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index... |
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photos southern Thailand |
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Thailand
Beaches, Bangkok and Trekking |
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home... |
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photos northern Thailand |
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Arriving business class from Kathmandu, stuffed with prawns, port and fine cheeses we headed to the Pra Arthit neighborhood of Bangkok with dreams of spicy foods, the sun-drenched beaches of the south, and trekking in the northern highlands; but first a little intellectual inquiry. With three days until the arrival of some friends we took in the bejeweled Royal Palace, Wat Phra Kaeo (home of the great and revered Emerald Buddha), Wat Pho (home of a 15-meter long golden reclining Buddha), and the National Museum for some history.? Evenings were spent eating curbside, seated on ubiquitous tiny Rubbermaid stools, enjoying seafood, pad thai and anything bathed in coconut milk. We took a cooking class through a local vegetarian restaurant and the chef took us to peruse the early morning market (some of you may be lucky enough to enjoy the spoils of this endeavor!).? |
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Our friends Rosemary, Deb O, Mike, and Sarah returned to Bangkok from their trekking in northern Thailand to join us for 3 busy days in Bangkok. We battled the crowds and the heat at the massive central market, rode the river taxis on the ChaoPhraya River and stayed up late for movies, cards and conversation.? It was great to have some company. |
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With their departure, we headed south for the highly-anticipated beach time and our diving trip.? After 2 days of complete and total relaxation on the beach near Phuket we boarded the June Hong Chian Lee (a restored Chinese junk www.thejunk.com) for a 5-day 4-night scuba diving trip; though it had space for 18 there were only 5 of us aboard making for a deluxe dive trip:? amazing fish, turtle, sea-snake, eel, shark and coral diving, clear water with 20 meter "viz", and stunning sunsets. A gourmet chef on board and unfailing weather made this a highlight of our entire trip.? Another 3 days on the beach followed in laid back Khao Lak because we HAD to wind down! (we're sure you understand.) |
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On our way northward on the overnight bus to Bangkok, we were presented with the timely (and for us terribly painful) screening of Terminator 3, in Thai.? We, therefore, made up our own dialogue, consisting more often than not, of: "Ah am deh guhvahnuh of Califoooornya"....after all, who really needs dialogue to understand Arnie's politics....er, uh, movies?? |
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We visited Tom, our charismatic, g-string-wearing travel agent near the infamous Ko San Road, collected our visas for Vietnam and booked a train north (Tom: "escuuuusse me!? You take morning train to Lopburi, you take night rain to Phitsanulok, you visit ruins Sukothai, you take night train to Chiang Mai, you arrive 10 December!!!"....uh, ok!).? Before we left, we squeezed in some time for the celebration of the King's birthday, including the outdoor simultaneous screening of 6 different movies, all at 1,000,000,000 decibels and a trip to Chinatown...not quite China but good entertainment.? |
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Heading northward, the first stops were spent biking through the crumbling stone ruins of the Lopburi and Sukothai dynastic periods. At the heinous monkey temple in Lopburi Bill was accosted by one monkey while being distracted by another who wolfed down french fries with ketchup while lounging under a bright gold 10-foot high statue of himself!
We headed to Pai where we booked a rafting trip on to Mae Hong Son.? Pai is a small village, well designed for the tourist, but not oppressively so, and peaceful;? we took two ?-day mountain biking excursions on our own to see the countryside.? We left Pai by raft though the low water of the PaiRiver had tamed some of the otherwise massive rapids. Arriving in Mae Hong Son a day later we hit the markets and temples (as we typically do) and then, not allowing any moss to grow, booked a 3-day, 2-night trek into the hills to visit the Karen villages.? We trekked with 3 canadians, two of whom were a wonderfully irreverent couple whom we would see again and again in Chiang Mai and Laos, and together we dissected many of the world's problems.? The trek took us along a river lined with bamboo and banana trees and up over the banks into the hills which opened onto fields cleared for dry-cultivation rice farming.? We stayed in a local village, watched the puppies play with the enormous momma sow, kicked a soccer ball with the family's toddler and were awakened at dawn by the ubiquitous cry of the roosters.? |
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Alas, we had overstayed our visa by 4 days. A final bus trip north took us to the Laos border where we paid the appropriate fines for overstaying and swiftly boarded a long, narrow skiff with 2 rowdy germans for the 5-minute trip across the MekongRiver...hello People's Democratic Republic of Laos.? |
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