Tales of Northern Thailand..

After being in the wilderness of the little village of Bansai, where we did our HelpX volunteering, we got a night bus to Lampang, which was a lovely and laid back little town (although the third largest town in Northern Thailand) just 100km south of Chiang mai. 

Lampang is also called "mueang rot ma" in Thai, meaning "Horse Carriage City"

Elephant bath time!

Here we visited lots of local markets, some impressive temples and the thai elephant conservation center! At the elephant conservation center (TECC), we was able to get up close to the elephants, many of which had been rescued from bad treatment and neglect (Including elephant trekking centres for tourists...) and were pleased to see that TECC is actively involved in conservation and scientific research (some of which has been published!).

When we got to Chiang mai, we first spent the better part of a week doing some voluntary work in the suberbs at a dog rescue shelter called Care for dogs. The shelter primarily deals with adoptions, the after care from surgery/ sterilisation and for the rescue of dog's that have been invlved in bad cruelty cases. They also assist in controlling the population of street and temple dogs through sterilisation programmes, which involve taking the animal to the shelters to neuter and then returning the animal (if fit and healthy) back onto the streets, as many of the street and temple dogs do not make suitable pets!

The dogs enjoying a play in their sandpit :-) All the dogs were kept in one big enclosure rather than seperate kennels, which seemed to work really well- No stereotypical behaviours or constant barking!

 

Whilst volunteering at Care for dogs we got to do a wide variety of tasks...

On a typical day we would help with the feeding and poo-picking, a job that needs to be done, and then we would spend a few hours washing and bathing the dogs that needed medicinal washes (most of the dogs enjoyed their bath time too), take dogs for walks in the nearby jungle forest (watching out for the pesky mosquitos!) and just hangout with the dogs and spend some quality time with them :-)

Bath time for Grayson, in prepartion for the adoption fare!

Puppy cuddle time :-)

Very sweaty, midday walkies in the forest!

Currently, there are around 100 dogs at the care for dogs site, so spending some time interacting with the dogs just patting and talking to them, showed them that not all humans are bad- which was an important task, especially since many of the dogs on the site come in as cruelty cases. 

Not your typical "Handsome" dog, but his nice nature has found him a home in Switzerland!

The care for dogs adoption fare @ Chiang Mai airport

This little pup found a home at the adoption fare

We also would routinely spend the end of our each day in the young dog and puppy area, where we would socialise and play with the puppys and teenegae dogs! It was in here, during our afternoon visit to the puppy and teenage enclosure that we fell in love with a young, white male dog who the centre have named Polo. He was a very shy dog, who would often watch us playing and cuddling the other puppies from a distance. Day by day he would come closer and sniff at us or lick our arm until our last few days at the shelter he would allow us to touch him, pick him up and play with him too! It felt really good to create this bond and teach the young dog that not all humans are bad. We really enjoyed our short time volunteering at care for dogs :-)

Bonding with the white male dog

Adopt me, please??

 

After volunteering at CfD, we stayed in a traditional thai wooden teak guesthouse, Chok Dee, near the popular Somphet market in Chiang Mai. We were also pleased to find where the locals ate, where we had some very tasty food (tom yam soup, spicy papaya salad and some super fruit smoothies!).

The ancient moat which surrounds the old city of Chiang Mai

Temple touristing around Chiang Mai

Awaiting the 15 hour train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok!

We took the night train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, which should take around 15 hours, but it took just over 17! 

This time we decided to book the 2^nd class sleeper, so we was at least able to get some rest in preparation for Bangkok and we experienced some really great views leaving Chaing Mai as the train headed up into the mountains!

2nd class sleeper train to Bangkok- seats that transform into bunkbeds!

Views of Northern Thailand from the train...

We have spent our last couple nights in Bangkok, staying clear of khoasan (tourist capital!) road and just exploring by foot the sweaty and bustling capital of Thailand!

Busy Bangkok!

Assisting with some food preparations at a food stall in Bangkok...

We ended up in the middle of the June 2012, thai "red shirts" democrazy rally in Bangkok...

Which brings us to today, the day we leave, the day we have been hoping wouldn’t come around so quickly after 222 days of travelling! 

Today is the day that we pack up, and instead of heading to the next guesthouse, or the next town or even country, we instead pack up and go home! From our arrival in Mombasa, Kenya, just 32 weeks ago and  to our departure from Bangkok, Thailand in just a few hours time...we have have experienced alot from start to finish and now possess so many memories!

"I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen..."

Tales of Southern Thailand...

It has been 4 and abit weeks since we arrived in Satun (A province located in the far, far south of Thailand) by ferry from Langkawi!

Our 1st Songthaew (thai for two rows) taxi of Thailand!

We was then supposed to be transferred onto a V.I.P, air conditioned bus, which would take us straight to our first Thai destination of, Krabi! But instead we was told we had to wait a further 2 hours for a different bus... which was an old, rickety, uncomfortable and extremely sweaty karaoke bus which took twice the amount of time to reach Krabi as we had hoped. -we got there in the end! 5 hours late...

The Karaoke bus which replaced our V.I.P bus...

Welcome to Krabi...

We stayed in Krabi a total of 3 days... It was a nice city by the sea, surrounded by lots of islands (A total of 154 Islands in the Krabi province!) such as Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lanta Islands. 
Krabi also had lots of local food markets, selling all sorts of local cuisine from the popular and tourist friendly Pad Thai, to fried bugs, pig innards, sausages made from unknown meats and spicy curries! Aswell as the neverending choices of stalls to eat at there was the beautiful Central temple of Krabi, Wat Sai Thai, which also doubles up as the tsunami safety zone aswell as a local gathering point for buddhist events and weddings!

Krabi city river

Super spicy special breakfast in Krabi!

Wat Sai Thai Temple and the storm clouds behind...

Taking shelter at the temple whilst it rained for a good hour!

The weather was a little miserable during our time in Krabi and we wanted to visit another island! Due to us being in Thailand during the low season (May to september/october), pretty much everything is half price! As there is not as many tourists as usual, we chose to visit Koh lanta Island (compared to phi phi where it is busy year round more or less...perhaps due to that old leo dicap’ film called the beach?)

The Swedish loving Island of Koh Lanta!

We arrived in ko lanta to some lovely weather :-) but, unfortunately, it didn’t last long! Actually, it lasted nearly 2 and a half hours! 4 days of rain and powercuts were to follow!! but this didn’t stop us from exploring... we managed to see the old town, took some of LAW's (Lanta animal welfare) rescued street doggys for a wet and windy stroll on the beach, explored the country by scooter, visited some more beaches...which would be lovely if the sky wasn’t grey and the waves about 4ft high!

Dog walkies on the beach, Koh Lanta

The Lanta Animal Welfare dogs taking Max for a walk :)

A glorious day at the beach, Koh Lanta!

After 4 days in ko lanta we headed North-east (Via Bangkok) to Buriram province, where we would start our final HelpXing volunteering of our travels! After a 15 hour train ride, and then a 6 hour bus ride we arrived in the town of prakhonchai (In Buriram province), got caught in a terrential rain shower and took shelter in a machanics garage! The owner of the garage didn't speak any english, but through our limited knowledge of thai and google translate we managed to get a free lift to a nearby guesthouse :-)

About to board the 15 hour train from Trang (3 hours east of Koh Lanta) to Bangkok!

Trang to BKK, then onward to Prakhonchai!

During our HelpX stay we lived with a Canadian guy and his thai wife and daughter on a kind of eco friendly, organic, rice paddy farm in a small village called, Ban sai. Here we slept on the floor in a shed, ate lots of their homegrown rice, planted trees, fruit and veg, discovered the tasty jackfruit and also spent a few days teaching English in one of the top schools in Thailand! It was a nice, professional school and the classes which we assisted with were children mainly from age 7 to 11! It was really fun and a totally different experience to the voluntary work we have done so far! -the children would call us Miss Abi (Mhiz Ah-beee) and Mr Max (Mhist-are Mhaaks)!

Max, and the other volunteer, Jetty, taking a rest from the sweaty work in the fields!

The HelpX host's swimming pool that didn't contain any chemicals, just lot's of algae!

One of the pups at the farm :-)

Whilst living in the little village of Ban sai, we also joined in with a festival, celebrating one of the local men in the village becoming a monk! It was a big celebration, that went on for 3 days solid! On the last day we happened to be going into the village for a much needed drink of ice tea and got roped into dancing around the village with the locals, followed by a lorry with a band on it and lots of old men offering out whisky and throwing iced water- random but fun experience, and I was given an original farmers hat made from bamboo!

Volunteers day visit to Prasat Hin Khao Phanom Rung temple in Prakhonchai

The Bansai village's local buddhist temple

After finishing our weeks HelpX volunteering with the family/ school in Prakhonchai we made our way to northern thailand... first stop, Lampang- the only town in Thailand where horse drawn carriages are used as public transport!

111 days since we left, 111 days to go...

We have now been in Australia for 1 month now, and Abi has only been called a pommie once! Also Sunday 18^th March pinpointed the midway point of our trip. We can’t believe that we are already halfway through our travels!

Warnbro Beach, North of Perth

The Black Swan of Swan River, Perth

10 days into our stay in Perth we left the city and relocated to a more rural setting, up in the hills of Mt Helena. Here we are not surrounded by high rise buildings and shops, but lots of bushland, big trees, local grocery stalls and tavernas...it was like stepping back in time, and the area has a real charm to it. It is like what we imagined outback Australia to be; it’s not often you spot kangaroos, an emu and bandicoots on the way to the corner shop!

Late afternoon in one of the paddocks

Mundaring reservior which supplies the water to Kalgoorlie

In Mt Helena we have been helping out at a Australian warmblood stud which is owned by A Danish lady. We found this place through a site called HelpX, where basically you sign up to do voluntary work and homestays with a family or business in return for food and board. It is a really good idea, and a great way to experience a different side to the country you are visiting as well as meeting new people and gain new skills (HelpX is worldwide so you can apply for work in almost any country!).

Having an afternoon rest 'n' roll

Two of the resident Alpacas at the stud!

Middays can get very hot and dry up here in the hills, as well as very dusty too! So we are up at 6.30am each day in order to get most of the horse related work done before it gets too hot- lots of poo picking, feeding, grooming, handling, exercising and training! There are 20 horses here at present, which is made up of a mixture of yearlings, foals and brood mares...so as you can imagine there is alot of horses to feed and subsequently alot of poo to collect (luckily we have a trailer pulled by a quad bike to help with that!).

Some 6:30AM poop picking in the paddocks!

Max and the poop collecting quad!

During our stay here at the stud we have fallen in love with a thoroughbred horse called Beauty, she is about 4 years old and is an ex racehorse from Perth. Together we have been working on re-schooling her, which has involved taking her back to basics and lots of lunging, free schooling and riding in the round yard. Her previous racing trainers decided she wouldn’t make a desirable race horse as she wasn’t up to speed! She is a great horse though, with a lovely temperament, so we are working on making her a suitable riding horse for a prospective buyer...fingers crossed! 

Lunging Beauty the thoroughbred horse at the stud

Also whilst at they stud we have had the opportunity to visit other breeders of Australian warmbloods, aswell as attend a lecture on Veterinary dentistry where we discovered the ins and outs of horses teeth which was really interesting as it was something we didn’t go into detail with whilst studying at uni.

So we leave Perth the first Monday of April to head down to Victoria where we will be staying in Melbourne! We’ve been told that it might not be as hot as sunny in comparison to Perth though, so maybe a coat may need to be purchased?! We also need advice on places to go and visit whilst in Melbourne, as we will have a week being a tourist before embarking on our some more HelpX homestays, including a Dutch family and lots of animals :-)

Watch out! Roo crossing!