Thailand Trip Post 8

January 5, 2015

              We woke up late-ish again and breakfasted on rice soup and fruit. We checked-out, but got to leave our bags in a locked room at the guesthouse. We would pick them up when we came back to catch our scheduled ride to the airport at 11pm. Our flight home left at 2 am, so we still had the whole day to explore.

              We finally checked out some Bangkok temples. Wat Pho had a pretty big complex that we wandered around and got lost in once. Then we figured out the ferry system and went across the river to Wat Arun. Wat Arun has a really old chedi (Buddhist stupa). You can climb up it for a small fee. So, we paid 50 baht to risk our lives scaling the steep steps/ladder to the top. Pretty awesome view though.

Wat Pho

These were scattered around the complex of Wat Pho and caused us to get quite turned around.

We learned through observation that Bangkok temples tend to have very decorative roofs and insides, just like the ones we saw in Chiang Mai, but the rest of their outside walls are starkly white.

We made friends with some temple cats.

The Wat Arun chedi

SUPER steep stairs!

I made it though!

     We also saw the Hall of the Reclining Buddha. He's a pretty huge deal.

       

I wasn't kidding about him being huge.

     
         We had planned on visiting a park full of copies of famous and old structures from around Thailand, but our guidebook informed us that it was closed on Mondays. Instead, we took an express ferry down to Chinatown. The friendly British man with the bus map yesterday had told us there was good food and cheap stuff to be had there. There was LOTS of cheap stuff. Narrow streets full of stalls and shops full of randomness. We ate noodles and roasted duck and I had chrysanthemum juice, because why not? It was very flowery and sweet. Unfortunately, we saw several bugs crawling around, so we booked it out of the restaurant and made our way back to the ferry landing.

              We saw advertisements for a River Walk, but when we got off at the stop, we found the place was brand spanking new, and most of the shop fronts were empty. We hung out in a café for a while and walked up and down the river before getting back on the ferry.

Here's a pic of our ride over to Wat Arun.

Here I am hanging out at the River Walk.

              We wandered up and down Khaosan road until dinner time. After dinner at the Elephant Bar and Café again, we found a massage place. This guy worked magic on my shoulders and neck, which always give me problems, but were extra tight from all the walking and carrying of things. Then we collected our bags, did a final check of everything, and waited for our ride to arrive.

Goodbye Khaosan! (No we did not, at any point, set foot in McDonald's.)

              The bus to the airport arrived on time, and after stuffing in more people and bags than legal or safe, we headed off into the night. We had no problems at the airport, even though everything seemed to be on a different level. Up for baggage drop off, down for security, up again for pre-gate waiting (which had no seats), and a final downstairs trip for the actual gate. The place was clearly built to be modern and cool, with all the chrome and glass and sleek lines and bright lights, but it`s not very well laid-out or relaxing. By the time we got to our actual gate it was 1 am, we had been walking outside all day, and we were exhausted and grumpy. Thankfully, the airport didn`t seem to care about our grumbles.

Here's a look at the inside of the airport.

 

Our sad, dead phones are charging away.

              We both conked out for the first part of our flight and woke up in Fukuoka. I didn`t ever think I`d be relieved to be in a place where I understood only half the signs and language around me. But it is amazingly comforting to be able to read at least half a sign, when you spent the last week not being able to read any signs at all. A brunch refreshed us and then we took turns charging our phones while we waited for our flight to be called and the last leg of our trip to begin.

              My trip to Thailand was awesome and I definitely wouldn`t mind visiting again, especially Chiang Mai. I highly recommend it!

Thailand Trip Post 7

January 4, 2015

              We slept in! And had breakfast at our guesthouse before walking to the nearest bus stop and trying to figure out which bus would take us to the train station. None of them apparently. After about an hour of waiting, and consulting with a helpful old British man who had a bus schedule, we gave it up as not going to happen and hailed a taxi. Once at the train station, it was simple to find the metro system, purchase tickets (black plastic discs), and find the Jim Thompson House.

              Mr. Jim Thompson served in World War II and joined the CIA. When he retired, he moved to Thailand and built a traditional Thai house. He bought traditional Asian art of all kinds, lots of it from China, and basically turned his house into a ready-made museum. He became interested in the Thai silk industry and helped to revive it and keep the traditional way of weaving and dyeing from dying out. He disappeared on a trip when he was in his 60s and was never found. His house was turned into a museum, with all proceeds going to help the silk industry in Thailand.

This lovely woman performed some traditional Thai dance. The finger movements feature heavily and are enhanced with long, claw-like finger pieces.

Part of the extensive garden around the house

The living room

Yummy appetizers

and curry

              After a turn of this lovely house, and a trip to the gift shop, we had a wonderful (expensive) lunch at their restaurant. Then, we headed out to do some shopping! We chose the MBK Center and it`s acres of shops. There was so. Much. Stuff. There was a whole floor of tiny stalls full to bursting with electronics. That floor was so bright and noisy we just headed right back down the escalator. Way too much stimulation. We finished our souvenir shopping here, as well as picking up candies to bring back to our offices as omiyage (souvenirs, usually food, brought back for all your colleagues). We stumbled across a shop that sold tins of Thai tea, so we could make our new favorite drink back home. Yum!

              Our main goal was the shoes though. Japan is full of cute footwear that is usually out of size range for our big American feet. Thailand, however, if full of tourists, and combines cute shoes, large sizes, and low prices to create a wonderful smorgasbord. I finally got new all-weather black boots and a couple pairs of flats for work and everyday stuff. We both ended the day with arms full of bags.

              The top floor of the shopping center had a restaurant called The Fifth. It was a very fancy food court. You got a card with 1,000 baht credit when you entered. You gave that instead of cash when you ordered food from the various places. When you were finished, you took the card to the cash registers at the exit and paid for whatever you had used. There were lots of options, from all different countries, Thai, Arabic, Greek, Japanese, steak, pizza, desserts, etc.

              We made the trek back to our guesthouse through a combination of trains, taxi, and walking. Tomorrow is our last day, and we have to check-out by noon, so we packed up our bags and turned in early.

Thailand Trip Post 6

January 3, 2015

              We were up at 6am for our tour to the Floating Market. We had fruit for breakfast while we waited for our pickup which was over an hour late. I had a bad case of motion sickness all during the drive out to the market. The bumpy, twisty road, and hot day didn`t help at all. I felt better as soon as we got off the bus and walked around a bit. Oddly enough, being in the boat didn`t bother me a bit.

              All the vendors at the market were very pushy. Which makes sense, since the whole reason we were there was to buy things. There was lots of physical touching and grabbing to get your attention, though, which was not welcome at all. And if you showed the least bit of interest in something, you were immediately entered into some sort of haggling conversations. The more you professed disinterest, the lower the price and the more insistent the vendor.

A look at the boats we were in

Here's what the shops looked like.

We're having a great time!

Some of the houses we saw on our short boat tour

              We picked up several trinkets here, magnets, little jade elephants, scarves, and finally got to eat some dragon fruit. Victoria and I checked out some of the shops on land and got to practice our haggling skills for some clothes. I ended up with a scarf that I talked down from 700 baht to 300 and a skirt that I got for a few hundred less than she first asked for. Having exact change really helps the whole process. The only reason we were able to leave at all was because our boat tour was starting and we had to run off. Literally. We had to run out of there and she was still calling bargains after us. The boat tour was run in a long tailed, motorized boat and we got to see some of the houses along/on top of the river.

              When we got back to the city (no motion sickness this time), we hiked over to the Grand Palace. After borrowing some skirts to cover up better, we got to walk around inside the complex and look at all the pretty sparkling buildings. Among the many structures and important things they held was the Emerald Buddha. Even though the place was huge, it was hard to move around because of the crowd.

This is one side of the complex. The place is massive!

Some guardians

Me, in front of some shiny building. It's probably important, but mostly it's pretty.

A diligent guard in front of the actual place.

              We napped in our rooms for the rest of the afternoon. When we woke up, we went out for a dinner of stir fry and pina coladas. The food was good, but didn`t have as much of a kick as usual. Or maybe, I was finally adjusting to the level of spice. Not likely! Our laundry was still drying, but looked like it would be done by tomorrow. Tomorrow`s plans included getting to the other side of town, exploring the Jim Thompson House, and shopping..

Thailand Trip Post 5

January 2, 2015

              Our taxi came early and we had no problem getting to the airport for our 8:30am flight to Bangkok. There were several points of security though, the first one being a quick scan of all baggage and people entering the airport. We had to check our bags, because the weight limit for carry-ons had changed, but we didn`t have to pay any extra, so it didn`t matter much. We got drinks and breakfast from the only place selling food and headed up to our gate to wait.

              The flight was bumpy, but short. The transportation system was pretty confusing. We were let out onto the tarmac and bused around to the airport terminal proper. Then there were several options of trains and buses, all going to different places at different times. Bangkok has two airports, and the one we flew into was the older one, far out on the northern end of the city. We eventually figured out which train we wanted, although it wouldn`t come until 11. We waited at the station and applied sunscreen and bug spray for the umpteenth time. The train was like something out of a movie. Sparse bench seats, open windows, and full of people standing and sitting in any spare bit of space, with other people shuffling through the crowd selling drinks and food.

              When we arrived at the end of the line, smack in the middle of Bangkok, it was midday and none of the taxis we approach would even consider taking us anywhere near Khaosan Road, backpacker mecca and the nearest identifiable landmark to our guesthouse. A woman flagged us down and convinced a dude to take us in his tuk-tuk. I was super wary of this, because, hello, that sounds like the beginning to a scam. But he took us to the end of Khaosan Road and let us pay what she had told us to pay (200 baht, which was way overpriced according to the metered taxi we took later, but not horrible on the transportation scale). It was a terrifying journey of clutching our bags, each other, and any part of the open back end we could reach while the driver zoomed in and out of traffic as if lanes didn`t apply to him. Lanes don`t really seem to apply to anyone in Bangkok.

              We walked down the busy street full of stalls, stores, hotels, cafes, and people and found our guesthouse on one of the quieter side streets. It was easier than I expected based on our map reading. We were about an hour early for check-in, but they let us in anyway. We dropped our stuff in our room, reapplied the sunscreen and bug spray and headed off to find something to eat, since it was 2 hours past noon.

              We wandered into an art museum that advertised a café, that turned out to only sell drinks, but the admission was free so we walked around. Saw some traditional and contemporary Thai sculptures and paintings. There was a whole room of stuff painted by a past king, which was pretty cool.

              When we left there, we decided to check out the large park that was supposed to be nearby. It took us several tries and risking our lives to cross the crossway-less highways, but we made it. It was large and nearby, but almost completely devoid of trees. Just a swath of brown grass. We headed back to Khaosan, as a sure place to find food and shade.

              After some shopping to pick up some of the ever present elephant pants, we ate dinner at the Elephant Bar and Café. I had Pad Thai and chicken and Victoria had a curry. They had a mix of foreign food on their menu too, so we got the mozzarella sticks, because we couldn`t resist deep fried cheese. They served their Thai milk teas in mason jars which made us laugh all over ourselves. The group next to us asked for forks after their food came, and we were immediately offered forks and spoons as well, but we stuck with our chopsticks. We were seated on a balcony overlooking the street, and the people-watching was excellent.

The view from our seats

Delicious curry

              We asked about the potential for laundry at our guesthouse and a few others nearby, but were turned away, so we bought some detergent at a 7/11 and did some washing of our own in our sink. Then, we chillaxed in our beds while watching Scooby Doo in Thai until we fell asleep.

Thailand Trip Post 4

January 1, 2015

              I woke up aching all over. The jarring elephant ride combined with walking all over the night before led to sore leg, back, and arm muscles. We had breakfast at Coffee Lovers, egg, ham, and cucumber sandwiches and Thai milk tea, which is the most delicious drink ever! Then we found a place Victoria`s guidebook recommended for massages: the Blind Conservation School. It felt good and helped a bit with the soreness.

After, we went to the Inthakhin Wat and Museum. The museum definitely needed some repairs, but it did have short English explanations of some of the pictures and artifacts. Then we headed across the street to the City and Culture Museum, which was also full of English explanations. We learned about the kingdom of Lanna and how they became part of Thailand. Basically, Lanna was attacked on multiple sides by Laos and Burma, so they agreed to recognize the Thai kings in return for support. Lanna royalty still held high positions and were mostly left alone by the Thai government.

Inside Wat Inthakhin

It had pretty roof decorations.

We took our afternoon break at Wawee Coffee, which had been recommended to Victoria for having really good coffee. However, we both stuck to milk tea. I had a piece of white chocolate cake, while Victoria had a slice of coconut pie. Then we explored some more temples.

The murals inside Wat Phabong told stories of the Buddha.

Giant lion stature, because why not?

Wat Huakhwang

Wat Huakhwang

I'd seen these in a couple other temples, but Wat Chieng Mun had an explanation in English. There is a different Buddha for each day of the week and donating to the one for the day you were born on will bring you good fortune. It reminded me of that poem, "Monday's child is full of grace...."

The Elephant Chedi at Wat Chieng Mun.

The top of the Elephant Chedi

Wat Lam Chang

              We had an early dinner at another guesthouse. I had yellow noodles in curry soup and Victoria ha Burmese pork. The curries here are deceptive. At first it was sweet and not very spicy, but it left a trail of burning down my throat. After, we went to the north of the city to see some of the oldest temples. There were lots of small, winding lanes to navigate through. We met a nice older woman, traveling alone and combined our maps and direction skills to figure out how to get to a couple of temples.

              There was a lot of walking and I was very tired! We ended up back near the Tha Phae Gate and the market from the night before was still going on, though not as crowded. We ate nachos and drank pina coladas at a place called Loco Elvis. Their background music was straight from the early nineties; it was fabulous.

              Once we felt up to it, we walked to the Night Bazaar, a nightly street market in the southeast side of town. It wasn`t much different from the market held in the Square on New Year`s Eve. We were both tired, sore, and grumpy at this point and bickered a bit, before finally heading back. We confirmed our early morning taxi pick up with our guesthouse manager, packed up, showered, and slept.

I saw this sign on the way to the Night Bazaar and had to stop and take a picture to send to Grandma Beth. Go Buckeyes!

We saw this car during our walk, and at first we thought, "Oh. Okay. A Mao car. Sure, why not?"

But then on the other side, it says THE REVOLUTIONISTS and has pictures of Gandhi and Che Guevara. Those are some diverse people and politics to throw together on one small car.

Thailand Trip Post 3

December 31, 2014

              New Year`s Eve! We were up at 6:30 for our elephant park adventure. We were picked up in another truck. When it pulled up, the driver said Woody`s, instead of Happy Home, but it turned out that they were the same place, a recent name change confusing matters. We sorted it out and were the first people to slide in the back of the truck. It had padded seats on its benches, but they were peeling apart. We spent about an hour driving around Chiang Mai, picking up the rest of the group and then headed off into the jungle covered hills outside of the city.

              This time our group consisted of a couple from the UK via Switzerland where the girl worked as an elementary school teacher, an Indian couple on vacation, a Danish couple with their two young boys, and an American mother and son duo. The son was working in Chiang Mai as a teacher. Teaching stories were exchanged.

              After a long, bumpy ride, we reached the park. We changed into swim suits and provided shorts, which tied around our waist, and long sleeved black T-shirts. Then we sat and had tea and learned some commands in Thai.

              Then it was down the hill to meet our elephants. Victoria and I had the only male, named Magnum like the condom, because he was so big. I sat in front, on his neck, with my knees right behind his ears, resting my hands on his head lumps. Thai elephants have two head lumps, whereas African elephants have only one, smaller head lump and bigger ears. So, it`s said that Thai elephants are smarter, because they have more brains! Their body hair is long, sparse, and coarse. Victoria sat behind me on the elephant`s spine, not a comfortable seat, and held on to a rope. This park didn`t use seats on their elephants to make it less painful for them, which freaked me out when they told us, because I didn`t want to be causing these animals pain.

My name in Thai

Some useful commands

Here's us on Magnum!

Here's a group shot after we got out of the river.

Here is the hill we rode down.

              As we headed off, I could feel his shoulders moving up and down and rocked with it like in horseback riding. I also squeezed my knees and thighs in conjunction with our spoken commands to help direct him, though I think the trainer`s commands and leg taps were the real control elements. The first part was slightly downhill and was okay. Then it got steeper and muddy. We were last and Mangum kept stopping to eat. I think he had the right idea. At the muddiest part, he stopped and Victoria started slipping off. Our guide chose that moment to be distracted of course. Victoria managed to catch herself and grabbed onto my waist. I was already tilted forward and braced with my hands on his head and couldn`t risk moving one, so I waved my foot and shouted “Hey! Help! Help!” until the guide noticed and came around. He helped push her back up and we made it the rest of the way down without incident. The rest of the trip to the water was flat and we had no problems.

              We rode the elephants into the river. Those of in the front almost got dunked! They swam down a ways and got back out. Then we finally got off! We took a group photo before walking (Thank God!) with the elephants back up the hill. Then we fed them bananas, got more pictures with them, and saw them off. We went back up to the bamboo hut where we had changed, rinsed off and ate. We had fried chicken, rice, tofu, cabbage soup, pumpkin, and celery. Another 2 hour truck ride back into the city completed our adventure. Overall, it was a good experience, but I don`t want to ride an elephant ever again. As Victoria said, “It was the best experience I never want to have again.”

We fed them bananas.

       We showered properly and rested in our room for most of the afternoon. About 5pm, we woke up, got dressed, and headed out. We grabbed a cold drink and appetizers (spring rolls and cheese sticks!) at 92 Rachamedeamon, which is both the name and the address of the café. Then we walked up the road towards the Tha Phae Gate. We wandered in and out of Wat Sumpow and Wat Phanon, both of which were hosting markets. We went through the gate into The Square, and found a giant market there, all sorts of cool street food and every kind of souvenir you could think of and several you couldn`t. We munched on coconut milk served in the husk and grilled corn on the cob while we walked along the moat. Then we went back for shrimp baskets, which we also ate along the moat. We saw several floating lanterns going up from around the city and decided to investigate.

Grilled corn on the cob, yum!

Giant prawns and fish

Walking along the moat

Wat Sumpow

Wat Phanon

We walked towards the nearest area they were coming from, down a street that had been taken over by the ever expanding market. We reached Wat Mahawan, which is where we realized you could buy a paper lantern and light it and send it off into the sky! We immediately did so. Imagine that scene from Tangled, where the crowd of people set off the floating lights? Yeah, we were in the middle of that. Basically. It was awesome!

Just inside Wat Mahawan

They were being sent off from all over the city and made the prettiest star-like tracks.

              We eventually made room for other people and walked down the street until the market petered out. We walked back up the other side, sipping strawberry smoothies and sugar can juice and eating meat on sticks. We also picked up a couple of knick-knacks and gifts. When we reached The Square again, we stayed away from the main crowd and instead joined the crowd walking along the moat. We took advantage of some open seats to take a break and have a couple of beers. Just before midnight, we went back outside and watched the fireworks go off (right in the middle of the crowd! Seriously, safety didn`t seem to be of much concern.) and joined in the screaming and the celebrating! We started walking towards our guesthouse, stopping for a celebratory first drink of the New Year and people watching.

Blurry fireworks picture

More blurry fireworks, with added Emma!

Happy New Years!

              A gecko, later identified as a spring tailed house gecko, joined us in our room that night. We didn`t see him come in, but he crawled around the walls for a bit and then went behind or maybe into the air conditioner instead of out the door. At that point we gave up and went to sleep.