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VAZOO!!
That is what you yell when you want to get squirted by an elephant on a 100 degree day!! I've decided to break this trip up into a few blogs as there is so much to share with all of you. This first entry will only cover the first two days of our trip, in and around Bangkok. Our Vietnam travels will follow.
For the past 6 years, Rachel and I have taken a yearly trip together. This year we planned to visit Thailand, but the reports of political unrest there convinced us to detour to Vietnam. However, our tickets to Bangkok were already booked, so that is where we started and ended our journey.
My adventure started the morning I was scheduled to fly from Auckland to Bangkok . The day dawned grey and rainy. The local airport in Whangarei is literally within walking distance of my house, and I was to hop on a puddle jumper to the Auckland airport. However, the plane could not land from Auckland due to the weather so a van was dispatched to drive those of us from Whangarei the 2 1/2 hours to Auckland. I kept checking my watch as the time for my international flight was getting closer... if I missed the Sunday flight on Thai
Imm Fusion
Our hotel in Bangkok; this is the pool area Air there was no Monday flight, and Rachel was supposed to arrive on Monday night in Bangkok. I knew she wouldn't be happy if I were not there to meet her!! Fortunately I made the flight, albeit with very little time to spare!! It was a bit too exciting to start the trip this way!!
The first thing I want to say about SE Asia is that it is unbelievably HOT in May!! Even more amazing to us was that the locals wear long sleeves and pants all the time in an effort to avoid tanning. They feel that the lighter their skin is, the more desirable it is. Quite a different view than the American ideal of the tanned healthy look!!
I made it to Bangkok very late and checked in at my hotel, the Imm Fusion. I had planned a private tour for the following day through "Tour with Tong" and my guide Lily showed up promptly at 9 am and off we went!! We took the Skytrain which passed directly over the area where the "Yellow shirts" were protesting (two days later this was the site of much bloodshed) and proceeded to the
Chao Phraya River where we boarded a ferryboat to see the tourist sights. Most of the tourist areas were fairly empty, nice for me. We visited the Grand Palace and several other temples and shrines, including the Golden Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho). Lily was a terrific guide and she taught me a lot about Buddhism in Thailand and the monks, explained her view of the political situation and also told me how fond the Thai people are of their royal family (whose pictures are everywhere!!) although she regretfully feels the end of the monarchy is inevitable. Travelling with her was very low stress for me since I didn't have to worry at all about how to get anywhere, and it was like having an instant friend with whom to share the day. We had a nice lunch in an air conditioned restaurant, took a longboat ride to see the homes along the canal, and visited a typical Thai home (strangely enough, previously owned by an American, Jim Thompson). I learned that the movie "The King and I" is banned in Thailand as permission was not given by the royal family to make the movie and it is not felt to
be complimentary to them. Lily says that it is true that Anna the English tutor came to Siam to teach the king's children and that she did introduce Western ways, but that the romance between her and the King was fabricated.
We saw many jeweled statues at the palace of what looked like the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz, and one of the folk tales told in pictures on the wall of one of the temples is suspiciously close to the story of the Wizard of Oz too!!
I made it back to my hotel about 5 pm and gratefully jumped in the pool to cool off, then treated myself to a lovely Thai massage. In the pool I met some fellow travelers, Miguel from NYC and Lara and her mom Margo from New Zealand, and they asked to join in the tour I had planned for Rachel and me the following day, so we had a nice group of 5 for our next trip!!I picked Rachel up at the Bangkok airport (after her 28 hr trip)at about midnight and told her she had to be ready at 7 am for a full day
of activities!!
We were all ready at 7 am and were picked up in an air conditioned van with an English speaking guide (Pook) and a driver. Activities during the day included: visiting a market that quickly packs up and moves off the train tracks whenever a train approaches (8 times per day!!), visiting a floating market by boat and sharing lots of snacks-fruit, spring rolls, etc., petting real tigers raised by monks at the Tiger Temple, and -the best!- visiting an Elephant Reserve where we were privileged to have the opportunity to ride bareback on an elephant and then had playtime with the elephant in the River Kwai!! Due to the extreme heat that day, we were ecstatic whenever our guide yelled “Vazoo!!” and the elephant squirted us with a trunkful of water!!! We ended our busy day with a relaxing Thai massage and swim at Imm Fusion, our lovely hotel in Bangkok.
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Robin t
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Thailand
unbelievable pics and experience. You are so blessed to be able to really see the world!!