Friday, March 12, 2010

Motocycle Diaries



You will have to forgive the typos, our internet cafe is literally being built around us and the massive cockroaches are a bit on the distracting side...

When we arrived at the kanchanaburi bus station there was a distinct lack of transortation, whihc given the hostels were miles away posed a bit of a problem. an overly enthusiastic thai lady seemed set on taking us and our hefty bags on the back of her ridiculoudsly small bike..thing. so we piled on prched withn a bum cheek each, trying to secure our backpacks which had been precouriously dangled off a stick. top jokes... arrving sheepishly nwe securd a beautifuil floating bambvoo room surrounded by waterlillies on a ri9ver.


bit shocked by the overt sex trade - young thai gilrs with gross older men. exacerbated by the vivid film rape scne shown in our hostel's restraunt...

decided to set off for the 'tiger temple' which promised cuddles with cubs and the likes. after paying roughjly 10 quid (big money out here) we realised why it wasnt in our guide book. less temple more freak show - we literally got taken around sleeping tigers one by one and instructed to sit, smile and pet. our faces in the photos capture it all.

had an insane sliding doors moment when two english guys sat down at a table next to ours at the ;'jolly frog'. for a start they were the only other gap-yearewrs we had enountered..and then it turned out we had mutual friends.. small north london world indeed. before we knew it we had arranged to join their mad six hour motocycle ride to a national park - our dremas of tigers in the wild reinvgorated. After trying our hands at the mopeding ourselves, and failing to inspire any confidence whatso ever in anyone, we settled ith the bus, bit less glamerous but guarenteed the saferty of all our limbs. after a 5.30 start we used no less than 5 motobike rides, 3 buses and 1 minivan. aftre having lunch at an incrediabaly hospitable thai restratunt where all forms of communication consisted of crude pointing and gesturing, we suddenly realised that we couldnt contatc the boys and had no idea if they a) arrived, b) left and c) survived. Furhermore despite venturing to Thailands biggest and least touristy national park we had failed to make a meeting point/ time. things werent looking fntastic. speshly when we found out there was only one bus daily to the national park and we had already missed it. after inquiring in a phone shop, a lovelky thai family when incredibaly out of their way to organise a man with a van to take us there at bus rates. Miraculouls;y got word from the boys en route, who picked us up on their bikes. ironically after a compleytely unharmed six hour ride on the thai motoways, within the first 5 minuhtes D and George found themselves on the underside of their motobike. ( no hard feelings G - thanks to a nifty bit of skid control both survived unscathed).


the next day set off enthusiastcaly early with visions of tigers, elephants monkeys and the like...we should have headed the incredulous expressions of the thai people at the 'tourist centre' moer like most-unhelpful-place on earth. after a coUuple of hours blindly motoring around we had succedded in onlyu emptying the tank. it was amazingly unsignposted so resorted to undignified tiger motions to bemused locals. eventually we arrived. a little perturbed by the men with massive guns and ominous looking army tower - turned out we'd stumbled upon the thai special opertaions training facility. backtracked and aftre several more unpromising roads headed bakc to the visitors centre. it now became apparent that the only way to get to the park was by ordering a car at quite a hefty amount. cue our next form of transport. we piled into the back of the pickup track and began our bumpy ride to the elusive checkpoint.





aftre a further ride we ahd arrived at the park - devoid of both tourists and guides. sightings of exoti jungle animals fizzled away - though to be honest, unarmed and on foot, the idea had become unappealing anyway. so aftre a couplke hours on the 'nature trail' we had succedded in seeing some distant monkeys, a coup[le of butterflies, a mushroom and some tadpole like fish ...the only evidenc of larger creatres were the taunting piles of shit whic we decided were clearly left by tigers, elephants and further exotic animals...

after a while we abandoned ship and ventured back to our chalets. had a great nght with the 'thong hong' thai whisky. Money lost, miles travelled, two friends gained. had a great time.



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