COVID In Thailand: Six Months On…

A few months ago I wrote about how the Coronavirus was affecting Thailand during the worldwide lockdown situation (Link here: https://sirlewisofclarke.wordpress.com/2020/05/12/quarantine-in-thailand/) So now that it has been around six months since then, I thought I would do a follow up post to keep people informed how things are over here.

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WORK

I’m not working here, so the work situation doesn’t affect me. However for many Thai people the situation is understandably quite brutal. any places worldwide are unable to operate until there is some kind of stability, so that will have a knock on effect for many local workers here.

Schools have recently opened, so teachers can now go back to classrooms again. From what I can gather they were originally doing classes on a platform called Zoom, and now they would have to wear masks in the classrooms. I’m not too sure though and would have to ask some of my teacher friends to get a first hand account of things…

CURFEW

There is no curfew anymore, and things are pretty much back to normal on that front. Things are subject to change, but for now life is similar to how it was one year ago.

The main noticeable difference is that the 24 hour fast food places like McDonalds and Burger King are now only open until 10 or 11. Other that most places have carried on as normal.

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INFECTION RATE

There are conflicting reports here. Some say there have been no cases within the country (as in not from abroad and under quarantine, but passed locally) for 85 days. However recently there has been news that 1 person got infected a few days ago.

A lot of this information is open to interpretation and it is hard to find a definitive answer, but overall the fact is that in Thailand there have been next to zero cases for over three months. If you compare that to other countries, that is nothing short of outstanding.

 

LEISURE

Most bars, massage shops etc… are open again. Understandably some succumbed to the financial pressure and had to sadly close down. Others seem to be just scraping by. It is sad to see for a country that relies heavily on tourism. I know that a large proportion of expats here are spreading their expenditures in local businesses as much as they can to try and keep these businesses afloat, which is all we can do really, as these are people with lives, families and bills.

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TOURISM

The tourist areas are like ghost towns now. As mentioned before there are expats supporting the businesses when they can, but we aren’t millionaires so our limited support can only go so far.

For people living in Thailand there are some great deals to travel around, and the draw of not being overcrowded actually makes things even more appealing, so there are people still vacationing in and around Thailand, although this number is comparatively minimal…

RESTAURANTS

Masks are mandatory in big chains, however in certain places these rules are slightly more relaxed.

That being said, I have seen people walk into places like shopping malls without a mask. It is unusual, but it does happen. A high percentage of people simply wear masks and get their temperatures checked at the door.

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QUARANTINE

People who come to Thailand are subject to a 14 day quarantine. There are several hotels you can quarantine (and by that I mean not hundreds, maybe a dozen?) and these range from 42,000 to 250,000 baht (£1,000-£6,000).

So even though it is well known that Thailand has a very low infection rate, don’t come here thinking this is a haven for you as you will spend half of the holiday (at the very least, possibly longer) in a quarantine hotel paying a large amount of money. I would wait it out before holidaying here. It will open up eventually, but now is not the time to book your holiday here…

VISAS

The visa amnesty (to stay in Thailand visa free) was extended to September 26th. It was also made clear that this wouldn’t be extended again, and was the time limit set for people to find their way back, so they could avoid a massive last minute rush.

As of now long term visas can be sorted within Thailand opposed to leaving the country (see below) so that has settled a few people who were unsure how to renew or get new visas.

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BORDERS/FLIGHTS

The land borders are still closed, so local travel in general is very difficult. That being said, there are limited flights to certain countries so the borders aren’t closed completely. For people who have no option but to leave, they also have very limited flights to choose from, and as most of you know unless you are flying to your home country there is a high possibility that your flight will be cancelled.

THE FUTURE

Some borders have talked about opening up in early 2021, but these are just rumours. As of now Thailand is closed off from the bordering countries by land until some sort of normality kicks in worldwide.

The same has been said for accepting ‘bubbles’ of tourists. Nothing is set in stone, so we quite rightly have to wait it out and see what happens over the next few months.

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Overall, Thailand is slowly beginning to rebuild and you can see in certain areas that it looks like the virus never even happened, however if you venture into the more touristy parts you can see the true impact. Also I’m sure there are many hidden problems that have happened such as a huge leap in unemployment. These issues were unavoidable, and I hope that Thailand has seen the worst of it now and will continue to keep growing.

 

 

Kuala Lumpur: Part 2 Of I Don’t Know How Many Parts It Is Going To Be…

I got back to Bullockcart hostel and said hello to everyone at the hostel. They were very surprised yet happy to see me back since I hadn’t planned on coming back soon. It was nice, but the hostel was very busy, which meant I had to climb up to the top bunk with my bad foot/toe. Oh, middle class problems…

I woke up and saw that there were some blonde German gym instructors in the hostel. Not only that but they were walking around with their shirts off showing me up with their chiselled bodies. The hostel temporarily looked like this Simpsons episode:

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…But I survived – and felt slightly motivated to work out more – then decided I needed to do something that day rather than sit around and do fah-kool. So I went to Chinatown and took a few photos of the temple there. On the way back I walked past a Beryl’s chocolate van and began to fantasise. Most people fantasise about other people, whereas I drift off and smile when I think about chocolate.

“I wonder where the van is going to…?” I thought to myself. Then I looked past the van and saw a hidden chocolate shop that was 100% not on Google Maps (Trust me, I would know…)

“EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!!!!!!” I thought as I wondered in, tried all the free chocolate on offer and bought a few items for other people, and of course myself. Productive day!!!

The next day involved The Batu Caves. I wrote about it before, so here’s a link, and here’s a couple of pictures:

Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur

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Then it was Joel and Raj’s last day in the hostel. Joel was going back to The Philippines and Raj was moving into a new apartment with some workmates. So we had one night out like lads do. We put on our finest clobber (I say we; they did. I was in tracksuit bottoms and a football shirt because I ooze style…) and hit the town. I’d love to lie to you and say we drank until 4 in the morning, but the reality was we went to the tourist area, got schwarmas, and, erm… went back…

Still a great night though since we had a laugh. I also bought a massive Malaysian Diary Milk chocolate similar to an Aero bar called ‘Diary Milk Bubbly’ beforehand:

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…so we all scoffed on that when we got back to the hostel. Joel bought a schwarma (Middle Eastern style kebab) for Julia – the hostel manager – as well. We had our feast, and before you could say ‘AEW reference’ everyone was out of the hostel and I was on my Todd…

I was sitting in the hostel by myself wondering what I should do next, then I got a couple of messages from separate friends saying they were going to be in KL briefly (not at the same time) so I went to see them. One was a girl called Kate whom I met in Macedonia a few years ago, so we caught up to see how each other was doing. Kate bought all my books before, so it was great to be able to chat about the books and not worry about giving away any plot twists. And more importantly, it didn’t feel like a sales pitch!

The other guy was an Aussie I met in India about ten years ago called Sam. It was nice to catch up after all these years and pick up where we left off. It is bizarre how our lives have both taken such different paths since we last met (He’s been living in Sweden with his girlfriend, whereas I have not been living in Sweden with his girlfriend…) yet we saw each other, had a laugh like we hadn’t missed a step, then went on our respective ways. I guess that happens a lot when you travel. See you in 2030 Sam!

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Unrelated photo inside the chocolate shop. Because sex sells, but so does chocolate…

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My toe was feeling a bit better, so I decided to go away for a few days. It seemed like the right decision since the hostel room was getting packed and everyone had staggered sleep patterns, which led to the lights almost always being off. I looked online for somewhere close to go because I needed to get back to KL in a few days (More on that another day) and settled on a place called Malacca, so that’s where I went. I said toodle-oo to Kuala Lumpur for the second time and was off to place number three on my trip. Funny really considering that I’ve been on the go for over a month, but that’s what my heart wanted so slow travelling in is. A far cry from when me and my mate Matt did France to Greece in 13 days…

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https://sirlewisofclarke.wordpress.com/2016/10/29/stops-7-8-and-9-nice-diano-marina-and-cervo/ 

Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur

Every so often some local person would rave about this place called the Batu Caves. I’d done some very dangerous caves before in The Philippines so I was a bit apprehensive, but in the end I decided ‘bugger it’ and went for a day trip, since I had nothing else to do and it didn’t involve walking too far…

I got to KL Sentral and took a train straight to the Batu Caves, It cost a grand total of 2.60 ringgit (50p) each way so naturally I gave them the money as frantically as possible in case it was a mistake and before they realised it.

I did take a while to get there, but that was only because I had to wait 40 minutes for the train to arrive. I’d already put my weird coin thing through the turnstyle so I couldn’t exactly go anywhere. So to pass the time I was studying the train map. I’d love to tell you that I could now smash an exam about the Kuala Lumpur train lines, but I think we both know that that isn’t true…

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So about about 30 minutes (I don’t know, I wasn’t paying attention, but lets just say 30 minutes…) I rocked up to the Batu Caves.

“Right, where the Finding Nemo do I go now…?” I asked myself as I looked around. Everyone else was not-so-confidently walking in a general direction so I thought I’d follow them, and aggressively blame them for no reason if it wasn’t in fact the way.

It didn’t matter because after 3 minutes of walking I eventually saw a beasty looking tourist attraction to my left, complete with a big ass buddha (or BAB)

“I’m guessing that’s the fella…” I thought confidently, and walked like a champion towards the steps.

After taking a few steps I was acting like a tourist until suddenly I was face to face with a monkey sitting on one of the poles, something like this:

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“JESUS!!!!” I shouted in jest as in moved my head back as if I was Tyson Fury dodging punches from Tom Schwarz.

After I realised I wasn’t close to death and the monkey didn’t give a shit about me, I headed up to the top of the steps and waltzed around the caves. I saw some gorgeous scenery and the raindrops coming through the caves added to the tranquility.

The steps coming down were a bit more challenging as they were steep, and it was raining. I managed to not fall down the steps like this and have Stewie laugh at me…

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…And I then ruined a few people’s photo’s by accidentally walking through them at the worst moment. “Incredibly sorry old chap…” I should have said in a posh English accent to charm them, instead I kind of blurted out “…OH! SORRY MATE!” in a lower class English accent…

Then I got the train back to KL Sentral and treated myself to a McDonalds. It’s only £2 for a meal out here, so I might as well take advantage of it while I can. I’m double cheeseburgering the shit out of this country…

 

Phung Chang Cave: Phang-Nga, Thailand

Museum…check. Random temples etc…check. Caves…? Some, but not all. So the new plan was to tick this off the list. Fortunately for me Phung Chang was very easy to find, as there was a massive statue advertising it right by the big roundabout in the city.

I parked up, took some photos of the RLB (Relatively large buddha) and HLAM (His little animal minions. but not these kind of minions:)

 

…then got on my bike again and headed towards the cave. It had another statue halfway up describing the legend about something to do with an elephant. I read it but I don’t really remember what it said, so let’s just lie and say it could fly. Yeah… it was literally the inspiration behind Dumbo, and I was seeing it with my own eyes.

So no, it wasn’t anything to do with Dumbo before I get sued by Disney, but there were a few elephant statues scattered around. Then I headed towards the cave. Maybe there was an elephant in there…?

There wasn’t, but there were a fuck ton of smallish elephant sculptures by the cave. I went through the entrance armed with the knowledge that not only was I by myself, but I had no torch on my phone, only a camera flash. So once I was in complete darkness I took a picture to see what was around me and took a couple more steps, hoping that this cave wasn’t going to be kilometres deep. Luckily my assumptions were right and it was just a small walkway, and approximately 200 metres later I came out the other side…

One of the flash pictures I took while heading through the dark cave so I could see where I was going

The other side had an opening where it was pretty much nothing, and for some reason people were canoeing down there. I walked up, pretending that I was bonkers enough to canoe into the unknown, took a quick picture and scurried away. I consider that a mild win…

And that was it actually! I have a feeling that the canoe thing was part of a tour group thing as there was no way I could go on them even if I wanted to. And looking online it seems to advertise a 2 day Phang Nga tour for 7,500 baht (currently around £180 per person) so I’m guessing there was much more to see at the end of the canoe trip.

I on the other hand didn’t pay a penny. It was completely free! There seems to be a lot of free things to do in Phang-Nga. Possibly to attract more tourism to the area. At the moment it s a great place to relax for a few days. There is not much to do other than these little excursions and of the James Bond Island tour. I was with my family, so I could stay for longer. But for travellers I would recommend 4 or 5 days maximum, have a great time then go to somewhere else. I have a feeling it will be a great place to stay for a while in the future, but it’s not there yet.

Royal Park Rajapruek, Chiang Mai, Thailand

I went here about four weeks ago and completely forgot to post about it!! Basically a friend of mine blogged about this place and I was completely unaware of it, so I spoke to him and found out more about the place. And on my day off I decided to venture out in search of this legendary place…

It’s about a 20 minute bicycle ride from where I’m living at the moment. Keep going south from the square and head towards a big ass temple called Doi Kham. It’s just at the bottom of that hill, near a well known restaurant called Good View.

…Or so I thought; I went past Good View and was cycling around all these tiny streets where there was not a person in sight. I asked a few people where it was in Thai and they looked at me blankly, so I accepted the fact I was going to die and planned my will…

No need though! As after 20 minutes at swearing in English and Italian I found a Thai woman who spoke French (as you do…), and she told me the directions of how to get there in French. Thanks GCSE French, I knew you’d come in handy one day!!!

I got there and because I had a work permit it only cost me 100 baht (just over £2) to get in when it should have been 200. I wondered about and saw lots of nice flowers. I smiled and pretended to know what type of flowers they were, then I headed to the right in search of greatness…

I didn’t find greatness, but I did find a museum about Thailand honouring the King. So I paid my respects and did a lap around the museum. Then once I’d learned a bit more about Thai culture I carried on to the right.

Then as I was wondering around I saw a sign. Not this sign from Ace Of Base though:

…Anyway, I saw a sign that said ‘South Sudanese garden’. “What the flickenspiel…?” I thought to myself as I walked around it. It made absolutely zero sense being there amongst all the Asian style flower arrangements, so I did what most people would do in this situation and shrugged my shoulders, took a few pictures then exited slowly whilst saying “Nooo…no…” Like Consuela from Family Guy…

Turns out that they had an international garden for 30 different countries, however they had put the South Sudanese garden in it’s own little area for maximum confusion. I found the rest and took pictures of all of them feeling like an absolute fucking champion. My favourite one was the Japanese garden

“What the bejeebus is that…?” I thought as I waked around the corner. There was a big old temple surrounded by a moat of sorts. I took pictures, ran up the steps and possibly sang Watford songs before heading back to recharge as it was painfully hot outside. Coupled with the fact I’d cycled there I was cream crackered…

I got a iced cocoa and nearly fell asleep listening to the live music. Then as I got back I went to the shopping mall and bought myself a bar of Swiss chocolate with the money I’d saved from the half price ticket I’d got. I celebrated by dancing like James Acaster when he listens to George Harrison:

 

And that’s it! Have another picture, because fuck it, why not? And thanks Frank for making me aware of this bad boy…

Mae Hong Son Trip, Northern Thailand – Day 2

Started off the day being an old focker and fed the fish in the lake, then it was time to venture off to the local market and try this random dish for breakfast. I didn’t have a name, I was only armed with a picture that a friend of mine originally from Mae Hong Son had sent me…

I bowled it over to the market, showed the picture to someone and said in my best Thai accent, “Er… That!”. They laughed, then freestyled that it was only a morning dish (it was 12:30, don’t judge, send me chocolate. I prefer that more than money…) and that the lady that made the dish had gone home.

Which meant I wasn’t going to try this dish or even find out what it was called. So I did the responsible thing and gave up, then walked to the bus station to find out when the buses left to go back to Chiang Mai the next day. About half an hour in I was sort of lost, so I thought I’d strategically regroup by eating some Thai food, downing some water and hiding from the sun. It was as dramatic as it sounds…

After some unexpectedly spicy noodle soup for 35 baht (75p) I eventually found the bus stop. I did see a few little places to stop along the way that I could see on the way back. I took photos, would you like to see them? Of course you fooking wouldn’t, but I’m going to show you anyway…

On the way back I was getting tired. Fortunately for me some random girl pulled up next to me on a motorbike and asked where I was going. All my instincts told me it was a scam but I was tired, and it was the first time a girl spoke to me unprovoked since records began. So I ignored all my instincts and got on the bike, hoping she wasn’t going to drug me and take a minimum of one kidney…

She dropped me off where I asked, waved goodbye and drove off. I celebrated with a Magnum bar (the ice cream that tastes like victory…) and went back to my room to catch up on emails. Then the evening was afoot…

I bought an Xmas pressie for my nephew. Sold! Then chomped on a pizza as I was on holiday. It wasn’t that good, but I pretended it was because I was on holiday! Then I went to the bar I went to the night before (See last post https://sirlewisofclarke.wordpress.com/2018/10/07/mae-hong-son-trip-northern-thailand-day-1/) bought a coke and invaded the pool table.

Half way through my first game some over energetic Thai guy came up to me and challenged me to a game. He was very good, and beat me more often than not. Also every time I potted a ball he would scream wildly and start shouting how good I was. It was so distracting in a hilarious way, and I couldn’t help but laugh whilst trying to concentrate between shots.

After multiple games I trundled home, packed and got ready for the long old bus trip home. That’s all folks! Have another picture to distract you from the fact I don’t know how to end this blogpost…:

Mae Hong Son Trip, Northern Thailand – Day 1

A casual walk around Mae Hong Son for the day, how hard can it be…?

Oh Lewis you sexy but naive bastard, how wrong you were…

The plan was to get up early (and when I say early, I’m 100% lying to you…) get some breakfast, explore for a bit, then celebrate with a cheeky plate of pasta for lunch. I’d set out a vague plan to see a few sights in the town, then end it all by going up to the temple on the hill. I’d scouted the route on Google Maps and decided that everything could be done in an hour.

Cleveland, did everything go to plan?

…And I’ll tell you why you beautiful people; the temples and war memorials were easy enough to spot, I even saw a cool little football stadium of sorts which made me smile, but for the temple on the hill that was a bit of a palaver…

Tell me why! (ain’t nothing but a heartache…)

Well, I found the entrance at the bottom of the hill, then to the right was a small temple, followed by a load of steps that led to seemingly nothing (see first picture). So in true Lewis fashion I went up the steps to see what was up there. About halfway up I realised that this was in fact a fucking terrible idea. I was exhausted, sweaty, and not even anywhere near the top. I stopped to take photos pretending that this was my plan the whole time, then slowly trundled up the steps to the top.

There was a tiny shrine there and nothing else. “Are you bloody kidding me?” I thought angrily as I looked down how far I’d come up a load of broken steps to see seemingly nothing. There was a walkway to the right partially blocked off, so I thought as long as it wasn’t dangerous I could navigate my way through there and see where it went…

Yeah… Turns out I was on an old monks trail that was incredibly steep all the way up. At least I knew this was leading to the temple. Well, I hoped. I had no idea where I was going to be honest apart from up.

By now I could easily see the entire runway for Mae Hong Son airport. I was expecting just to see a small A4 sign at the top saying: ‘DA-NUH!!!’ when I got to the top, but fortunately for me after several more windy paths I came to the temple, and a few more steps later I made it to the viewpoint. Pictures and shit are provided below:

I took the road (the normal way) on the way back down. This was far easier to be honest but I was happy I took the route I did because otherwise I would have never have known about the long ass trail up the steps, which looking back at it was pretty cool even if it wasn’t at the time…

I celebrated with my pasta, it was a solid four out of ten. I couldn’t complain about the price though so I wolfed it down then wondered to the direction of my hotel, which was very close to the lake. More pictures you didn’t ask for:

In the evening I bought some bread to feed the fish in the lake, then I saved some so I could do it again in the morning (I know, savvy bastard…). Then I grabbed some dinner at a poshish looking restaurant so I could try some of the local Shan food. Shan people are the people in this particular area, which is in north west Thailand right by the Burmese border.

I asked the waiter what he recommended and he recommended that I get the fuck out. Not really, he said a couple of Shan dishes and I ordered them. First some Shan style poppadoms with salsa, then a vegetable curry called ‘oop’ which was much higher than four out of ten! I couldn’t finish the massive plate of poppadoms, and the grand total for everything including a drink was 150 baht (£3, or $5)

The beasty Shan style poppadoms

The next plan of action was to go out in search of life, and possibly a female. I eventually found a bar with some lovely ladies. They didn’t speak English, so I thought I’d impress them with my Thai. Unfortunately they gave zero scheisses, and I headed upstairs to where the pool table was.

I challenged some random Thai guy. He loved the fact I could communicate with him in Thai. I told him how great Watford were as we traded games. I wanted to stay longer but the drinks were pretty expensive so I called it a night. Then I went back to my room and did Lewis things until I fell asleep…

So that’s it! Thanks for reading and day 2 will be up soon, hopefully in a few days.

Phang Nga Holiday! Part 8, The Heaven And Hell Temple

The final part of this adventure involves me going to a temple thinking it would be pretty meh and then saying to the world it was ‘slightly above meh’. However I was pleasantly surprised how interesting this temple was.

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Strictly speaking, this isn’t your traditional temple of a big building made of gold and with typical Asian architecture. Wat Thamtapan is more of a holy building with multiple sculptures of animals and deformed humans. The story behind it (As in: ‘What my mum told me’…) is that the temple is split into two parts; heaven and hell. And I assume was built to deter people from murdering each other with machine guns or hip hop dance moves…

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So I went off to explore the temple. As I walked in I wasn’t expecting much. Then again, that is normally the best way. You normally get disappointed the most when you expect something to be good, then are disappointed to find out it isn’t the best place you’ve ever been to (The Taj Mahal is a prime example of this: Sure, it’s majestic, but you expect it to be the best thing you’ve ever seen in your life because you’ve built it up. But when you see it even though it is beautiful you can’t help but feel a little bit disappointed.).
So I expected little, went to explore anyway in case I was wrong and saw this:

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BOY, I LOVE IT WHEN I’M WRONG!!!

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First of all there were all these random animal statues. I stared at them pretending to be an art connoisseur, slowly lifted my glasses and sighed “…Adequate…” Then I turned around and was greeted with could only be described as some people from a council estate on a stag do, complete with the messed up tongues…

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“This is what happens to you if you are naughty…” I could hear my mum telling my eight year old self. The statues seemed to be constantly begging for change. I muttered, “I DON’T HAVE ANY CHANGE!” Like Randy from South Park, giggled to myself and carried on walking to the left, where I was greeted with a beast of a dragon…

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You could walk in and through the dragon usually, but that day the door was locked. At first glance it looks like there’s a lady at the entrance but that was in fact a statue blocking the entrance way, which I thought was pretty cool.

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Finally I spent a good ten minutes exploring the rest of the temple. There was a big old Buddha statue with a smile on his face that suggested he was enjoying a bit of GTA, a mesmerising golden statue and a nice rock feature with various carvings and things.

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I left and grabbed some lunch. Again, the Thai people there were in shock when I spoke to them in Thai. I ordered a chicken fried rice with a fried egg on top and it was bloody huge! So big in fact that I only ate half of it. I normally eat quite a lot as well but this dish really defeated me, and for 50 Baht (£1) as well! Hopefully they gave the leftovers to the stray dogs and didn’t throw them in the bin. I’d hate to think they wasted food…

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And that’s it! My whole Phang Nga trip spread out into eight whole posts! I want to say thank you to my mum and stepdad for looking after me, and I did feel a bit guilty being spoiled for ten days straight. Hope to see you soon, whether it is back in Phang Nga or here in Chiang Mai…

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A Good Life Lesson:

You can be a slut if you want to, but if you do act like one watch out for…

Wat Doi Kham

My mum’s in town, so we’ve been doing all the touristy things that I did many moons ago and groan whenever I have to do them again. Fortunately for me we came across a place that I hadn’t been to yet. More specifically, Wat Doi Kham, literally translated as The Golden Mountain Temple.

The temple is at the top of a hill, so naturally the entrance is at the bottom of the hill wishing you good luck. There are two ways to the top; you can walk up there like a champion or you can take a windy road and drive up to the top if you are the kind of person who buys their way to success…

We had a taxi, so we drove up. Half way there I could already smell the jasmine in the air. …Actually, I was told by people that I would be able to, only I didn’t know what jasmine smelt like (I’ve never had a girlfriend called Jasmine, nor am I the kind of guy who likes to sniff people on a night out, so how would I know?) Anyway, I smelled something that smelled nice and deduced that was in fact jasmine going up my nose. Dirty bitch…

Anyway, we got to the top and was immediately greeted by a 17 metre high Buddha statue. I took pictures of it and pretended I wasn’t intimidated by its sheer size before shuffling over to the elephant statues. Then I wandered around until I got to the viewpoint by the temple, which overlooked the whole of Chiang Mai.

By the viewpoint was an array of steps to the bottom, which using my superhuman ability to think outside the box I figured out was the final part of the walking entrance. I walked to the bottom counting the steps because that’s what cool kids do. I kept my concentration doing the difficult task of counting one number at a time and was pretty chuffed with myself when I got to the bottom. “One hundred and eighty two…” I said to myself in a satisfied manner. Then I looked down to see “182 steps” engraved into the concrete right by the start of the steps. Brilliant…

As you can see by the pictures there are two Naga serpents on either side of the steps to the top. These are commonly mistaken for dragons, simply because you think of Asian culture, you think of the beautiful dragon statues that are scattered around Asia.

We stayed for about half an hour overall. It’s not a well known temple by any means, but still well worth a visit. There are ample things to do here and you can grab some food or buy souvenirs from the local stalls. If you get a chance to visit, enjoy yourselves. You won’t regret it. Unless you hate the smell of Jasmine, then you probably will regret it…