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July 30th 2009
Yesterday we went south of Bangkok to the beaches namely ChaAm and HuaHin. ChaAm is 200km south of Bangkok whereas HuaHin is another 25 km from ChaAm. HuaHin is a second residence of the royal family. We had lunch in ChaAm where we bought crab, shrimp and squid from the merchants on the beach. The kids like ChaAm since they enjoyed banana boat and donut boat. HuaHin has a nicer beach than ChaAm but sometimes you can walk over some hidden rocks. In HuaHin, Mai went for a horseback riding. In general Tuyen and I agree that beaches in Vietnam are better than the ones we have seen in Thailand. We came back to Bangkok at 7:00 PM. Highways in Thailand are excellent; time to go from HuaHin to Bangkok is around 2.5 hours. In VN ... read more
July 30th 2009
Yesterday we first went to BangPaIn Palace which is the summer palace for the royal family. We were quite lucky to get in; we arrived at the summer palace around 10:45 AM and after that they closed it since the princess was expected to arrive at 11:00. It was her 57th birthday the day before and she wants to spend some time with her family. The summer palace is about 60 km north of Bangkok. After that we went to Ayuthaya which is another 20km from BangPaIn. Here we visited quite a bit of ruins; these temples were built 400-500 years ago; some were maintained and the rest is pretty much in bad shape. We arrived back in Bangkok around 6:00 PM. It rained a bit yesterday in Ayuthaya and also in Bangkok. The Toyota Innova ... read more
July 28th 2009
This morning we took a public taxi express boat that goes from hop to hop on Chao Phraya river. This is another means to bypass the traffic congestion in Bangkok. Our first stop was Wat Arun. After that we went to Wat Pho with giant reclining Buddha (46 m long and 15 m high) http://www.into-asia.com/bangkok/attractions/watpho.php The last temple we visited today is Marble temple or Wat Benchamabophit . Tuyen said that she only remembers "Marble temple" from the past. I liked Wat Pho the most whereas the rest of the family enjoyed Wat Arun. After the temples, we visited Vimanmek Mansion which is the world's largest building made entirely of golden teak. After visiting 3 countries, we determine that China is the most expensive in terms of attractions entrance tickets and Vietnam is the least expensive. ... read more
July 27th 2009
After the late arrival of our Air Asia in Chiangmai, we only left Chiangmai at midnight yesterday and we finally settled in our RCI unit in Bangkok at 3:00 AM. We did some laundry this morning and went to the pool in the afternoon. We just came back from Silom Village where we had dinner and saw Thai traditional dancing. Tomorrow we will visit some temples in Bangkok. Tuyen tried to speak Thai with local people using her memories of Thai language in the past. By this time, next week I have to go back to work already. Time is flying; our vacations are almost over. Mai is so eager to go back home. Who is going to pick us at Dorval airport at 19:18 on Aug/2 ? For the van, there is a hand brake ... read more
July 26th 2009
Yesterday we left ChiangMai at 7:30 AM to go to ChiangRai about 180 km North East. There is beautiful scenery (mostly mountains) along the way. Actually, there is some similarities between Thai and Vietnamese language such as Doi and DDo^i meaning hill, Ban and Ba?n meaning village. First we stopped at Hot Springs followed by white Rongkhun Temple in ChiangRai. After that we headed North to Mae Sai which is the most northern point of Thailand. This is a border town between Thailand and Myanmar. We decided not to cross to Burma since it costs 500 Baht per person for a Visa and all we see is a market full of Chinese copies. Our Thai driver did cross the border and bought some goods while we strolled in the market on the Thailand side. It only ... read more
July 24th 2009
We arrived in Chiangmai yesterday early morning about 8:00 AM. After check-in at the Best Western hotel, we hired a car to go to Maesa Elephant Camp where we first saw an elephant show and after that we had elephants rides for 1 hour through the forest and streams. It was a very good experience for us since it is our first time. This camp has a total of 78 elephants. After the elephant camp, we went to see Baan Tong Luang Eco-Agriculture Tourism village where we saw 5 different hill tribes: White Karen, Karen Longneck, Lahu Shibalah, Palong Karen and Hmong. The Karens people used to live in Myanmar but now took refuges in Thailand whereas the Lahu and Hmong can be found in Laos and Vietnam too. The kids decided not to see the ... read more
July 23rd 2009
We just arrived at our Radisson hotel in Bangkok. We stay in this hotel for the second time now thanks to our points collected with my stays in Sweden. The flight was delayed about 45 minutes due to late arrival of Air Asia to Tan Son Nhat. The weather is good today in Phu Quoc so we left on time. I was able to phone to chu Que and chu Ky as well as Thanh to say good-bye. Then we called Montreal, ba Tung, ba Hong, Luc and chi Truc. Only chi Truc did not answer. I think overall communications is pretty cheap in VN now. I paid $100.000 VND about $6 CDN for a prepaid card and I still have minutes left after calling to several places. So our journey to Vietnam has ended. Overall, ... read more
July 23rd 2009
We will leave Phu Quoc at 14:20 to arrive in Saigon at 15:25. From domestic terminal we will cross to International terminal at Tan Son Nhat to go to Bangkok leaving at 17:55 with Air Asia. Hopefully everything will be OK with the time. It starts raining again at 8:30 AM today in Phu Quoc; although it is a light rain. There are lots of mosquitos in Phu Quoc and they really bite hard. We enjoy fresh seafood in Phu Quoc. After arriving in BKK, we will go to the hotel, have a quick sleep and depart again tomorrow morning at 6:45 AM to Chiangmai. We will stay in Chiangmai for the next 2 nights and will arrive back to Bangkok on Jul/26 at night.... read more
July 22nd 2009
This is Mai: this morning, the whole family went for a walk on the beach.The sky wasn't pretty. When we came back, Nam and I went for a dip in the water. Since then, it never stopped raining. For lunch, we went to the same restaurant like yesterday. It is very good and the price is right.:) This is Tuyen: Another light day. Long walk on the beach. Short dip in the wave under the rain. We didn't do any sight seeing due to heavy rain. This is Nam: Today it rained all day and the rain is very strong. While it is raining the waves of the beaches get bigger. There is not alot of things to do in the hotel. At lunch we ate at the same restaurant like yesterday but tonight we ... read more
Phu Quoc Day 1
Published: July 21st 2009Asia » Vietnam » Mekong River Delta » Kien Giang » Phu Quoc Island
July 21st 2009
This is Mai: today we left Saigon to go to Phu Quoc. We had to wake up at 7:00. Our flight was supposed to be at 10:20 but it was late so we flew at a quatre to 11:00. Our hotel didn't look like what I excpected. I thought it would be better. When we came to the hotel our power was out for 3 hours and there were no television. So, We changed and went to the beach. The water of the beach was cold. We ate lunch at 1:30. I found the food good. It was getting dark at 3:15. We were starting to get ready to leave because it was about to rain. So at 3:30 we came in because it started to rain. Since then, it did not stop raining.:( This ... read more
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