We arrived in Chiang Mai at our guesthouse GongKaew sometime during the afternoon. Gongkaew was beautiful, lovely clean rooms, helpful staff, pretty garden and eating area, everything we could wish for from our christmas stay. We explored some of the town but took it easy as we had booked to go on a day trip treking, rafting and elephant riding the following day.
Do Chiang Mai jsme dorazili v odpolednich hodinach. Ubytovali jsme se v apartmanu Gongkaew. Byl to moc pekny bungalow, se vsim ochotny pomoci personal, krasna zahrada a mala jidelna, kde jsme si mohli delat caj, kafe a toust po cely den. Vse, co si muzeme prat od ubytovani behem Vanoc. Pak jsme se vydali na rychly pruzkum po meste, nejak dlouho jsme se nezdrzovali at jsme svezi na dalsi den, ktery jsme si vyhradili pro jizdu na slonech, vodni rafting a prochazkou pres mini dzungli.
We got up early and had free tea and toast from guest house and were picked up to be taken rafting. There a group of about 15 of us and we were shown a few of the moves and then its onto the river. Some of the boats were 4 and 5 people, but ours was Veronika, me and a guide. We had a great time and both did really well, i think our boat got through better than any of the others mostly down to our good team work and Veronika's action-man style jumping from side to side (she was pretty bruised the folowing day). Next we had lunch and then it was over to the elephants. We were up in a hut on stilts and then both climbed on and he was led through the forest and down the river. We'd bought a couple of bags of bannanas to fed him on the journey and he wasn't shy to ask for them every couple minutes. It was good fun and the elephants seemed to be well cared for and happy, some that didn't have people on board would follow us around for the walk (and i'm sure the odd banana that went their way). We then treked through the forest for an hour or so to a waterfall, found some local lant life that would make a nice christmas tree for our room and then it was back on the bus to the guesthouse. A really great day, we were shattered by the end but still had some xmas shopping to do. We both split up and went opposite ways around the local night market with a budget. To begin with i loved the idea, but then when i actualy got out there and started shopping i remembered how much i disike shopping and how stressful it is, nevertheless i got through it and it was back home to wrap the pressies and decorate our new christmas tree with veronika's beautiful home made decorations!
Rano jsme si privstali, abychom si mohli dat caj a toust, predtim nez nas vyzvedne miniautobus. Jak jsme dorazili na misto uz tam cekalo asi 15 lidi. Jako trenink nam bylo ukazano par zakladnich pokynu a pote jsme byli rozdeleni do skupin. Nektere rafty meli 4 az 5 lidi. Nas raft byl obsazen mnou, Petem a nasim pruvodcem. Rafting byl super, oba jsme se moc dobre bavili. Taky si myslim, ze jsme si vedli moc dobre, pac jsme zacinali posledni a dopluli jako prvni. Bylo to diky dobre komunici posadky a taky diky mym obcasnym manevrum a uskokum, ktere jsem bezhlave nasledovala po zaveleni pruvodce. Stalo me to par modrin, jak se ukazalo dalsi den. Po obede nas cekala jizda na slonu. Na slona jsme nasedali z bambusoveho pristresku.Predtim jsme si nakoupili tasky s banany, aby jsme ho mohli krmit za zasluhy. Sem tam to vypadalo, ze si myslel, ze si zaslouzi banan kazdych 20 sekund. Nekteri sloni, kteri zrovna nemeli pasazeri se rozhodli pro prochazku v lese, coz znamenalo prilezitostni banan i pro ne. Ja, Pete a slon jsme byli v doprovodu pruvodce. Vedl nas pres, jiz zmineny, les a reku. Po sloni projizdce byl cas na prochazku v dzungli kolem maleho vodopadu.V dzungli jsme si natrhali delsi stebla travy, ktere nam poslouzili jako vanocni stromecek. Pote jsme byli odvezeni zpet a ikdyz jsme byli trosku unaveni cekaly nas vanocni nakupy na nocnim trhu. Rozdelili jsme se asi na hodinu, coz pro me byl dostatek casu. Pote, co se Pete vratil na sjednane misto, nevypadal, ze si to uzival tak jako ja. Ikdyz se mu ze zacatku napad naramne libil, ukazalo se, ze si behem toho casu vlastne uvedomil, ze nema rad nakupovani a ze mu to pridelava akorat stres. Jak jsme se vratili zpet, byl cas na zdobeni naseho stromecku (s paprirovymi vlockami, ktere jsem vystrihla den predem) a baleni darecku.
Veronika's Christmas (24th Dec)
We woke to the unusual xmas feeling of heat and sunshine pouring through our window, although not the usual christmas morning, the feeling of summer is always nice. After breakfast we took a walk around town, regularly stopping for christmas day drinks. its so weird being out here during this time, thailand is mostly a buddist country, particularly up here in the north, and they dont seem to celebrate christmas at all. Walking around town in the heat, everyone is going about their lives like any other day, children at school, people at work, hardly any decorations anywhere. Eventually it was time to skype home for a couple of hours and then after a few more drinks we chose to ave dinner in a german restaurant as we felt the menu seemed to have the closest we could find to czech food. It wasn't the same same, but it was very tasty and we both thoroughly enjoyed dinner. When we got back, as is Czech tradition we opened most of our presents after dinner leaving some for tomorrow and christmas day number 2.
Vercin Stedry Den (24. prosinec)
Pri rannim probuzeni jsme citili jake je venku opet horko a jak se Slunce snazi dostat pres zavesy. Po snidani jsme se vydali do mesta, aby jsme si mohli dat par vanocnich drinku, tak jak by tomu normalne bylo doma. Bylo to zvlastni nebyt doma a vzhledem k tomu, ze Thajsko je zemi, kde vladne budhismus, prochazka po meste v horku, kdy deti jsou ve skole, lide pracuji a skoro nikde nejsou videt zadne vanocni vyzdoby - pocit, ze je Stedry den, je mizivy. Behem dalsich hodin jsme se spojili pres Skype s rodinami a po dalsich par drincich se rozhodli navstivit nemeckou restauraci, ktera se jidelnickem nejvice priblizovala nasi kuchyni. Nebyl to presne stedrovecerni kapr, ale pecena kachna se zelym a bramborovymi knedliky chutnala taky dobre. Pak nasledovala cesta zpet a rozbalovani vetsiny darecku.
Pete's Christmas (25th Dec)
If christmas spirit was flowing all around i'd have been happy to soak it all up in pubs etc but as it wasn't we decided we should do a thai cooking course. We were picked up first thing in the morning and taken to a market were they bought incredients and explained some of the differences between the foods. Then it was off to the cooking school out on a farm in the fields. We both had a wonderful day, we learnt how to cook thai curry, spring rolls, some thai soups, pad thai, some different stir-frys and a yummy stiky rice with pinapple desert. Be warned, this could lead to several thai food dinners at our place when we get home. It was my turn to skype home in the evening and afterwards we reheated some of the goodies we'd made earlier in the day to finish us off.
Peteuv Stedry Den (25. prosinec)
Rano si Pete rozbalil jeho posledni darek, protoze v Anglii si rozbaluji darky rano, coz uz je u nas Prvni svatek vanocni a kdyby jsme byli obklopeni vanocni atmosferou, asi bysme se vydali znovu zacit pomalu popijet nekde v hospudce, ale jelikoz ta atmosfera tu chybela, rozhodli jsme se absolvovat Thajsky kurz vareni. Prnvi zastavka na ceste do skoly, byla na mistnim trznici, kde nam nas kuchar ukazoval hlavni ingredience a vysvetloval rozdily mezi druhy ryze. Pak jsme byli prevezeni do skoly, kde mel kazdy sve kychynske nacini a sporak. Oba jsme si ten den uzili a naucili se jak varit spoustu Thajskych pokrmu. Pote, co jsme se vratili Pete Skypnul svou rodinu a pak jsme si prihrali to, co uz se do nas odpoledne nevlezlo.
The next day we had a flight to catch to phuket trying to get down to the islands before new years eve. Everything went smoothly with flight, but we were a little nervous of how we were going to make it across to Surat Thani (another 5 hours) landeding in the midde of the afternoon, with nothing booked. Someone was watching over us though as everything fell into place wonderfully, we jumped in a taxi which took us to a local bus stop. The coach was waiting there ready to go and for £3 we were off to Surat the worlds most boring town but the gateway to the islands!
Dalsi den uz byl opet cas se posunout. Leteli jsme na ostrov Phuket, z ktereho jsme se jeste ten den chteli dostat trochu dale, blize k ostrovu, na kterem chceme stravit Silvestr a Novy rok. Let byl bezproblemovy, ale my byli i tak trosku nervozni, protoze jsme presne nevedeli, jak se dostaneme do pristavniho mesta a jestli bude sance odcestovat z ostrova v odpolednich hodinach (je to 5 hodinova cesta do Surat thani). Skocili jsme hned do taxiku, ktery nas vyhodil na autobusove zastavce, kde uz cekal nastartovany autobus pripraveny k odjezdu. Bez vahani jsme prebehli cestu, naskocili dovnitr a za pouhych 150Kc si nas autobus odvazel do pristavniho mesta (jednoho z nejnudnejsich mest), z ktereho budeme za par dni odplouvat smer Koh Phangan, kde nas ceka nejvetsi oslava Silvestra vubec!
To be continnued. . .
Pokracovani priste. . .
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