Thailand Tour Part 2-Elephants and Monkeys and Pineapples, Oh My!

Following our medicine shop adventure, we piled into a minivan and arrived shortly at the Elephant Conservatory and Hospital just outside of Lampang. I was not very excited about this part of our itinerary, thinking that I could ride an elephant at the zoo at home. But, this place was amazing! It ended up being my favorite part of our trip and I could have spent days there. The elephants were so cool. They were wandering around the grounds, most of them with training mahouts (drivers) on their backs. The grounds were huge and included a show area, lots of jungle, and best of all, a large lake in which we got to see the elephants bathe! That was the first thing we got to watch. The mahouts took their elephants (about 10 of them) into the water (about 4 meters deep) which they clearly enjoyed. The elly's played around in the water, snorting it into their trunks and then spraying each other for about 30 minutes. They even came over and soaked the spectators!


Bath Time!

After their bath, they headed over to the show ring where they showed off for us. They responded to cues, verbal and physical to perform tasks such as turning on and off a hose, balancing on a log, moving logs with their trunks (they can move up to 800 kg!), and picking up logs with their tusks. For the grand finale, we got to watch 3 of the big guys paint! With only verbal cues, they painted pictures on an easel and brush, just like a human would. Well, except they held the brush with their trunk! With the help of our crafty guide, Craig and I were able to quickly reserve one of the three paintings to purchase. Good thing too because we got the coolest one, and as soon as we reserved it, tons of other people tried to buy it. Lucky us! So, now we are the proud owners of a painting of an adult and baby elephant walking off into the sunset, painted by Nua-Un.


Nua-Un painting our masterpiece

Afterward, the elephants came over to the sides of the ring to check us out. They were very friendly and poked around with their trunks to see what we had. One of them poked me right in the stomach, hard enough to make me take a step back. Strong!


Checking Katie out

Next it was time to climb on and go for a ride! The mahouts get on by either climbing up the trunk or having the elephant hold up one front leg like a step. We got on from a tree stand. Each elephant had a 2-person seat (similar to a chair lift seat) strapped onto its back. Craig and I climbed on behind the mahout and off we lumbered. The minute the elephant stepped away from the stand, I realized how high up we were. The elephant's back was about 10 feet high and we were sitting on an elevated seat above that. The animals are massive! Our guy seemed happy enough to have us onboard though and we lurched along rocking abruptly side to side, down to the lake, through the lake (so cool!) and off into the jungle. Here's where the real adventure began. There were 3 elephants ahead of us carrying 6 of our group members. I fully expected to follow them up the trail but ours had a different idea. Our elephant and the one behind us walked off the trail, into the jungle greenery. Apparently, while giving us a ride, they were also going to be trailblazing! Our driver did not speak english and apparently neither did our elephant because the both ignored my cries of fear for the next 20 minutes. The mahout would grunt a command and the elephant would grab a bunch of branches or plants with his trunk and tear them out of the way. This went on for awhile and was very interesting and not too scary until we came to the hill. When I first saw the hill I thought, "Right. There's no way we're going up that so we must be clearing more brush to the side." Then I saw the humongous round indentations in the mud on the hill and realized that we were indeed going up it. Craig will confirm that this was a frightening prospect as it was literally almost straight up. I tried to console myself by leaning as far as I could away from the edge, gripping the bar on the seat with one hand and Craig's shorts with the other. Our driver found this very entertaining and laughed at me. I just KNEW we were going to tip over and be squashed in the mud under our 2 ton elephant. However, to my relief, with a few slips and tips, our elephant carried us safely to the top and back onto the trail. Whew! The ride was really fun, especially since we got to go off-roading!

Following the ride, we bought some big hunks of sugar cane to feed one of the elephants. Greedy little bugger! He didn't waste any time reaching out with his trunk and grabbing the pieces from us. Then he would stuff it quickly in his mouth and reach for the next one. Our 10 pieces lasted about 10 seconds. Next we walked over to the hospital part of the grounds. Over there, injured elephants are cared for. Some had infected wounds, some had injuries from being hit by a car or attacked by poachers. The elephants are given medical attention and then returned to the surrounding jungle. The staff even go into the jungle at night to check on all of them and protect them from poachers. They really seemed to care about the animals there and took pride in helping them. Also at the hospital were two baby elephants! One was 2 months old and very shy. He didn't want to leave the protection of his mother's legs but he was very cute. The other was 6 months old and more brave. He was showing off his soccer skills for awhile and would go over to his very protective mom for some love once in awhile. Both mom and baby checked us out with their trunks and were very friendly.


Baby Elephant showing us his skills

We spent a fair amount of time watching the young guy kick his soccer ball and chase after it but then it was time to leave. We picked up our now dry painting (painted on elephant dung paper and stored safely in an elephant dung carrying canister) and said goodbye to the big gray beasts. What a fantastic day!

We got back into the van where our guide announced he had a surprise for us enroute to Chiang Rai, a 4-hour journey. But first we stopped at a market to sample some fried bugs. The options included but were not limited to cockroaches, grasshoppers (or "jumping grass" as our guide called them), crickets, and worms. Craig sampled a bamboo worm. "Tasted like dry and flaky and it sucked all the water out of your mouth." I passed on that opportunity.

Afterward, we drove on and arrived at a jungle plantation sort of place. We were greeted by a toothless thai man who was obviously very excited to see us and ushered us over to a covered area. First then proceeded to pick up two baskets connected by a pole, put it on his shoulder, donned a rice picker type hat and headed out with the thai guy and his machete. We all followed and realized we were at a pineapple farm! I had no idea pineapples don't grow on trees! They grow in spiky leafed green plants close to the ground. The machete was used to chop off a bunch of ripe pineapples and then to carve them up for us to eat.


Pineaple Farm Guy preparing our feast

Best, juiciest, and sweetest pineapple ever! Unfortunately, my tummy was still not happy so I didn't get to enjoy much but Craig definitely ate his share and mine! It was a really cool surprise.

After everyone had their fill, we drove on to our really cool, treehouse-like guesthouse to get ready for dinner. The night's restaurant selection was Cabbages and Condoms. Interesting......along with 2 other now-sick guys in the group, I decided to hang back at the hotel as I was feeling pretty terrible, although I was curious about the theme. Craig was so great - he went out and found me some gatorade and crackers to sustain me while he was at dinner. When he got back to the room, he described the decor of the restaurant: a Santa Claus and another man made completely of condoms. It was then that I knew I really missed out. But my gatorade was so good. Oh, and of course I missed more karaoke by our guide.

Next morning I was feeling a bit better, thankfully because we were in for a boat ride on the mighty Mekong river. This area is called the Golden Triangle because it's where Thailand, Laos, and Burma (Myanmar) all come together. We boarded another long tail boat and headed across the river to the Laos market. The market was similar to thai ones we had seen except the children were braver and were begging for money. I gave each of a group of 3 kids some spare change so that I could take their picture.


Laos Children, now with a little money in their pockets

Cute kids but kinda sad. We wandered around for awhile, checking out all the market goods and came across some bottles with dead snakes inside. Turns out, it was snake whiskey which cures back pain and makes you sleep better. One lady was encouraging us to try it so Kiran (a groupie) accepted the challenge and downed a shot. Then Craig stepped up and gulped some. I'm glad I had the camera ready because his reaction was priceless:


Craig after his snake whiskey. YUM!

Only our groupie from Colombia was able to drink the stuff enjoyably without cringing.

When we had our fill of the market, we drove further up the river in the boats to the triangle, the actual point where the 3 countries meet. To the left was Thailand, in front of us was Burma, and to the right was Laos. It was pretty cool to see. We took the boats to a restaurant for a buffet lunch and then walked over to the opium museum to learn about the history of the drug. Next we were off to another market, right on the border of Thailand and Myanmar (old Burma). Craig and I wanted to cross the border into Myanmar for the passport stamp so our guide headed us and another girl in the right direction. We handed over some cash and were ushered into a very shady, dark, sketchy interrogation room. The Myanmar guards took our passports, asked us some questions, filled out some paperwork, and informed us they would hold onto our passports until we crossed back over the border. This did not sit well with us but we really had no choice at that point. So, we left the office, walked over a bridge to the Myanmar market, took a couple of pics, were harassed by lots of poor Burmese people, felt very uncomfortable and unsafe, and decided to cross back to Thailand, all in a matter of 10 minutes. Thankfully, our passports were returned to us without incident and we were back in the comfort of Thailand in minutes. We met up with the rest of our group and piled back into the van for our second "surprise."

This time, we pulled into a park-like setting and were informed we needed to leave all belongings in the van and to hold onto our cameras very tightly because the monkeys like to steal them! Yay! We were going to feed some wild monkeys. We bought a bucket of peanuts and the monkeys came climbing out of the jungle, swinging in trees and vines down the cliff just like in the movies! It was really fun to watch. They weren't shy about coming over to grab a peanut from your hand and scurry a few feet away to eat it. There were lots of monkeys, and even a mother with a tiny baby clinging to her stomach.


Katie feeding Mama Monkey


Mama and Baby Monkey

This ended up being another of our trip favorites, made even cooler because the monkeys were wild, not caged up at all. We hung with them for awhile and then our guide purchased three eels to release in the pond. This apparently brings good luck. You can also buy frogs, birds, turtles, etc. to release at different places, all for good luck.
It was time to leave the monkeys to go back to our treehouse and prepare for another exciting dinner. This time, we went to a large open-air area surrounded by street vendors selling their tasty thai treats. We chose our dishes (I again employed the help of First while Craig again utilised his pointer finger for food selection) and bought some beer undercover. It is not legal to sell beer at that venue but our guide had connections and employed the services of some undercover beer salesman. Craig ordered a beer from a young guy, slipped him some cash, and the bottle was delivered on the down low, under the table, in a plastic bag. Very shady operation but hilarious!


Looking hot at the show

The entertainment taking place on the stage in front of us that evening was a Ladyboy show. Ladyboys are Thailands version of transvestites. I do believe they are the most beautiful cross dressers in the world. After one guy in our group was asked if he knew "that broad is a bloke," he replied "yeah, but she's bloody gorgeous!" It was really unbelievable that these elegant, pretty, graceful girls were men! Once again, our guide came through and arranged for us to meet the ladyboys backstage during the show. Even up close, you could not tell!


Craig with his Ladyboy

Elephants and Monkeys (and lots of other stuff)

I will leave you with the Ladyboys for tonight. Watch for the next blog where we'll tell you about more elephants, tigers, waterfalls, getting blessed by a monk, and sleeping on a train! Oh, and also the fairytale white temple I forgot about in this post.

Northern Thailand Discovery Tour, Part 1

We met the 15 other people with whom we would be spending our next 9 days (excluding sleeping but that's about it) on Friday night at the Royal Hotel. Now, the Royal Hotel......you'd think with a name like that it would be pretty flash by Bangkok standards. While the entrance and foyer were fairly nice, our room proved what Lonely Planet had warned us about: Hotels in Thailand are notorious for fixing up the entrance because that's what you see before you check in, and leaving the rooms to decay. And, as this is the 3rd oldest hotel in Bangkok, decay it did. Our room had lots of water stains, peeling paint, and dirty floors but at least the sheets appeared to be clean. We didn't dare break out the blacklight for those though.
After checking in we headed to our group meeting. There, we made introductions and reviewed the plan for the tour and then went out to our first dinner together. This proved a great idea as our guide introduced us to some new thai food and we all had a great time getting to know each other. Craig and I also figured out that although everyone in the group looked about 10 years younger than us, 2 girls were over 30 as well! WooHoo! After dinner, we returned to our room which now smelled like paint fumes, and turned in for the evening.


Most of our group

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to have breakfast and then head out to see some Bangkok sights. The first place on the agenda was Wat Po, a temple housing the famous Reclining Golden Buddha. We had heard about this buddha and I imagined it to be a gold buddha, lying down, about the size of Craig but with a bigger belly. So, I think we were all shocked when we entered the temple to see a GIGANTIC buddha that literally took up the entire building, both in length and height. The buddha, made entirely of gold leaf (except for its mother of pearl eyes), is 15 meters high and 46 meters long. After staring in awe for awhile, Craig and I made a donation and were each give 108 coins. We were to put one coin in each of 108 pots aligning the wall and would, in return, be granted a blessing that meant we will be together in the afterlife. After securing our future together, we left the giant buddha and went back out into the sweltering heat down to the river where we were loaded into long tail boats and taken to another floating market. This one wasn't nearly as large as the one we went to on our own but the ride there was fun! On the way back, we stopped (in our boat) and were given some "lucky fish bread" via a bucket on a pulley system. The locals sit along the river and transport the bread into unsuspecting tourist boats and then charge you 20 baht. Clever......and we all fell for it but it was really fun feeding the fish. All you had to do was dangle a hunk of bread in the water and, within seconds, a huge catfish (or 12) would come along and gobble it up, usually with a soaking splash as a thank you.


Next to the Golden Reclining Buddha


Buying Lucky Fish Bread


Thai Boy Feeding the Floating Market Catfish

After our boat ride, we climbed back up to the street where our guide secured some tuk tuks to take us (or tuk us haha) back to the hotel. When we arrived, we were thankful to be just grabbing our things for check out as our room was now completely filled with visible paint fumes.
Next we took a 5 hour bus ride to Sukhothai where we arrived there just in time for dinner in the hotel. This is where we were first exposed to our guide's talent: karaoke. First (that's our guide's name) was very excited all day and had said repeatedly, "tonight we make party." And make party he did. After several large beers, First got up and showed off his singing talent. After a few slightly off key songs, we left the hotel and made our way across the street to another bar/restaurant where First again graced us with more sappy love songs with an outdoor karaoke system. Some of the braver members of our group joined in and it ended up being a lot of fun, mostly because First, with his beer goggles securely fastened, clearly thought he was the best singer in the world.
Some of the group stayed up drinking and playing in the pool until 3am. Craig joined them for a bit while I showered and listened to the rowdiness, and then we hit the bed for some rest before our 8am activities. The rest of the group showed up looking fairly rough in the morning but we made it out of the hotel, almost on time, and went to pick up our bikes for a tour of the historic park in town. It was raining, but that was fine as it cooled the temps and made riding around for a couple of hours (slightly longer due to First's 4 wrong turns) more enjoyable. The bikes were funny, old school style with bells and we all felt like we were in Mary Poppins. We stopped frequently to see ruins of old temples and statues of an ancient walled city throughout the park. It was pretty cool, and fun to see it by bike.


Sukhothai Elaphants


Craig and Katie by the ruins


Craig on his fancy bike

We were also supposed to go do a hike in a national park nearby but got rained out. The park closed due to flooding so we were stuck with nothing to do but eat lunch. And this is where we tasted our first really weird food of the trip. For lunch, we had chicken heart (pretty tasty if you could get over what it was), chicken intestine (or "chicken ass" as our guide liked to call it. It was nasty and fatty), and pig tongue (not bad til I saw the taste buds), all from the local market. Luckily the restaurant across the street also had normal food to supplement our weak western stomachs. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel for a nap, some pool time, and then dinner back at the karaoke restaurant.


Lunch: Catfish, Tongue, and Chicken A**

Next day, we met our bus at the petrol station! This is because we had to get on before the rest of the public in order to get seats. So, somehow, our guide arranged for us to bring our bags to the petrol station where the bus stopped to pick us up before pulling into the bus station just up the street. We were on the bus for about 5 hours before reaching Lampang. Once here, we went to a shopping center for lunch (sounds strange but Thailand is actually known for having really good food in its food courts). Not only were there tons of people eating here but there were also a fair amount of people drinking excessively. A couple of groups of guys even had beer tubes (large tubes of beer with a tap) on their tables, in addition to bottled beer! Weird, who drinks at the food court?! Ordering was difficult here as nothing was in English. I employed the help of First to order some rice with veggies as my stomach was starting to rumble ominously and Craig ordered by waiting until someone else ordered something that looked good and then pointing quickly at them before they walked away. Good tactics and he ended up with 2 tasty dishes!
After our bellies were all nice and full, we were carted off for some thai massages. The best thing about these were that they cost us about 10 NZD for an hour massage! When I normally think of massage, I think relaxing, nice and gentle......Thankfully we were forewarned but I was still surprised at how rough and strong these ladies are! They vigorously stretch (sometimes painfully) every muscle and crack all joints from toes to neck for an entire hour. Then they tell you you're pretty and ask for a tip. I actually did enjoy the experience but don't think I need to have it done again. I'm going for the expensive relaxing ones from now on. Craig said he would do it again "because it was alright."
After the massage, we had a few minutes at the hotel to shower quickly and head to "the most beautiful restaurant in Thailand." By this time, I was starting to feel as if I was having labor pains in my stomach. Only because the place was supposed to be so beautiful did I venture to dinner with the rest of the group. This was after extracting a promise from First and Craig that I could return to the hotel anytime during dinner. We rode to the hotel in the back of a pickup truck. It really was gorgeous. Our table was on an outdoor balcony, overhanging the river, with views of a pretty bridge spanning the water. Above us was a second balcony where a band was playing some western songs. They were surprisingly great to listen to. By the time we made it through dinner (Craig ate most of my pad thai) and one of First's songs with the band, I decided to make a break for the safety of our hotel room. We left the restaurant unwillingy as it was a great place, said goodbye to the large lizard on the wall, climbed back into the truck and were dropped off as everyone else stayed.


Greeting Lizard


View from the "Beautiful Restaurant"

Part 1 of our tour

I proceeded to curl up into a fetal position and try to sleep through the pains which were now coming in about 10 minute intervals. I was convinced that they were caused by the immodium I had taken earlier that day because I had never taken it before. So, at 3 in the morning when I couldn't stand it anymore, I had poor Craig go downstairs into the lobby to email our pharmacist friend Emily for drug advice. It ended up being a very long night for both of us and I was still not feeling great by the time morning rolled around. I wasn't losing any fluids though (if you know what I mean) so I decided to find the drug Emily suggested and go with the group to the Elephant Conservatory.
Our first stop was the medicine shop. The version of a pharmacy was a small shop with boxes upon boxes of drugs. Fortunately, the pharmacist spoke pretty good english and knew exactly where the hyoscine was when I spelled it for her. It was the shadiest "pharmacy" I had ever seen but I didn't care at that point. Then, finally, we were off to see elephants! Check back soon for those details. This one is getting too long!

Bangkok

We ended our leisure time in Phuket and headed to the heat and chaos of Bangkok on Wednesday morning. We had figured out the best way to not get ripped off by the local taxi drivers on our first flight in and felt like pros when negotiating with the cabbie to use his meter. We did not have a hotel booked for this night but chose an area of town called Thewet to stay in and were planning on inspecting a couple before we chose one. Our Lonely Planet guide gave us a heads up and we found ourselves liking the first guesthouse we checked out. Our room was all wood floors and walls except the wall to the bathroom which was stone. This was no ordinary bathroom. The shower was merely a shower head without a tub or stall. There was a small drain on the floor and the shower was also the bathroom itself. The toilet was up on a step in the same room. It was something neither of us had seen before, but it worked well.

The Bangkok heat was oppressive, so we chose to take a nap at it was midday and there wasn't much shade in the city. Bangkok is a huge city of about 10 million people. The weather felt similar to NYC in August, it was hot, humid, and stinky, but Bangkok has a lot more poor people than NYC. After our nap, we ventured out to get some food and see some sights. I had a little trouble churning in my gut so we opted for a Subway lunch as opposed to some unknown food from a street vendor. Our guts were pleased but they were expensive sandwiches. After our feed, we did what all tourists do, went to the mall. Bangkok is known for shopping and crazy traffic. We decided to take a tuk-tuk to the mall. A tuk-tuk is like a 3-wheeled motorcycle in which the driver sits on a saddle in the front and there is a small bench seat in the back. All occupants are covered by a small awning. The benefit of a tuk-tuk, over a taxi, is they are better able to break the law by driving on the wrong side of the road and they can use more back alleys unavailable to taxis. The draw back of tuk-tuk's is that they are open and among the smog and exhaust of all the traffic in the city and thus likely are 16-17 times more carcinogenic than cigarettes. The ride was intense but I was too tall to see the oncoming cars and other hazards, so it was worse for Katie.


A Tuk-tuk

Our driver dropped us off at MBK which is Thai for something like huge ass mall. There were 6 floors of mayhem and almost everything you could ever want in a mall was there. We spend some time looking at every cell phone ever made, right next to every cell phone that was ever made. I am amazed that so many vendors selling the same thing could stay in business. Nonetheless, we were enjoying the air conditioning and wandering among the sporting goods and souvenirs sections. We didn't make any purchases but were awed by the massive purchasing capabilities.


MBK

Our wandering then took us to Khao San Rd. Khao San is known to be a backpacker haven of cheap food, cheap accommodation, and cheap alcohol. The road isn't very long, maybe 1km, but it's closed to vehicles and there are street vendors and food stalls intermixed with restaurants and hostels. It's possible to get a meal, a room, and pretty drunk for around 20 bucks. We chose to venture again, albeit mildly, into street food. We downed a few spring rolls and a banana and chocolate crepe. I wasn't satisfied and had a bland pad thai, but for $1.50 who can complain.


Buying some Fresh Fruit on Khao San

The next day we planned on going to the Grand Palace and to see the Temple of the Emerald Budda. That was the plan. We had a decent breakfast sandwich from the hostel and hit the streets. We walked for almost an hour until we got the to the Grand Palace, or where we thought was the Grand Palace. We explored a huge temple with dozens of Buddhas. We were surprised that nobody was at the biggest tourist attraction in the city, which was false. We were the only ones not at the Grand Palace. The temple which we did tour was pretty and provided some nice views of the city. We tried, without success, to get directions from non-English speaking locals. We also failed to establish our location on the tourist map and after visiting another unintended temple, we got a cab to drive us to the Grand Palace.


Not the Grand Palace


Also Not the Grand Palace

It is called the Grand Palace because prior Kings of Thailand lived on the site. It is now a huge complex of Temples and other Buddhist architecture/shrines. It is hard to describe how ornate the temples are. Generally, they are covered in small tiles which create drawing or murals on the outside. Many of the columns and railings are gold coated. Red, green, and blue tiles make up the colors of the roofs. Check out the pix to see what I am unable to portray. We were able to go in and see the Emerald Buddha. It was about a metre tall and made of jade. It was in a case atop of a pyramid of gold shrines and offerings and was really beautiful. When in a temple or facing a buddha, you are not allowed to wear shoes or have your feet pointing toward the Buddha. This is why Thai people kneel while praying or sit cross legged while meditating. Also, many temples do not allow pictures. We have a few pix of the Buddha from outside though.


Previous Kings Castle



Elephant Shrine


Guardian Giants



Katie before the Golden Gates

After we had our fill of the Grand Palace we grabbed a bite at a market while waiting for the riverboat back to Thewet. Lunch was, as usual, a mystery. We chose a vendor with a lot of meals prepared for viewing and chose the best based on visual inspection alone as no common language existed between us. The street food is really good and cheap. I would be glad to eat it most days if I was assured my stomach would be agreeable. Katie enjoyed a sweet and sour vegetable type dish. I don't know how to describe my meal, but it was tasty. After lunch we struggled to find the proper dock to get on a ferry boat upriver to Thewet, where our hostel was. After going to several incorrect docks we boarded a long covered boat and headed out. We were almost stowaways as we did not understand the system on how to pay and once we figured it out, we couldn't understand the collection process. Fifteen minutes later and a dollar broker we wandered back into our hostel.



The afternoon heat convinced us to have a siesta until it cooled in early evening. That night we returned to Khao San Rd. for some cheap eats and people watching. After having a night of food scouting, I knew where I was headed. I was excited to try something new and spicy. The food vendor spoke pretty good English and I ordered some spicy chicken and minced pork with veges and chilies. Katie was content to watch me sweat while enjoying my food at that vendor. She dove into some spring rolls, cooked sweet corn, and ice cream. I helped with the ice cream. We wandered for the rest of the evening taking in the atmosphere and enjoying the warm summer nights.


Corn Anyone?

Friday morning we booked a half day tour to the Damnoen floating market. This is about 100km from Bangkok. A bus arrived at our hostel and scurried around town picking up others from their hotels etc. After we shuffled from one bus to the next we arrived at the floating markets. This is how traditional Thai people would exchange goods. We boarded a canoe of sorts and floated along browsing other canoes for fresh fruit, cooked food and souvenirs. The banks of the canal were lined with other vendors selling local goods and chochki gifts. After we floated through the markets, we toured around the miles and miles of canals on which the locals live. These canals were the streets of the past and similar style markets with everyday goods, not souvenirs. The houses were mostly on stilts and many people were doing laundry or cleaning themselves in the canals. It was a cool look into the way things once were.


Floating Market


A Shopping Pose

That afternoon we headed to the Jim Thompson House Museum. Jim Thompson was an American architect who started exporting silk from Thailand. He used his riches to transport 6 traditional Thai houses into Bangkok and combine them into one huge house surrounded by ornate gardens filled with sculptures and native plants. He flipped the walls so that the outside was now in, and vice versa. The house was decorated as you expect from a millionaire architect interested in traditional Thai style. This was one of the highest recommended tourist sites and we were glad to have visited. After that we switched hotels and met our tour group. Check the next update for the beginning of the tour.


Katie in the Gardens of the Jim Thompson House


A Sneak into Jim Thompson's Living Room

Bangkok Photos

EARTHQUAKE!

We interrupt this update on our Thailand holiday to inform you of the earthquake we survived yesterday. Last night we were just hanging out in the living room when Katie asked if I was rocking the couch. I wasn't, but thought that she was swinging her leg which made the couch move. We quickly realized we were in the middle of an earthquake. The video camera was right next to me so I grabbed it and took a small bit of video.



We read today that it was a 7.8 on the Richter scale. To give some perspective, the San Francisco earthquake from the World Series in 1989 was 6.9. We were about 250 miles from the quake center but we got some fun memories and fortunately we prefer our drinks shaken not stirred.

Luckily there was only minimal damage around the country and nobody has been reported hurt.

Thailand Adventure, Part 1: The Beach!

Our countdown to the trip was going smoothly as we struggled through our last few work days to get organized before leaving. Everything seemed pretty much in order at noon on Friday when we received some bad news. Our friend Lexi had taken a tumble while skiing in Queenstown that morning was on her way to Dunedin hospital via helicopter with a head injury. It sounded pretty bad so as soon as we saw the heli land (we can see the landing pad from our offices), we went over to the hospital and spent the rest of the day and evening there. Long story short, Lex had not been wearing a helmet and was knocked unconscious during a fall on her first run down the mountain that day. She ended up with bilateral (both sides) base skull fractures and some bleeding in her brain. Luckily though, no neck injury and the doctors expect her to make a full recovery. Pretty serious injury but we're thankful it wasn't worse. She's now home from hospital and showing mild deficits with balance, vertigo, and memory recall but otherwise doing well. Lex, if you're reading this, we're glad you're feeling better but wear a helmet next time!! See her on the stretcher here.
So, we stayed as long as we could at the hospital that night and then rushed home to pack quickly and get some sleep. Our friends Dan and Emily showed up bright and early Saturday morning walking down our driveway with a Deluxe Euro-Dog (one of Craig's fave market foods) and singing Happy Birthday to him. It was hilarious! Craig was very pleased with his birthday breakfast! After that, the Pinto's dropped us off at the airport and our vacation began.
Our flights were all fine and uneventful. I got to see the Sydney Opera House, Olympic Stadium, and Sydney Harbour Bridge during our landing there. We flew Quantas from Sydney to Bangkok and they gave us 2 meals with ice cream after each. Yum! Unfortunately, the second one was a popsicle which had clearly been in the deep freezer for awhile. In my excitement to try to ram the whole top of it into my mouth, my entire bottom lip got stuck to it! It hurt really bad and I couldn't get it off for anything. I finally had to peel it away while trying to thaw with saliva at the same time. Painful experience and lesson learned!
Poor Craig had to spend his entire 30th birthday on planes so he had a few celebratory drinks on our long flight. The guy next to me also had a few (3 Jim Beam and Cokes) and never got up to pee once in the entire 9 hour flight. I need to learn how to do that!


Southern Alps and Mt Cook from the plane

We arrived in Bangkok at around 11pm Saturday night, got a taxi, and arrived at the Salil hotel at 12.45am. It was HOT, even at that hour. Thankfully, our room had AC and we fell asleep quickly.
The next morning, we were up at 6.30am thanks to our internal clocks. Craig informed me after his shower that there was no hot water. I got through half of my cold shower before realizing that he simply had not turned on the hot water and finished in comfort. We then went down to our first Thai breakfast. Typical Thai brekkie's include the same things they would eat for lunch or dinner: chicken, rice, noodles, etc. Luckily, since I can't stomach much of that so early in the morning, they also had eggs, toast, and fruit. But we did sample the other stuff and it was pretty tasty, a good appetizer for later!
After eating, we walked down Sukhumvit Road. We met a man who claimed to be a police officer and told us everything was closed due to public holiday, and then tried to take us somewhere. Luckily, we had read about these tricksters and knew to just walk away from them. Apparently, if you go with them, they take you to gem shops to get a commission.


Crazy Bangkok traffic

The weather was hot, 90's and humid which was a shock to our systems. We hopped on the sky train to the JJ Market which was MAYHEM. It was this huge market with everything from souvenirs, clothes, and housewares to food and drinks. Oh, and even puppies! We drank some coconut milk out of a coconut, and the best pad thai I've ever tasted from a street vendor. Craig had a spicy chicken dish. All of that with a bottle of water cost us 4 dollars! Good deal.


Sneakers anyone?


Huge Jack fruit

After the market, we grabbed our bags from the hotel and hopped into a taxi to the airport. Drivers in Thailand are crazy. Drive on the wrong side of the road (regularly), weave in and out, speed, etc. So, it's always exciting but what made me really nervous was the fact that our driver was falling asleep! Thank goodness he managed to keep his lids open until we got to the airport. We checked in for our flight to Phuket and settled in at the Bangkok Airways lounge, enjoying free drinks, iced coffee, popcorn, pastries, spinach puffs, and sweet sticky rice wrapped in a leaf. We arrived in Phuket and took a shuttle to Amari Coral Beach Resort in Patong, which was sweet. It was dark but we could tell the place was gorgeous and were greeted with a cup of yummy lemongrass tea and a fruit plate with several exotic fruits.


The Pool


Pirates!

Then next few days were spent lounging by our 2 pools, enjoying huge buffet breakfasts with a huge array of food (the fresh fruit was amazing), and walking into town periodically. Our first time in town was for lunch on Monday and after enjoying our meals and fruity drinks, we realized we didn't have enough money to pay. We were somehow able to communicate to the staff, who didn't speak English, that we would go back to the hotel and return with the rest of the money (which worked out to be less that 50 NZ cents). So, we had some extra time in the sweltering sun but eventually paid our bill. That night, we watched the sunset from the pier on our resort, drank some Singha beer (not too tasty), and then headed back into town for dinner, drinks, and a few games of connect 4 at the bar. Party animals we are! Craig haggled for a pair of Billabong flipflops at the market. We later saw the exact same flips labelled Diesel. Knock-offs anyone? Also that night, Craig found the chapstick he had lost earlier in the day, lying on the street. Weird!


Craig with Thai Ronald


Sunset

The following day was much the same and we ended up having a fabulous dinner that night. Craig ordered something with prawns and he got to pick the ones he ate. It was fun, and the prawns were huge! Both of our meals were delicious and I got a maitai served in a pineapple. Craig had the largest Heineken I have ever seen. After dinner, we wandered the streets a bit and saw a video showing the tsunami hitting that very spot in 2004. It was crazy to stand there and imagine that huge wall of water that was higher that the palm trees in the video. The area was pretty hard hit but seems to have mostly recovered. Only a few hotels on the main street had obvious signs of destruction remaining.


Rocky Beach Bums

Patong Pics

JJ Market Pics

That was our last night in Patong and we flew back to Bangkok the next morning. Stay tuned for the rest of the trip!