Charlie and Steve's Excellent Adventure

June 14, 2015

Top 10 – Thailand

They’re falling like ten pins these borders, we’re crossing countries in a flash but in the hasty flight that is our south east Asian whirlwind travel gems are not lost to the void of a swirling tempest. On a recurring theme of ‘more than what you thought’ we leave Thailand and with it comes the much anticipated BitJealous top 10. I know you’ve all been screen refresh insomniacs just waiting for it, so grab a cup of tea and a bikkie, sit back and feel the endorphins rush like a junkie freshly fallen off the wagon.

Filter on “Top 5/10” to see more of our favourites listed by country we’ve been to.

10 – Chiang Mai train: Chiang Mai to Bangkok

Maybe it’s the lush Thai countryside, Maybe it’s the excitement of getting to Bangkok or possibly just having an overnight train where we’re not locked in a 1950’s racism capsule with two elderly Afrikaaner barnacles. Finally the train trip we wanted and it was all the cute, slightly dorky, highly romantic and childlike excitement that we could ever want from this grand old means of transport. Choo choo.

9 – Bangkok Ferry: Bangkok

Oddly enough, another means of transport that lives beyond its intention. In a city where transport is poor to the point of making you reluctant to go outside, the lazy boat slipping up the river as the mega-tropolis of Bangkok fades by is the tonic for the frustrated. When people visit Sydney I often say to just get a ferry around the harbour. Similarly in Bangkok, jump on a local boat up the river to catch some of the best sights of the city.

8 – Chiang Mai Coffee: Chiang Mai

Surprises come in two wrappings, good and otherwise. After bracing ourselves a month ago for a long stretch of bad coffee; or should I say, good tea, we arrived in Chiang Mai. Led by Overstand, a cafe with great food as well we tasted the delights at Ponganes and Ristr8to just to get us through what could be a lean few months ahead. Or is more of that good wrapping ahead of us?

7 – Tawan Bar: Bangkok

There’s no way to say it, no palatable way to put this into words, Bangkok has a global reputation for wild sexuality and in Tawan bar we had a front row seat to the gutter of Bangkok. Somewhere in the heady throb of racy Bangkok surely exists the sleaze, the drugs, the defeated humanity; but on our night out we saw just a place where sex isn’t a dirty word leaving us educated rather than squeamish. Maybe it’s because they have lots of spicy food but Bangkok has moved on from early last century, it’s grown up.

6 – Asia Scenic Cooking School: Chiang Mai

This might be a regular feature, cooking class in Chiang Mai set us into the taste world that is Thailand and hooked us that little bit further. Apparently in Thailand we don’t call it spicy food, we call it sexy food; no surprises, the hotter the food you eat the sexier you are. The food voyage was always going to be a big part of Thailand and at Asia Scenic we went from voyeurs to super sexy participants.

5 – Women’s prison massage: Chiang Mai

The rub with a difference. Thai massage is a no holds barred experience at the best of times and our masseurs, pardon the pun, took no prisoners; they are the prisoners. What a tip of the hat to Thai culture and progressive thought. Right in the middle of a city, just like any other massage parlour, criminality isn’t entrenched to inevitable recidivism, the inmates use their hands to give back to the world they are soon again to be part of and in doing so make a massage far more than it otherwise might have been.

4 – Wat Pho: Bangkok

Wat Pho, yes it’s another temple and of course that means it’s a big impressive thing that we wouldn’t see anywhere else. Impressive but just another temple. Except for housing the largest reclining gold buddha in the world which happens to be gold foiled. Where other temples impress they also retain a sense of humility; not Wat Pho. It’s massive, awe inspiring, endless and grand; far more than a tourist poke around.

3 – Vertigo: Bangkok

It’s not every day that Charlie turns 42; or 21, with such flawless complexion we can’t tell nowadays. As the special occasion dictates, a grand food adventure is required: I present to you Vertigo restaurant in Bangkok. Perched on the rooftop of a 60 floor hotel, Vertigo oversees Bangkok like royalty overseeing its domain granting us the princely view for our favourite royalty. This is not the type of dinner one forgets even if Charlie has forgotten what being 21 felt like.

2 – Ayuthaya: Ayuthaya

From a dinner we won’t forget to a great civilisation that many have forgotten; but shouldn’t. Ayutthaya was the grand island capital of modern day Thailand and stands today as a grand relic to take the breath away. I for one know so much more about many of histories great civilisations that stood for far less time and are far further from my own home. How is Ayuthaya so unknown outside of this surprise packet of a country?

1 – Muay Thai: Chiang Mai and Bangkok

A national sport? A brutal killing method? A touchstone to history? Cultural expression? A lifetime commitment? Muay Thai ticks all the boxes as it becomes far more than just boxing. Little can I imagine, let alone witness with my own eyes a display encompassing all of the above questions while sweet young faces turn to possessed killing machines and right back again in the passing of a set of ropes into the ring. Simple excitement crowns an awe inspiring view into fortitude, character and courage I feel I will never possess. Not an experience, it’s an inspiration, an education, an ambition.

June 13, 2015

While you were working – A Sweet Face, Bangkok, Thailand

Every cloud has a silver lining goes the saying, just as every road has a traffic jam in Bangkok, yet a hard task it is to scratch the former from the latter. An ocean of red lights twinkling as if a burning moon has rippled the surface of a world stood still turns our silver promise to blazing crimson. Our last night in Bangkok, our last night in Thailand so fittingly spent in traffic, searching for food on the way to another night of Muay Thai; three everyday obsessions of this booming city coalesce into one delicious moment of pure Bangkok. A red light twinkles off, then another; a cascade like a falling house of cards ripples our burnt moon surface as we steal a giddy few metres forward. The rush of movement uncovers our sought after silver in that fleeting wink of eclipsed fire. We’ve found the only other major city on the world with worse public transport than Sydney, the sterling collar of patriotism glints the reddened cloud.

Lumpinee Muay Thai Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok stifles and strangles, through heat and impossible transport an invisible bubble locks you to a world of convenience, attempts to at least. Through this bubble though we have soared to the heights of Vertigo restaurant and trawled the lows of gutter bars in a city that offers everything to everyone more literally than figuratively. A capital should represent its domain and in its layered diversity the themes of Thailand are captured so well in its capital that is more than what it seems; a one trick pony when viewed from the outside only.

In Chiang Mai our trip to the Muay Thai called the riches of an ancient culture from centuries past to collide with the heartbeat of a modern people with all their dignity, grace, ferocity and resolve. The captured heartbeat of a nation that was Thaphae stadium in Chiang Mai showed us an elegant collage of what this country is; stepping into the clamour of Lumpinee stadium in Bangkok that heartbeat just had the volume turned up. Gone is the uneven concrete floor, bare iron roof and dusty lights from an age ago; bright lights pump down on a stadium banked high on all sides to the roaring gesticulation of a frenzied public.

Not much excess fat on these fighters! Lumpinee Muay Thai Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand

Gone is the dim moody aura of a bar brawl setting which hosts a lesson in cultural respect and generosity, Lumpinee stadium is the big time, money and prestige are commodities that now top the list of what these temporary gods rage for. In this brightly lit world of money, power and status exists a rare treasure that so often struggles when facing those bold lights, so far from it’s favoured human habitat so full of smells, tones, shades and beating hearts. Integrity. Fighting off a hostile world so incompatible, the rare treasure still exists in congratulating a foes success, thanking an opponents corner and paying homage to your coach, the king and the crowd through the solemn dance of a ram muay. As the lights, money and fame cannot blunt the heartbeat that is Muay Thai, nor can the cheap tourism, the trashy bars and overrun beaches dent the heartbeat of a nation full of so much more resolve and depth than so many give it credit for.

A confession to myself now made aloud to the world, I knew of Thailand little more than great food, a sex industry and that beach where they made that movie: The Beach. From Ayuthaya, a great civilisation of the world to a liberated sexuality that showed to us none of the sad decline of human resignation that we expected, we have been bestowed a gift. We have been shown a glance behind the serene politeness mistaken for passivity only by the crude, shown what happens when culture and integrity can stare at the bright lights of corruption and stand their ground and own the centre of the ring.

Winners are grinners! Lumpinee Muay Thai Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand

We see young men, boys and ladies fight; fire and steel dancing in padded gloves of red and blue. These living weapons exist only in the ring, the small statured people we see all around us emerge from within the ropes, warrior gods disappear in a moments grace where aggression is halted at those four impassable ropes. Such sweet welcoming faces, we’ve mused that we possibly bought coffee from this timid little boy or asked for a bill from that sweet young girl. In the centre of that ring, like the heartbeat of their people that will not run, hide or falter; the Muay Thai fighters represent their people as their capital represents their country. See the sweet face on your side of the ropes if you will but don’t be fooled, pity ye who thinks to trample that which lies beyond which you choose to see.

June 12, 2015

While you were working – Big Wide World, Ayuthaya, Thailand

There’s times when curiosity gets the better of you, when you just have to have a look at something that you are certain contains little nutritional value. Welcome to Khao san road, Bangkok. Made so famous in Australia not just because of its bohemian original backpacker haunts and, at the time, new world sense of discovery but on the back of a bogan anthem, Khe Sanh from the band Cold Chisel. We should have known really, an inauthentic cry out to a romantic place so ironically spelled incorrectly; or is that just being authentically bogan like naming your daughter Sindee instead of Cindy just to be more individ-jewel. Fittingly the song isn’t really about Khao San road at all, it’s about Vietnam and features a returning soldier who ends up ‘returning’ to Hong Kong to seek solace in casual sex and drugs. So either Cold Chisel or the hoards of bogans that followed aren’t ace geography students; but it’s all same-same Asia at the end of the day right?

In truth it seems to me that Khao San road was once a nook of discovery to cheap-travelling bohemians carving a niche out of Bangkok to create a more palatable story for their middle class drug habits. What illustrious and culturally rich history. In recent times Khao San road became more of the option for cheap-travelling middle class bogans to create a more palatable story of their bohemian drug habits; either way it’s both trashy and indelibly stamped into Aussie consciousness. Taking the bait we tick the box to make up our own mind and have a beer on Khao San road to mixed disappointment and relief.

Cleaning the train carriages, Bangkok train station, Thailand

Winding through a few streets past food vendors from the ferry stop we turn a corner into the unusually wide street, market stalls all but obliterate any presence from the permanent stores shoved behind. A higher than usual rate of Singha and Bintang singlets flow around the famous street that booms horrific early 2000’s dance beats from bars that Cold Chisel fans would be proud of. Despite a bit of bogan revelry, Khao San road is relatively tame and genteel, not even difficult to find a nice bar and have a beer to reflect on the lingering cultural markers a street can engender. It’s low season now and this very palatable street might ramp up it’s shameful cringeworthy side come January but for now it feels like a few decades are turning full circle and the bogans who took it from the bohemians are possibly handing it back to the Thai’s. I wonder where they moved on to.

This delve into anti-culture, as fun as it is, cannot continue without serious sterilisation. That cleansing sterilisation comes in the form of Ayuthaya, a place a little north of Bangkok. On the train to Ayuthaya, my mind wanders to the ideal of great civilisations, human histories and formative peoples. Initially I think of the Greeks, Egyptians and Persians; so great with names that persist even if their cultures seem to have been changed unrecognisably. From roughly years 0-500 came the Teotihuacans and mayans in modern day Mexico, Romans and Teutonic tribes in Europe, the Han in Asia and Parthians in Persia, again not much of which is recognisable today. Years 1000-1500 saw Latin America overrun by the Aztecs and Incas, the Byzantines rose in Europe while the Yuan and Ming dynasties became prominent in Asia.

Buddhas head in fig tree roots, Wat Phrah Mahathat, Ayuthaya, Thailand

As a very scant snapshot these are the names, the famous conquerors to rule the world, that I know of and I hazard a guess I’m not alone in holding these names in prominent thought. That is until I got to Ayuthaya. From 1351-1767 Ayuthaya ruled as a kingdom from its island home in the confluence of three rivers; over 400 years until it was eventually sacked by the Burmese. We all know of Machu Picchu; it lasted less than a century. The train rattles along the Thai countryside as I feel a little embarrassed, how do I, we in Australia know so little about this great civilisation? Unlike many of the names that sprang to my mind originally, Ayuthaya’s Tai people and their foes the Burmese not only exist in name today but in similar geographical bounds retaining an alarmingly clean lineage of culture.

After travelling in Latin America on this adventure it seems to me that the Teotihuacans, Mayans, Inca’s and Aztecs have little discernible links to modern culture beyond genetic material and museum exhibits. On our typically awkward bikes we pedal through town, Ayuthaya is immediately a historical and archaeological goldmine, the modern day city sits respectfully on the edges of ruins without being afraid to live with them. I guess they’re not digs from a time gone by, they’re the relics of ancestors that aren’t so distant at all. After having a poke at world renown ruins and historical sites in Latin America I’m blown away at how Ayuthaya stacks up in terms of size, grandeur and inspiration of a culture past. In Australia we know about so many great civilisations but so little about those closest to us; and yes, I’m calling Ayuthaya a great civilisation, it can be nothing else.

Steve enjoying Wat Chaiwatthanaram , Ayuthaya, Thailand

We’re getting to know our Chedi’s from our Prangs, our Stupas from our Wots and our Wiharas from our Mondops so navigating these grand areas is slowly becoming more than a poke at old stuff. As much as we’re learning we don’t need an education to be impressed by a gold foiled buddha sitting over 12m tall damaged severely in the Burmese conquest but since repaired as reparations from modern Burma (now Myanmar). Putting old wars aside, Burma’s reparations of a famous Wat leads as an example to so many other countries in leaving old grievances where they should be, in the past. A Wat in Thailand isn’t only a temple though, it’s more of a complex like a small city in itself, the most impressive in Ayuthaya being Wat Chaiwatthanaram. Set on the river outside of the island city Wat Chaiwatthanaram makes up just a small section of this great capital but boasts possibly the most intact scope of architecture we see all day.

Centuries have donated an undulating ground full of warped swells and depressions but hasn’t taken away any of the time and place feeling that being inside these old walls imparts; we’re in ancient Ayuthaya and the Burmese are attacking. It feels a little cliche but it’s easy to have a beating heart at the thought of women and children wishing their lives to the river to reach the capital island while brave soldiers commit their lives to grant a few precious moments longer to their loved ones making a break to dangerous safety. From the riverbank a raised platform is adorned by Buddha statues leading to the imposing walls crowned by eight very intact spires with staggering detail still present. Above it all a central dome that roars to the sky with none of the fragile appearance that a structure of this age should have. We walk the ramparts past the lined Buddha statues and under the gables still standing strong sharing the grounds with robed monks that signal to us again how connected this structure is to Thailand as it stands today, not separate as a relic.

Monks also enjoying Wat Chaiwatthanaram, Ayuthaya, Thailand

The same train rattles back to Bangkok as we carry with us thoughts of one of the worlds great civilisations so forgotten. Before we travelled, the world seemed smaller, achievable; the more we see the more there is yet to see. In one days visit to Ayuthaya our human history explodes far beyond the limited borders in which we previously felt so comfortable. Thailand; a hugely popular travel destination boasts a great ancient civilisation that hasn’t passed away like so many that we idolise yet we’re still stuck on a mis-named song about an Aussie in Vietnam who goes to Hong Kong for drugs and sex. Maybe we all need to get off Khao San road and have a look at how big our world can get.

June 11, 2015

Gluttony Expedition – Hallmark Day, Bangkok, Thailand

It’s that time of year, the moment where the world stands still for the birthday that is far more than just another circle on a calendar, it’s a global celebration. We’re not talking about the birthday of Nelson Mandela, Martin Luthor King, Ghandi, Einstein, Abraham Lincoln or Buddha himself; far more importantly its the day that Charlie came into the world. In truth it’s a month festival nowadays and the day itself has passed by on the calendar but who’s counting. Just like a celebration of Jesus we have it when it suits us, not when it actually happened; although we’re not shifting the dates to squash a peskily persistent pagan festival, restaurant bookings are the determinant nowadays. We all know what a special birthday 42 is.

After a warm up celebration, which translates to food, in Chiang Mai for the festival opening ceremony the real celebration is today; no expense spared, on this trip of a lifetime there’s no physical presents making dinner the big show. The peak of the festival doesn’t however start off with a bang, Charlie is feeling every one of his 36 years after battling a stomach bug for a few days, ironically ever since the festival kicked off in Chiang Mai. He insists it’s something bad he ate but I’m not sure; I still have suspicions that he’s purging to look good for the festival closing party with Google searches for ‘Kate Moss diet plan’ on his iPad. But it’s not a time to judge as the festival of the year threatens not to hot the heights it absolutely must.

Monks getting on the ferry in Bangkok, Thailand

Rested up, the sloth of this day is swept aside in a burst of motivation for a game of rugby, the lethargy from this punishingly low calorie diet plan can’t stop the show that like a broadway musical, must go on. What an exercise in expectation management; the show does indeed go on but the stage lights are well and truly turned off. Ex-pat bars can be sad seedy places at the best of times but the Down-Under sports Bar in Bangkok really plumbs some depths as I set the bar of hopes as low as possible for the 30th of the century. Our footsteps already grace the bitumen at the full time whistle past the ladies dressed like page-3 girls offering massages that we don’t want on our way out just as we didn’t want them on the way in. It’s only up from here.

At 8pm the heat still hits us in the face as we exit the hotel room into another stiflingly humid Bangkok evening. It’s less than 1km to the restaurant but still it’s a punishing walk, even for the ever young. Finally after all the anticipation we arrive at Banyan Tree hotel and it’s 59th floor for the most posh restaurant in Bangkok; nothing but the best for the birthday of the year. Crowning the metropolitan skyline of this huge city in borrowed pants that don’t fit on account of a dress code that is far more strict than the website indicated we’re in a million dollar location feeling like about six-bucks-fifty. Joined by Sparky again we are determined not to be dragged into the gutter like last night, we’re far too classy for that even if being in Bangkok does scream out to cut loose and have a wild night.

View at sunset from the river of Wat Rakhang Kositarama, Bangkok, Thailand

Through feeling unwell, a seedy dive of a sports bar, a fashion faux-pas and a good old fashioned night time sweat this day rises to finally hit some heights; figuratively and literally. Looking about there are a scant three or four buildings matching this one for height as Bangkok sprawls in all directions over a glowing sea of orange lights that carry on further than our eyes can see. On top of the world we are perched surrounded by formally dressed wait staff, gleaming oversized wine glasses and demure festivity befitting this place of prestigious celebration; a rooftop of personal milestones, hallmark days and romantic gestures to shares our royal view. Now free from the threat of a potential failure of a day we nestle so appropriately in a sea of special occasions, one does not turn 25 every day now does one?

Our huge bulbous glasses cradle an elegant serving of Spanish Tempranillo ready to touch in cheers over three grand silver cloches. Clink, eyes locked before two waiters simultaneously lift the three shining orbs in great theatre to reveal our plated art. Hokkaido scallops crowned with caviar sit aside wicked foie-gras to make our tongues dance for joy. Mains of braised pork cheek we cut with a spoon and shellfish elaborately overspilling the plate pairs up with a Californian Zinfandel to take the tastes on our palates nearly to the heights of the romantic setting. Coincidentally a friend from home walks past by chance; ‘Ken’ goes up the cry from Charlie. I think of ways I can pass this off as a planned surprise but having a second friend from home takes this day further away from it’s slow start than I could have hoped for. The Down Under Sports Bar seems an eternity ago, the name should have given it away I tell myself.

Steve, Sparky and Charlie celebrating, Vertigo/ Moon Bar, Banyan Tree, Bangkok, Thailand

A small disaster threatens the picture perfect run of this celebration, they’ve forgotten the cake! After secretly planning this whole dinner and arranging a cake with ’38’ on it I feign a trip to the bathroom and manage to get a word to our waiter to scramble a last minute save. It’s possibly lucky that they forgot, setting an age on a cake far older than the birthday boy is surely rude? I’ll call it good luck, a delicious little cake comes out as the waiters gather to sing happy birthday in arguably Bangkok’s premiere dining location, a location anywhere in the world would struggle to top. All good things come to an end, except for the festival of course which will continue indefinitely, but this evening unfortunately has come to a close. Signing off a bill that can only be described as abusive we make our way back down to the lights we’ve so fondly been overlooking while the cost fades to irrelevance by each number of rapidly descended floors; after all, a 21st is quite a hallmark day.

June 10, 2015

While you were working – Growing up, Bangkok, Thailand

Disclaimer is defined as such: a statement that denies something, especially responsibility. A disclaimer is precisely whats required to begin this day in terms of not taking responsibility for how it has unfolded; it also applies to the reading of this days adventures. So mums, relatives, colleagues and friends; don’t judge, as the disclaimer says, we deny all responsibility. But what’s a disclaimer without declaring what we’re actually denying? The answer there lies in our location; Bangkok, where everything is for sale, particularly sex. While strip shows, prostitution, even selling sex toys is all illegal in Thailand, sex calls out to us from every available space to solidify Bangkok’s reputation as a crazy and liberal town where any sexual kink you might have is not only catered for but it’s probably not kinky enough.

But this day didn’t start in the gutter, we arrived at Bangkok train station well rested after catching the sights of the Thai countryside in our own sleeper carriage from Chiang Mai. The morning passed on a boat up the river and had a look around Wat Pho, one of the biggest temples in Bangkok housing the worlds largest reclining buddha. Through a maze of ornate buildings and more Buddha statues than we can count, Wat Pho continues the upward trajectory of temple grandeur we’ve encountered in Asia. With a dazzle that begins to leave behind the humble presentation of buddhist temples we’ve seen so far it feels a little more like a church than a temple yet still there’s no space to preach from, no pulpit from which to rain down holy fire. Despite the grandeur this defining characteristic hasn’t changed, buddhism doesn’t sell to anyone, choose to buy it; or not.

Our train from Chiang Mai at Bangkok’s Hua Lamphong railway station, Thailand

It’s all very genteel, very civilised so far until we meet Sparky, an old friend in town for a few days and an old stager of Bangkok. Our evening begins benignly enough with a few drinks at a bar as regular as can be. Regular except for the wait staff all wanting a grope, I look back now and the signs were there that this night could only go downhill but we’re in Bangkok and this is what the place is known for so we don’t judge, just go with the flow. It’s great to catch up, we haven’t seen Sparky for years and over a few beers and a couple of jugs of sangria it feels like no time has passed at all when the wicked glint comes into Sparky’s eye. ‘Wanna have a local tour of Bangers’? Never ones to shy away from jumping into a bit of cultural immersion we blindly opt in. Yes at this point it’s just that, a bit of cultural immersion, but in Bangkok that isn’t a clear cut box like you might expect.

We’ve all heard of the ping-pong girls in Bangkok, and if you haven’t it’s probably best you don’t try to find out but safe to say that sexy shows are far more than a prudish suggestive veil dance in Bangkok. It seems we’re about to get the men-only equivalent, this can only be interesting. The bar is packed with two types: steroid abusing guys in g-strings and guys of conservative restrained sexuality in buttoned shirts looking a little too eager. Correction, the third type is us, a bit drunk already and restraining back laughter at the thought of the outrageousness we’re about to see while being chatted to by some of the g-string commando’s gunning for a free drink.

The reclining Buddha, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand

The show starts, it’s all shaved down caricatures mashing together tough guy shapes with teenager prettiness; masculinity just got feminine. Safe to say that as the smoke machine shrouds our body-sculpted protein warriors any chance of this being sexy is out the window, amusement is the only commodity on offer here tonight, for us at least. Not sure if we’re disappointed or relieved. The smoke clears and the Egyptian styled idols exit the stage with a drastic lack of outrageousness leaving us somewhat disappointed.

Disappointment doesn’t last long. In no time it’s show number two and sure enough the tackle is out of the fishing box and the rods are fishing for dollars. As if that wasn’t outrageous enough the fishermen get a bite and it’s oral-sex on stage; oh dear. As if that wasn’t outrageous enough oral-sex is just the precursor; who knew sex could be so acrobatic. As if that wasn’t outrageous enough it doesn’t stay on the stage, I have a hooded guy leaning over me as the ‘show’ commences on him. I’ve never fumbled out a bit of cash so quickly to get him off me. I could say ‘as if that wasn’t outrageous enough’ quite a few more times but I’m not sure my disclaimer is strong enough to emancipate us from the incrimination of the last few shows. We’re pretty open minded people, not too squirmy at a new experience but by nights end we’re thankful that we’re not in the front rows, no amount of tissues could clean that up. You’ll have to use your own imaginations for that part.

Door ways into the inner temple, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand

Walking out into the still hot night air telling ourselves that voyeurism in not participation, we are in Bangkok after all and like cigars in Cuba or steak in Argentina we’ve just seen a Bangkok institution. It’s sounds so matter-of-fact when put that way and in truth it is, but that doesn’t stop us from being shocked and dazed, what the hell did we just see? Of course in a minute or so there’s a guy calling to us ‘ping-pong girls’. I burst to laughter, ‘buddy there’s nothing you have that can top what we just saw’. Back through the street market packed with belts, cd’s, food and dildos in equal measure we tell ourself that we should have known, the hints were there. Would it have stopped us?

As fun, hilarious and eye opening as this night has been it’s time to pull the plug and get a tuk-tuk home, there is only danger ahead. Warm air races past us as we zoom through the streets of this modern metropolis that from here looks so neat, so gentrified. Bangkok takes less than 24 hours to take us through spirituality, grand architecture, dazzling city lights and a dubious national institution. So far Thai culture has presented calm, fortitude, strength and grace among other virtues and tonight we are introduced to another side to the story. Far from feeling dirty or corrupted our night had no unwanted advances, no solicitation, no one apparently on drugs no sign of victimisation and no one looking under-aged; it was in hindsight just a bit of fun shared by, as we like to call it, consenting adults.

Food stalls, Si Lom, Bangkok, Thailand

I think back to the apprehension so thinly veiled in that club when I looked across rows and rows of people finally being given an outlet to something so obviously restrained. Without delving into the psycho-babble of sexual denial it seems that everything we saw tonight, as crazy as it was, avoided the often stated pitfalls of the sex industry. From girls in the massage parlour, the sprukers, the performers and the ladies selling sex toys we saw no hint of drugs, desperate measures, victimisation or abuse. I’m sure these elements are there, but they’re also behind the closed doors of aristocratic homes, these streets seem as emotionally clean as anywhere else once you look objectively.

Bangkok threw it in our face, or it would have if we were in the front row, and as the hotel door clicks shut on our gentrified world nothing the other side of the door is any different from any other city in the world; any city. All of the debauchery, the lewd suggestion and the kinkiness exists anywhere but in Bangkok a civilised maturity prevails, it’s not denied, made dirty or victimised. All this sex is easy enough to avoid, just don’t go to certain areas, but if you’re a human being with a sexuality in Bangkok there’s no reason to hide, apparently you’re just normal; what a novel idea. We still carry a bit of our own social immaturity, in fact tonight shouldn’t be a crazy sight at all. We permit all sorts of jarring behaviour on the basis of respecting cultural differences but not ones that are universal to nearly all of us and not a cultural difference at all. Bangkok we shouldn’t snigger, poke fun or laugh, maybe we should all just grow up too.

June 9, 2015

While you were working – Taking no Prisoners, Chiang Mai, Thailand

We all know that moment, we arrive home when work was too busy, rugby training went too late or you’ve just had one of those days so you grabbed some Thai on the way because cooking was just too hard. On top of the pile of containers so often sits a small foil lined paper bag with a reminder that getting take-away was all worthwhile. There’s usually a little tub of some delicious sauce in there too as you prepare for the aroma that will make a rough day all better; is it money bags, stuffed chicken wings or something else? So often it’s one of the two icons we’re hunting for here, satay chicken or fish cakes. They’re served on a plate to us now but as a credit to our local take-away they’re nearly identical; I can just about see the coffee table in our lounge-room as I sit on the floor in my training gear that is a bit gross but a shower would take too long. So often food at home transports us to memories of far away places, not often does the direction reverse.

On full bellies we walk, nay waddle, our way through the steamy streets of Chiang Mai now barely even considering the sweat already making distinctive patterns in our shirts, it’s just part of life here. On our sweaty rounds we finally succumb to the temple-o-rama that is Chiang Mai, the elegant gables and intricate facades have called from over the fences one too many times. The Asian leg of this trip has introduced us to buddhism on a more intimate level to what we’ve ever encountered before creating a wrestle, a readjustment and broader consideration for what I’d generally passed up as just another religion, albeit a less invasive one. Again in Chiang Mai the repeated theme seems evident; although buddhist beliefs are held deeply and for mystical and unquantifiable tenets just like other religions, there’s a fanaticism that seems missing, people just seem to keep it to themselves.

Walking the streets of Chiang Mai, monks, Wats and tuk-tuks. Thailand

Although buddhism is often called a philosophy, and it is, it also fits well within the definition of a religion which makes the discussion between religion and philosophy a bit of a moot point. It’s both. With a definitive factual conclusion to that discussion lost in the grey areas of definition and never to return, my mind looks for a more real-world viewpoint; as it appears to me at least. On the plus side faiths can deliver people solace, comfort, community and certainty. On the downside they can limit free thought, imbed prejudices, grant undue power over people and hinder social progress and don’t start me on holding back the rights of minorities. The worlds women, people of colour, poor and homosexuals all say an amen with me.

The picture is forming in my mind on each passing day spent in this part of the world, yet to solidify completely, but it seems that buddhism generally embodies the positives and avoids the negatives better than religions as I know it. There’s a million topics, arguments and facts to drag up here but one of the pillars of difference is that buddhism avoids the divinity curse. Lets get real, the big monotheisms are really the same thing; judaism, islam and christianity are the same story, three girls at a dance with the same dress so they’ve all put a different coloured flower in their hair. All three started with Jesus and his mates before the sandpit divisions began and for a very long time he was just a man; just a man until other men just decided it makes them more powerful to say that he was divine. Since then the one story that became three has become hundreds; the numbers are variable but for example christianity has a reported number of churches worldwide ranging from 21,000 to 33,000 comprised of an estimated 40+ distinctive faiths. Islam and judaism aren’t far behind, in any language the one story has been pulled apart voraciously. What’s left of the original ideals?

Inside Wat Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Like a tree the one trunk of an ideal divides and divides and now each one of those many small branches of the tree demands exclusive worship as if it were the one true message, the trunk as it were. See the problem here? Buddhism on the other hand has had from the get-go, a varied range of works with important texts being added to the lexicon over time; an organically grown belief system we could say. The fact that reincarnations of Buddha himself add to this range of works is equally hogwash let’s be honest but it does protect against fanatical singular beliefs somewhat. Add to that the quotes from Buddha himself which declare that any thought or conclusion must be justified by arguable reason, even to contradict his own words, and a big piece of the puzzle is taking shape for me. The great Aussie comic Adam Hills often uses the saying: you only need one commandment, ‘don’t be a dick’. True, very true Adam but I think Buddha nailed that one first.

With a deep and complex soup of thought slowly coalescing bit by bit we shelve the brain twisting topic to be taken up again another day, now it’s massage time. No wonder monks study for decades. The famed Thai massage starts with foot washing, so gentle and relaxing; then the violence begins. There’s no prisoners taken in this massage more akin to a severe physio session than relaxed pampering. We’re also cradled, held, sat on and generally contacted far more than in regular Massage, Thai massage is nurturing in a tough love maternal kind of way. There’s no option but to let the sweetly savage ladies take over us and lead us to feeling great through pain; deliverance through penance.

Four faced Brahma statue holding lotus flowers, Wat Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai, Thailand

After a good attempt at pulling our calves right off the bone we walk out delicately feeling a million dollars, it was tough love and we just want to give these ladies a hug. We’d like to but we can’t, we can’t take photos and we cant ask questions; they’re inmates in the Chiang Mai women’s prison. It’s pretty casual atmosphere so we’re probably not thrown to hardened murderers but it remains a strange experience to walk so breezily out on the street after such a close and connected experience while these ladies go back to prison. There’s more to this than we know, there has to be, but it just seems to fit in with Thai culture, so adept at balancing care and strength, not showing one to the detriment of the other. I used the expression glibly, these ladies take no prisoners when massaging; the prisoners have already been taken and in place of taking they now turn their hand to giving.

June 8, 2015

While you were working – A Dark Alley, Chiang Mai, Thailand

There’s food, riding bikes around town, some shopping and outstanding coffee. Even the coffee must be skimmed over today as they pale into insignificance come 8:30pm, the moment this day becomes alive in a way to make the hours that came before it seem irrelevant, not worth commenting on. In a travel headspace where every day is an experience, each hour an opportunity and each minute a memory, wiping a day under the carpet requires a mighty shadow cast by an even mightier experience, opportunity and memory. At 8:30pm that juggernaut rises and the rest of this day now seems somewhat pale and insipid.

We’re guided inside by our fiery haired kathoey host and seated down to our recycled timber benches and small table covered in plastic sheeting. Kathoey are often inaccurately labelled the generic term ladyboys, these emblematic characters of Thailand exemplify the openness and kindness of Thai culture so often mistaken for meekness. Far from being social novelties, sideshow attractions or worse, Thailand as a nation has grown up and no longer exists in the immature playground of self esteem defined social ladder climbing. In Thailand, more than anywhere else I know, humans aren’t defined by their dress, how they refer to themselves, how they do their hair or what clothes they wear; rather on richer principles of human character. Sounds like a lesson our mums gave us when we were about six.

Fighter between rounds, Thaphae stadium, Chaing Mai, Thailand

There’s a corrugated iron roof above our heads and a rough concrete floor below our feet while pockets of small stalls line the edges of this hall hinting of a time when this place was a market or rustic food court. How long ago that seems now. The lights are there still, beaten tin cones top incandescent bulbs casting the small hall into a warm glow through spiderwebs and years of dust that no one has gotten around to cleaning and probably won’t get around to cleaning anytime soon. Over a warm smile just for us and eyes scanning the needs of other customers our host places our beers before us before disappearing into the hum of a steadily swelling crowd to attend to the needs of too many.
A small whining musical instrument like a bagpipe that farts a low off key note every now and then rises above the pitch of the crowd now swollen to grant a throbbing buzz to this hall of tenuously contained excitement. The music stops, the crowd cheers and the only truly lit space in the hall receives two young guys. The host gazes hawk-like over the crowd but all eyes are on the two guys on the stage who are in truth just boys of barely teenage years at best.

The first fighter, praying to all four corners to seal the ring. Thaphae Stadium, Chaing Mai, Thailand

The boy closest to us lowers himself to the canvas clad stage to commence his Wai khru ram muay. Wai refers to hands being held together in prayer; khru, teacher; ram, dance and muay of course is boxing, Thailand’s national sport, pastime and obsession. A ram muay is a personal and unique dance before each fight displaying respect to their masters, homage to their king, appreciation to their crowd and prayers for strength and success from mystic idols. The boys, now gods themselves, own this room and like seasoned stars the ring is their stage as the ram muay gifts solemnity, sincerity and integrity to the brutality they are about to commit. A prayer is said into each corner to seal the ring of ill omens and luck, their world reduced to the stage. There’s no posturing, trash talking or false bravado; these boys exude a respect and dignity I’ve rarely ever seen anyone of this age govern; anybody of any age for that matter.
We took our seats on the buzz of a tourist must-do and in a few motions a pile of new layers squash the flighty ideals we had of seeing a spectacle, Muay Thai rises far above gambling, prizes, notoriety and money. The boys are less than 50kg in weight, tiny boys, yet as the whining pipe rises it’s tune to join a beating drum this dim room becomes a hypnotic dance capturing the movements of the boys and our breath alike. The boys are tiny in stature but after calling into themselves power from their ram muay and drawing the focus of the world to the music and their foe these tiny boys stand as giants above all in the room, the world. Muay Thai originated as a lethal military art, even now in this ring the neck and spine are targetable areas, the stage sealed to keep ill omens out is also sealed to hold the unabashed brutality within.

The final bout, in full flight. Thephae stadium, Chaing Mai, Thailand

Flashing kicks, fierce elbows and violent knees whirl around in a dance rather than a brawl, artistic brutality has never been more clearly defined and we stare in awe. We both play rugby, a sport where aggression, physical battle and summoning courage to overcome fear all mix with genteel boundaries of respect and honour; in this respect we should understand a sliver of this elegantly brutal dance before us. That we should understand doesn’t mean we do. Attempting to destroy another persons body goes hand in hand with genuine congratulations to an opponent for a landed kick, prayers to the opposite corner and steely eyes in the face of terror like I have never seen. You’d think we might be able to get a slight catch on the headspace required to balance this honour and poise in the face of violent action but it’s with no shame that we hold no hopes of grasping the slightest shadow if this art. In this respect these tiny young boys hold a courage and focus I’m quite certain I’ll never attain in my life.

In the true equality that encompasses so much of Thai culture there’s lady fights as well that lack none of the intensity and passion of the boys and men. Muay Thai paints for us a picture of Thai culture that has scratched the blurry edges of our perception and makes it clear and focused within this sealed ring. We’ve heard the arguable line that Thailand remains the only nation on earth never to be conquered and right now it seems that whether it’s accurate or not, what we’re witnessing is the reason why. In the intent gaze of a young girl who allows a foot to strike centimetres from her face without shifting a millimetre or blinking once, focused only on a chance to attack, Thai culture is embodied: respectful, fierce, integral.

Cooling down after the bout, Thaphae stadium, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Shirt on now the small boy from our corner is back at ringside watching his fellow pupils compete. Where there was a weapon channeling the power of gods there is now a tiny boy with a big smile so disarming and playful; in appearance. We might have bought a coffee or rented a bike from him and given him no more than a clumsy ‘thank you’ in Thai that we still can’t pronounce properly never knowing what lay behind that smile. Of six fights we see 12 fighters in whom there is no space for ego, thuggery or ill intent, just that respectful ferocity we can only dream of. We came for an eyes wide open experience but we leave past the thankful nod of our host into the night with the gift of Thai culture and its people pumping through our veins, still breathing the rhythm of the pipe who’s rolling wail has since ebbed to silence.

Thailand is a popular holiday destination for so many, it’s famed affordability, party nightlife, glittering beaches and crystal clear water are often the attraction. And in hoards they come to consume the lifestyle, consume the alcohol, consume the good times among this culture that sits politely by welcoming everyone and paying the crassness little heed. Those socially anaemic travellers have always been a bit of an abhorrent blight but walking out into the warm night air the tragedy of seeing Thai culture as a cheap beer and a rope swing into a beach takes on epic proportions. If only those consuming tourists could hand back the coffee to this sweet young Thai boy they give no thought to, then piss him off in a dark alley; oh how much I’d pay to see that.

June 7, 2015

Gluttony Expedition – Everything to Everyone, Chiang Mai, Thailand

As if yesterdays too easy embracing of the Thai food eating disorder wasn’t enough we’re back on the wagon and ready to seek happiness at the bottom of a bowl all over again; it’s cooking school time. Again. After the Bamboo Tree cooking school in Luang Prabang knocked our socks off there seems no better way to get into the local flavour than by learning to make it ourselves. Our list of Thai dishes that we know from home only one has had a genuine comparison with the tom yum soup giving our local Thai takeaway a big thumbs up; we could have been on a Surry Hills footpath or in a Chiang Rai bar with the soup so fantastically pressed from the same mould.

Weirdly enough Chiang Mai also does coffee really well, public temper tantrum averted. We soak up the first proper piccolo we’ve had in months as Chiang Mai rattles past us on the hot busy street while we wait for school to start. School’s in and as seems customary it’s aprons on and off to the market for a poke around the range of different ingredients that put the magic into Thai food yet often seem so foreign to us. We know most of them but Thai ginseng, spicy basil and saw coriander are new additions to our shopping list when we get home, those secret flavours seem less shrouded in mystery by the passing minute.

In a first day that positively drowned in dreams of food and idolised rugby players bathing in said food, not too many of the dishes we know from home were held up to comparisons here. Today that changes. Surprisingly the famous pad Thai noodles are made more for a western audience knocking them down a peg in our books but we have pad see eew noodles on the list along with a green curry. It’s been minutes since we ate and in this country that is one big eating disorder it’s time to get happy.

Grilling fish, local market, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Again the dishes we know from home are just a scratch on the range of food here leaving us feeling slightly limited in our Thai knowledge but still resolute in finding where our favourites sit. Shock horror of horrors presents our first conclusion, pad see eew isn’t really what we know it to be at all. Usually rich with sweetness slightly edging the sour saltiness to make the fat noodles slither over our tongues to melt into nothing these ones are a bit tart and vinegary it has to be said. It’s our second pad see eew so far and we weren’t willing to call it on the first try; could Australia possibly make a better pad see eew than Thailand? What a dilemma, I can’t bring myself to utter the shameful words acknowledging that I prefer the altered version bastardised to fit my tastes but it’s hard to see an alternative response. Pad see eew might just be the first domino to fall in the great Thai food pyramid even if the version at home remains a gem.

spicy minced chicken stir fry, papaya salad, spring rolls and fried banana all add to the story of eating in Thailand but there is a king calling order to his court. Green curry is possibly the Thai dish of Thai dishes and it’s our turn to give it a try. Pounding a paste the old fashioned way from chillies, garlic, galangal, ginseng, lemongrass, kaffir lime and more we throw our smooth green mush into the wok so desperately hoping that this idolised dish we love so much at home isn’t shown up to be a sham. Our teacher explains that degrees of heat are directly related to how sexy a dish is, hotter the sexier of course. On doling out the curry paste she relates it to school levels: kindergarten being mild and university being hot before asking what school level is sexy for us; I love translation hiccups. With a smirk I ask for a sexy high school student as I shrug off an unbidden feeling of being a catholic priest. Sorry, I said high school, not primary school; my mistake.

The paste melts into the coconut milk, the eggplants soften and the chicken fades to white as the king rises to speak. There’s a sense of reverence in spooning the curry into the bowl, a delicacy invades our movements belying the seriousness of this tasting. We’ve consumed so much chilli today that the sweat on our brows mingles nervousness and heat indeterminably; the moment is here. I banish the awkward vision of David Kilcoyne leaning over a grand bed of crisp white sheets to spoon feed me green curry as Thailand rushes to Sydney and Sydney rushes to Thailand in an all too rapid instant. These handsome rugby player cross food fantasies just have to stop; but I know they won’t. What a triumph, what a relief. The spicy kick of creamy coconut milk dances with sour fish sauce and sweet basil; If David were indeed sharing this green curry with me I’d nearly kick him out of bed to eat it all. Um, I mean share it with Charlie; almost.

Green curry, sour soup northern style and deep fried banans, Asia Scenic cooking school, Chiang Mai, Thailand

We’re going to get seriously fat in this country and along with the extra holes in the belt, seriously happy too. We didn’t make the massaman, red or penang curries but a sneaky taste has them firmly retaining their position in the tree with pad thai the only dish to possibly fall to earth and join pad see eew on the endangered list when we return home.

After class an evening trip out to a Japanese tea house delivers a few surprisingly delicious glasses of wine, nearly a foreign taste by now, and another window into Chiang Mai. This town, this country I believe, is not just content to boast one of the most lauded food cultures in the world, it’s outward looking and open minded; Italian wines and Japanese fusion sandwiches just seem to fit in here. Yes it’s a touristy town but unlike others of its kind it disregards creating a homely little western bubble away from the big homely western bubbles we come from; Chaing Mai is Chiang Mai. This town is diverse, proudly Thai, chaotic and comforting, local and tourist friendly; placing the old saying on shaky ground, maybe you can be everything to everyone.

June 6, 2015

Gluttony Expedition – Eating our Feelings, Chiang Mai, Thailand

We’ve finally recovered. Battling through self doubt, harsh acceptance and crippling restraint there emerges now light peeking through a dark cloud so full of trials, an uplifting wash of euphoria at the achievement that always seemed to distant. We’ve finally broken free of our eating disorder, the Lao food eating disorder that compelled us to eat continuously so far from control of our own actions. We’re on a bus again now heading to Chiang Mai with an odd vacancy left behind by the eating disorder that was so comforting but now lies the other side of a national border; this world seems so cruel and devoid of comfort without our trusted therapy. People say it’ll be good for us, we don’t need it but bah to that we say; why let our access to happiness just wilt away without a fight? Eating disorder Thailand we want to be your friend.

For anyone living in Sydney the crowded food market of affordable, tasty quick food has a few heavy hitters and most of them are from this part of the world. Be it a 3am Indian chicken tikka wrapped in a naan bread, lunchtime Vietnamese pho or sushi with those little soy fish that you always need one more of there’s a million options but for so many the one we live on, live by and couldn’t live without is Thai. When asked by other travellers ‘what’s Australian food?’ I’ve been tempted to reply that it’s Thai, such is it’s abundance and our reliance upon it. But that is at home, we’re not eating an exotic take-away that doesn’t seem exotic at all anymore; Thai has gone local. We’ve all noted when the wrong basil goes into a green curry or the satay is too light on for fish sauce and don’t get me started on button mushrooms in a pad see eew; but what if we’ve had it wrong all this time, what if we’re the inauthentic food equivalent of the crocodile hunter, culinary Steve Irwins?

Ingredients for red, green and massaman currys, cooking school, Chiang Mai, Thailand

On this note ladies and gentlemen let the great Thai eating disorder bring order to the eating, dispel myths and forge legends; it’s time to get to the bottom of it once and for all. Thai is a diverse cuisine but there’s a bunch of dishes we all know, no self respecting Sydney-sider needs a Thai menu when our staples are more familiar to us than chiko rolls and hamburgers. So lets allow the next two weeks to put a line through ten of our favourites or place them even more firmly onto their podiums of greatness. There’s five curries that we all know: green, red, yellow, massamun and penang, they’re a no brainer. The noodle family consists pad thai and pad see eew while the remaining three places in our ten must-try dishes goes to the ever faithful chicken satay, fish cakes and that little rocket of a gem, tom yum soup.

Never ones to shirk a challenge, our first venture out in Chiang Rai launched us into the hard road ahead, we feel like Maeve O’meara [the souless scarecrow on the TV show “Food Safari”: I want her job] without the blank expressions and monotone whine. Green and red curries are consumed but in the touristy western bar it’s hard to feel like the very sweet and un-spicy variations are the real deal; delicious but the list of lists remains blank of notes. The tom yum however; we have a winner ladies and gentlemen. Spicy, sour, sweet and salty are the four pillars of Thai food and the tom yum has it all injected with steroids like the Lance Armstrong of soups powering to victory down the Champs Elysees. Most encouragingly it wasn’t a huge leap from what we’d call a great tom yum at home; when I’m feeling a bit sad I know that I no longer need four litres of ice cream and a re-run of Steel Magnolias, there’s always tom yum.

Tom Yum soup, Khoi Soi noodle curry, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Intrusively the bus pulls up at the Chiang Mai bus station rudely interrupting my shameful fantasy of bathing in a bathtub of tom yum with Benn Robinson and Cian Healy and just one big straw between us; totally normal right? Chiang Rai seemed on first impressions to be all western food, massage parlours and cheesy bars but Chiang Mai seems a different kettle of fish: historical, pulsing and while being a bit touristy it’s far from lost its first impression credits. Surrounded by a 13th century moat and remnants of what was once a great city wall Chiang Mai settles into a neat city square of temples, food stalls, cafes, bars and temples. There’s a temple on almost every corner and beautiful gardens pop up randomly in this very urban environment; usually with a temple. There’s heaps of temples to see too.

With elegant arching roofs adorned with audacious detail peeking above the cobbled together city skyline in every possible available space, Chiang Mai carries a long standing tourist story into bustling tight streets, buddhist serenity and wild nightlife without ever giving up what it is to be Thai. First impressions can be deceiving sometimes but I hope so much that this isn’t one of those times. On a market stroll with the two English guys we met in Laos, Nick and Ali, the sounds, bustle, smells and flavours of this city rage forward in all the clustered calamity we could hope for from a modern bustling Thai city. Just like the food it’s hot, spicy, inviting and not attempting to be anything but what it is.
Scoffing down a chicken soup, some strange flat noodle thing and a few little ridiculously fatty pork sausages on a stick; who doesn’t like meat on a stick, we’re back on the eating highway to emotional stability. This first day in Chiang Mai hasn’t ticked a huge number of the initial food boxes we had an eye on but it feels now like our list should be more like twenty dishes rather than ten. Regardless of the dishes though there’s one food question I must answer; how hot is hot in this land famous for spicy food. I order a papaya salad and ask for it to be Thai hot; whatever that means: I can unequivocally confirm that hot means hot. It’s hotter than I like, leaving me tasting chilli and little else but I’m relieved to find that I can eat it with just a good old fashioned sting on the lips and sweat on the brow. I wonder how Benn and Cian would look splashing around in an inflatable kiddie pool of papaya salad with dinosaur flotation tubes around their waists? Ahem, moving on.

I was unsure if we’ve enjoyed spicy Thai food at home all this time only to find out we are the ones bastardising a great cultural asset to pen it into our closed fearful world. I can’t say that we’re truly at Thai levels of heat but so far that great culinary security blanket for us all at home remains an answer to sadness and insecurity still; Sydney Thai seems to be pretty true. In Chiang Mai we’re looking hungrily forward to the deepest hole of self doubt we can find and eating our way out of it by the spicy bowlful. Being upset never tasted this good.

June 5, 2015

What you’d rather be seeing – Laos

A fantastic couple of weeks in Laos, even though we were only in two main locations we managed to fit a lot in. Below are my favourite pictures and my first video in this category from the short time we were there.

Check out the other pictures from previous countries under “what you’d rather be seeing” category.

Gibbon Experience Video