Sukhothai and Chiang Mai

My first stop on the journey north from Bangkok was Sukhothai. Sukhothai was the first capital of Siam, founded by King Ramkhamhaeng somewhere between 1238-1257. It fell into ruins when the power moved to Ayutthaya in the 1300s. I believe there was also a big fire, and there may have been damage by the war with Burma as in Ayutthaya. Now Sukhothai Historical Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is dedicated to preserving the ruins. 

I spent the whole day wandering around the incredible masses of ruins. It was very sobering to think about the lives that have been led amongst these towering columns in a long gone era. 

My favourite was Wat Sorasan. This shrine is held up by elephant statues.

Wat Si Chum (Temple of the Bodhi tree) was another incredible one. The Buddah in there is known as Phra Achana which translates to 'the Buddah who is not afraid'. He's around 11m wide and 15m tall, and the building is barely big enough to hold him. 

To give you a bit of context of his size, this is me beside his fingers...

I ended up back in the ruins in the evening when a friend called me to a Songkran festival the locals were holding. Songkran is new year and traditionally celebrated by sprinkling water over people and sacred objects in a cleansing rite. It's now turned into a giant water fight of course, but the festival was about coming together and sharing culture and food and good conversation. We were welcomed into the fold with big smiles and nods, people eager for us to try their homemade food, snacks and treats.

The ruins were lit up, flags waved from the trees, people had traditional dress, there was a dance performance and even Miss Sukhothai was there with her beauty pageant tiara. The police too were asking us for selfies and sheparding us to good seats. An incredible experience to stumble upon!

5 hours further north is Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is a fascinating place. I stayed just outside the walls and moat of the Old Town and spent 2 days exploring the streets in between. Chockablock full of temples that you can just wander around at your own pace, blissfully quiet and empty except for the occasional monk.

They're often guarded by cool guys like these;

The only problem with Chiang Mai is that it is currently the most polluted city in the world. Current levels are around 330 micrograms per meter - honestly I'm not sure what that means exactly but it tastes as though there is a lot of dust in the air that sticks in your nose and throat making it difficult to breathe. There's a haze that lies over the city and sunrise/set is a circular orange blur that struggles to penetrate it. Most people wear surgical masks and I can understand why. Hopefully further north the quality will improve.

Things You Should Know About Madagascar

As I'm visiting so many different and diverse countries in this little corner of the world I figured I'd try and compile a sort of What You Need To Know list for each place, full of the random, the curious and the down right weird.

So lets begin with Things You Should Know About Madagascar.

1. Rice is all they eat. Rice. 3 meals a day. Of rice.
2. The Malagasy wear all of our old clothes. Go to a frip store and you can pick up Gail's shirt from Grandma Judy's Casino Night.
3. Your destination might not be far but with the state of the roads triple the eta. And make sure you're travelling in a 4x4. And that the clutch works...
4. If it has rained recently be prepared to walk/drive through rivers or wait 14 hours for the water level to drop. If it hasn't rained recently, still be prepared to travel through rivers.
5. If you're out of town don't expect a cold beer. There's no fridges. If you're in town and want a cold beer you'd better hope that the town has power.
6. Like the idea of paddling a dug out canoe along a river? Get used to bailing out water.
7. Don't be kind to a dog. Ever. It's very bad fumba. 
8. Don't point at anything. That's a fady.
9. If you commit a fady you have to buy and slaughter a zebu (cow) and feed the whole village in recompense. 
10. THB here doesn't mean Thai Baht but Three Horse Beer.
11. Malagasy people have an old deep seated belief that the AyeAye has it's long skinny middle finger so that it can curse them.

Check back soon for more Things You Should Know.

Bangkok

Bangkok is amazing!! After living in the wild for the last month it's drastically different being in the middle of a buzzing city. I'm staying just off the Khao San Road, which is a famous popular street with lots going on, full of bars, restaurants and people. I prefer Rambuttri Alley just around the corner which is a bit more chilled out. There are street food carts everywhere with people selling delicious food. My first night I just headed out and got really excited.

Started with the spring rolls, fresh passionfruit juice and then pad thai. It's so cheap and easy to get, there's so many choices!! It's great to munch just wandering and watching people passing by.

My hostel, NapPark is brilliant. They have a giant mattress in the lobby with lots of cushions so you can just lay down and chill. You're not allowed to wear shoes inside which really gives it a homely feel. There's either music or a movie on in the background, and giant bookshelves too. Rooms are really nice too. I'm sad to leave here. It's luxury, for only a few £s a night.

I've spent 2 days in Bangkok and I've explored a lot. Started out with the Grand Palace, home of the Emerald Buddah and Wat Pho, home to the enormous Reclining Buddah. Everywhere the temples and buildings are so intricately decorative it's incredible. Not just the temples, but shrines in every little nook and cranny. I went to Chuckachak Market, the biggest weekend market in Thailand that completely blew my mind. I'm buying a new wardrobe here, all the clothes are so beautiful and so cheap! Just got to be careful of luggage allowances for my flights!!

 Everywhere I've gone I've met people and we've ended up adventuring together. It's such a friendly place. I know pretty much everyone in the hostel now and I've been here for 3 days...

I love the Thai food so much that on my first day I did a cooking class. I was the only one so just me, the clef and a trainee chef. It was AMAZING! I learnt to cook red curry paste from scratch, tom yum soup (my new favourite thing EVER!), massaman curry and pad thai. I had to eat every dish too so I got crazy full!

For my last day in Bangkok I went to Ayutthaya, an ancient city that was the second capital city of Thailand. It was destroyed in the Thai Burmese war in the 1700s. Now the ruins of the giant temple complexes remain. It's stunning in it's tumbled-down-ness. The Burmese burnt the entire city to the ground and chopped off the heads of all of the Buddahs. Mostly it's all ruins but some parts have been saved.

This Buddah head was chopped off and left on the ground. This tree grew up around it and have lifted it higher as it has grown.

"Not who-har, Ass-caar!"

I'm back in Fort Dauphin again, with a couple of days left here before I fly north on my way out of Madagascar. I've got mixed feelings about leaving. Sainte Luce is such an incredible place, stunningly beautiful and full of wonderful people, amazing creatures and breathtaking places. I loved my time in the bush, though it was hard both physically and emotionally. I'm sad to leave, but I'm looking forward to the next leg. Already in town I've had a proper bed, a real shower and a pizza - what more can I ask for! I've had wifi again so I could contact my family and hear their adventures, and I can finally upload some decent pictures to make you properly jealous. So here goes...

Life on transects are always interesting, very varied. We might be crossing spindly bridges over rivers, forging through them, hiking through grasslands or dense forest, always flanked by the mountains in the distance.

This is the result of deforestation, open sandy plains where it's very difficult to grow anything. One of SEED's projects, Project Ala is growing trees to reforest some of these areas.

On transect we collect data about creatures we see. Some of them are fairly obvious but mostly they are tiny or really good at pretending to be something else.

This is the Ghost Gecko. He's incredibly rare. One of our guides Aime found him in camp and he seemed to enjoy chilling out on my arm. New tattoo maybe?

These guys hang out in camp. You hear their distinct chuffing hoot and the leaves bouncing around as they jump from tree to tree foraging. These are Red Collared Brown Lemurs, a family about 5 strong, and they are not bothered by our presence at all. Their favourite thing to do is munch on berries and then drop their leftovers onto our heads.

 Some guys really like to hide. This is a Tree Boa

Spot the chameleon? It took us a while of watching the lemurs before someone suddenly said 'has he been there the whole time?' 

We cross the mangroves on pirogues, dug out canoes that have seen their fair share of travel. We use 2 lashed together because they're pretty unsteady and we're pretty clumsy compared to the locals who use them for fishing every day. Paddling through the mangroves is an experience I will never forget. The greatest moment for me was seeing the Madagascan Kingfisher! 

The problem with using such old canoes is that they've had a lot of wear and tear! And I mean A LOT. Every trip water starts pouring in from new holes that we plug with the heel of a foot or a hunk of cardboard. And a lot of bailing out goes on. It is the sole responsibility of one person to keep the boat from going down. We often have to stop and get a group bailing mission going. 

One of our transects is on an island and we returned to the boats after a night session to find the pirogue almost completely under water! Once we'd finally got it river worthy again the journey back was mindblowing. Complete darkness with a clear sky and water so still that the whole milky way was reflected there! 

While we wait for fishermen to return with sharks so we can see what species they have caught we like to play Bananagrams on the road. Some of the fish, the tuna especially is HUGE. They carry them on hefty sticks over their shoulders and they often hang down to the ground, almost as long as the man is tall.

 We've been working hard to rebuild the nursery where we're growing plants for Project Ala. We painted wooden boards with a petrol-like sealant to prevent it rotting with and tie ravinala palms onto eucalyptus poles for the roof.

And then there's school. We teach environmental classes at 2 of the local schools, in Ambamdrika and Manafiafy. Hoby was a teacher before joining SEED and he translates for us. He loves music and he's written several songs for the kids which they sing at the beginning of each class. And by sing I mean shout at the top of their voices! We'll always play a game afterwards so the kids can let out a bit of their endless energy.