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Published: July 13th 2011
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Leaving on a Jet Plane
.... don't know when we'll be back again. For any of you who do not have the time or energy to read through the blogs, the kids have made a short photo/video which gives an amazing feeling of really doing this journey with us.
For the rest of you, read on….
After months of planning, researching, booking, shopping, and packing, the Connor’s finally headed towards the airport with only 13 bags in tow!! Not to worry, many were our carry-ons. We enjoyed what has become a customary last meal with family at the Fairmont Hotel at the airport, had last cuddles with our dog Keisha, and at 10:30pm, began our long wait for our 2:45am flight to depart. The kids look back and say that they enjoyed the time at the airport. Dad wasn’t so sure. Barely able to keep our eyes open, we boarded the plane, were immediately served dinner, then proceeded to thumb our way through the over 100 movies, tv shows and video games that were available individually. Cathay Pacific turned out to be an amazing airline and the 13 hour flight flew by in record time (some of us managed 7+ hours of sleep). The 2 hour lay over in Hong
Khao San Road Vending
We couldn't resist a few bracelets from these joyful ladies. Kong was manageable and the troops hit the ground running as we found our way to the Lamphu Tree Hotel (10 minute walk from Khao San Road). The hotel was everything we had hoped for (a little garden oasis within the Bangkok concrete jungle). We must say, Bangkok looked unbelievably modern and clean compared to our last visit back in 1993. Once settled into our rooms, we napped by the pool and took in our first taste of the incredible Thai cuisine with pool side spring rolls, chicken satays and Pad Thai. As seasoned travelers, we must confess that we made two slight miscalculations during our first few hours in this wonderful setting. The first occurred when Trevor went to plug in an adapter from Staples meant to protect our electronics. The electrical arch that resulted caused the power to go out on that floor of the building. Our room breakers did not correct the problem and the manager needed to be brought in to reset things on the floor (we acted dumbfounded as to the cause of the outage). The second event occurred a short while later when Trevor remarked to Marla (Boy, Marla, you are “HOT”. Is that
7-Eleven on the water
We were thirty and she drifted up with a couple of Cokes and a Fanta. your hair that is smoking?). It looks like the power put out in Thailand causes one’s hair dryer to operate at temperatures never before experienced by this seasoned coiffure. The resulting event has only seen partial hair loss and we feel confident that no permanent damage occurred. Besides those two small things, Life here is going to be great.
We spent the evening walking the city streets and made our way to the aforementioned Khao San Road. It had changed drastically and there were vendors everywhere selling everything that you could imagine. All of Bangkok’s backpackers seemed to be crammed into the 3 block long road giving it a bit of a commercial feel. This was still a nice way to start re-tasting the Asian culture. People watching is always one of our favourite pastimes and it doesn’t get any better than eating Thai food on the edge of this crowded street trying to figure out everyone’s story as they walked by. The kids were also entertained/ annoyed by the continuous foreign remixes of their favourite modern songs (full with mistranslations, etc.).
The evening ended with Mother Nature taking the show with an encore of Marla and Trevor’s
Floating Market
Food, food, food. It always seems to be about food. first night ever in Bangkok. As we were winding down (it was around 7:30pm), we heard one clap of thunder and proceeded to see ALL of the locals scrambling to get everything in or covered in plastic. Not 30 seconds later, the first few drops start to fall and within a minute, you would think that you were standing right in the middle of your shower at home. The giddiness and laughter that enveloped the family was awesome. Unable to stay dry and still being 15 minutes from home, we did the drowned rat routine and splashed our way back to our humble abode. There is NOTHING more fun than getting caught in a wonderfully warm monsoon rain shower, ten thousand miles from home. Pictures don’t do it justice, but the kids got some great video clips. This is what memories are made of.
Our only full day in Bangkok was not meant to see everything but simply to venture out and get a sense of what the Asian Venice has to offer in terms of exploring the wonderful waterways and canals. Our first thought was to take the public boat down the river and get off in a
Tuk Tuk
The most fun you can have touring a city on 3 wheels. couple of strategic places, ending up downstream where we would take the Skytrain back. A gut call on Marla’s part (along with some astute bargaining by the same person) and we were on our own long tail boat headed for the floating market and exploring some of the smaller canals. It is only day 1 ½ of our trip but we have already declared this one of the highlights (we get the feeling that there is going to be daily competition for highlights as everything to date just keeps getting better). The sites and sounds of the market were incredible with the plethora of tastes and smells that delighted and left one’s mouth watering. The stomach did a few turns however when you finally caught sight of the source of said smells and realized that they could be coming from grilled catfish or deep fried larvae. There were plenty of foods that would definitely delight our stomachs but even a few of the Thai delicacies are perhaps beyond our tolerance levels. One of the highlights was the $0.30 popsicle sticks that were being frozen in aluminum cone-shaped cylinders while being submerged in tubs of liquid nitrogen (pretty ingenious in this
Seafood Extravaganza
Prices would be out of this world for this feast at home. humid climate). We moved from the floating market down the narrow canals getting a real sense of some of the simple accommodations that probably have not changed in many decades along the wonderful waterways.
Once back out onto the main thoroughfare, we passed numerous Wats (temples) interspersed with some very high-end hotels. This was where we started to really experience the dichotomy that is Bangkok. To begin with, we are soaking in the culture of people who have lived for many years on the fruits of the river whose lives have not changed much over time (except for some mechanical modernizations that have made their lives easier). In the course of 10 minutes, after our boat ride, we then jump on a Skytrain that drops us off at the Paragon Mall. Here we are met with 7 stories of western materialism that would overwhelms the most diehard of consumers (the 6th floor was filled with high end cars, Lambourghini, Posrche, etc. - at bit puzzling as to how they pulled off the test drives!!). We were marveled for the first 30 minutes as we experienced the biggest mall in Asia but this soon faded as we realized that this
Wat Arun Temple
on the Chao Phraya River was not the trip that we had signed up for. The rent in this place must substantiate the prices as everything was more expensive than home – not what we have been used to here. We quickly retreated to ground level and made our way along the street in search of the next peak experience. We found it as we jammed 5 of us into a Tuk Tuk and gave our driver instructions on how to get us halfway across the city. The giggles and joys and hoots and hollers that emanated from our kids confirmed that we were back on track. For $5, this is pretty great entertainment and had the whole family laughing for the rest of the night.
Our day and a half in Bangkok felt like more and provided us with the trip beginning that we were looking for. The next morning, we are back to the airport for our 2 hour flight to Luang Prabang. The only damper on leaving Thailand was the drag down, punch out argument that Marla had with the Immigration people as they would not let her take her pitchfork (well a big sterling silver salad utensil) on the plane.
Bangkok Arrival
Looking pretty for spending the last 24 hours in transit. She tried to let them know she was a doctor and needed it for surgery but no luck. The very stern faced uniformed man simply dropped it in the garbage. Marla left muttering sweet nothings as she searched for a Starbucks to calm her nerves. Laos, here we come.
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