere – Russia, Mongolia, China, South Korea, Japan, all over South East Asia, Tibet, Nepal, India, Middle East, Eastern Europe and so on. Eight-nine months is such a long time after all provided I wanted to go back before summer. Upon arrival to China in November, I realized that going to South Korea and Japan was not feasible due time and money constraints. After Hong Kong, I became glad I did not go to Japan, as Hong Kong’s high price level was painful enough after a month in China. I can only imagine what Japan would feel like.

After South Korea and Japan fell out of the picture, the idea was to do South East Asia, then go back to China and continue to Nepal and India via Tibet. And then to go back home somehow by land in the beginning of June just in time to attend a wedding and a birthday bonanza. The next few realizations were that a) Tibet is not a pleasant nor easy place to visit due all the government restrictions b) I got my dose of India in Malaysia c) I have not got simply enough time for India. India is way too massive to be crammed in such a short period of time. So India, Nepal and Tibet are out as well.

The next idea was born around January and involved to go from Singapore to Helsinki by land via China, Kazakhstan, other Stans and Russia. A beautiful idea in itself: Helsinki – Hong Kong by land on my way to East and Singapore – Helsinki by land on my way back. But the devil was in details. I still had a second entry Chinese visa still at that point, but I slowly came to realization that I would not make it to China before the deadline of the visa in March. What I did not take into account is that I had spent way too much time on Thailand’s beaches (no regrets whatsoever) and had little desire to go to Kazakhstan after the easy-going life of a beach-bum. You do countries like Kazakhstan before coming to Thailand not vice versa. Plus time constraints again, two and half months is just such a short period of time for all those countries. During my last visit in Bangkok, I made one more cut to my travel agenda: no China, no Stans, no going home by land. Just South-East Asia for the rest of the journey and flying back home just in time before summer festivities. That settled my return plans and I am flying home out of Bangkok via Berlin on 2nd of June. Ticket booked. Finnish summer here I come.

And one final touch, I met Noora and Ilmari today for the first time in six months and realized that we had booked the same flight to Helsinki. Life truly has its own bizarre way of making surprises.

The case of rabies

On my first day in Chiang Mai, I got bitten by a temple god dog wearing a muzzle (must be Khao San quality). No teasing, no provokation, it just approached me and bit me lightly on my leg, as if it was its duty. The bite was nothing serious and I was going to dismiss it, as long as it did not show signs of infections as per usual. But a quick googling revealed that dog bites are not something to be taken lightly and the reason is rabies. Rabies is a virus with a 100% fatal outcome if left untreated and the thing is that it is symptomless until it is too late. Once symptoms manifest themselves, you will most likely die. Simple as that. According to wikipedia, some of the symptoms include hydrophobia and aerophobia. Now it would be interesting to see what a fear of air feels like, but given a fatal outcome I would rather not. So a small bite, which is hardly visible at all resulted in a trip to a hospital and a course of five vaccinations over one month.

Some comments about Thai medical services are in order. The service is quick, professional and efficient. They speak decent English too. Medical services are rather inexpensive – around 200 baht for a doctor consultation and another 200 baht for the nurse services (taking blood pressure and temperature, performing an injection etc). In contrast the price of one VeroRab vaccination is 635 baht. No Thailand discount on this front unfortunately, thanks to the global pharmaceutical cartel.