River Kwai

29.7.04 00:35 link

ISAN The last few days you couldnot reach me because I went to "ISAN" this is the northeast part of Thailand where you only have small farms and little villages. Most people have own farms and grow rice, sweet corn and spices. Some farmers have chosen the right strategie and have the latest models pick up trucks. Others just work on the land all their lives and are happy if they can affort their children to go to high school..... This last group is the largest group of people living in the Isan area.  I stayd in a village without telephone, internet and where your mobile phone doesnot work... Yes these places still exist in the world. I took the bus back to Bankok and flew from Bankok to Udon Thani, This is the major city from this area. On the map it looked pretty big, but the airport is small. My airplain was the only airplain on the airport. You see little tourists here. I stayed in Udon Thaini for 2 days to look around, see the thai silk vendors (one of the things where Isan is famous for) and have some Thai barbeques, wat you can eat everywhere in Isan. Last year I already met some people from this area and they had invited me to stay at their home in a small village. Of course I couldnot resist this offer. So they asked some friends of them to come pick me up with their truck. 6 people in a king cab truck.. because the familie wanted to come too... Anyway, fist they took me to the Mekong River, This is the most important river for Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It runs though all the countries and is the supply for fish and water in most areas around the river. Here we had Mekong River fish at the border with Laos. We looked at the bridge over the river, with is the one of the most important connection routes between Laos and Thailand. We saw many oiltrucks passing the bridge and they told me proud that Laos uses Thai gasoline. After this we went to some markets to buy food for a few days and went on to their village. Here in Thailand you have to drive on the left side of the road. If you go outside the mainroutes and you go to littel farm villages like this... you just have to try to avoid all the holes in the road. I don't know what is wors, paved roades with holes or unpaved roades... with the lastone you know you have to be carefull, with the fist one you think it is ok, but they have sometimes the biggest holes... Especcially the last hour, the roads were very bad. They lived in Koknok, the last village on the sandy road.  The family I stayd had 2 houses on their terrain. One old one and one new one not finished.... the man that build houses where now building another house... If the new one is finished, they will take the other one away. When it will be finished... they don't know.... I can tell you so much about the two days there.. it is so strange being their as the only Falang in this village. Their was a marriage in the village, we passed by walking the roads and than you have to come in and drink and talk... If you do not do that it means bad luck for the couple... so I had some thai wiskey 9.00 o'clock in the morning... Not so stange for them because most of them were already completely drunk.... Everybody wants to be friends with the Falang so they came to me, shaked hands, wanted to drink with me... dangerous... I wanted to see their farm so didn't stay too long. I also met the teacher from the local school. He is the only teacher and has to teach the children everything including english... So I hoped to have found somebody where I could speak with about everything.... forget it... now I see it is hopeless for the children... his english is wors than most 13 year old people in holland... I think he knows that too, because one of the first things he asked was how long I would stay and if I could do the enlish class for him... than the children could here how you should pronounce the words. Unfortunately I stayd there too short to help him... mabey next time... Last night I took the nightbus back to Bankok and have just picked up my ticket to fly to Hanoi (Vietnam) on monday. I am gonna mis Thailand....

25.6.04 06:29 link

Food Food is so important in Thailand. You can just eat here all day and night long. Everywhere with great quality and taste. Sometimes we Falang can be a little scared seeing the meat and fish at the small markets with all the flies. Sometimes the little foodstalls on the road also have many flies.. but I still feel good and have not been sick one day....(let's keep it that way) Thai food for breakfast.. nice.. rice, spicy "isan" food... hmmmm delicious.. that happens when you stay with locals... I forget to tell you that I had also tasted some more insects... I like the small grasshoppers, they are ok but the bigger ones, the kakroaches and the worms... I don't like... but of course I like to try everything and so had one of each.... shall I take some with me for you....??!! Fruit stays the best when you can get them from the trees yourself... I don't know all the names, but some very nice, some not... I think I have not have so much variation in fruits in my life before. Climing in the tree would be the best but.. I got my own coconut just by using a long bamboe stick.. pretty tiering with the heat but it works... and the coconut was delicious

25.6.04 05:59 link

Kanchanaburi Many off you will know that this place is famous for the " bridge over river Kwai". Some of you know that the father of my mother has sent to work on the railway during the second worldwar and that he never returned from here. This makes it a very special place for me. In the day's I've been here I've visited several musea. The pictures, the stories and the atmosfere is special for everybody but for me it sometimes really felt sad. Nevertheless I feel really happy to be here to and understand more of the horrible things that has happenend here during WO II. It noticed me that there were many Japanese tourist visiting the bridge and the musea. Of course you can also recognise the Dutch families with an Indonesian relative. Yesterday I took the train in the direction of Myanmar to the endstation of the railway. At the beginning you see many corn and sugar, after half an hour you really enter a different area with mountains and forest everywhere. I stayed the night in Namtok and today took the bus back to Kanchanaburi. The trainride to Namtok was very beatifull and really worth it. Especially when you know that it is a trainride for 2,5 hours for 17 bath (around 0,40 euro). I took the afternoon train, 16.30 hours and it was packed with young children who had gone to school in Kanchanaburi and went back home to some smaller villages around Kanchanaburi. I was glad to see the train didn't only have a function for tourism. I was one of the 3 falang people on the train... Tomorrow I will travel on to a new place.. I will keep you updated

19.6.04 10:16 link

Food I just wanted to remind you all that the food here is so good.... Everyday I am amaized by the quality and the taste of the food. Almost everything I eat here is fresh prepared.. Vegetables, prawns, crab, fish... delicious and the prices... sometimes around 1 euro for a plate full.... Here in Kanchanaburi I have found a modern look restaurant for Thai people, I don't know where all the Falang people eat, but for some reason not here.. I don't get it, the food is nice, you have live thai music, it is a great place to go to.. Wine is hard to get, I've already tried some Thai wine but I can give you the advice " do not try yourself!!!!" This is really horrible so just stick to Singa Beer (Or Heineken for all the Dutch people) or Thai Wiskey than you are fine here.

19.6.04 10:00 link

no more islands I've got again a lot to tell, but I'm feeling a little bit hungry so won't tell you all now, mabey tomorrow... All the e-mails I got from you all took to long to read and answer. For now I just wanted to thank everybody for the nice calls/tekst messages/e-mails I've got for my birhtday. That really made me feel a birthday boy in Thailand. A short update: Yesterday I travelled by bus from Ko Chang to Bankok and from Bankok to Kanchanburi where I want to stay for a few days. My birthday was turned into a travelday, but off course I treated myself on a very nice meal in the evening and a nice hut with a beatifull view over the river Kwai. The days at Ko Chang were very rainy and after 2 days I had seen the island and wanted to leave again. One day I've rented a car with someone I met there to see the island and the other day I had some sun in the morning to go for a swim in the waves. Here at Kanchanburi it is dry and not too hot, so great to see some historical sites and some nature.

17.6.04 16:48 link

Island hopping Hmmm, during my stay I've been to Sentosa (singapore), Penang, Lankawi, Ko Samui, Ko Samet and yesterday arrived at Ko Chang.... What can I say... I just love islands... Ko Chang is much bigger than Ko Samet and Chang stands for Elefant because Thai think it is so big and it has high mountains too.. just for your information. this is really a tropical island with mountains, waterfalls, rainforest and everything you expect from the tropics. It is rainy all year round except november and december and these months are high seison. The past days I've travelled in minibusses and ferries which is an experience of its own.. The minibusdriver was an expert in aquaplaning... he never lost speed, he always stayd in control even in the most difficult situations in tropical rainfall he just continued his journey.. but.. I survived..! The ferry to Ko Chang was an adventure too.. It was raining and there was a nice wind for windsurfing...They packed the small wooden ferry so full with people that after we departed from the harbor he started to slow his speed and after a wile it was clear that the driver wanted to have some people move from the front to the back because otherwise the waves would come into the boat... After an hour I arrived on the island... soacking but safe.... Because of the rain I deceided to take a more luxerouse hut now... with airco, warm water and a nice bed...hmm much better that Ko Samet.. At Ko Samet I spent my days swimming, walking from beach to beach and eating... Here at Ko Chang is more to see, so hopefully I can share you all some nice stories in a few days. I think I will stay here for 2 or 3 days. Enjoy life, wherever you are....

14.6.04 07:26 link

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