JUDITH'S THAILAND ADVENTURE
In late 2005 Judith Geppert, who is a desktop publisher with The Spastic Centre, took off on the trip of a lifetime to Thailand. Judith has a form of cerebral palsy known as Athetoid Quadriplegia but this does not slow her down.
Read about some of her extraordinary adventures in Thailand.
August started off in much the same way as any other month in 2005. The only exception was that this month I gave a talk at a Travel Expo for people with disabilities about my many sporting activities, and how I manage traveling in my wheelchair within Australia and overseas.
After the talk I was approached by an employee from Thai Tourism, who handed me a brochure on Thailand and told me to email Tom, an Englishman who operates a tour company called Adventure Holidays Thailand. I did this two days later, and it changed my life.
Tom along with his wife Malee, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis, have lived in Thailand for many years and traveled extensively throughout the country, surveying locations for their suitability as destinations for the disabled traveler. Tom has made it company policy to employ as many people with disabilities as possible; firmly believing in giving everyone an equal opportunity at success regardless of their disability.
After several emails and a phone call, I knew this tour company was for me. The people had the same belief as I do – Nothing Is Impossible.
So, I went ahead and booked an eighteen-day tour, which included three meals a day, 4-5 star hotels/resort accommodation, an English speaking guide and a wheelchair accessible van with a driver. I left Sydney on October 28 for Bangkok.
Let me say that footpaths and buildings in Thailand are not wheelchair accessible and most of the time I drove on the roads, which was very scary but I got used to it. The temperature was between 35–42°C each day.
A short list of just a few activities in which I took part:
BANGKOK
In Bangkok I visited the Wat Phrae Kaew Grand Palace, Wat Pho and the Emerald Buddha. This enclosure houses the huge ornate temples where the Thai royalty worshiped. The Emerald Buddha, taken by the Thais from Laos is housed here and there are also several museums here as well. I had to be carried into the inner sanctum to view the ‘Emerald Buddha’, just 40cm high and carved out of one solid piece of jade. It has a set of clothes made out of gold cloth, representing each season. (These are changed periodically).
Evening dinner was a buffet dinner river cruise, on board the ‘Horizon Cruise II’. This cruise was up the Chao Phraya River where I saw Bangkok by night. We passed many historic buildings and monuments including the Grand Palace and the Temple of Dawn. I boarded the cruise by driving my electric wheelchair up and down a ramp, which was placed very tentatively over the steps, enabling me to negotiate them. (I thought I would end up in the Chao Phraya River).
Chatuchak Weekend Market. This Market is pretty much the undisputed king of markets. The scale of it is unbelievable - it covers an area of 70 rai (35 acres), contains more than 15,000 shops and stalls, and has over 200,000 visitors each day. The range of products on sale is extensive, and includes household accessories, handicrafts, religious artifacts, art, antiques, live animals (which unfortunately are frequently caged in cruel conditions), books, music, clothes, food, plants and flowers etc. It is an extremely disorientating place with many narrow alleys and trying to drive a wheelchair through it can prove very frustrating. But I did manage to get around and spent about four hours shopping.
From the market I took a tuk-tuk - motorised rickshaw, back to the hotel. The tuk-tuks are so named because of the sound of their engines and are popular for their novelty value. They are occasionally faster than taxis in heavy traffic as they can weave in and out. Tuk-tuk drivers, like taxi drivers, mostly come from the rural northeast of Thailand and don't have to undergo any training (some would not even have passed a driving test). The tuk-tuk I was in ended up at the wrong hotel. Nevertheless I had great fun!
On the way to Kanchanaburi 150km west of Bangkok, I visited the Museum of Imagery. This is the equivalent to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in London. These breathtaking human figures with various characteristics, and replicas of important people are displayed in many sections such as The Great Buddhist Monks, Former Kings of the Chakri Dynasty, and One Side of Thai Life.
Then the Tiger Temple at Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua. This is located about 40km from Kanchanaburi. The Tiger Temple is a rescue centre for wild animals and the home of wild tigers, wild pigs, deer, antelopes, water buffalos, apes and a handful other animals. The tigers are taken out of their cage from 2 to 4pm and visitors can touch them. The monks have a few tips for when you are in close proximity with the tigers; do not make loud noises, do not wear bright colors or perfume and most importantly, never turn your back on a tiger! Tiger volunteers carried me out to a rock where I was able to sit and pat two wild tigers. This was an amazing experience.
At the River Kwai Railway, I went for a two-hour train ride on the ‘Death Railway’ from Kanchanaburi to Wang Po Station. The train left Kanchanaburi Station and chugged over the bridge on the River Kwai en route to Namtok Station. This is the last surviving train station of the Thailand-Burma railway in Thailand. Crossing over the world’s longest wooden span bridge, it snakes through scenic and thrilling natural terrain. It hugged the mountainside at a dizzy height over a river far below and crept over the World War II rail line laid on creaking wood-trestles. This route from Kanchanaburi to Namtok along rickety cliffside trellises gave me an eerie feeling for this railway line where so many POWs lost their lives.
At Namtok Station I was loaded back into the van and then visited the Kaweenchai Elephant Camp. Here I went for an exciting bamboo raft ride where the boatman paddled and steered the raft on a 30-minute journey through lush tropical vegetation including, quite appropriately, large stands of elephant grass, and past unspoiled mountainous jungle scenery. A short trip through an Elephant Village in the back of a truck and then I was transferred to an elephant for a 30-minute trek. These elephants are raised by the Karen Hill Tribes for working purposes. When not working, they are available to tourists to ride. The elephant trek went through a village where I saw children playing, women cooking food and men working in the garden.
I trekked up and into the forest at Namtok Erawan Waterfall. The Erawan stream is about 2,000m from top to bottom and about 65 km from Kanchanaburi. This 550-square-km national park is the site of the seven-tiered waterfall, widely regarded as one of Thailand's loveliest cascades. The mountainside forest setting includes dense bamboo groves, which support numerous bird species. Here I drove as far as I could in my wheelchair and then Noi, my driver, carried me up and into the forest.
After a 1km rough trek we finally reached the waterfall. He then carried me out into the cool clear crystal waters, put my life jacket on and set me free. I floated around in the pool below the waterfall and could not believe where I was and what I was doing. It was an unbelievable experience. After two-hours, Noi carried me back down to where I had left my wheelchair.
At sunset, I went for a Thai Long-Tailed Speedboat trip up the River Kwai, to where the Mae Klong River, Kwai Noi River and Hanoi River meet. Along the way I saw the floating restaurants setting up for the evening and the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery.
Read more about Judith's travels around Thailand.