In Quest of the Lark

Thailand, February/March 2022

(Click for map)

I've been doing Covid-time for the last two years now, and am finally starting to see a bit of parole time coming.

A few countries, including Thailand, have been opening up ever-so-slightly, and it's becoming almost feasible to get away from Australia. As such, I started to investigate and plan a Thai trip for 3 weeks in February/March 2022.

The trip is definitely possible, but there are a number of hurdles to overcome, not least of which is the Test & Go Thailand Pass. You have to apply on-line, and provide inter alia a vacc record, Covid vacc cert, insurance details, flight details, and booking confirmations for two SHA Extra+ government approved isolation hotels (for day 1 and day 5 PCR tests). Some time before the flight, I managed to get it all together and submit it, but was rejected because the hotels didn't seem to have the right communication with the authorities. After some hassle and stress, I was able to sort out with the hotels, re-submit the application, and get my acceptance and pass QR code just in time. One final step was, on the morning of my flight, go early to the airport, get a PCR test there, and hope I get a negative result on time before the flight, which I luckily did.

So, after all the preparation and hassle, on 24 Feb 2022, at 14:50, I was airborne for a mercifully routine and uneventful flight to Bangkok. There must still be a dearth of air travel, as the aircraft was anything but crowded, and I was able to stretch over 3 seats to snooze.

Into Suvarnabhumi Airport about 19:30 and easily through Immigration, my first task after getting some local money, was to find my transport to my Bangkok hotel. The compulsory SHA package is meant to include secure airport transfer, a premium room, PCR test on arrival at hotel, and isolation in the room until test result received. But the pre-arranged taxi never showed up, and it took considerable time and effort for airport staff to source and arrange alternate transport for me, and get me to my Pannee Lodge in the Khaosan area around 21:00.
At the hotel, a medical person came to my door and took a swab for my PCR test. I was to isolate until cleared, which would be mid-morning next day, 25 Feb.

Testing negative and out of isolation, I was now able to look around Bangkok a bit and arrange onward travel.

Incidentally, about drinking water, Thailand is not known for its pristine safe water. I'd brought my UV Steripen with me, and was able at all times to sterilise and drink tap water wherever I went. I sterilised gallons of it over the course of the trip, and never got sick. I never once had to buy a plastic bottle of water.

I had booked a flight to Chiang Mai where my day 5 PCR test was to take place, but the flight was on the wrong day. I tried and failed to get the flight changed. Plan B was to abandon the flight and go to Hualamphong Train Station to organise a night train to Chiang Mai. It was an interesting walk through the Chinatown district to the station. Bangkok has considerable new infrastructure and big buildings, but much of the city is little changed from my previous trips.

At the station I easily booked the sleeper train ticket to CM for 18:10 on 27 Feb. Outside of the station, I set out to walk back to my hotel. I was using a very old paper map of Bangkok and I took the wrong turn at Wat Traimint and went in the wrong direction along Charoenkrung Rd. Having walked a looooong distance, I finally realised my mistake, and had to walk all the way back, not getting home until about 17:30. I did look at the Chinatown markets though, still fascinating after all these years.

Dinner was at a street restaurant, good Thai food and reasonably cheap. A bit later I looked out along Khaosan Rd and found a bar for a large Chang beer. The whole street is incredibly noisy with many bars, each with gut-punching music and in-your-face bar touts. There seems to be too much competition for the smallish number of tourists; my own bar had about 1/2 dozen workers and only myself having a drink. Touts were pushing laughing gas (nitrous oxide) in addition to drinks and food.

Next day, Saturday, I took a rickety non-AC bus, basic Indian-style transportation but adequate, out to Chatuchak Weekend Market, where I'd been once before. The market is big but not unimaginably so. Being only a weekend market, it deals mainly with durables (clothes, accessories, jewellery etc, not meat or produce nor even nick-nacks or hardware or junk. It's not quite as curious or exciting or traditional as expected. Maybe the least boring part was an artworks corner, some interesting paintings and sculptures. After the market, I looked into the nearby Chatuchak Park, a pleasant grassy treed park with a pond and bridges. Quite relaxing there notwithstanding the nearby traffic noise.

Before boarding my 27 Feb train trip, I had time to wander out to my old stomping ground Thewet district, about a 20 minute walk from Khaosan, where I'd stayed often in the past. It was all very familiar, not changed much at all. The small market was still grotty but charming. Even the Sawatdee GH was still there, with, I think, the same woman sitting out front.

I later got on the train and settled in; surprisingly modern and clean train carriages. I had an upper bunk, which was quite comfortable and "sleepable".

The train arrived at Chiang Mai station on time at 07:10. I walked out of the station and onto the main road, in a significantly cooler morning than in Bangkok. I decided to avoid the Songathew touts and walk the 3 km or so to my hotel, about an hour. I easily found the Sleep Mai Hotel shortly after 08:00. Too early to check in, I could leave my bag there and set out walking another 2 km or so through the centre of the Old Town to the Chiang Mai Ram Health Centre on the west side. MY Test-and-Go PCR was scheduled for 10:00, but I got in about 09:30 and quickly got it done. I find it amusing that in the test-n-Go system you're supposed to isolate in your room until you have the test result, but unlike in Bangkok, where someone comes and collects a sample, here you have to go out to get the test and the room was not yet available after the test. They told me, "well just wander around the town a while....". Thankfully I did get my negative PCR result shortly after.

I explored the Warorot Market to the NE near the river. It was quite a large and varied market, more interesting than the Chatuchak Weekend Market in BKK. It covered multiple buildings and had meat, fish, flowers, foodstuffs, local handicrafts, clothing etc.

I got around to going into my maps.me app on the phone and was able to download Thai maps; now I can look up maps and locations there without having to be on-line; wish I'd done this before so I wouldn't have got lost on Charoenkrung Rd in Bangkok. I used the app a LOT throughout the rest of the trip.

Dinner was at the Chiang Mai (south) Gate glittering night market. I had a couple of bowls of Khao Soi Kai, Chiang Mai's signature noodle dish with coconut, picked vegetables and lime; good and tasty.

On the way back home, I found just to the south of my place a side street with several wall-to-wall bars and nightclubs. They were pathetically un-busy, just a few sexpats and way too many bored bar girls for the number of clientele. What's a sexpat? As described in Wikitravel: "Fifty-plus, bald, beer belly, stained shirt, lovestruck expression and a hairy arm wrapped around a girl too young to be his daughter." I didn't hang around there long.

After only one night in Chiang Mai, I was off to Pai to the north west. I could walk to the Arena 2 bus terminal, about an hour walk in the NE of Chiang Mai, and get a mini-bus there. I got a ticket for 12:30 on a slightly cramped and hot mini-bus, and enjoyed a 3-hour trip to Pai. There looks to have not been rain for a while here, the deciduous forest is shedding leaves, and all looks sooooo dry. Lots of hills and forest much of the way, and a lot of smoke haze; it's the burning season here.

Pai is unrecognisable from 1989. Then it was just a couple of streets, but now a city, and something of a hippy/backpacker destination. I walked around a bit to find a bed, and ended up a bit out of town nearer the river, at Sunny Hostel around 4 or 5 pm. It was a bit dishevelled and run-down looking, but comfortable and cheap. I got 2 nights here.
Dinner was downtown at the "walking street" and night market, many dining options and good prices.

When coming in to Pai, I had seen a big white Buddha on a hill outside town. That looks like a good walk as an activity for my full day in Pai. I set out along streets and roads across the Pai River, up into hilly country, and to a long set of steps going up to a modest but attractive Wat. Further steps led more up to the large beautiful shining "White Buddha". It was fairly hot and sweaty but manageable. People seemed to be surprised that I would walk all the way from town up here. The forest is deciduous with mostly fallen leaves and looks sooooo tinder dry. There was a good view looking back over Pai, but you couldn't see much farther because it's "burn season" and smoke from agricultural burn-offs make a heavy haze

Later that night in the hostel, Anne the owner was talking loudly to a couple of other residents, and she later told me they said someone had brought a woman into the hostel for sex, against the rules.

On 3 March I was again on my way, this time via songthaew (pick-up style mini-bus with side benches, mainly for local transport) for a 2-3 hour ride farther north-west to Soppong in Mae Hong Son Province. At the stop in Soppong in the early afternoon, a resident English couple found me and gave a lift to Tham Lod Village, about 8 km away, and to Cave Lodge. I'd been there in 1989, had thoroughly enjoyed it, and wanted to get back there. The original Aussie owner, John, was still there, and it was great to be back and to catch up with him on old times and intervening happenings. Cave Lodge is, owing to Covid, very under-visited at the moment, but still surviving and it's wonderful to be here. I would be here for 4 nights before moving on to Mae Hong Son, and looked forward to exploring old haunts and chilling out.

The first full day, I explored Tham Lod Cave, maybe a km or so down the river. It looked vaguely familiar from 1989. The cave was much more touristy now, and there were quite a few other people around, with guides with gas lamps. Not having my headlamp, I didn't go too far in, but saw a fair bit of interesting cave scenery. Lots of bat guano all over the floor. At the south entrance there were rafts coming from the other end and disgorging tourists and guides to explore the cave at this end. I went up into the caves here and had a good look around. Despite the flood of tourists, it remains a beautiful and impressive cave.

Other activities were mainly wandering around the village, soaking up the ambience, and exploring hills, valleys, riparian scenery and rural vistas outside the village. Much time was invested in doing membership secretary work on computer for my bushwalking club, developmental editing for Maggie's son's publishing business, and simply chilling out. Great place to relax.

After Tham Lod, I left to go on to Mae Hong Son. There was a bit of confusion and uncertainty about transport from Soppong to MHS. We believed a songthaew would come by around 11:00, and we arranged for a motorbike taxi to take me to Soppong. In Soppong, I started to wait around 09:40; I waited, and waited, and waited in the hot sun. Eventually a songthaew did arrive around 12:30 or 13:00, and I managed to get on that. After a slow start, it took a couple of hours to get to MHS, through hilly country and smoke haze. I sadly had to miss my bushwalking club Zoom meeting while on the road but, not being in a hurry now, I enjoyed the trip.

Into MHS around 15:30 or 16:00, I easily found my bearings with my maps.me app and found Friends Guest House by the pond, where I could get a basic, but adequate, fan room with attached bath. I had a couple of hours before dark, so after drying off sweat, I walked out across the main road and west to a hill on the edge of town and up a long zig-zag path and steps going up to the large hilltop Wat Phrathat Doi Kongmu complex. It was about a half-hour sweaty walk.

The Wat had two large white stupas, temples, various Buddhist statues and a magnificent view over the town and distant hazy hills, well worth the climb up.

Another bus stuff-up day to go on to Mae Sariang next day. I packed up at Friends, and set out walking the 20 minutes or so to the bus station in the south of town, getting there before 09:00. I was expecting frequent buses to MS, but was slightly shocked that the only buses (and no songthaews) appeared to be big A/C night buses to Bangkok with a first stop at MS, all leaving late in the day. The first bus was at 16:00, so I had to wait 7 hours for it. The saving grace was that I could find a space in the bus station with a table and power, and spend most of the day doing developmental editing for one of Maggie's son's manuscripts, nearly finishing the book by the time the bus was ready.

The bus trip was comfortable and fairly fast. Scenery was mostly hilly forest with a few towns here and there. Forest burns were still going on all over, sometimes seen right up to the road. I could see that the fires were quite benign, flames never more than, say, 1/2 metre high, and only burning the ground-cover leaves. Apparently the inhabitants have been burning like this annually for thousands of years, and would never let it get out of control. I suppose the main negative effects would be health-related risks from smoke.

Got into MS at 19:00, just as it was getting dark, and found a comfortable bed for 2 nights in Mae Sariang Home, a neat clean place with a pleasant woman who didn't speak any English but communicated OK.
Next morning, breakfast was a complimentary dim-sum from the next door bakery, and complimentary bread/jam, bananas and coffee from the guest house. Interesting that back home almost all bananas are Cavendish, whereas here, finger bananas predominate.

First task was to get onward bus info for my trip back to Chiang Mai tomorrow. I set out walking to where I thought the bus station might be, about 2 or 3 km north on the main highway. It was a hot 1/2 hour walk in mid-morning, but I found the station. The lady told me that the next mini-bus tomorrow that had room was at 12:00 noon, so I got the ticket there and then.
It was a longer walk back along the main highway to the intersection leading back into MS. At the corner there was a museum on the map; I looked at it, and it was a large traditional-style multi-storey building, but entirely closed up and empty, except for what looked like storage of parade-float accessories. No museum today!

Back into MS, I found my way down to the river and a walkway along the riverfront below all the guest-houses and restaurants; nice pleasant riparian scenes with shelter shacks, buffalo, etc. Not a lot of water in the river, a contrast to the floods in eastern Australia at the moment.

Next day, I was on the mini-bus and away at noon. The trip was uneventful; east through hills and forest for the first third of the trip. Smoke haze gradually lessened. Down in the plains, we went north toward CM through a succession of towns with very little open country in between. I was at the Chiang Mai Arena 2 bus station at 15:45. I settled on a songthaew to go into the city rather than walk the 3 km in the heat. I got off at Thapae Gate and walked to the south-central part of the old city, to the Giant Hostel. In the early evening I went out to the nearby night market near Chiang Mai Gate, where I'd been before. I had another Khao Soi Kai dish, a couple of cobs of boiled corn, and a nice crispy pork/sauce/rice dish. It was viciously hot and sweaty at night in the hostel, even with a fan.

On 11 March, I fly back to Bangkok. On the street a tuk-tuk driver caught me and persuaded me to ride the 3 km to the airport, better than walking in the heat. My flight was from 11:35 to 13:00. From the airport I could take a Skytrain to Phaya Thai station in downtown Bangkok, then nearly an hour wait for a 503 bus to Ratchadamnoen Rd near my Pannee Lodge hotel around 16:00.

As I have a few, but not many, days before flying back to Australia, I was wondering what to do in that limited time rather than hanging around Bangkok. I decided to travel to Koh Samet, the nearest accessible island. So I did some research/consulting to find out how to get to KS, and found a couple of options.

Out later, I had another look around Khaosan Rd. It was much busier and noisier than before, very crowded and really thumping now, maybe because it was Friday night, or maybe there was been a sudden influx of tourists. I was able to catch a bit of BBC news in the evening, but there was no news except saturation coverage of Ukraine.

Next day I was on the way to Koh Samet, aiming to stay there 3 nights and come back to BKK on the 15th. I was out on Ratchadamnoen Rd, where most buses pass by, around 09:00. It was only a short wait for a #511 to show up, direct to Ekkamai (Eastern) Bus Station. There I easily got a bus ticket direct to Ban Phe, leaving at 10:30. It was a pleasant enough routine 3-hour trip. We passed endless industrial suburbs, and never much really open country; always industrial buildings or towns around, not a lot of fields, etc.

Into the coastal town, Ban Phe, about 13:30, we were all immediately ovined into a ticket office near the pier, where the lady coerced us onto speedboats, saying that the ferry wasn't to leave for hours. They made me take a RAT test before I was allowed to continue. The speedboat left at 14:00 and was in Nadan Pier on Koh Samet shortly after. I had to buy a Parks Pass, good for 5 days, I guess because most of the island is in a park.

Having had doubts and reservations about the difficulty of getting to KS and back in my limited time, I was pleased about how easy and seamless the trip was. I was now free to start wandering and find a place to stay. Keeping my maps.me on, I navigated along the main street looking for a place and not finding anything good or cheap enough. It's a typical Thai town, but with lots of hotels/resorts and motorbike hire. Out the southern end of the town, I continued along the road above the beaches. After a km or two I came across Ao Phai Huts, somewhere between Ao Hin Khok and Ao Phai beaches. It was a bit of a run-down place, run by an eccentric-looking and talking old guy, but I got a basic but adequate bungalow with fan cooling. It was only about 10 metres from the beach, idyllic. After settling and organising myself, I almost immediately went down to the beach, had a good long swim in beautifully clear water, and explored up and down the beaches some distance.

Dinner was at the nearby Silversands Beach Resort in an exotic tropical setting. In the evening, as I don't have wi-fi in my bungalow, I went to the nearby Gecko Bar to have a large Chang beer, do some email/internet stuff, chill out and absorb the ambience.

And this DOES seem like a good place to relax for a couple of days; quite picturesque and tranquil. In the evening, the main sounds are the waves and geckos (a sort of gek-oooh, gek-oooh sound, maybe where they got the name), with the occasional barking dogs. It's hot but not unbearable. Skies are clear, but sea-humidity makes clothes slow to dry. I would spend much time swimming, sitting on the beach, wandering around exploring, having a Chang beer and doing emails at the next-door Gecko bar, chill out and absorb the atmosphere.

What followed was a couple of slow and tranquil days. The beaches, particularly the main Hin Khok beach, were lined with restaurants and bars, and an arcade-style shopping area near Nadan town.

In town was a "street food" soi (alley), with good meals at normal street prices. Attractions around town were inter alia a small lily-covered pond, a Wat with a large white Buddha and, near the pier, a bronze sculpture of four pilgrims paying homage to a holy man of some sort.

To the west of my place is a road across the island about 2 km to Ao Prao beach. On a hilltop to the south of the beach is a "Sunset View" point with views over the sea toward the mainland. The beach itself is pretty enough, with a couple of up-scale resorts. It is also easy to find short jungle paths here and there to get a feel for the forested parts of the island. Notwithstanding the resorts, this island hasn't yet been overdeveloped like some others.

On 15 March, although I love this place, I have to get back to Bangkok in time to take another a PCR test (unknown how difficult or time-consuming) and start back to Australia. On a speedboat from Nadan at 11:00, 11:30 at ban Phe, lunch at a restaurant, on a mini-bus at 13:00, a somewhat slow and intermittent trip back to Bangkok (noticed that much of the land to the east of the city was swampy, and most infrastructure was on reclaimed land), into Ekkamai Stn at 18:00. I had to wait a while for a #511 bus back to Ratchadamnoen Rd in heavy traffic and long lights, and I was finally back at Pannee Lodge. By the time I'd had something to eat and was settled, it was 22:45, and I was tired from a long day.

On my last full day, I had to get my PCR test. The hotel people advised me to get a tuk-tuk to Thonburi Hospital, not far from Hualamphong Stn, around 09:00. There I found the test place and went through the rigmarole. I had to wait nearly an hour in line for the test. The test result is said to be ready by tomorrow morning, and I prayed it would come through on time. I was back to my hotel I think before noon.

In the afternoon, now having some free time, I found the Bang Lamphu Museum (Banglamphu is the immediate district around where I'm staying) near the waterfront. It was free but not a lot in there except a written history of the district, some treatises on brick making, and a low wall of imitation bricks to illustrate. Next door was a small park with the 18th century white octagonal multi-storey Phra Sumen Fort. On from there, I followed a street near the waterfront and explored the historical district with all the big Wats, Grand Palace, Saranrom Park, the big oval, and the low-key but mildly interesting Amulet Market.

17 March, and I'm on the plane back to Sydney. To my great delight, the results of my PCR test came through in the morning, I could complete my Australia Digital Passenger Declaration (DPD) on-line, and I was set to leave.

I checked out and left Pannee just after 11:00, on bus 503 around 11:15, quick to Phaya Thai Station ~11.30, Skytrain at 11:45, and at Suvarnabhumi Airport sometime after noon.

I converted my spare Baht into AUD, had a bit to eat and drink, and was boarded and airborne at 15:55.

Over 1 hour to a brief stop in Phuket. Arrived Sydney 07:15 on 18 March. Immigration is now all automatic with e-read passports, no human until customs checks. Onto train and bus, and home ~09:05. All OK. The whole trip back was super easy and hassle-free.

Good to be home.

Now to start planning my trip to Canada for around the end of April.