Thailand - Ayuthaya, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Krabi

After returning to Bangkok from Siem Reap, we had a free day to spend in the city. Instead of relaxing with a massage in one of the numerous spas in Bangkok, we, unilaterally by Joanne, decided on Ayuthaya, which used to be the ancient capital of Thailand.  When we tried to book a tour, all of them were full. However, one of the hotel employees, Chadchana, who happened to overhear us talking in the lobby, told us that he had the next day off and offered to guide us around Ayuthaya. He also mentioned that he had gone there many times and knew all the places to take us.

The mode of transportation to and from Ayuthaya, was strictly via the local’s way, which was by a microbus (van). This was much faster than the train or a boat, as well as being less expensive. With a maniac of a driver, who drove our fully loaded van like a race car driver in a video game, we got there in about an hour. Soon, however, we both agreed that my idea of staying in Bangkok was a better one. Compared to Angkor Wat’s grand scale, with the beautiful carvings on the limestone temples or compared to the glitter and splendor of the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Ayuthaya was mostly an unattended ghost of crumbled ruin.

This was one of the better preserved temples in Ayuthaya.  Whatever was valuable has been stripped away and only the skeleton of bricks remained.

Chadchana had us take the jitney or tuk-tuk from one old temple to another. We made more than half-dozen stops while visiting Ayuthaya. 

Most of the Buddha’s were destroyed and disfigured. We relied on our imagination as to what might have been before Ayuthaya's almost total destruction by the Burmese in 1767. Rather than rebuild, the Thai king chose to relocate the capital to Bangkok.

That evening, we boarded the over-night train to Chiang Mai. Since the first class cabin was sold out, we went via second class, which was far from being as cozy and private like the train ride we had to Sapa. At night, the train staff converted the seats into beds (bunk style) with sheets and pillows, but we only had curtains that were drawn to use as dividers. We arrived in Chiang Mai (400 miles) the next morning after 14 hours.

Almost heaven - that’s the direct translation for the name of our hotel in Chiang Mai – “Panviman”. This was the hotel of choice by our young travel agent in Bangkok; the place she would pick for her honeymoon if given a choice. The hotel was located far away from the city center (50km), idyllically nestled near the top of a mountain with privacy and views.

In this cozy and new hotel of only 36 rooms, it seemed, at times, as if we were the only guests.

The hotel was known for its beautiful spa. My first and only experience of traditional Thai massage was here. It was outdoors in an open and serene setting and the therapist used her elbows, knees, and heels to stretch and soothe my aching body. I didn’t want to leave afterwards.

Clouds of mist rolled up the mountain in the morning and crisp air fell at night. It really was almost heaven.

Since we were way up in the mountain and away from everything, it was hard to get around. One of the employees generously lent us his motorbike. This gave us our first experience of riding around the mountainous roads in a bike; like the hell’s angels. Afterwards, it gave me more reasons to want to hit the spa; unbeknownst to Joanne who was enjoying the breeze over her face, my body was in a tense state trying to protect our two lives on the unfamiliar motorbike.

One whole day in Chiang Mai was spent visiting the Maesa Elephant Camp. We were thoroughly amazed and entertained by how smart the elephants were. For the European couple sitting next to us, this was their fourth visit. After the show, we went elephant trekking and also got to pet a one-month old elephant in the nursery.

Bananas and sugar canes were the elephant’s favorite snack. Unlike us, they gulp down and crush down the whole bunch in one big swallow; skin and all.

Each elephant had a name and its trainer. Ours was called “Buokow” a large female. The trainer told us that the elephants live to be about 100 years old, retiring after 60, similar to humans.

“Long neck” tribes originally lived in Myanmar, adjacent to the border, and later immigrated to the area near Chiang Mai. A village was set up for them to live in by the Thai government. I remembered a similar tribe in Africa, who also believed that the longer the necks, the more beautiful they were. When I held up the metal rings, they were cold to the touch and very heavy.

Joanne was brave to hang a python around her neck, although not as brave as the trainer standing next to her who kissed the top of the head of a poisonous King Cobra.

We left the cool mountains of Chiang Mai and flew to the beautiful beaches of Phuket under the hot sun. Unlike the friendly smiles of people we encountered in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, what we faced was a very commercialized town with tense-faced Thais. We hooked up with friendly Koreans that evening and shared our tales of travels together over drinks. Andy (with the glasses) had been traveling for four months in southeast Asia and settled in Phuket for a month to learn to become a scuba instructor. Ok-Cheol Song(he actually has large eyes) is a 27 year old college student from Jeju Island. His major was oceanography and he also came to become a scuba instructor. They hit the town for just that one night, to take a break from their intense studies, and thanked us for an enjoyable time.  Ok-Cheol wanted his picture to be posted on our blog but unfortunately, this was not his best pose.

This is the beach scene from across the street of our hotel in Phuket Island.  The area is called Kata Beach and is filled with mostly Europeans who vacation there. Instead of joining them under the hot sun, we opted to read in the comforts of our air-conditioned room with a view of the ocean. We were also trying to avoid the pesky mosquitoes; they had a feast on us.

We took a stroll after dinner in Kata Noi Beach. Noi in Thai means ‘little’. This beach was more secluded and less crowed. We met a young Hungarian couple (the wife looked like a model for Vogue magazine) who gave us their number and told us to look them up when visiting Budapest.

The magnificent display of the multicolor sunset is not to be missed when in Kata Noi. We can see why Phuket Island is known for beautiful beaches, but with over- commercialization, the innocence of yesteryears seems to have been lost.

From Phuket Island, we took a boat ride to a place called Krabi where we stayed for two nights. We were told about this place while we were in Vietnam, by a much older Norwegian traveler who had a young Thai girl friend. This was his favorite place and he said ‘it is the most beautiful place in the world’. We stayed in Ao Nang Beach and it was quieter and less developed, with a much friendlier staff.

The photo was taken on our walk back to our hotel after changing money and buying some snacks. We tried to live like the local ‘hang loose’ Thai style.

During our early evening stroll after dinner, we were treated with warm gentle breezes, the sounds of calm waves splashing, and the changing colors of the painted skies over the horizon.

There are many islands near Krabi which you must visit. The next morning, we took a speed-boat with a dozen other tourists, for an all day affair of island hopping and snorkeling.  We visited Bamboo, Phi Phi Don, and Phi Phi Lei Islands.

The first stop was Bamboo Island. We didn’t see any bamboo trees but the sand was creamy soft and the water was emerald clear.

This was Koh Phi Phi Don's monkey bay. Again, the monkeys were having their siestas, but the island was pure and beautiful.

The very inviting sands and water of Phi Phi Lei Island. We had enough time to stroll around and swim before hopping to the next island.

The cave with plenty of ‘bird’s nests’ – they are a rare delicacy and some people were living there to keep a 24/7 watchful eye.

One of the three snorkeling chances we had in open waters. Joanne has become a fan of snorkeling from the time that we went snorkeling in the north side of Bali, off Lovina.

The same spot where Leonardo DiCaprio’s “The Beach” was filmed. We could see why this beautiful Maya Bay was chosen for the filming.

On our way back to Krabi – there are many beaches like this one for people to enjoy.

We met a wonderful Swedish family in Krabi:The Gustafssons (Tomas, Ellinor, Johan, and Viktor). We met them on the boat trip to Koh Phi Phi and they invited us to have dinner together.  It was the most fun filled day including the memorable "full moon festival" of our own in the totally deserted beach.

I couldn’t help myself from pulling out the camera to capture this moment; even at our dinner table. Harriet, this one is for you - with love…Get back to the golf course soon!

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Siem Reap’s Angkor Wat was a place that we have been wanting to visit while we were in Southeast Asia; the only debate was whether to go there from Hanoi or from Bangkok. Since we never made it down to HCMC (Saigon) and since it was much closer from Bangkok, the only decision we had to make was whether to fly there or take the bus. After hearing some horror stories about the abominable road conditions, we decided to take the short 35 minute flight from Bangkok. There were many group tours available to us to choose from, in order to visit the numerous temples, palaces, and ruins of Angkor city, but we decided to go on our own. Having become emboldened with the great way our travels have been turning out, we wanted to rely on our own method for exploring the sights. After getting only 2 1/2 hours of sleep, thanks to the noisy partying that went on in the next hotel room, at 5:15AM our taxi driver (Vanny) picked us up. We had met Vanny on our way in from the airport to our hotel, and we had hired him to drive us around for the whole next day.

The first stop of our itinerary was watching the sunrise over Angkor Wat temple. When we arrived at the temple, it was still pitch dark but a throng of people was already gathered there. I took this picture because I thought this view was more interesting while we were waiting for the sun to rise.

To everyone’s disappointment, instead of seeing the sun rising over the temple, what we saw instead was just the gradual brightening of daybreak, due to the heavy clouds covering the sun. We even felt some drizzle, but it lasted only a short while.

The day turned out to be very hot and sunny and this was Angkor Wat under the bright light. This is one of the grandest temples ever constructed with the volume of stones equaling that of the Egyptian pyramid of Choeps.

Angkor Wat temple is surrounded by a huge moat which we had to cross on this bridge. 

Once inside the wall, there is a long walk to the actual temple. The temple grounds were tremendous in size and we saw many people showing signs of exhaustion under the hot sun. Once inside the temple, it was nice and cool from the massive stones.

There were walls and walls of beautiful intricate carvings. Our guide told us that this “apsara” (dancer) is unique in that she’s the only one out of thousands with a wide open smile showing her teeth.

There were miles of wall carvings depicting battle scenes, mythology, and history of the Khmer kingdom.

In Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, there were hundreds of buddhas but most had been destroyed – most of them were without their heads. This was the rare one that we saw with a head, but we couldn’t tell if all of the parts belong together.

This is the south gate entrance into the ancient city of Angkor Thom (The Bayon temple, The Elephant Terrace, and the Terrace of Leper King are located here). This Khmer city was founded in the 12th century and remained the capital until the 17th century. On the top of the gate entrance were four huge faces pointing in four different directions. We saw many statues and carvings of elephants but this live one just walked thru.

The Bayon was the state temple for Jayavarman VIII and is famous for the unique "faces towers" (37 towers are still standing).   Most of the towers have four faces (facing four different directions) carved in stone. 

The Elephant Terrace is at the heart of Angkor Thom and marks the entrance to the Royal Palace. The terrace was once reserved for royal receptions and entertainment.

This three headed elephants was at the center of the terrace flanking the center steps leading to the palace.

The next stop was Ta Prohm. It was my favorite temple because the gigantic roots and branches, which were intertwined with the stone structures, left such a memorable impression on us. This one, in particular, looks like a gigantic boa constrictor.

Ta Prohm temple was left in the natural state as an example of how most of Angkor looked, upon its rediscovery in the 18th century; they were covered with vines and trees. The guide told us this is where Angelina Jolie’s movie the “Tomb Raider” was filmed.

Just the weight of the tree alone, seems to be enough to crush the stone structure and yet ironically, the roots are holding it up at the same time.

I didn’t know that Kobe was once a revered buddha in Cambodia. We saw this large painting in the restaurant where we had lunch.  Maybe he was reincarnated to play basketball. Go Lakers! May the power be with you this year.

Banteay Srei is a temple built largely of red sandstone and is dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. We saw intricate carvings that were just beautiful.

Like most of the temples in Angkor city, Banteay Srei was also badly ravaged; but the light pink color of its sandstone and its carvings made it stand out from the rest.

Our guide was Mardi, a 25 years old young man, who wanted us to meet his mother (seated). She sells waffles at a local market (his younger sister was helping to make them after school). It was mixed with coconuts and tasted very good. We suggested that instead his family selling them to the locals for 10 cents a piece, that he set up the cart near the temples and sell them at a higher price to westerners; especially when they gather for the sun rise. Joanne gave him the recipe and the name for them, and his eyes lit up. If you see the “Fresh Fruit Waffle” stand when you visit Angkor Wat, you will know where that came from.