Touring Thailand

Friday, Feb. 8, 2008

We left Kansas City in a blinding snow and ice storm and landed in LA. We met 2 of Conrad's sisters for dinner at Santa Monica.

Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008

After biking 18 miles from Venice Beach to Marina Del Ray and back, we boarded China Air for our long 13-hour flight to Taipei where we changed planes and flew another 4 hours to Chaing Mai where we checked into the Rydges Amora Tapae Hotel, ate lunch at Daret's, recommended by Lonely Planet (and our tour guide.) It was really good! We walked through Tapae Gate to the old city and strolled through some vendor stalls, bought some pashima scarves and went on a 90 minute walk around the old city.

For dinner we walked to the Mae Ping river to the Riverside restaurant where a local band was playing classic rock (a lot of Eagles) with an Asian accent! It was a lovely evening and our table looked out over the river. The clientele was only tourists. We had drinks and 2 dinners for under $20! We took a tuk tuk back to the hotel and called it a day.

Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008
Sunday we met Tawee, our driver for the day. We went to Wiang Kum Kam where they were just finishing up a festival so we got to hear the grand finale. They had been going all night and were just finishing up around 9:30 a.m. We rented bikes, and a tour guide took us around the ruins. The best one was Chedi Liam Temple, built in a Burmese fashion by King Meng Rai who had 60 wives. There were 60 Buddha statues to represent each of the 60 wives.


We ate lunch at Nangnual, a restaurant on the Mai Ping River where we were the only tourists.



After lunch we went on a boat tour of the Mae Ping River. Only two other tourists, a couple from the Netherlands, was on the boat with us. We stopped at a fruit farm where part of Rambo 4 was filmed and had a plate of assorted fruits and fruit drinks. When we left our boat captain picked some star fruit and had it cut up for us to eat on the way back. Conrad mentioned to the couple from Amsterdam that he had served in the Air Force in Thailand in the 70s and the man said, "During the Vietnam War?" Conrad answered yes, and he said he liked talking to someone who lived during historical times. I think he was telling Conrad he was old!

We stopped at the handicraft village and visited a silver store and an umbrella factory. Tawee got a kick-back of 200 baht if we would go to the carpet place and stay 10 minutes, so we did, and he had beer money for that night!

That evening we had a traditional Khantoke dinner with delicious Northern Thai cuisine accompanied by Northern Thai folk dancing and performances by different hill tribes.

After a short rest we went to the Sunday market just across the street from our hotel. This market happens only on Sundays from 7-11 p.m. and has the best prices. Many locals buy and sell there. At midnight we hit the sack.

Monday, Feb. 11, 2008
After a 6:30 wake-up call and a breakfast buffet at the hotel we drove to the Maetaman Elephant Camp. It was really a nice morning! The elephants are so cute. We could sit on them and take pictures. When we tipped the elephant he would bow 3 times and give the tip to the mahout. Then the elephants performed a show, kicked soccer balls, played basketball and painted some pictures. Most of the pictures were of flowers, but one elephant painted a picture of two elephants humping!

We ate lunch at the orchid farm then went back to the handicraft village to a silk factory and a teak wood factory. Tonight we are meeting Joy to pay him for our tour of Wiang Kum Kam. We met Joy in 2007 when we hired him to drive us to a National Park where the King and Queen pagodas are and we used him again this year although he was busy and sub-contracted us out to Tawee. Joy dropped us at the night bazaar. Conrad bought a Singha (lion) t-shirt. Singha is the national beer of Thailand. From the night market we took a tuk tuk to the Gallery Restaurant on the Mae Ping River. There were a lot of tourists but at least the band played local music, not Eagles with an Asian accent!

Tuesday, Feb. 12
This morning we got on the bus to head 3 hours north to Chaing Rai. We took a break at the Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant and Cottages whose name promotes the health and safety aspects of condom use in a fun and amusing manner. The world's largest collection of national brand condoms is displayed around the walls and the carpet up the stairs has cartoons of typical condoms for various trades and professions woven into the fabric. Instead of serving after dinner mints, there are bowls of condoms located at the exits just in case. We arrived at Mae Chan, the Golden Triangle, took a boat into the Mekong river to the point where Thailand, Burma and Laos meet. We landed in Laos for our booster shot of cobra whiskey, so we think we're good now. We bought a bottle of snake whiskey for Rhonda. The little Laotian children mobbed us when we handed out the Hallmark stickers and almost depleted our supply!

Back on the Thai side we took some pictures of some really cute little Akha hill tribe children in native costume and gave them some baht and stickers. Then we drove to Maesai, the northernmost part of Thailand, separated from the Burmese border town of Thakhilek by a small river also called Mae Sai. Unlike last year our tour guide wouldn't take anyone into Burma because it is too dangerous now. (We thought it was plenty dangerous last year!)

On the way to the charming Teak Garden Spa Resort in Chaing Rai we met the motorcade of the Crown Prince's first ex-wife (he's now on wife #3.)

It's in the 90s during the day here and 60s or 70s at night.

This is a really good tour group. Everyone is having so much fun!

Wednesday, Feb. 13
This morning we took the long boats about an hour up the Kok River to a hot springs, then back down 30 minutes to the Karen tribe elephant camp. Whoo hoo! I like riding the elephants! When we went down into the river it seemed like a 90 degree angle. Conrad was fine but I had to close my eyes. I hope the elephant kept his eyes open! These elephants are owned by the hill tribe, and located in their village with lots of booths loaded with handicrafts for sale. A woman saw Conrad coming and hollered out, "We have large size!" and held up a shirt. After bantering with her in Thai, he had to buy it!


I had my picture taken with a member of the Karen Hill Tribe.

We had lunch at the Big C, a little shopping center in Chaing Rai. We returned to the beautiful Teak Gardens for rest and relaxation and regrouped at 6:30 for a short bus ride to the night market, our last chance for inexpensive souvenirs. I think Conrad's kind of glad about that!

We ate fresh fish at a Thai restaurant on the street. Most of the rest of the tour group ate pizza. The Thai food is cut into bite-sized servings so there is no need for a knife. You eat your food with a tablespoon and fork, holding the spoon in your right hand and using the back of the fork to push the food and sauce into your spoon.

Thursday, Feb. 14
We departed Teak Gardens in Chiang Rai and drove about 30 minutes to Wat Rong Khun, the white temple, created by Thailand's national artist Chalermchai Kositpipat. I'm glad we saw it last year in the sun, because today was cloudy and all the mirrored glass wasn't quite as stunning. But everyone in our group really enjoyed it.

From there we drove a couple of hours to Phayao, the largest fresh-water lake in Thailand. It covers 500 acres but is less than 6 feet deep at the deepest point. We went to a place where you can sample tea. I bought a porcelain teapot for an individual serving (like they have at Genghis Khan) for $3 and some white tea. We purchased a bottle of Monsoon Valley red Thai wine for Valentines evening. We heard it was very good. Our lunch was at a Thai restaurant on the street where Conrad ordered our meal in Thai (shrimp fried rice with an egg over-easy on top.) Of course he has ordering the Singha beer down pat!

From Phayao we drove 2 hours to Lampang. When we arrived at the Wienglakor Hotel we had a 2-hour massage ($30 for 2 people!) in our room. 2 young attractive women masseuses hopped in bed with us. OK, this sounds kinky but it wasn't. We were all fully clothed. They used their hands, forearms, elbows, knees and feet. (Conrad says they hurt us.) The knot in my back is now flat. I think that's a good thing.

We skipped the market tour with the group and instead took our bottle of Monsoon Valley wine down to the lobby to drink it while we listened to piano music. Unfortunately it wasn't nearly as good as we had been told, and Conrad thought it tasted like every other wine he has tried. Luckily another couple from our tour thought it was great. They are polishing it off now while we send out email!

Friday, Feb. 15 - Lampang, Sukothai & Phitsonaulok
This morning we drove to Sri Satchanakai, the northern outpost town of the kingdom of Sukothai, built by King Ramkamhoeng. We visited Ko Noi Thuring, consisting of 500 kilns that were the center of Sukothai's famous 14th and 15th century Sankhalok pottery manufacturing. We bought a pottery Singha (lion.)

Next we stopped in Sukhothai, which in 1238 became the first truly independent Thai kingdom, where the Thai culture, language and alphabet originated. Surrounded by two moats and bridged by four gateways, the old walls contain the partially restored remains of 21 historical sites, including royal palaces and Buddhist temples. Most of the tour group rode around the ruins in a shuttle, but we biked. Even though it is really hot here, it felt good to be out on a bike! We had lunch at a really nice hotel, Pailyn, where the emperor of Japan stayed previously. We arrived at the Topland Plaza Hotel in Phitsonulok, ancient center of Thai culture and politics, for an overnight stay before continuing our journey to Bangkok. This is the 5th hotel we have stayed at so far. Only 2 more to go!

We are traveling with a group of 28. Only 2 other people are going to Cambodia, Jeanine and Laurie, a mother / daughter from San Diego.

We pass by lots of rice fields. The workers wear tall rubber boots because there are cobras feasting on rats in the rice fields. Some of the fields have scarecrows. We saw one today that was made of a John Elway jersey! The wage for a worker is $6 a day.

We ate dinner in town and had tilapia from the basin (tanks along the wall.)

Saturday, Feb. 16
The bus driver, Pirot, and Conrad are having quite a time bantering with each other. Pirot is teaching Conrad how to say a new color in Thai every day. Today it was green (kale.) One day Conrad had on a grey shirt and Pirot pointed to it and said the word for grey in Thai. Then Conrad pointed to his hair and said grey, but Pirot said, “No! White!’

We stopped at the Bronze Case factory, one of only 3 bronze factories authorized to make Buddha images.

We took a break at a gas station for the "happy room," and the men were surprised to find that the urinals were on an outside wall! We had quite a time taking photos of Conrad posing.

At the monkey temple (Phra Prang Sam Yot in Lopburi) the monkeys climbed all over one of the women from our tour. We have photos of her husband picking lice off of her when we got to the bus. Eeww!!! Phra Prang Sam Yot is famous for the hundreds of Crab-Eating Macaques (Macaca fascicularis) that live in the middle of the city, especially around the Khmer temple, Prang Sam Yot, and a Khmer shrine, Sarn Phra Karn. They are fed by the local people who believe these monkeys are descended from Subrik, the monkey king who helped King Rama win back his beautiful wife Sita from the evil giant King Tosakan. Because they are not afraid of humans, the monkeys steal whatever they can from unwary tourists.

We had lunch at Chaba, a wonderful private restaurant in a garden. The owner used to be a tour guide. He saved all his money to buy land to build Chaba. It is beautiful. (The ladies bathroom was Western style!)

We visited Ayutthaya, the Thai kingdom of King Ramathibodi I that existed from 1350 to 1767. During those four centuries the kingdom expanded to become the nation of Siam, whose borders were roughly those of modern Thailand, except for the north, the Kingdom of Lannathai. When Ayutthaya fell to Burmese attack in 1767, its territory included the Northern Shan states of Burma, Lanna (ChiangMai), Yunnan & Shan Sri (China), Lan Xiang (Laos), Cambodia, South Vietnam and all of Malaya. Our guide was explaining about the 3 stupas called Wat Phra Si Sanphet which house the remains of King Borommatrailokanat, King Borommarachathirat III and King Ramathibodi II. Conrad joked he thought she was talking about the 3 stooges!

We arrived in Bangkok at 6:30 p.m. Our hotel, the Majestic Grande Bangkok Hotel, is just ½ block from the red light district. The hotel is really nice. This is the first king-size bed we have! Every other hotel has had twin beds!

We used the Internet in the red light district because it was only one baht per minute. After sending our email a young woman gave Conrad the eye and cupped her breast. He shrugged his shoulders and pointed at me! I smacked him a good one!

We had dinner at the Green House just down from our hotel. For some reason the food tasted really good, even the bread they brought before dinner. Maybe it had something to do with the bread being warm and being served with butter. Ah, the comforts of home! Our entrees were even delivered to the table at the same time! What luxury!

Sunday, Feb. 17
Today we went with our tour for the first 2 stops: first was Wat Trimitr which houses the largest Golden Buddha Image in the world. It is made of pure gold measuring 12 feet 5 inches in diameter and has a height of 15 feet 9 inches from the base to the crown and weighs approximately 5 tons. Now more than 700 years old, it is a valuable treasure of Thailand and of Buddhism. It sits on the 2nd floor of a building!

Our next stop was Wat Po or Wat Phra Chetuphon to see the Reclining Buddha, the 2nd largest Buddha in Thailand, 157 feet. The largest Wat in Bangkok, it holds the dual honors of having both the most number of Buddha images in Thailand as well as Thailand's largest reclining Buddha image. The Reclining Buddha is gold plated measuring 46 meters long and 15 meters high, and is designed to illustrate the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. The feet and the eyes are engraved with mother-of-pearl decoration, and the feet also show the 108 auspicious characteristics of the true Buddha.

The tour went on to Wat Benchamabophit (The Marble Temple) which houses the Buddha image called "Phra Buddhajinaraja" made from 2.5 tons of bronze. Under the Buddha are the ashes of King Rama V.

Instead of touring Wat Benchamabophit, we walked down to the pier and took a ferry over to Wat Arun or Wat Arunratchawararam Ratchaworamahavihara. Nicknamed the Temple of Dawn, perhaps because the first light of morning is reflected off the surface of the temple with a pearly iridescence, the temple is located in the Bangkok Yai district, on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River.

The outstanding feature of Wat Arun is its central prang (Khmer-style tower). Steep steps lead to the two terraces. The height is reported by different sources as between 66,80 m and 86 m. The corners are surrounded by 4 smaller satellite prangs. The prangs are decorated by seashells and bits of porcelain which had previously been used as ballast by boats coming to Bangkok from China. Around the base of the prangs are various figures of ancient Chinese soldiers and animals. Over the second terrace are four statues of the Hindu god Indra riding on Erawan. At the riverside are 6 pavilions (sala) in Chinese style. The pavilions are made of green granite and contain landing bridges.

Next to the prangs is the Ordination Hall with the Niramitr Buddha image supposedly designed by King Rama II. The front entrance of the Ordination Hall has a roof with a central spire, decorated in colored ceramic and stuccowork sheated in colored china. There are 2 demons, or temple guardian figures in front.

We were resting in the shade drinking our Singha (which Conrad bartered down to 100 baht from 200 baht . . . even he has a limit as to what he will pay for Singha) when a group of middle-aged women dressed in black started gathering there in the shade. We thought it might be like a red hat society, but they must not have been used to wearing those black shoes because they were sharing a box of bandages for the back of their heels. They saw us looking at them sympathetically and Conrad said, "It must hurt," in Thai, so then we were immediate friends.

A water taxi took us 12 miles to the BTS sky train station at Taksin. We exited the BTS at Siam Square, a huge upscale shopping center, for lunch. Parking in a city of 10 million is at a premium, and the parking lot had a unique way of providing as many parking spaces as they could. Ordinarily cars that pull into a space would be blocked in if cars park in the middle of the lot; however, in this lot car owners left their car in neutral so that whenever a car needed to exit from a space, the attendants would push the cars in the middle out of the way. Sometime this resulted in cars lightly tapping another car's bumper. But it seemed to work! It was very interesting!When we got back on the BTS it started raining, which is very unusual for winter in Bangkok. The temperature was around 95 degrees and we were drenched in sweat so the rain cooled things down. It didn't rain long and had mostly stopped by the time we got back to Nana station where we get off to walk to our hotel.

Natalie, our tour guide from last year, met us at 6:30 for dinner at the Majestic Grand Hotel where they offered raw seafood and steak. When you picked out what you wanted they took your plate to the grill and cooked it up for you. It was really good. Natalie brought us a gift from her trip to the bridge over the River Kawi. We gave her a scarf I knitted on the bus and a couple of maps of the U.S. so she knows where Missouri is. Here in Thailand we have given out maps mostly to tour guides. When we get to Cambodia we will give them to the children who always ask, "Where you from?" They know where where California is and they think New York is part of California! They have no idea where Missouri is! It will be fun to show them. Natalie also gave us a contribution for the wells (see my post called "Touring Cambodia" for an explanation of the water wells) because she wants to be a part of it even though she has never been to Cambodia herself. I thought that was really sweet of her. Natalie told us her most recent tour didn't go to the floating market because that was the day of Super Bowl that started at 6:00 a.m., and they all stayed at the hotel to watch the game!

Restaurants in Thailand had been smoke-free for a long time but while we were there the smoking ban started in pubs.

We had hoped to connect with our Thai friend Jimmy who is in Bangkok for a month. We left him a message but he hasn't called us back. Since we are leaving for Cambodia at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow we will not get to see him.