当我们同在一起

The modes of transport are very interesting in Thailand. So, thought of dedicating a blog to the transportation "thots" I have for the trip.  Sometimes, I do wish that we could travel by river boats to our place of destination. As a backpacker, bicycle is a usual mode of transport.  We rented our bicycles in Sukothai and the rates were very reasonable and the bikes were quite hardy for the rough and dirt tracks that we planned to travel Xp.  Well, I love to cycle around the ruins and I could not imagine how one can walk around in the big complex on foot.  It was important to secure our bikes together at each historical spot - Bikes locked together while we walked and snapped our pictures together.

当我们同在一起, 脚车也扣在一起.

We spotted an interesting tuk-tuk plate no in Sukothai. I wondered whether all the tuk-tuks in Old City have the same plate no. or the "No1" tuk-tuk was really the Number 1.  I thought it would be interesting to shoot a photo with this "No1" - and hence we consumed a few bytes with this "No1" tuk-tuk. Business for this No1 wasnt No1 though - as most of the visitors were on their own wheels.

当我们同在一起, old city也变new了.

Songtheaw is more common in ChiangMai. We got to share the Songtheaw with other passengers who happened to travel along the way. Bargaining was a challenge especially if you encountered older driver. We tend to support them since they were still working so hard at older age.  The driver who we hired was relatively old too, but he was a nice grandfatherly-look guy. He went extra miles by asking us to alight half way to take pictures of ChiangMai town from the mountain. He explained using thai and hand languages which we managed to understand that there would be heavy fog up the mountain which we might end up not able to get the bird-eye-view of the town. 
I didnt like to stick to timings or fixed schedules when travelling and taking my DSLR. My dear reminded me to be punctual and so we guai guai sticked to the timings that we agreed with Uncle Songtheaw. Xp. Actually, my dear is more kind than me.

当我们同在一起, 我们都可以更上一层楼.

Train is our fav this round too. Very clean and comforty - it has enuff leg room too. A funny encounter was that we were trying to figure out how to dis-assemble the tables/ceilings to transform them into beds for both of us.  I got stuck with trying to transform the tables/chairs into beds - have to give up and observe how others do it. Well, in the end, we realised that we needed a particular screwdriver to unlock the catch and transform into upper and lower beds for resting. So funny.

当我们同在一起, 一起 malu也没关系.

Like the river boat alot. It is one of the best way of seeing Thailand without trapped in the heavy traffic and heavy fumes. U get to mingle around with locals and it is a relatively cheap transport. No traffic lights, just whistles here and there to signal each new stop.  On top of that, the sun, the sky and the river....

I didnt remember when was the last boat back to Saphan Taksin which we could catch the BTS back.  So, we tried our luck waiting for the boat at 1900hrs++. Earlier we had our ChangBeer and Onion Rings. We saw some locals still waiting for boat so we assumed there would still be a boat back.  The river traffic really dies down after 6plus in the evening. Not much motor engines, whistles and noise. Chao Phraya River was serene and quiet - very different from the morning peaks.  Of cos, we got into a boat - lesser people - but still similar speed.  Hee, lucky still got boat which solved our issue of getting back to town.

当我们同在一起, 真快乐无比.

泰国食物篇

好想带你去走走...

I have been to Thailand for many times - every time I chanced upon yummy local Thai food, I wanted to share with my loved ones. I recalled calling my parents with excitement about nice local food. Of cos, it would be ideal if I could share the food with my loved ones.  I love thai food. Actually, I am a "chilli" or "spicy food"-lover. I do not eat "hot food" in Singapore cos they are not as "hot" as in Thailand. My dear can eat spicy food too. And I have planned our "food itinerary" way before we started our backpack.

Thailand local markets are very colourful. I remembered I last visited similar colourful market in Kelantan. Usually, I would walk up the stairs to take plan view of the market. We visited a very old and historical wet market in Chiang Mai. Never been there before during my last trip with my buddies. The walk to the market was a little bit difficult only cos the map we have was not drawn to scale. Food and goodies of many varieties were sold there. We saw a group of visitors learning from the food vendor on "how-to-cook" recipe. Hee, I always believe wet market is best visited early in the morning 6 o'clock but it's hard to wake up early in the morning 6 o'clock. Hmm...next time must really try and see the life of wet market in the morning. Wakie wakie.... actually I m really lazy to wake up that early.

知道你爱吃甜, 很早就想买给你...要等等一下下了...
The sliced and processed fruits should be very nice too - quite appealing. We didnt buy any in Chiang Mai. However, we did purchase some processed tibits in MBK, Bangkok. If you like Mango, you can go to the BTS at National Stadium and try the samples of processed Mango there. Very nice and yummy. You'll love it.  Good thing about processed and packet fruits - you wont get to see honey bees, Xp.

I'm actually a cookies-person too. Whenever I see cookies, they remind me of my stay at my grandma's place in Circuit Road. Grandma used to buy me nice cookies at the stalls - I could not remember how much per gram liao but they tasted very nice. Plain cookies and pineapple cookies are my favourite. I remembered I loved to eat cookies in the shape of alphabets and numbers. Good old childhood days.

最喜欢跟你一起吃东西, 家常便饭都开心...

One of the best delicacies that we discovered during this Thailand trip was from Kudee Jeen.  My dear found it in the newspaper Bangkok Post and we decided to start our journey venturing into the small christian community in Bangkok. We visited the family selling this special baked biscuit - it was known as "Kanom Farang".  One sweet ingredient that we know was 冬瓜糖.  The taste of this Kanom Farang" was fantastic when it was hot from the oven! Of cos, no venture no gain. We were nearly lost in the maze finding the house and luckily two motorists provided free transport to lead us there. According to the owner, this Kanom Farang's recipe is passed down from generation to generation and not many foreigners or even locals know about it. 

Very interesting though - the owner didnt know that their shop was featured in the Bangkok Post newspaper. My dear wanted to give them the copy for souvenir as it was of no use to us. Hee, I thought of keeping it as the copy still contained other information about the "off-the-beaten" tracks of Bangkok. Well, the owner declined our offer - probably they could get a copy easily.

Backpacking is also about trying different food - especially local food. Of cos, it would be tiring and hot to walk miles and miles but I feel it's worthwhile. The journey is as important as the outcome or destination. No matter how "siong" the journey is, we will enjoy it when we walk the journey together.

[All Photos - courtesy of my dear dear]