Thailand

"How about Thailand? I've always wanted to go to Thailand." That was the answer I got when I asked Erin's Mom (Wyveta) where they wanted to go while they were in Southeast Asia. Sounded good to me! So we started investigating what we could do there. We planned to go for 4 or 5 days during their 2 1/2 week visit to Singapore. Well, as Burns says, "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley" But we didn't really get grief and pain for our promised joy. The worst was that we had to cancel some of the things that we wanted to see. Our trip got whittled down by a couple of days because Erin HAD to be in the office on April 26 and H. HAD to be at a meeting on the 30th. Argh! So we left Singapore late on the 26th, and returned late on the 29th.

By the time we got to the hotel (The Novotel Bangkok Siam Square)in Bangkok at 11:30p.m. or so, I knew for a fact that we weren't in Cambodia. I thought Thailand would be more like Cambodia. Cambodia is so very poor. Thailand is several steps above that. We came out of the airport and drove to our hotel on an elevated 4 lane highway. There's nothing in Cambodia like that! Since Thailand didn't go through the Khmer Rouge regime and the subsequent invasion by Vietnam, they haven't had to rebuild. They could just build. Bangkok is a huge city. The metropolitan area has close to 12 million people! Singapore only has 5 million! Whew! They also have some public transport like a subway and bus system. Since we had a guide and driver we didn't participate in that. And yes, the traffic is awful in Bangkok. Similar to Houston at rush hour, but with less actual movement. Having lived in ultra-clean Singapore for a while, Bangkok felt dirty. But honestly, it probably wasn't much worse than Houston or any other large U.S. city. Remember, I'm not a city girl, so I'm unlikely to enjoy any big city.... Also, Bangkok has a terrible reputation as being sort of the hub of the sex slave trade in Southeast Asia. There's also a huge homosexual/transvestite type community in Thailand/Bangkok. So now that I've told you all of that, let me tell you what we did enjoy....

The next morning we got up and enjoyed breakfast at the hotel. It was a buffet of Western and Asian foods with fruit and pastries etc. I think it was Gordon (Erin's Dad) who said something along the lines of: 'That continental breakfast at the Hampton Inn is going to seem pretty shabby now.'

After breakfast we met our guide downstairs and drove to the Floating Market. Well, we didn't actually drive there. We drove to a boat dock and took a boat the rest of the way. It was a "long tail" boat. The long tail boats are designed to operate in shallow water. The motor is on the end of a long almost horizontal pole. Bangkok is built on many canals. They used to serve as the city's principal "streets". The canals are still there, but there are many more roads. But some of the markets are still in the canals and the women put their wares in their boats and bring them to the market. You can buy fruit, veggies, hats, etc. right off their boats. We didn't buy any produce because we would've had to eat it on the spot, but we did buy some souvenirs for which we haggled mercilessly. (And were probably still ripped off.)

After the market we got back in the van and drove toward Kanchanaburi. One of the things that struck me as we drove was how quickly the mountains just appeared out of the ground. I know that sounds funny, but I don't know how else to describe it. In E. TN, you work your way up slowly from valley to hills to mountains. Not in Thailand. It's flat and then, BOOM. There's a mountain. We stopped for lunch at a floating restaurant that had a buffet. It was very relaxing. Most of the buffets we went to included spaghetti. I guess they learned that Western kids will eat that.

Kanchanaburi is famous for "The Bridge on the River Kwai" which is a good movie, but contains many historical inaccuracies. First of all, "The Bridge" isn't on the river Kwai. It's on the Mae Klong river. And there were two - a temporary one and the one that's still there. No, it wasn't blown up by the POW's. But oh well. Read a little more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khwae_Noi_River

So, yes, we did walk across the bridge. As you may expect, it's covered in tourists. And with the tourists come the salesmen hawking all sorts of tourist junk. It was still cool. There was a loud radio broadcast going on and they were playing American hits from 30+ years ago - including YMCA. There's a picture of us posing in front of the bridge during that song.... It was hard to imagine prisoners standing there working on that bridge. It's almost a carnival atmosphere now.
After walking across the bridge, we went to the nearby WWII museum. It was well done. The price of admission also includes a free tea or coffee in the upstairs cafe which overlooks the POW cemetery. Our guide was so sweet, he bought the kids a treat at the cafe and the rest of us sat and enjoyed our tea. (I tried not to be a cynic about him wanting a bigger tip.... but it's hard for me.) Then we went out and across the street to the cemetery. Out of close to 100,000 deaths on the railway, only 131 were Americans and their bodies were return to the U.S. for burial after the war. Only 686 American POWs worked on the railway. So the cemetery was for British, Dutch, and Australian POWs. Many many more local people were recruited and then treated like slaves and died. (Over 85,000) For more on the cemetery:

http://www.roll-of-honour.org.uk/Cemeteries/Kanchanaburi_War_Cemetery/


After the cemetery, we checked into our hotel, The Felix River Kwai Resort (which is also on the Mae Klong as far as I can tell). It's a pretty snazzy place. There was a sign over the light switch at the entry of our room that showed "No pets" and "No Durian". LOL! If you've ever smelled a Durian, it's worse than any pet ever smelled. The kids and I went for a swim in the pool. As we were drying off, I noticed a conversation to my left between 2 women. But then I looked again. The one in the one-piece bathing suit had a deep voice. Was that, or was that not an Adam's apple under there? uhhh.... So, yes, I admit it I was tempted and I looked down under. It was a guy. Thailand. He was asking the woman for her phone number (like for a date, not for tea.)

For supper we went to another floating restaurant. This one was very close to the famous bridge. At night they light up the bridge with colored lights. It was very pretty. A loud party/karaoke barge went by and tried really hard to ruin our dinner. Our guide had picked out some Traditional Thai foods for us to try. Some were good, others too spicy (even for me). But we all got enough to eat.

When we got back to the hotel, Erin and O. traded their room for Gordon and Wyveta's because they had the double bed and Gordon and Wyveta had twin beds. This becomes important later....

The next morning we checked out after a good breakfast and drove up to the Hellfire Pass Museum. The museum itself was similar to the one in Kanchanaburi. Really we should've done either and not both, but who knew? (oh wait, the guide. hmmmm) The first one was good for putting you in the right frame of mind for the cemetery across the street. The second one was hard to pass up since it is basically the beginning of the walkway down to Hellfire Pass. And it was 'for donations only'. So we walked down through the Pass. It really is amazing what those guys did in such little time and with almost no equipment. We wanted to walk on down the path to the trestle bridge that we thought would look more like the one from the movie. But I think we couldn't get the guide to understand us, or we just didn't have time to walk that far down.

Our next stop was at an Elephant Camp. They must've had 60 elephants there! Wow! We all took a ride 2 by 2 on the elephants. They gave us a pretty long ride - 20 min. or more. The benches we sat on were possibly the most uncomfortable and awkward thing you could come up with to strap to an elephant's back. I can't imagine trying to ride a horse like that! I figured out that if you leaned forward and rolled your hips with the movement (like a really slow canter) it was better. The elephant guide took us down to the river and took pictures of us with our camera as the elephant splashed us. He let me sit in his spot on the elephant's neck - which was WAYYYY more comfortable! He didn't speak a lot of English, but he knew how to ask for a tip. I truly felt like a heel trying to explain to him that I didn't have any cash money on me. I tried to explain that Erin had some if he could wait after he dropped me and A. off. But he didn't wait. I'm sure it wasn't the first time some snobby tourist ripped him off. sigh.

Next we stopped at lunch and I got a funny picture of O. When we got back in the van I realized that I didn't have my money belt with me. The one with mine and H.'s passports in it. The one I tried to put in the hotel safe, but it was still locked from the previous guest. So I gave it to Erin to put in his safe. You know, before he changed rooms with his parents and forgot about it. sigh. double sigh. Really it was all my fault, 'cause I should've remembered it as I was getting dressed. The guide assured us that it was no problem to swing back by the hotel on our way back to Bangkok. It didn't seem to slow us down much, but I don't know the roads and how far we had to go out of the way. Fortunately, it was still there and was returned with nothing missing. Whew!

So we got back to Bangkok just in time to sit in a massive traffic jam. I wasn't looking at my watch, but I'm pretty sure it took about 2 hours to get from the outskirts of the city to our hotel. We stayed at the same hotel as the fist night. But we were much smellier and dirtier. If you've never had dried elephant sweat on your navy blue pants before, you should try it some time. But let me suggest that you not stand around in a fancy hotel while your husband checks in. Plus I was carrying a large backpack. The manager (who'd been so sweet 2 nights ago) came and asked me if I wanted a shower. red face. I replied that we were checking in. I'm not sure if she thought, "Great. Glad I don't have to clean the rooms!" or just "Let me see if I can speed that process up a bit and get them out of the lobby." Clearly not one of my better looks/smells.
After a quick change of clothes and a reapplication of some d.o., we walked down the street to the shopping mall. After dark on a side street near the dead center of Bangkok is just not my thing. I know lots of people enjoy the hustle and bustle of cities. I just don't like being hustled or bustled. But we did find a food court. It was an interesting concept for a food court. You got a credit card thing as you went in. Next, you order your food and they swipe your card. At the exit you pay for everything at once. I guess it was to speed up the process and keep the individual merchants from having to make change or keep up with money. They had lots of choices - Western and Asian and even Greek. The kids got burgers. (losers.)
After supper we looked around the mall. We found the "tourist junk" area and went crazy. Most of the booths were closing down, but we found some of the things we wished we'd bought earlier in the trip. We haggled a little, but got pretty good prices overall.

The next morning we enjoyed another hotel breakfast buffet (yum), and then headed to the main tourist attractions in Bangkok: The Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Both were very glitsy and colorful. I do like that about the Thai's - they like their color. No bland shades of white for them! The Grand Palace is the same one where Anna Leonowens would've taught the King's children. Although the play is about as historically accurate as the Bridge on the River Kwai, it's still fun to think about walking in her footsteps. (Even her own books are proven to be inaccurate and exaggerated if not downright false.) Still.

There are several 'layers' or circles within the palace. Westerners imagine a castle when I say palace. But this is more like a miniature city. The outer ring or layer is more accessible than the inner layers. But every layer has many buildings. Tourists can go in the outer layer and the layer with the Emerald Buddha. We got to see the throne room among other things. Tourists are not allowed further in where the royal family still lives. You're not allowed to take pictures there or at the Emerald Buddha, so can't show you that. I wasn't as impressed with the Emerald Buddha as I was supposed to be. Erin says, "Oh I don't know, it's a pretty big chunk of Jade." No one seems sure if it's made of jasper or jadeite or what. "Emerald" refers only to the color. Here are some pictures:

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/thailand/bangkok-wat-phra-kaew-emerald-buddha

After the Grand Palace we got mobbed by some salesmen. One guy was selling prints for $15. At least they started at $15. By the time we got to the van they were down to $1.50!!! We found that price drop to be common in the Bangkok merchant hoards.

We went on to see the reclining Buddha. It was huge. About the size of the Saturn V rocket at the Space Center in Houston. The bottom of it's feet are inlaid with Mother of Pearl. I'm glad I got to see it, but it's still sad how many people in this world are worshipping false gods and idols. Maybe someday all these "high places" can be torn down and people will worship the One True God and Creator.

From there we went to lunch on a boat. I'm not sure why the restaurant is on a boat. Maybe it leaves the dock for dinner cruises or something. But while we ate, the boat remained at the dock. After lunch, we found another horde of merchants on our way to the van. I ended up buying a couple of the prints for $3 each. I know, I know, I could've talked him down to $1.50, but really. I liked them. I would've paid $5 easily, so in the end, I met him halfway -right? Erin's sister, Alicia, bought a purse that she liked. After she bought it the lady tried to sell me one for $3 less! Alicia was not happy. Ah well. Just when you think you're getting a good deal.....

Our next stop was a place called "The Art of the Kingdom". I didn't have a lot of info. on this place, it had just been put on the itinerary by our travel agent as part of the standard fare. When we got there, we had to lock our cameras up in one of the lockers. The women in the group had to purchase and wear sarongs (wrap-around skirts) in order to enter. Luckily, the sarongs only cost $1 or so. And we got to keep them, and they're not that bad. But why all the fuss? We'd already been deemed modest enough to go in the Buddhist temples. But the standards were higher here by order of the Queen of Thailand. It turns out that this whole place is her idea for inspiring the artisans of Thailand to make beautiful things. Well, to make beautiful things for the royalty of course. There were some pretty cool things in there. We liked the cloth made from beetles wings. Yes, beetles wings. The wings are iridescent - green from one angle and blue from another. Very cool. There was plenty of gold to be seen as well.

http://www.tatnews.org/events/events/2008/may/3782.asp

Our last stop was at a gem factory. We got a short view of the jewelers at work setting stones in rings, polishing stones, etc. Then a looonnnggg sales pitch in the showroom. We saw lots of pretty things. But we weren't prepared to spend jewelry type money.

From there we went to the airport for our return flight. We got to our gate in time to see the Royal Wedding (no sound). We missed the balcony scene by a few minutes because our flight was called. But I'd recorded it on the DVR and so we got to watch it and fast forward through all the boring stuff and pause it for the goofy hats and the "Is that so and so?!" etc. -which was much more fun than the airport version.

O.k. Once again blogspot is not letting me upload a file of pictures. Sorry folks, but I refuse to sit here and upload 30 pictures one at a time. You'll just have to see them on Facebook. Bummer.