After a few days spent relaxing in Laos, we were back to Thailand for a few days to see a bit of the North and then make our way down to Bangkok to get our visa for Myanmar. Ah sure the craic was mighty!
Udon thani
Having made it across the Laos/Thai border pretty easily we were dropped off in the evening in the random town of Udon thani in the North East of Thailand. We were greeted by lashing rain and tuk tuked it to the second bus station further outside the city> Once we arrived we received the devastating news that there were no more buses left that night going to Chang Mai in the North West of the country. That meant we would have to wait an extra 24 hours in the town, of which we knew feck all about. But it turned out grand! We went back to the city centre and found a fairly cheap hotel for the night, which happened to be situated right beside a huge shopping centre. Like staying in the Shelbourne hotel opposite the Stephen’s Green shopping centre back home! Fast food was the consumption of choice for the Boys in Green and we visited the local night market after before having an early night.
Udon thani
Having made it across the Laos/Thai border pretty easily we were dropped off in the evening in the random town of Udon thani in the North East of Thailand. We were greeted by lashing rain and tuk tuked it to the second bus station further outside the city> Once we arrived we received the devastating news that there were no more buses left that night going to Chang Mai in the North West of the country. That meant we would have to wait an extra 24 hours in the town, of which we knew feck all about. But it turned out grand! We went back to the city centre and found a fairly cheap hotel for the night, which happened to be situated right beside a huge shopping centre. Like staying in the Shelbourne hotel opposite the Stephen’s Green shopping centre back home! Fast food was the consumption of choice for the Boys in Green and we visited the local night market after before having an early night.

We were up mid-morning the following day and checked out. We had about 8 hours to kill so headed off to the shopping centre and had some healthy breakfast before going to the cinema to see Spiderman 2…Ah Thai culture! While in the cinema had a strange old experience when we all had tostand for a 3 minute video for the King of Thailand followed by the National Anthem. We were the only single Westerners in town, so got a fair few waves to help boost the confidence. The only other Westerners seemed to be men in their 40’s with Thai wives. They must have wondered what the feck we were doing in this part of Thailand altogether! After some Pad Thai in the evening we were off to the bus station and hopped on the bus for Chang Mai.
Both of us were up at 7am, grabbed some breakfast and then hit the road with our tour guide Jacky. Jacky was still absolutely locked from his night’s antics the night before so we were a bit wary early on but he turned out to be a nice guy. His joint while driving really sobered him out. First stop was the Elephant sanctuary when we got the chance to feed, ride (not that type) and bathe the elephants. Kev and I got a ride atop of Nelly who was as mad as a hatter. After a big feed it was on to a large waterfall where we got the chance to jump in from about 10 metres which was good craic. The dropped us off for some bamboo rafting shortly afterwards which was pretty easy going and would have been more fun with a beer or two. We arrived back to the hostel around 5pm and had some food before debating whether to go out or not. We decided to order a banana smoothie and see where things went….We all strolled in at 4am after a serious boogie down the local. Word of warning: Don’t let banana smoothies dictate your night.
We were fairly shattered the next day and decided a McDonald’s breakfast might save the day. Always a bad choice! We killed the day playing pool back at the hostel before boarding the bus at 6pm for an overnight run to the capital.
Bangkok
We arrived in to Bangkok at 5am fairly tired after we got very little sleep on our bus which resembled a karaoke bar. So we got our bags and walked to the hotel, checked in and got a few hours shut eye before heading to the Myanmar embassy at 9am. After much bartering with taxi drivers we eventually made it to the embassy only to find out that it was closed for some bank holiday. Body blow. We checked online afterwards and it turns out they have 22 bank holidays a year! Ah here! That left us with only one more day to get the visa, so all our hopes were pinned on Tuesday. So we headed back to the hotel just as the heavens opened, so not much was achieved. In the evening we went for some dinner with some Israeli friends and then out for some beers and dancing. We were all tucked up pretty early as we couldn’t risk not making the embassy early the following day
That said we still had heavy heads when we arose at 8am, got some breakfast and grabbed a taxi to the embassy. And it turned out to be one of those days. The queue was miles long and the visa system seriously outdated. Eventually we got our application in and were told to come back a few hours later, which we did after some lunch and finally we had the visa in hand. We headed back to the ranch to pack our small bags with clothes and then leave our backpacks at a travel agent for the length of our stay in Myanmar. For dinner we found a cheap but decent Indian restaurant and headed to bed for an early one as we were up at 4am to catch the flight. After a quick sleep, we grabbed a taxi and arrived at the airport with loads of time to spare. Some breakfast in the bellies and we were off to Myanmar.
Bangkok
We arrived in to Bangkok at 5am fairly tired after we got very little sleep on our bus which resembled a karaoke bar. So we got our bags and walked to the hotel, checked in and got a few hours shut eye before heading to the Myanmar embassy at 9am. After much bartering with taxi drivers we eventually made it to the embassy only to find out that it was closed for some bank holiday. Body blow. We checked online afterwards and it turns out they have 22 bank holidays a year! Ah here! That left us with only one more day to get the visa, so all our hopes were pinned on Tuesday. So we headed back to the hotel just as the heavens opened, so not much was achieved. In the evening we went for some dinner with some Israeli friends and then out for some beers and dancing. We were all tucked up pretty early as we couldn’t risk not making the embassy early the following day
That said we still had heavy heads when we arose at 8am, got some breakfast and grabbed a taxi to the embassy. And it turned out to be one of those days. The queue was miles long and the visa system seriously outdated. Eventually we got our application in and were told to come back a few hours later, which we did after some lunch and finally we had the visa in hand. We headed back to the ranch to pack our small bags with clothes and then leave our backpacks at a travel agent for the length of our stay in Myanmar. For dinner we found a cheap but decent Indian restaurant and headed to bed for an early one as we were up at 4am to catch the flight. After a quick sleep, we grabbed a taxi and arrived at the airport with loads of time to spare. Some breakfast in the bellies and we were off to Myanmar.
We landed back in Bangkok at around 3pm and swiftly legged it through immigration before hopping in a Joe maxi and making our way down to Khaosan Road. We had a quick look around for cheap hotels and found one pretty central. After some street food(delish but risky) we collected our bags from the travel agency and got nice and settled in. 2 minutes later we were out the door getting laundry done and then out down to the market for some last minute purchases. A big night was planned but there was some Buddha Day in Thailand so nearly all the bars were closed, so the Boys in Green had an easy night in after some more Pad Thai.
The following day we were up early to change rooms as the room had been an absolute sauna the night before. Once the bags were moved we were straight down to the Democracy Monument to do a bit of Irish dancing. Luckily we didn’t go 24 hours later as there were bombs and gunfire there with the protesters! Once that was recorded we snook into a pool at a nice hotel pretending our mate Smudgy was staying on the 3rd floor. Nicely bronzed we went for a nice Thai massage for half an hour. Our backs were in bits after once the Thai guys were through snapping us in 2. After a quick bite to eat we were out on the tow for our final night in Thailand. After a few beers in the hostel we hit our local and had an almighty night…we think.
We managed to make it up the following morning for the taxi to the airport. All checked in we said goodbye to Thailand with some local food. A lovely Burger King.
See ya in Hong Kong,
The Lads
We managed to make it up the following morning for the taxi to the airport. All checked in we said goodbye to Thailand with some local food. A lovely Burger King.
See ya in Hong Kong,
The Lads