Phuket Thailand

After 2 days in Bangkok we took a short one hour flight to the island of Phuket.  As cool as Bangkok is, Phuket Island is a welcomed vacation spot with the high energy party vibe, the great beaches and the nearby islands. There are resort areas on both sides of the Phuket. We decided to stay in the “Patong” area rather than Phuket Town. Though our hotel was very nice with its pools and large rooms, we planned to make the most of our opportunity with excursions traveling around the other islands.  Our hotel is just what we were looking for, a nice pool, nice rooms and a friendly staff.

Putong beach - Charlie, Gabbi and Janet are on the right

Once we check in we are off to the tailor shop, Frank and Charlie are getting custom suits, then we find a great beach bar with live music.  Great conversation, music and view.  Our last stop for the day is a Thai cooking class.  The Chef was a funny guy. Our class including a review of the primary Thai tastes, spices to use and how to mix and match sweet/sour/bitter/spicy/salty.  Next we made our own curry paste and finally cooked and ate three dishes.  Again great fun, great food and company.

On our first full day on the island we  started our adventures with a fast boat trip to “Ko Phi-Phi” island for swimming, snorkeling, and beach combing. The views are spectacular. This is where the movie “the Beach” was filmed. Our boat carried 45 passengers and had 3 Honda 250 outboard engines and did we fly toward the out bound islands. There are many vendors, but we were really pleased with “SeaStar”that provided all the amenities and equipment when needed. Our tour director, stage name “Latte”, was a real hoot. The snorkeling was really fun, the coral had colorful fish, but there were also some jellyfish which we needed to avoid.  Jumping off the boat at various locations was fun too.  Charlie and Gabbi have a GoPro and get some great underwater shots.  

The area around James Bond Island

Charlie with the Floating Mountain 

We enjoyed ourselves so much that we signed up with SeaStar for a second day of island hopping, this time going to “James Bond” Island first and then other islands that are home for “Water World” type communities. James Bond has this obelisk shaped companion rock spire that defies gravity—think the “Floating Mountains” of the Avatar Movie. The water bound communities adjoined a small island where their temple was built; the homes and schools were on stilts with docking areas. The multi-room primary school housed loads of cute little kids; most attentive and some on recess playing tag on the floating playground. There were other islet beaches to stretch out upon and swim. The sun was gleaming.

Our starters, this is the first cheese we have had since being in SE Asia

 

Back in town we are back to the tailor for fittings and dinner.  After much discussion we all agree that we need a break from the Asian food so we pick an Italian place; what a surprise the food was outstanding some of the best we have had, and of course great conversation.

 

 

 

The next day we are up extra early for an outing at the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary.  Here we experienced the feeding, bathing, mudding, and washing of about 8 Indian Elephants including a one year old baby boy. To be so close and unimpeded was fantastic. They would plop into the mud pit and allow us to rub the goo into their sides. Some would move there legs as if swimming. Some would fart; some would cause us all to back away by doing other bathroom stuff. The baby played like one and mother would control him with her trunk.  This Sanctuary does not allow riding. Thailand has an abundance of elephants once used in the timber industry, but now by law they are spared that work.  After our hard work of playing and scrubbing, the sanctuary provided an outstanding buffet lunch and handcraft gifts.  See our pics below

After a good scrub and some rest we have a fun night out starting with a great Thai dinner and go to a musical/dance  extravaganza called “SeaSation”. This night was a treat to us from Charlie and Gabbi, an early anniversary present, we have a big anniversary next week.  The dinner was great, the show was good but it had a few elephant acts with riding and tricks.  After a day of playing with elephants that have been rescued, we don't see this as entertainment anymore.  

Our anniversary dinner out 

Our last day on the island is for relaxing at the pool, picking up our tailored suits.  In the late afternoon we fly back to Bangkok and stay in an airport hotel to help with our early morning flights, the kids fly home to Chicago, and we fly to Myanmar (formerly Burma).  It has been a great trip.  What was our favorite things?

  • Charlie and Gabbi - Our guide in Bangkok and the Elephants
  • Frank - the canals of Bangkok, suit shopping with Charlie
  • Janet - the cooking class, and snorkeling

We say goodbye to the kids at security our flight is not checking in yet.  Frank and Janet's favorite thing, seeing our kids.  Only 45 days left before we are home again with all of our kids and our wonderful family - Love you all

Saying goodbye at the airport

Bangkok Thailand

A typical shrine for the deceased King found in every building 

When you arrive in Bangkok you cannot help but see the hundreds of mural portraits and shrines of the recently deceased King of Thailand, namely Bhumibol Adulyadej. His name is unpronounceable, but you can’t help being caught up in the respect, even worship, for him among the people. He was the longest reigning king in Thai history. The King was renowned for his behind the scene politicking which kept the Kingdom out of direct wars and allowed international money to flow to Thailand. His son, Prince Vajiralongkorn, age 68, will assume the throne formerly upon the final cremation of the King’s body scheduled for October; a giant crematorium pagoda is currently being erected near the palace. 

The pool at our Airbnb

The pool at our Airbnb

We started our stay by booking an Airbnb efficiency apartment in a 37 story, pyramid shaped  high rise. This place was gorgeous, with work out room and a zero edge pool on the seventh floor right next to our unit. We think we were the only westerners there, but in any event everyone was polite. There was a sign instructing owners not to rent apartments. We were a little concerned about that issue as we stood out, but we were friendly to the security lady and she would greet us: “how are my friends”. We brought her ice cream on hot afternoons.

Biking the streets of China Town

Biking the streets of China Town

Hot afternoons are the way of life here. At 2:00 pm., getting into the shade is a must. We started our explorations in the morning and then continued after 4:00 pm. We could easily walk through the neighborhoods and then spend time in China Town. Here, we did some shopping and ordered tailored clothing. We also really had fun with a “Bicycle Tour”.  Our guide directed us through the narrow backstreets of the China Town residences, through the waterfront areas, and of course, through a slew of Buddhists Temples and schools. The historic “Customs House”, once the gateway to Thailand for levying taxes on traders arriving on the waterfront is now dilapidated, but apparently  will be renovated as a luxury hotel.           

Renovation and new construction is flourishing all over this gigantic city, which is divided by the Mae Nam Chao River, but conjoined by a frantic ferry system and some bridges. There is also a network of canals throughout the city, which in the past was the main highway. The front door of the famous “Jim Thompson” House was situated on a canal. We really enjoyed this compound of 5 houses owned by this American silk entrepreneur and art collector. He was born in Delaware and was stationed in Thailand during WW II. He settled in Bangkok after the war and built a worldwide business for his neighbor’s handmade silk. He has a splendid Asian art collection which we really enjoyed. Mysteriously, he disappeared in Malaysia in 1967.

The Jim Thompson House

There is still so much to see and experience in this city. We are waiting for the kids, Charlie and Gabbi, to arrive for a more widespread visit.      

We moved to a boutique hotel and greeted our kids, they left Chicago after work on Friday and arrived early Sunday morning in Bangkok.  We are now in the more northern riverfront district near the Grand Palace and What Pho. Our hotel was directly on the river, and more conveniently, the water ferry stop was at the next door pier-- We relax by the pool, eat breakfast on the riverside patio, walk the deck and step onto the ferry pier for the beginning of our royal excursions.

We hired Mr. Alex to guide us through a whirlwind 2 day schedule. This guy was very impressive. He had a military presence about him as he had been an officer, but was funny and very organized. 

The "Hangover Two Hotel"

The river is very wide, mud brown color, and curls like a snake. The shoreline is peppered on both sides with high rise hotels, office buildings, but also some 4 story residences that harken back to a third world status. The modern structures display magnificent design and architecture, rivaling anything in the USA. Oh yeh, the “Hangover Two” hotel with the gold dome is also prominent, but it is more traditional—the new stuff, like the “Rubic Cube” tower blows your mind. There is the Skyline; the above ground-2 level-rapid transit, with modern trains, that connects the various areas of the city, and of course, traffic jammed expressways of cars, motos, and tuk-tuks. This is an incredible city—that like NY, may never sleep.

 

 

The ferry stopped at the docking entrance of the Palace. This was our first day of excursions with the kids. Mr. Alex took us to to The Royal Palace, the royal temple aka Wat Pho and the temple of the reclining Buddha; Canal tour, Temple of Dawn and the flower and vegetable market. The canal tour was a blast. The wooden canopied boat sped along these residential canal where the homes, somewhat dilapidated, stood on weathered wood posts, many in need of replacement. Large long lizards basked in the sun on the canal walls. We fed bread to schools of catfish that approached the boat. They were 2 feet long and would plop on top of each other in their feeding frenzy. The most fun was to see the wide eyed face of a young tourist boy who came upon the scene from another boat—he did not have bait.

At the Royal Palace

At the Royal Palace

Surprise with the flowers market; here is sold the packaged offerings for the thousands of Buddha stands and pagodas around the city. In other words, food, drinks, and flowers are set before the Buddha statues sitting in place atop religious tables, and then replaced every several days. 

That evening we decided to visit the China town district of Bangkok for “Chinese” not Thai food. We used Uber to get to this glittering area reminding us of a poor man’sTimes Square. We used Trip Advisor to get to the highest ranked place. The food was good, not spectacular, the service great. 

On day two the four of us and Mr. Alex saw the Old City, including the monk’s bowl community called Baan Bat. Here, brass and copper smiths make the “offering bowls” the monks use every morning. Monks survive by the food and supplies given by the public before noon. We also visited the Mahakan Fort, Golden Mount Temple, the Giant Swing, and strolled the vibrant “ Ratchadamneon Avenue of shops and restaurants.

Gabbi and Charlie making music with the monk's bowls

Later, in New City of Bangkok we saw the high-rises up close. Visited  shopping malls. Rode the Public bus system, the Skyline transit trains, the canal taxi and then the express boat to home.

We ate at the food court in the shopping center and bought some souvenirs. The kids tried the really hot and spicy stuff; us--not so much. We took the water taxi again, enjoying the congested river way. Tomorrow we were excited about traveling together to the Island of Phuket for beaches, sun and fun.  See below a great photo galley that Gabbi put together for us.

Vientiane Laos

The VIP transport we take to Vientiane is very nice. The driver is a more conservative driver, so no F-1 racer moves. We are sitting next to a lovely young lady from Toronto, Canada, who had recently been in Bangkok. Since we are putting the finishing touches on our plans, her suggestions were very welcomed. Janet and Christina talked for most of the trip, exchanged addresses, and shared some flu medications. 

Janet was a little under the weather again so when we get to the hotel, she slept. Frank went to the pharmacy to get cold medicines and refills on the Malaria pills. As the afternoon approaches, It is steamy hot, but we are hungry and head to a café and bakery that serves massive sized cups of coffee, great soups, BLTs, and desserts. The desserts are a nice, traditional hold over from the French colonization of this area. We went back to the hotel for a swim and some future planning. Tomorrow, we will take a walking tour of the city sights. 

Today we ordered a tuk-tuk to visit some temples and capital city sights. We started at “Pha That Luang” which is the national temple complex. It has many glorious buildings on site, but the golden Pagoda is the most striking and is in fact the emblem of the country. 

We then drove to the Patuxay. This imposing structure is a loose clone of the Paris Arch De Triumph. The walk up the circular stairway to the 7th level gives exceptional views of the city, which for a capital is rather small city. 

We then stopped at the side by side Wat Phra Keo Temple and Wat Si Saket Temple.  Of note, the first has intricate carved wooden doors from the 1560 and other relics. The latter is an extremely old monastery, now a museum, that has a collection of Buddhas and very worn and rustic paintings on planks of wood.

 

We finished the day by visiting the COPE center, a historic museum of sorts dealing with the Laotian aftermath as affected by the US/Vietnamese conflict. The COPE foundation was founded by Americans concerned about helping amputees injured from unexploded war ordinance (UXO-bombs) in the fields that can still detonate and injure civilians. The US Air Force data quoted describes the thousands of Cluster Bombing sorties over Laos to disrupt the supply lines commonly known as the “Ho Chi Minh Trail”. This was a legitimate war tactic, but still providing for the medical needs of current civilians accidentally injured is the goal of COPE. 

We left the museum and decided to walk through downtown. There is a lot of high rise construction here. Our path took us pass a large new shopping mall so we stopped in for air con, to look around, and eat lunch. It is multi-story with open core and a food court. We ate a light meal, checked to see if the cinema was timely showing any movies in english-- no, and now refreshed we walked back to the hotel.  We spent the afternoon reviewing flight plans for future journeys both before and after we depart from Thailand. Our time in Laos is at an end. We will take a van across the border to Thailand and to the airport to fly to Bangkok. 

Vang Vieng Laos

 

 

To travel south in Laos, we knew the road would pass through the rural mountains. That means switch backs and narrow passages. We are traveling in a mini van but this time we get the rear seat. We decide to split some Dramamine before the trip starts and also roast from the heat in the van while waiting for others to load. The rear hatch is up, and we think we hear the hail of our names. We look back but no faces seem familiar, then Phet and Carson step up. We are always glad to see these young men who we met on the slow boat. They get the last seats. We also have Aussie Keith from the boat join us. An unusual wrinkle in Asia are the two American gals who ride with us. They work for the World Health Organization, had just finished an assignment in Africa, and were taking a holiday. They were from Cleveland, Ohio. Coincidentally, we had just read that the WHO had just appointed the new worldwide director, Dr. Tedros from Ethiopia . So we had stuff to talk about when we were not listening to our newest Audio book.

Our mountain view from the van

We knew that Vang Vieng was a naturalist area with kayaking, tubing, swimming, caving, mountain biking, hang gliding, and trekking. It had cleaned up its reputation for drug use and hedonism. We planned ahead, deciding a 6 hour van ride was a sufficient day of travel. Our place, the Laos Haven, was basic but had a pool and had decent Aircon. (PS. In Asia, no one says just AC). After our pool time, we had dinner at the #1 restaurant in town according to Trip Advisors—that would be Gary’s Irish Pub. This was only the first or second time we ate cheese burgers on this trip, and drank “Mexican Beer” with lime. 

The view from our hotel as we head out to dinner

The view from our hotel as we head out to dinner

We went kayaking on the ”Nam Song” river. It was a beautiful coarse snaking through the mountains with just enough rapid water and boulders to make the trip more fun. We had a group of 4 two man kayaks. We travelled about 11 km, watching the native Laotians fish and swim in this very blue mountain water. Frank and Janet teamed up and rocked along by pushing out say 5½ horsepower.   The group took an unofficial break and docked at a waterside open air storefront for some cold beer. We've got to thank our group Chinese guy for leading the way to the bar. As we got closer to town we noticed many new hotels being built. This place is going to explode with tourism. We came at the right, rustic, time. We finished at about noon. We did not want to be on the river during the high heat of the afternoon. When the temperature is at 96F, the humidity makes it feel like 104F. 

We then chose to go to the Blue Lagoon. This place is a natural Laotian water park—rather small, but with rope swings and jumping platforms in giant trees for some cannonballs into the cool waters. You can also zip line, repel, and explore caves. When we arrived our guide gave us a tasty box lunch. We sat at a table under a shady tree and just then were joined by the gals from Cleveland who came from zip lining. These girls were fearless and jumped from the highest platform. Not wanting to show them up, we jumped in from the lowest platform. 

As we took another break in the shade, to our surprise the slow boat guys, Phet and Carson, showed up. They had been motorcycling around the city and area and decided to see the Blue Lagoon.  We all joked around. The weirdest thing was we asked how they liked their Hostel, “Backbackers I”. They really liked it, except for the fact some one had stolen several peoples valuables because there was not nearly enough safes. Also, one of the perps was captured after he crawled into bed and groped a female traveler.  With small hotels costing less than $30 a night we think we will stay out of hostels in SE Asia.  

On our open truck ride back to town we see lots of ATV's

 

At 2:00 we all  headed back to the hotel. The guys still had some motorcycling to do. Phet promised to contact us for the MSU/Penn State football game. Hope he does. We were certainly cooled down from the Blue Lagoon, so did not need the pool. We sat on the open air balcony and worked on travel plans. The hotel was nice enough to set up a fan next to us.  We finished the evening by eating at an open air restaurant near the river that served Thai food. It was really, really great, and for both of us with beer and a pineapple shake totaled $8. Tomorrow, we head for the Capital of Laos,  Vientiane. We paid for the VIP transport—hope there is some aircon and leg room. 

A local Wat we passed on the way to dinner

Luang Prabang Laos

Luang Prabang is a UNESCO-protected city with 33 Buddhist temples, the former royal palace built in 1904, and most interestingly, several streets along the river with French colonial buildings. In the 1800’s the French were colonizing throughout Indochina and as this was the residence of the “King Vong” they landed here.  After WWI, it was France that again concentrated on negotiating with Viet Nam, Myanmar (Burma), and China to create borders and form the new country Laos. France then also moved the current capital south to Vientienta. We will be there in several days. 

Our walk to the hotel including crossing this old bridge with our luggage

The French colonial streets are lined with Indochinese mansions that are now boutique hotels, fancy shops and elegant restaurants, with Buddha temples interlaced on these streets. It is a very peaceful setting and we enjoyed bicycling and walking around the town. We had to bike over the split tracks of the“Old Town Bridge” along side motorcycles to get around to both sides of the city. We viewed temples and riverside city parks. But at night from our Hotel Bue Villa we used the seasonal “Bamboo Bridge” to walk across the river directly to the French section for dinner. Later, a slick night market is set up on the main street, selling excellent crafts and wares under bright lights; no junk trinkets here. 

A highly regarded restaurant in the French section of town is “Tamarind”. This restaurant also offers cooking classes during the day, and a tuk-tuk trip to the food market for ingredients and general descriptions. This is a full day instruction at a classroom kitchen using gas heated woks, where the participants make 5 meals, after the instructors show seven preparations. Our instructors, Mr. Lee and Mr. Yang, were very organized and answered any questions. We got a recipe book, too. Adding to the fun was meeting our cooking companions from Japan. These 2 charming ladies who were childhood friends had met up for this vacation as one now lived in Hawaii, USA. We ate our creations for lunch before going on to other recipes. Those concoctions we boxed up and took home for later evening dinner; The hotel staff helped us plate our cuisine and it was really good too. 

The next morning we said good bye to one of our favorite towns. We took a mini van through the mountain passes south to a naturalists town named “Vang Vien”. This ride took 6 hours, not the 3 hours advertised. We chose not to forge ahead another straight 6 hours to the capital city Vientiane, but take in the mountains and natural beauty of this more rural location. 

Laos--- Epic Travel and Border crossing

The White Temple

We are traveling toward Laos. Near the border, around Chiang Rai, Thailand, we stop at the “White Temple”of Buddha, aka “Wat Rong Kuhn”.  This is an unexpected treat. This complex is gorgeous with all buildings and ornate temples in bright white, with splashes of silver, and then monuments of gold. This complex was the brain child of a very famous and religiously devote painter/architect named “Chalermchai Kositpipat”. He used his own money to seed the project, and continued to build even after an earthquake destroyed part of it.  The theme of the complex might be best described as a Buddhist version of “Dante’s Inferno with its seven levels of purgatory. The lesson: Rebirth and delusion--Be spiritual in your life and be devoted to Buddhist teachings and avoid damnation. Some modern figures are integrated into the paintings, such as Matrix, Twin Towers burning, Elvis, and Superman, among others.  We were also treated to a museum of art painted by this artist, all Buddhist themes but still beautiful and vibrant. No photos allowed however we got a few below, inside and out.

We are suppose to get back to the van in one hour; one of out troop is missing and the driver wants to go. We empty our luggage to allow him to ID the tardy guys stuff. As we do that, a soft hearted American (Frank) walks back toward the exhibit to grab the guy; he was quiet and only the American was sure he could recognize him. Tic-toc, the guide was really agitated and said he would have find a hotel for the night. Finally, the guy comes into sight and Frank yells and waves his arm so the guy starts running. When he arrives, he hears it from the guide. We think he is shell shocked. Later at dinner, after talking to a calmer guide, he comes over and thanks us.  Nice German kid named Carson. We think the whole van is feeling better about waiting for a fellow traveler. This is borne out by the camaraderie that developed among us. 

The view from our hostel, the Mekong river on the Thai side

That night we stop in a small river town called “Chiang Kong” next to the Mekong River. Our lodging is in a hostel, but we pay extra for an AirCon private room and the food is passable.  The balcony dining area overlooks this wide, fast flowing river. Our guide excitedly points across the river and shouts “Laos, Laos”. Tomorrow we pass through the immigration of at “ Huey Xai”, Laos and get a visa into Laos. 

Frank at Dinner

The truck taxi to the slow boat

Immigration is easy, filling out 2 forms, cost $35 US each, walk through to the Van that takes us to the local dock on the muddy Mekong River. 

Slow Boat in Laos

 

We thought this mode of transportation would be another interesting part of the trip. The Laos boats have long, shallow, wooden hulls with seating for 60-70 passengers.  It has a canopy over the seating area; sides are open to the air; think of it as a bus on water. Our boat had two seat car benches, probably salvaged, running port and starboard with a center aisle. The pilot house is in the front, the engine sits high in the rear with long swiveling power shaft for easier maneuverability on this wide river.  The head is a squat draining direct to the river. It is crowded not with other boats but floating debris.

This is fun and relaxing. The jungle scenery along the shore, and misty mountains in the background are really beautiful. The peacefulness is only occasionally broken by the whining of the high RPM engine of the “fast Boats”. Actually, we would call these “suicide boats”. We could have booked this passage; 8 hours not 2 days---but after watching these small skiff boats with oversized engines plane through the debris ridden river we knew we made the right decision. The fast boats have flat shallow hulls and the passengers sit high. You hit something at high speed—you be a goner, plus the vibration and constant bouncing on the river for 8 hours would drive most people crazy. 

The view from the boat

On the other hand, we enjoyed the slow boat. Our young buddies from the van broke out bottles of “Black Whiskey from Laos” ($5/ bottle) and Coca Cola, and then activated a portable speaker. To our surprise, first song “Jimi Hendrix’s Watch Tower”. The Group: “Carson” from Germany, “Phet” from Syracuse, NY, USA, “Kevin” from Switzerland, Dutch I from the Netherlands, “Spurs” from the Netherlands, and two ladies with non-pronounceable first names that we know as “Nice Irish girl”  from Northern Ireland, and “Smiley Girl” from Japan. This group is U 25; nice young people. They joke around and laugh while we are listening to our audiobooks and own music.

 

Later, “Phet”, a Penn State Grad, gets dragged into a inquiry about American politics, and then he drags us into the conversation. We are not going to go into the weeds, but the young Europeans where interested in the 2nd Amendment, worldwide immigration, border issues, and the Trump Election. By the way, we face those questions all the time.

 

We stop one night in tiny, one street “Pak Beng”, a docking stop, then we take off on the boat again to our final boating destination, the city of “Luang Prabang”. Too much debris to travel the river at night. 

Chiang Mai Thailand

Chiang Mai city center 

The Stopover 

The bus station 

The goal was to get to Bangkok, Thailand by van and have a short stopover until we got to the train station in time to take transportation to northern Thailand and the city of Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. Our travel day started at 7:00 by van pick up in Battambang. We arrive at the bus office with several other people and then are instructed to take a tuk-tuk and luggage to somewhere else; turns out the somewhere was a bus depot out of the center of town, this place was bad, garbage all over, just a few people hanging out and really hot.

Frank on the sleeper bus

The bus arrived. To our surprise it was a sleeper bus—but not like the ones we had before where passengers are in seating that is prone or semi-cami. No, the seating is on designated bunk beds—2 in each bunk.  The sheets were clearly rumpled and dirty.  We passed the time with Netflix movies as we rocked from side to side.  Not a terrible problem for us, but others where sharing bunks with strangers. This was an unexpected blemish on Cambodia’s reputation. In the end, all went well. 

 

 

 

 

The Cambodia exit

The Cambodia exit

We arrived at the Cambodia/Thailand border; there was no clear directions as to the process. Our bus driver just pointed in the direction of the border and left.  This is our 90th move and 25th country so we know the drill on third world border crossings, but it is still a shock to senses to walk across a border on a dirt road with tuk-tuks, trucks, bikes and vendors shouting to you to buy their goods.

Our new 4 person informal group stuck together, that included Janet and Frank, and lovely Nevis from Ireland, and handsome Manfred from NZ. Finally, we checked through at the Cambodian border exit.  We passed through the Thailand Border control where Nevis became light headed, so we gave her food and water and another trekker carried her gigantic backpack for a while. We where now inseparable. 

Entering Thailand

Entering Thailand

We walked to a depot where we joined 5 other Thai’s in a van for the 3 hour drive from the border to Bangkok. There was some wrangling as to the number available seat, but we got it all worked out so our group stayed together. We met our goal and we got to the train station in time. We decided to take the night sleeper train for a 12 hour ride to Chiang Mai. The train was rustic, which means the bathrooms were open to the track. We had upper bunks across the aisle from each other, they were fine and AirCon was powerful. Some new friends from Belgium, a young couple, had the bunks below us. They were very nice and in fact—big save-- found Frank's fallen Iphone on the floor.  They gave us some tips on Australia as they had just visited to Scuba at the barrier reefs. 

Chiang Mai

We arrived in Chiang Mai at 10:00 am for a total of 27 hours in 3 vans, 2 tuk-tuks, a sleeper bus and sleeper train.  Our hotel was Twenty Lodge in the city center. The city center is defined by the brick rampart and moat that circled this ancient town, which held off invaders for 7 centuries until finally conquered by Burmese. We liked the location close to the city center, the lodge,  the pool, and the hospitality.  Our host greeted us with cool towels, fresh juice and an early morning check in.  After a quick nap, great lunch and a dip in the pool we were ready to go again.

 

Chiang Mai is a very religious center with 120 Buddhist temples in the area along with many monasteries for monks. Each is decorated in glorious fashion with bright colors and protective dragons, and of course a large main Buddha figure surrounded by other Buddha in various states of reflection. The interior walls of the temples are usually painted with holy figures and murals. From our hotel we trekked around town to view seven (7) temples. Several where having a celebration on this day so it was a lively scene. At the city center was a wonderful sculpture called the ”Three Kings”. (see top photo above) This commemorated the early leaders that established northern Thailand independent of Burmese invaders. This part of Thailand was governed by the”Lanna” tribe. Here are some photos about the temples, and especially the protective dragons. 

We did take a ½ day tour up to the peak of the mountain towering over the city. Here, we experienced another grand temple and spectacular views. Driving down the mountain we stopped at a small village with beautiful gardens and waterfall; also some nice shop—we bought some goodies. The most excitement really came from the van driver who obviously dreamed of growing up and being a “Formula One” driver. This is the second time in Thailand that we broke out some “Dramamine” to forestall motion sickness.

 

The food here is excellent. We ate at one restaurant twice; it was close, had specialized selection,  and good ratings from Trip Adviser. We also ate at JP Chicken Shack. Small hens rotating on a spit then cleaved into smaller parts. Very good. 

We walked to the Travel Hub offices to purchase tickets to the proverbial ”slow boat” to Laos (not China). This will be a new adventure. The tour group picks us up by van and transports us near to the Thailand/Laos border.  This was a very short trip into Thailand.  We will be back in 10 days when we meet the kids in Bangkok for much more fun.