Thailand and Cambodia

December 6, 2010
We left the Seam Reap Hotel at 7pm, the thundershower just stopped and it was humid, probably in the mid 80's. In Bangkok we had to rebook our flights because the one we were booked on no long existed. We left at 00:55am, boarded just aft midnight, it was 90 F there and six hours later we are in Seoul and it is 10 F degrees outside. Everyone is bundled up...wonder what the temp will be in L.A.?
It is Tuesday morning here, we landed at 8am, 2 hr time difference since Bangkok, we slept most of the flight and have free WiFi at this airport. It is very modern, I saw video phone stations set up - I wonder if the person on the other end has to have it too. Is it just like Skype...its all written in Korean...don't know if it would work calling the US. We will fly across the International Dateline, it has been weird to be ahead a day.
We have almost 4 hours here.....I am bored and tired, have a 13 hour flight to LAX and then another 4 or 5 hours sitting at an airport....!

December 5, 2010
I read some of the blogs I have posted, I must appologize, did not know I had this many typos, I guess I'll have to figure out if iPad has a spell check. The keyboard is quite small, my fingers go faster then they should. The 'ole telegraph operator' at work, you know! At the end of the day I am usually too tired to proof read my own work...sorry!
Yesterday evening I had a Cambodian Massage at the Pavillion D'Orient hotel, this four foot nothing small little girl, with her iron fingers worked my muscles. She must have thought my calfs were tight, hey girl, its my biking that makes them hard! She wanted to know if I would like it harder...no sireeee! She was on the table with me and put her entire weight on my body, it did feel good at the end, I was quite relaxed and could not even look at the movie, fell asleep quickly!

December 4, 2010
Today we slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, sat around the pool and played cards and came in about 2pm to take a shower and pack, we must vacate the room at 4pm so they have a chance to clean before the next guests arrive. We were lucky they have late arrival. We can hang out in the lobby, eat dinner and get picked up at 7pm for our flight to Bangkok. Then we have a long layover, the next flight departs at 2:30am, flying again on Korean Air via Seoul....hope the maneuvers they have in Korea are not in our flying route. then we change planes and go to LAX via Tokyo, and finally United will bring us home by 3pm on the same day...that international dateline just screws things up....see you all soon! give us a call!

This woman was suppling the village with goods
Dec 3, 2010
It was a half day only, we started at 9am and headed towards Tonle Sap Lake, the largest fresh water lake in SE Asia. Pedaling through the city first, it appeared to be the industrial part, lots of shops with people working in the driveways. Because of the climate here, the workday seems to be outside. I observed a huge iron gate being constructed, and another being painted side by side. There were lots of construction vehicles and backhoes parked because its Sunday. Quickly we came to the countryside with more rice fields and other crop. There are lots of manmade canals between the fields, men and boys were fishing. This area looked cleaner then other parts of the countryside we have seen. Beautiful Lotus Flower fields, the blooms are huge and seedpods were being sold at the side of the road. The small shacks on stilts were vacation homes, Aki told us people from the city rent them for the night, bring their picnic and enjoy the cleaner air and the beautiful views. We pedaled through several small villages, they were poorer towards the edge of the lake. Many on stilts because this lake fluctuates in size tremendously. During the monsoon season it is 16,000 sq km and during the dry season 2700 sq km. We learned that one million two hundred people live on shacks built onto their wooden boats. Families generally have a second boat where they raise some tomatoes, have some pots with herbs and of course get their protein from fishing. This lake provides Cambodians with 75% of their fish catch and 60% of their protein. They also export fish to other nations. Some have television operated on a battery on their wooden boats, a lot of the people are Vietnamese Refugees. They have schools that float, we saw a basketball court which floated, we observed a caged pig next to a boat house...not a boat house that we are familiar with, sticks and coregated or thatched roofs. Usually only three walls, no windows. These villages float around this big lake depending on the season...over a million people...! The village we saw had perhaps 500 families. I saw one woman peel a fruit, peelings overboard, its fish food. The little wooden boats and one oar to get from one house another is simply incredible. This is their way of life.
We are coming home. It was an interesting journey. Cambodia is very poor, they are selling their tourism well and the history is very old, and interesting. Over half the population is between 18 and 25....why? The wars, the killing fields. - Millions were murdered here after the Vietnam War, during Col Pol Pots era. Aki said our enemy left in 1997.

The compressor, the hose to pump up the tire and the bottles on the shelf....fuel!!!!! Old Coke bottles or a fifth of Whiskey, depending how big the motorscooter's tank is.

THIS LITTLE PIGGY WENT TO MARKET........
The driver using the cell phone...checking on the price for pork belly?

These little booth are everywhere, they sell fruit, they sell palm sugar, they also sell locally crafted baskets...i bought one from this family. I presume the kids were home because it is Saturday afternoon. the little one under the table was entrigued with my white legs and came to touch me.
This little boy was fascinated by the tall white man and tried to keep up with us for about 2 kms
This one was my favorite in Thailand and Cambodia, it also is blooming in the courtyard of our hotel.

December 2, 2010
Actually today is a bike race at Angkor Wat, I must say, a lot more people bicycle here than in Thailand, I think it is because they are poorer. the bike race is 30 km mountain biking, or 100 km road race, tomorrow they are holding a half marathon. Aki was participating in the mountainbike race, he took off his front brakes, put on new wheels had a fancy jersey and got up at 4am to race. 300 signed up, he came in 6th....that is all he could talk about. We usually start our tour at 8am, he asked if we could make it 8:30, then he called and was here by 9am. He was so happy, we had a play by play on the event....! Now, his work, taking tourists to see more temples. Today is our longest 70 kms round trip if we go on sealed roads, or 90 kms if wee go on unpaved. Well the unpaved was very hard on me the other day, actually the sealed road was bad as well. We saw lots of little villages, they are mostly poor farmers. What really surprised me were the many school children on bikes, right around 11:30. It is Saturday, they must go half day. Most had a book and a empty bowl for their rice snack at school? Perhaps, I should have asked Aki, but he was tired and not too talkative today. He even forgot to tell us where we were going....we just followed him and Mr. Taa followed us in his fancy old Mercedes.

We saw the Banteay Srei, Citadel of the women, or Citadel of Beauty, built in the second half of the 10th Century. The unusual thing about its well preserved carvings, they are done with different stone and have beautiful subdued pinks and yellows. They think it was designed and carved by women.

We did buy a book about all the temples around here, it is so hard to remember all the names. Most everything around here is written in sanskrit, and the translation is very hard to remember. Aki has good command of English, but the accent is still here and it is hard to remember all these new names.

We are again being picked up at 7pm to be taken to town for dinner. It will be interesting to see how chaotic it is on a Saturday night. This afternoon I observed an overabundance of police and twice as many street vendors as usual. Beggars were out as well, even in front if the hotel.

Our hotel is a little out of town, it is in a neighborhood. The Pavillion D'Orient is quite nice and comfortable, it has uniformed security and lots of employees. We have a swimming pool and a massage parlor, have not had time to do either of it. Partially we haven't felt up to par. I decided to take the antibiotic I brought along from home, diarreah started over...we are also on Malaria Medication for the entire time we are visiting Cambodia, and have to stay on it a week after we return. This place is land locked, dusty, smelly and poor. They do cater to us tourists and the restaurants we have been using are quite nice as well. Time to get ready for dinner, I will try and post some photos later.

December 1, 2010
We really booked a great trip, we feel like the rich Americans, not only do we have a biking guide, there is a Mercedez Van following us, ready to pamper us....! Mr Taa really has nothing to do othef than fill up our waterbottle with cold bottled water, because nobody drinks from the faucet, it is not safe. Our driver does not speak any English, they taught him a couple of words, but that is all he can muster, he pciked us up for dinner...only knows good morning to say hello. His fancy looking diesel needs a new transmission...it sounds horrible, but even with the chaotic traffic there are no dents in his vehicle. He dropped us off at a hotel/restaurant they ushered us to a table, than they came and said...no, just a minute, sit here. We had no idea what was going on...all we knew is we were going to a show of traditional Cambodian dance. Pretty soon they ushered us across the street to another place. It was a very nice dinner show, unfortunately, now Allen has some stomach ailment. He was unable to touch any of the food, actually he didn't eat at lunch either. To him Food smells bad, looks bad - he wants some good italien spaghetti..Actually even that would not have been stomached. He took some of the meds we got in Thailand. The show was incredible, the hands of the Cambodian ladies are amazing, the beautiful girls with perfect make-up and beautiful smiles, the costuming is gorgeous....and the banquest was totally great, just Allen's stomach was not up to it.

On Friday we had an easy day cycling. We saw several temples and learned more about this amazing history. This religious complex was built between 850 and 1250, then overgrown with jungle vegetation and "lost" until the lat 19th Century when the French discovered these temples. Aki seems very knowledgable. I wish i had handouts so i could remember all of it, i guess i could buy a book from the many street vendors. Poor little children as young as 5 and 6 years old accost you to purchase little trinkets for a dollar. Yes, they prefer US dollars here over their currency, the Riel. We pedaledabout 10 miles to the tempel, then did sightseeing on foot. Mr Taa watches our bikes and is ready with water when we return to pedal through the forest to the next tempel. The number of tourists is incredible, but Aki takes us early in the morning...and goes the opposite of the general tour buses. We had lunch early so we could tour the Angkor Wat by 1pm, when we departed they came by the hundreds, one party with police and guards everywhere, Aki told us it was a cousin to the prime minister, ladies with umbrellas shielding the sun from her on either side....it was quite the spectacle.


November 30, 2010
I believe the last time I blogged I was well and happy, done with the tour of Thailand, packing for the next adventure just across the border. After hugging the toilet all night it was obvious I would be unable to travel. We booked another night in the Krabi Resort, I slept all day and the following night, afterr taking the powerful meds Allen and Tom purchased at the local drugstore. Something like Pepto Bismol with a lime flavor to stop my vomiting and a bunch of pills to stop the other end, it worked for a total of $1.60...!
We flew from Krabi to Bangkok to Siem Reap Cambodia. I presume because wee were a day late there was nobody at the airport to greet us, good thing we had the name of the hotel. We contacted our guide, Bueng came at 6pm to explain the events for the following day.
I believe that was Wednesday.
Thursday morning at 8am we met Bueng, and Aki and Hung....Hung announced he was with pedalers and Aki would be our guide, Bueng waived and smiled and rode off into the sunset - rather sunrise! We have no clue what happened. Aki is quite capable, as very good command of the english language and tells us he has been a licences tourguide for 11 years. He usually leads bike tours from Bangkok to Saigon to Hanoi, but happened to be in gown for the mountainbike race. He reminds me of Alfredo in Peru....and because of his hobbies and his laissez-fair attitude, of Roger and Devin....! Yes, he also races motocross.
We rode 50kms the first day, the majority through the local villages on dirt and sand paths. We experiences some amazing sites, from rice paddies to rice drying, watched them work...basket weaving and palm sugar boiling. Simply amazing the way they live. Some have pretty brick buildings, small but well kept, others live in little one room shacks, usually on stilts so they can spend the daytime in the shade of the upstairs. Of course this area is tropical and hot even in winter. We also toured some of the temples, I will tell moree about it in my next blog.
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News traveled fast, all kids yelled hello, the little girls then hid and giggled, boys in large numbers peered over the fence, they saw white people!

Our guide took us on unpaved small paths through the poorest place near Angkor Wat, they have no electricity or water. Cars or tuktuk cannot navigate here, and very few motorized bikes. Most woman have more than one child on the bike. We also observed one with a hammock made of a scarf between the handlebar, baby sleeeping in it, she was collecting empty water bottles for recycling, had a huge plastic bag tied to her bike rack.


This woman is collecting water lillies for soup this evening


Is taking me for a ride in the jugle of Thailand

November 28, 2010
Our last day in Thailand was another adventure kayaking. We packed up the bikes after the ride yesterday, a paddling guide picked us up before 8am, we had our own bus to take us to the pier. The tide was way out, we had to walk through the muck to put into the sea. We went the opposite way as the masses, Hen, our guide said it would be like a boat market if we all went that way. The inlets through the mangrove forest were like rivers, we saw all kinds of crab, colorful iradescent blue, orange, grayish with big claws on tiny bodies, hermit crabs, etc. The birds ranged from swallows with yellow bellies, to kingfisher and hornbills with macaw like beeks. The most fun were the monkeys...I am sure they would have hidden from view had we gone with the masses. These monkeys eat crab, that is why they live in this mangrove forest. We came upon a family collecting clams. Two of the men were diving to get them out of the murky water, I guess they felt them with their feet. One boy had a huge bucket carrying the clams, the mom was standing there smoking and did not want her picture taken. Hen told us they walk here from the village, then go back and sell the product. Lots of seafood is in the Thai dishes, always fresh here at the coast. We stopped at a sandbar and had a snack of pineapple and watermelon, then paddled through a mile long narrow canyon, Karst mountains again, absolutely beautiful.
We returned to the pier, portaged the kayak over a short sandbank and were served a nice lunch before going to the elephant camp. This was unbelievable, about half way through our ride, way out in the jungle, the mahut got off the elephant, Allen sat on the neck of the elephant and guided me through the rest of the way, it was amazing, I was quite apprehensive, is this elephant really tame? the mamut told us she was 48 years old. Allen loved sitting on the elephants neck, his knees behind the ears and feeling the leathery skin. just before we crossed the river, the elephant lifted his leg, the mamut stood on his knee and hoisted himslf up onto the saddle, sat beside me, while Allen took us back to the barn. What an experience! We purchased photo shirts with us riding this humoungus beast.
This evening we had our Thai farewell dinner, gorgeous seafood in a restaurant ovelooking the bay. Everything was delicious, however, something did not agree with my stomach. We've been in Thailand 2 weeks and I have had no problem with food, but......this night I was up every 20 minutes, starting at 2AM, until everything was out of my system.
We were supposed to take a flight at 10am, there was no way I could do this. We had to book another day in this hotel and change our flight, let the people in Cambodia know we will be a day late....Allen and Tom took care of everything while I hugged the toilet. I had medication, plus Allen went to the pharmacy and got some more. I slept the rest of the day while Allen and Gale walked around town, her flight did not leave until 4pm. I presume she was happy to have company. Every 4 hours I got up to take meds, and this morning I am fine. Sitting at the airport in Krabi, waiting for the flight to Siem Reap Cambodia for our next adventure.




November 27, 2010
It was our last day cycling. It started raining while we ate breakfast. Tom suggested that we sag the first 24 km to avoid being sprayed with standing water through the city. We started pedaling on the country road, another beautiful area, it rained most of the morning, however it is warm rain. Because it was a light rain, we never bothered to put on our rain gear, for fear of getting wet from being to hot. Just before lunch I had a flat tire, Gale pulled up to me and had a flat in the same spot on the road. The two of us sagged to lunch where we could be under an overhang of a storefront to change the innertube. Actually, Tom fixed Gale's and Allen fixed mine. We sagged again for a few miles after lunch, avoiding the big city traffic and go directoy to the smaller road. I attempted to take a movie with my camera, the scenery was so supurb throug the narrow valleys between the Karst cliffs, unfortunately you get seasick watching the movie...because my pedaling evidently makes my arm move more then I realized. This area has a lot of muslims, many woman have the head scarfs on.
We arrived at Ao Dang the beach resort of Krabi, suddenly a lot of souvenir stands and restaurants. We are in a fabulous resort hotel. Allen said he could get used to having a guided fully supported trip like this. It has been a blast. We packed up the bikes tonight, going kayaking again tomorrow and than fly to Cambodia for another week of vacation, another bike trip with Pedalers, however, this time we will have a different guide. 

November 26, 2010
No cloud cover today, it was very hot all day, and for the first time on this trip I rode the entire route. We were on the highway first, then through beautiful back country, no tourists whatsoever. We saw some very beautiful houses along the way today, we are near the coast and it looks quite a bit more prosperous. People were friendly and yelled hello everywhere. It is the word they say when they answer the telephone, usually the only "english" word they know. We stopped at an overlook, nice rolling hills and mountains, palm oil plantation right below us, and the little restaurant on stilts built into the hillside. The food, as usual was very good and healthy. I had steamed rice with seafood basil, calamari and shrimp. They serve it with a fried egg on top, and cucumbers on the side. We pedaled some more through undulating countryside until we got back onto the big highway and through a very busy city. I stopped on the side to take a movie of the traffic, hope it turns out. I really wanted a photo of the families on scooter, mom and dad and three kids is not uncommen, or the family in a sidecar, including grandma. Helmets are required, but generally not worn, and most often only by the driver. Also, the schoolbuses are tiny Toyota trucks with benches in the back, they usually have a cover and rails. Kids smile and wave, but little ones hide behind their mother, they are afraid of the strangers (forongs)
Tom stayed with me, as Allen and Gale spead ahead, I got slower and slower in the afternoon sun, and often stopped in the shade trying to cool off a little. We rode through a park and actually saw my first monkeys running around one area of the park. Small monkeys running across the street, scratching themselves in the grass. I am hoping to have some good photos.
We arrived at the hotel about 10 km's later, glad to be there, have a shower and relax. Well, Gale came knocking, do you want to go on that trail through the mangroves? Of course, we can relax when we are finished with the trip. The trail was very short, we went to the other side of the road, a paved trail took us to to a village on stilts, people smiled, it was the poorest neighborhood I have ever seen, but everyone had a beautiful bird in a bamboo cage hanging by the front door. Wooden planks between the little corrugated shacks. Somehow we ended up on a longboat. Allen wanted to go on a ride between the mangroves. That was really fun, the man at the motor did not speak english, he took us to some really neat karst cliffs, different then what we saw yesterday. We went through a cave, by a floating Muslim village, by a resort with floating bungalows, he showed us the one with petroglyphs and at the end he took us to "James Bond" rock. It was much smaller then the photos make you believe it is. But we are glad we got to see it. The long boat took us back to the hotel, Allen had to call Tom to tell him we would be late for dinner. (we were each issued a telephone for emergencies at the beginning of the trip) After a waterfront beautiful dinner setting with scrumptious food, Tom had brought some hot air balloons to set free and let bad luck disappear into the heavens. In Chang Mai (where Tom and Daeng live) during the festival of light, thousands of these tissue balloons are set free. Back in Switzerland where I grew up, my Dad and Uncle made similar tissue 'balloons' we had a piece of cotton soaked in denatured alcohol to heat the balloon. Of course with heat the evenutally the balloon raises, Tom had an added special effect - fire crackers....it was simply great to see this rise into the night sky!

We are in Phang Nga now....going on another bike ride tomorrow!
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Pedalers Pub and Grille has been in the bike guiding business for almost 25 years, Tom has done this trip for over 20 years. His sag wagon driver is Thai and has been working for him several years. He orders all the food for us and we are fiesting daily!

Monitor Lizard

November 25, 2010

Today's trip kayaking among these fantastic kharst cliffs was fabulous. Evidently over 150 islands in this sea. It is a huge bay Northeast of Pukhet. It took a little over an hour to shuttle to the pier, boarded a tourist vessel that took us to an island. That is where we got into our double kayaks and paddled with a guide. Inside some of these Karst cliff mountain islands are caves. We went to two different ones. We were supposed to see monkeys in there. The guide joked, they went on vacation! I guess they are sleeping when it is high tide. We had to lay down in our kayak to navigate under the rocks because the Tide was high. We saw bats inside the first cave. The second cave had mangrove trees, it was very quiet and serene, until more tourist kayakers came. Most had a paddle guides, they just sat and watched. We paddled our own, it was fantastic. We saw white bellied eagles, grey small sea egrets and an huge monitor lizard. A really prehistoric looking giant sunning on a


Deep fried bananas, wrapped in Wontons, honey for dipping....decorated with a fresh orchid!


Flaming around the edges, we decided it was the form of a turkey, it was actually a chicken, soup inside....!

November 24, 2010
Thanksgiving Day
The plan was 77 km from the National Park to the Andaman Coast, to a little town called Khao Lak...boy I have a hard time remembering all the names of the towns. I biked 40 miles of it, we went through the mountains, interestingly the road winds through the gaps, only once did I take a lift where it went  4kms fairly steep, with this heat I decided to whimp out. The coolest thing of the day were the elephants grazing in the jungle alongside the road. We went through numerous small villages, it was another terrific day. We thought yesterday's accomodations were terrific, well today it is a step up. The room is beautiful, the oceanview is exceptional - decorated like the Thais know how. We are at the coast that was devastated during the Dec 26, 2004 Tsunami. Everything is rebuilt, it is a very touristy town, our accomodations are just a bit South, away from the hubub. We did not have time to walk the beach because the water did not run in our bathroom. It did not take long to fix, however! Tom took us downtown for another fabulous meal. We have been eating like kings and queens. Todays presentation of this delicious food was incredible....! Here is the appetizer:

Entry and Lobby of  our "hotel" Jungle Resort

Novembeer 23, 2010
Another night at the jungle lodge
We took a road the guide had not explored before, to a damned lake in the Khao Lak National Park, jagged Karst mountains all around. (Because of recent flooding and a bridge out on the planned route, Tom wisely chose to stay two nights at the jungle lodge) The lake is a destination for backpackers, there is lots of fishing, boating and they have floating hotels. We had a great lunch overlooking the lake at a resort type restaurant. What amazed me was how hot and humid it is biking on the road, and how cool and breezy it was in the outdoor restaurant. The road was amazing, beautiful, hilly, through little towns. We saw lots of flowers, nice park settings with people working everywhere. Again lots of rubber plantations as well as banana groves. Coconut are harvested with trained pet monkeys, I saw a small truck with a monkey ontop...wasn't fast enough to get my camera out for a picture. Also saw a bigger truck with two elephants being transported. Tom told us that the mamut has to ride in the back with the elephants, making sure they do not move around, to avoid shifting of the weight in the back of the truck. We pedaled to the viewpoint, experienced a two minute tropical shower with half dollar sized raindrops. We sagged the bikes on the return, got back to the lodge about 4pm...the shower came into this region as well. My plan to sit and relax on the balcony was not long lasting, the aircondioned bungalow is much nicer!

Nov 22, 2010
First day on the bike

From Surat Thani to Khon Lak National Park a metric century on the bike.
It was a fabulous ride through jungle terrain, small villages on the road less traveled. The people here have very small houses, mostly on stilts.

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We were able to see huge rubber plantations, took photos of the way they collect the sap, went to a small operation where they put additives to the sap and then process it, running it through a machine that looks like a mangel...then it gets hung up to dry. We went to a cave in the Karst mountains, it was made into a shrine for Buddahs, steps deep into the cave, stalagmites dripping from the ceiling, it was fantastic. As we rode on it started to rain in huge drops, luckily we were just at some hot springs, were able to take shelter and it was also lunch time. A woman at a roadside food stand, grass hut actually, made us a very good lunch...all fresh and veggies, some pork and fried rice....it was incredibly tasty. She also made a good broth. We had a couple of thunder bumpers while we ate, but it stopped raining as we were ready to bike on. It was pretty steady biking in the afternoon, the mountains are fabulous, totally jungle, lots of palms and because of the heavy rains this past season the grass was high. Thais work diligently to make everything look nice, the road is very nice, clean...probably has been swept since the flooding. One person at a temple showed us how high the river was, we also saw some damage to the road. I took a ride from Daeng for the last 30km...it was hot and humid, I cycled about 40 miles.
We are at a beautiful jungle resort, small cabins on a hill, the jagged mountains up above, an outdoor restaurant that served flavorful goodies. We had chicken, pork, fish, shrimp and a vegetarian dish...every dish had a different flavor, could not tell you which was the best, they were all very tasty.
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Begin forwarded message:

Subject: Surat Thani Mahut

We flew to the South on Thai Air, I was really impressed with the snack they served; on a 75 minute flight we received a croissant sandwich, juice, coffee and a brownie. What? No peanuts? Why did airlines stop serving food in the US?

We met our tour guide, Tom...nice man...has done this type of work full time since 1987. he told us a lot about Thai Culture over lunch. We have a full time sag wagon driver, he helped me put the bike together. Tom is our guide and owner of Pedalers Pub and Grille. Daeng is our driver and the group consists of Gale, Allen and myself...pretty much a private tour. Gale has come on other trips with us, Alaska and Peru, to mention a couple of backpacks in the Cascades..

We relaxed by walking around town, its probably about 85 degrees and quite humid. We had our orientation and then drove to the bay on the Sea of Thailand for a splendid seafood dinner: clams, oysters on the half shell, shrimp, calamari, fried fish, all served with delicious sauces, finely chopped cabbage, mimosa twigs to set off the spices. It was fabulous. Then, to our surprisde there was an elephant with his mahut right outside our hotel, in traffic, by the sidewalk cafe. And that is today's picture. Ps: mahut pronounced mahoot is an elephant handler.

Bangkok was great, now the real reason we came to Thailand - bicycling with Pedalers Pub and Grille, a tour called Thailand Land and Sea

Suan Pakkad Palace was first on our itinerary, good history on the nine kings of the Chikra Dynasty. It took us a while to find it, asking the policemen at every crosswalks (they were out today because its the festival of lights, a National holiday) did not help. We decided they could not read English, therefore sent us around blocks when it was just down the street. Of course we found other interesting stuff while looking for the museum. We walked into the most modern new hotel, the Pullman King Power, Security all around the highrise and the glass dome. A duty free shop inside sported an IWC watch booth (for those who don't know, its one of the priciest watches in the world, manufactured in Schaffhausen Switzerland, my hometown). The photo today is of the temple and typical Thai architecture at the Suan Pakkad Palace. We wondered if there is a book called "Thailand for Dummies", we sure felt lost.....! We took a tuktuk taxi to the National Museum, wow! It was huge, one could easily spend a whole day there. A thousand years of history or more...quite interesting stuff, they used elephants to fight the enemies, sitting on top and using swords.....elephant saddles are quite interesting, lots of elaborate designs for the various royals as well. Also ivory carvings, teak wood and stone carvings, gold, silver and mother of pearl artifacts....like I said, felt quite overwhelmed that I knew so little about this country. I would compare the statues, mostly Buddahs and kings as well as the paintings with the old world European beauty, just less known, and not a favorite artist such as DaVinci, but just as beautiful!!


Allen handed the elephand a 100 baht into his trunk, he curledmup his trunk and gave it to the handler...so much fun! It is very hard getting used to the huge amounts.... ($3 euqals 100 baht)

Just petting a little pussycat


This unusual lizzard was the mascot at one of the temples alpng the river Kwai, actually at the war museum. This museum was as sad as any holocost museum. the second world war did touch asia right here at the bridge of the river quai, prisoners of war that were forced to work and build this railroad between Siam (now Thailand) and Burma (now Myanmar), only to be blown up and perish when the Japanese bombed the bridge. We went on to ride an elephant, that was a great experience. We did not get photos of us, but Gale, a friend who used to work with Allen and has joined us for this trip will be in our slide presentation. She actually had a docile elephant, he let tourists ride on his neck. We were on a saddle of sorts with a young elephant handler, he said this elephant is agressive and likes to run....did not make me feel safe!
We also saw a waterfall in a National Park, but did not have much time. The tour guide did not explain a lot, I'll have to figure out where we were when I am not so tired and have a map handy. Our final stop was at the Tiger Tempel, a sanctuary founded by Buddhist Monks, and it is now a huge tourist attraction. I was able to be photographed with about 8 different tigers. The staff takes you by the hand and guides you through the canyon, another staff member takes your camera and photographs the event. It was fabulous


This lovely lotus flower in a pot on the grounds of the Grand Palace was simply beautiful. We hired a tour guide to take us around and give us a history lesson. We requested the river tour to see the markets and see how people live on the river. What we saw was phenomenal, well...sandbags were along the shore of the Chao Phraya River, the water was murky muddy and 10 meters higher than normal, therefore the floating market was very minimal. The tour guide took us to the famous burka (no thats the wrong word, it might be Stupa) anyway, it was made with porcelain all mosaic and very colorful and really steep steps. He was a nice tourguide, however his English was not very good, Allen could not understand him. Later he took us to the Grand Palace, which was quite historic, it is all about the Dynasty and the Thai Monarchie. Its all very elaborate, mainly gold and silver. We also did some souvenir shopping. Bangkok has 13000 million inhabitants now, it increased since the guide book was written. The chaotic traffic amazes me, of course I cannot read the street signs, plus they drive on the left....or wherever they damn well please!


Even a woman with a sewing machine, wonder how much money she makes every day


the city is also known for flowers and pretty spots throughout. This little gem was next to a broken sidewalk under the structure of the sky train. There are lots of stairs and skywalks over the busy streets. Our visit to the culture center was a bust, they were in the midst of reorganizing all their exhibits. A museum of  Jim Thompson sounded interesting and was in the same area. We walked down a messy small back alley to get there, signs to it were everywhere. Jim immigrated to Thailand after WW2 and revitalized the Silk Industry, he is credited with letting the world know that Thalaind is known for Silk. He disappeared in 1967 without a trace. His home is now a National Trust and Museum, nicely done and a great legacy for an American in the 20th Century.



After a lovely american breakfast, we took the shuttle to the airport and the skytrain into the city. The small sidewalk vendors were set up with heaps of cheep merchandise, interesting to see, not my bag to shop. Many tuktuk drivers wanted our business, taking us on one hour rides along with all the other crazy drivers on these extremely busy streets through this city with 13,000 million inhabitants. We chose to walk, entered into many buildings and finally ended at the Siam Center, an upscale skyscraper, an aquarium with sharks and glass bottom boats rides on the lake in the basement, Imax Theater and other movie theaters and lots of restaurants, high end stores etc on many, many floors. Everyone was dresses to the nines, we felt like real tourists in our casual attire.

It was a long flight, a little over 24 hour traveltime, Thailand is dark at midnight, clear sky and 82 degrees. The first thing I noticed were the orchids in the ladies restroom at the airport. We are near the airport at a small inexpensive hotel called Silver Gold Garden Hotel. ($20. a night) Korean Airline had very nice service with plenty of food and drink. We flew from Seattle to Incheon/Seoul on a 12 hour leg of the trip, then on to Bangkok, another 5 plus hours flight and 2 hr time change, again a very nice meal was served.

Packing to go to Asia