First few days not in the Hospital

Thailand is as I remember it. Hot, humid and full of people. 

The cities are full of westerners trying to experience the real Thailand, by wearing fisherman trousers flip flops and t-shirts while staying in their 4 star resorts with pools and all the western luxuries you can imagine. Night markets are the same… but worse. Full of farangs, making the whole experience cheap and tacky. With stalls tightly packed together, the small avenues of free pavement are taken up by the mass of white people looking for their quick deals. Flip flops 25 baht (25p), sunglasses 80 baht (£1.75p) and here they are haggling over small prices but yet not haggling over their £50 designer underwear, which poke unceremoniously out from their very low rider trousers.

            Despite of all of this night markets do have an undeniable beauty to them. If you can find the right market in the right city you are greeted with strange and obscure objects. In one of these markets, full of only Thai people, had, hidden in the back a law office. Behind all the cloths, the singing fake birds and the canteen was a huge sign stating that it was indeed a law office. This surrounded by the canteen makes for a fantastic setting for a cheap meal. Looking at all the vendors selling the same combination of rice meat and noodles. Choosing one of these was not difficult as in all but 1 of the 5 had a seemed to have multitude of ants running around their food. Choosing the cleanest and ant free vender, and going for the least adventurous meal I could think of. Regrettably the ants had found their way into the cooking area and into the fried rice. Ants are not too bad to eat. It’s just a shame they weren’t part of the meal. It was nice despite the ants; the market beside the canteen was full of strange and weird meats. The oddest meat that I saw was and still is what looked like a huge Cumberland sausage, although upon asking what meat it was, it turned out to be buffalo or what she said was buffalo.

            The stalls slowly started to shift into a furniture market full of gold leaf furniture, Buddha’s and large what looked like mug trees. Beautiful craftsmanship. Far too many chairs which have been chiselled out of solid logs. The ornaments were even more sublime. Tiny little Buddha’s probably no bigger than a pack of cards. Wondering left and right to find something western. Finding nothing but pets for sale, I stopped and watched these puppies in cages. These puppies were young maybe about 8-9 months in actually very good condition. But it wasn’t the puppies, which caught my eye, having geese fully grown in tiny cages. It’s difficult to say how I felt because of the difference in culture.

             I suppose the strangest thing was these string domes, which had cockerels in, dotted around the floor these cockerels were circling and squaring up to each other. A strange sight, but strangely striking. These birds were in their best plumage, vibrant greens and blacks. Dashed with pure whites and bronze, with some mottled blues to. Beautiful birds. It’s a shame that they are kept in these domes; you can see them all over the country, dotted around the high way and in small villages. Watching these birds for a good few minutes my eyes got caught by some women tossing some strange white and orange things into the air. Curiosity though that I should investigate. 

              On closer scrutiny these were ant eggs being separated from the ants. By throwing them up in the air and catching them in a colander, allowing the eggs to be caught below on a blanket then separated into smaller plates. This works up until the point that the ants escape find the places and try and steal the eggs back. It is funny to watch as the venders try and catch then and regain their merchandise. They spent much time catching ants as they do trying to separate them out, I don’t think they appreciated my chuckling though as many started to harangue me with fast and loud Thai.

            Of course this is the start of the insect market. Strange insects peering up from vast tables of pre-cooked locust’s, crickets and strange fried caterpillars. Of course the biggest and most popular insects to eat are the water bugs. There are several which have been opened to show their ‘lucky’ eggs. There are thousands of these eggs. It looks like CSI, the guts of these insects slatted on the table, the legs at unnatural angles to the body, disturbing but normal for Thailand. Deciding to try and embrace the insect eating something, which I could probably get my head round, I bought some fried caterpillars hoping they would be like French fries. I have no idea what I was going to taste. Selecting the fried grub to be eaten. The caterpillars were strange easily eaten but because they were so small. Not really tasting like anything but having a strange soapy tang after finishing them.

Adventure time

Firstly a confession. Please forgive me for my words of sin. I hate travel. I love new places but the whole getting there I find a horrid experience. Full of stressful situations and miss timings. But unavoidable.

Right now I am sat in my small little room in FAE's Elephant Hospital. It is nice and warm and my short has pretty much stuck to my back and front. Deodorant is pretty much useless and just a western facade I must keep up with. The room comprises of a bed a desk and 3 single and small cabinets. Simple and all that I need. I have no need for lavish room and fancy beds. Straw on the floor is more than enough for me at this point in time. The bird list may remain small for now I have seen at least 3 geckos scuttling down behind my bed as I open the door.

My first tour of the place was quick with many elephant and human names to remember. I fear my little grey cells will not cope with the task. Being a Farang I am sure that I will be brushed down quickly by the staff. Telling me where and when I can and cant be. None of this bothers me in the slightest.

I can not wait until I start in ernest tomorrow.

The rain weeks.

So my flat started leaking again this week. Its not the first time it has happened. If you remember the last time the rain was pummeling your face like Mike Tyson, then this was the first time the flat decided to abandon its usual guard. Instead opting for more aquatic pastime and showering me lightly with water.

With this new aquatic abode I still found a few days to pop out and have a few pleasant walks around the the Caldew have made the weeks a bit more bearable.

With the rain giving us much of our news it also played upon me to. I have recently bought my self a new toy. A beautiful 10 stop filter for my 14mm. It is a huge piece of kit for what is is. It is about 165mm square, barely fitting into my hand at full stretch. I spend a good few hours wondering up and down the river trying to find the best stop to take some practice shots. 

I stopped by the weir and though that it was perfect to show me what a 10 stop can do. So after setting up and getting my feet wet in the river, I pressed the shutter button and stood well back as not to interfere with.

This shot here was a long time around 15mins long. This gave me time to reflect on the river and the small beach I had found my self upon. 

'Beach' in the UK, I felt that it was a beach of inconvenience. Full of unruly pebbles and stones which try to upturn you and bury your face into its friends.

Trying to return for the next day was rendered impossible as work, lectures and worsening weather took its toll on, not only me, but my days out. 

The rain abated for a few days and I managed to sneak out between the brief flourishes of rain and gale like winds. This time I was on the look out for birds. Again the Caldew beckoned me to its muddy and slippy shores. The temptation this time was for Waxwings, having had them spotted in that direction. 

I mentioned this to a fellow birder in passing and he suggested that we take a look. The essentials, (basically a pair of binoculars each), grabbed and stuffed into rucksacks we started once more down the Caldew. 

Unofrtunatly for both of us the heavens had decided that we would not see anything that day, as the winds and rain had kept all but the most fool hard of creatures in the dry. So we were the fool hardy creatures along with a few cyclists, whom offered us valuable information on Otters and Kingfishers. Having told us that he had heard, 'A duck quack. while I was eating my pie. Out the corner of my eye saw it disappear.' We were not a lucky as that otter in finding something to see and then eat. Giving up the search of the Waxwings we walked back in the ever depressing rain.