The Beach

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Day 20 - October 29, 2008
Rest and Relaxation

Went back to Chiang Mai today. Lunch at a really good vegetarian place recommended by Lonely Planet, Aum. I had a veggie burger, which was just so-so, but the mango banana shake was yummm. Gim loved his papaya shake and noodle curry. They have an adjoining store for used books, where I got a paperback Lipstick Jungle for 180B ($5), to keep my connection with the Western world.

We walked around the square and went back to the temple with a massage area, where we had a 2-hour deeply relaxing massage for only 240B ($7) each!

Day 21- October 30, 2008
Golden Triangle

Woke up early for our trip to Chang Rai. First stop was Chang Rai Hot Springs. Then we went to Chiang Saen ruins called Wat Chedi Luang constructed in 1291. A 700 yr-old Buddha is housed in a temple among the ruins.

Then we took the boat tour to the legendary Golden Triangle. The Golden Triangle used to be the center of opium trade among the three countries: Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar (formerly Burma). Two rivers also meet here, the Mekong River and Nam Ruak River. We disembarked for half an hour in Laos and shopped (it’s pretty cheap here compared to the night bazaars). We saw some cobra and scorpion whiskey in bottles. Laotians believe the whiskey to improve male virility.

A massive Buddha statue stands on the edge of the Mekong River, a gift for the Thai Queen from the three countries: China, Myanmar, and Laos.

Next we drove to Mae Sai, the northernmost part of Thailand. Myanmar and Thailand are physically divided by the Mae Sai River. There are more shops here. Lots of inexpensive local products as well. Since it’s my birthday, Gim let me shop as much as I want (which he does pretty much everyday anyway yeyeyey).

Then we went to visit two hill tribes, the Akha (origin: Tibet) and the Yao (origin: central China). Gim can speak to the Yao in Chinese. Actually he found out that some of the store owners here can speak Chinese and because of this, we were given discounts ☺. In only a few days, he can also communicate in Thai especially when shopping and haggling. His aptitude in learning languages always comes handy.

We checked in our Chang Rai hotel, which is one of the nicest hotels we’ve been since we came to North Thailand. Then we headed to the night bazaar, which is really small compared to Chang Mai bazaar. We had a delicious dinner of Thai soup fondue. Here, they snack on crickets, grasshoppers, bamboo worms, and silkworms. Gim decided to sample a sautéed bamboo worm (see video)! Yucky!

Day 22 - October 31, 2008
No Halloween in Thailand

We went to three temples today. First is the resplendent “White Temple” designed by the internationally renowned Thai artist Chalermchai Kositpipat, who has dedicated his life to building this temple. It’s still undergoing construction as of now, started 11 years ago. We cannot imagine how gorgeous it will look like once it’s completed. We also went to the temples of the Emerald Buddha (the original one is in Bangkok), and the temple of the Purple Buddha.

After the Chang Rai city tour, we decided to go to Myanmar. We took a local non-air-conditioned bus to Mae Sai for 1 ½ hour. Interesting ride with the locals, but the heat and humidity were oppressive. At the border, we paid $10. They took our pictures and gave us temporary pass/IDs (and kept our passports!). We walked around their market filled with products from China but has, ironically, no Myanmar local products. They got a bunch of Abercrombie, Polo, and Lacoste stuff, cellphones, watches. Also some Hello Kitty.

Around the market, it’s notable how different Myanmar is from Thailand. Less than half a mile away from Thailand (really just across the bridge), and yet they have no paved roads, no nice temples, no beautiful plants or orchids, no smiling people but a lot of children begging - poverty is sadly very palpable in Myanmar.

We had to go back before 5 pm before the border immigration office closes. We wouldn’t want to be trapped in Myanmar. We also really wanted our passports back ☺

Day 23 - November 1, 2008
Back to Bangkok

Woke up late. Went to lunch at a local restaurant, which was very clean and really inexpensive ($5 for 3 people, including the driver). They cook your food in front of you in about 5 minutes, which is quite common here.

When we got to the airport, we found out that as usual, our Air Asia flight was delayed.

We went to the Chatuchak market at nighttime. Really, if you are in Thailand, shopping is inevitable. Gim calls this marketplace “the mother of all markets”. Since a lot of the shops are already closed, we planned to come back tomorrow. There were a lot sidewalk vendors selling a lot of clothes and what-have-you at really cheap prices. This market is only open on weekends.

Day 24 - November 2, 2008
Ping Pong Show

We wanted to check out the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, but the Grand Palace is closed because of the rehearsal for the cremation of the King’s sister. A Tuk Tuk driver who offered to take us to Chatuchak Market and a jewelry store for 10 Baht approached us. We ended up buying gems again (yehey) and shopping some more in the Chatuchak market. The driver picked us up and brought us to the “pingpong show”. The girls in this show definitely have the strongest vag*nal walls. Have anyone of you tried to shoot pingpong balls in a mug - in a very “creative” way?? Or, pop balloons with a needle blowgun (“sumpit” in Tagalog)? How about blowing out birthday candles? Or (get this!!), opening a bottle of soda? Hands down, this tops our list for the most unusual show of all time. Mind-boggling.

Day 25 - November 3, 2008
Phuket

Today is Buddha day. As we were strolling along Patunam Mall, three Thais in different instances approached us and told us to visit the Temple of the Lucky Buddha. They said it opens only once a month and when we pray there, our requests will be granted. It is highly unusual that 3 people would go up to us, ask us where we are from, how long we will be in Bangkok, and tell us that to go visit the Lucky Buddha in one day. Gim thinks it’s all a conspiracy. We don’t know what these people are conspiring about, but we went anyway.

However, we missed our plane because of several complications. Traffic was bad, we had several stops, etc etc. The irony is we paid extra 800 Baht to catch the 4 pm plane, and then we ended up paying 1000 Baht extra to get on the 6:20 pm plane. Aha! Maybe this is the conspiracy by Thai Airways 😉

Tonight we went to Phuket. Gim found out that it’s cheaper to book hotels in the internet rather than travel agents here. Our hotel, the Diamond Cottage, is in between Kata and Karon beaches, south of the more popular Patong beach. We walked around and realized that since it’s a very touristy area, everything costs more. Instead of our usual $3 - $5 meal in Bangkok, on average the meals here cost around $10-20, which is not bad if you are from the U.S. We slept early as we have the whole day booked for scuba diving tomorrow (3000 Baht per person for 3 dives, including light breakfast, lunch, and all scuba equipments).

Day 26 - November 4, 2008
SCUBA Day

Happy Birthday to my beeyootiful sistah Yoyoy Bayoyoyoyoy. Titet loves you a lot!

Forget about the elections, we are going to SCUBA!

First stop, Anemone Reef. Along with the Shark Point and Ko Doc Mai, these places are officially designated as Hin Mu Sang Fisheries Reserve since 1992. It’s illegal to anchor, fish, or collect marine life in these areas. Uh-oh, does that mean I couldn’t take a starfish home? Oh well…

The Anemone Reef, true to its name, is a garden of sea anemones. Soft purple, neon green, undulating, sea anemones. Thanks to Phuket’s undercurrent, this area is always a flurry of movement. We saw a lot of moray eels, schools of different kinds of fish, and a couple of harlequin ghost pipefish! Magnificent.

Next was Shark Point. We saw a Leopard Shark (sometimes called Zebra Shark), about 6 feet long. It’s harmless since it has really small teeth. It feeds on crustaceans and mollusks (not humans!). We also saw several lionfish, potato grouper, whip corals, gorgonias, bubble corals (so soft to touch, like cotton), nudibranchs, redtailed butterflyfish, a blue spotted stingray, longfin bannerfish, long-spine sea urchins, and shimmering schools of glassfish.

The last dive of the day was in Ko Doc Mai, meaning “Island of Flowers” in Thai. There really are no flowers on this tiny island, but it has a stunning collection of corals underwater. It’s almost a vertical drop of around 30 meters, but visibility is only up to around 15 meters. Here we saw a tigertail seahorse, lobsters, crabs, shrimps (yum), boxfish, a zigzag oyster, and more nudibranchs, sea whips, and huge gorgonias of different hues.

Exhilarated after the dive, we headed back to our hotel.

Day 27 - November 5, 2008
007 Day

Today we decided to do a half-day James Bond Island Tour. First stop was the rubber plantation. The tour guide gave us an idea on how the sap from the bark of the rubber tree (originally from Malaysia) is patiently collected by the locals and crudely produced into raw material rubber shaped like mats, which is then sold to different factories (e.g. rubber shoes, basketballs, tires, condoms 😉 for only 50 THB per kg.

Then we arrived to Kasom Pier and got on a “longtail boat” (also called James Bond boat - we’re not sure why). Then we went canoeing to see the natural sea caves in Talu Island of Phang Nga Bay. Our canoe guide was an aspiring ladyboy entertainer (so Gim surmised), as he kept on singing (performance level!) during the whole ride. Thai songs, Celine Dion, Toni Braxton, he never ran out of songs.

There were several mangrove trees around the area as this is where the Pangan River delta meets the Andaman Sea. Gim and I climbed one of the mangrove trees from the canoe.

After the canoe ride, we went to the “James Bond Island” (original name: Khao Tapu). Located along Phang Nga Bay, the island is so called because it was featured in the Jamed Bond movie “The Man with the Golden Gun” in 1974.

Lunch was at a Muslim fishing village called Koh Panyee, where we met a friendly one-year old gibbon that smelled of a sweet cologne and wears diapers (50 Baht per picture!). They have houses and shops on stilts.

After lunch, we went to the Suwahunka Temple, also called Monkey Caves. As the name implies, there are a lot of monkeys here who are not afraid of humans and instead comes up to us as they have been used to tourists feeding them. Another Reclining Buddha image rests here.

Day 28 - November 6, 2008
Phi Phi Island

We woke up early for our Phi Phi Island cruise. The cruise ship “Phi Phi Cruiser” can accommodate around 300 passengers. We sailed past Maya Bay (just took some pics, didn’t get off boat), the island where the movie “The Beach” was filmed in 1999. The beach is actually smaller now compared to the movie after the tsunami hit the area in 2004.

Then we went snorkeling at Coral Bay. The corals were mostly dead, but there are still a good number of fishes here. We saw some deep purple huge clams, some “Nemos”, angelfish, parrotfish, glassfish, and more (we do not know the other fishes’ names).

Finally we docked on Phi Phi Don. Checked in and had lunch at our hotel, the Phi Phi Hotel.

After lunch, we indulged in the hedonistic pleasure of doing absolutely nothing but lounging on the powdery white sand in between dips in the clear light blue waters of Phi Phi Island. This is the life!

We saw vertical rock climbers and thought about trying it. Gim is fearless and has what it takes, but I do not have the guts (and the height hehe).

Day 29 - November 7, 2008
Kap Kun Ka (thank you), Phi Phi

Left Phi Phi Island around 2 pm. Got some sun and more dips before we left. Checked in Royal Palm Hotel in Patong Beach in Phuket. The vendors here are very pushy and can get really annoying. We walked around the Red Light street, a lot more “farangs” (Thai slang for foreigners) with Thai girls here. Kept on walking until we saw a spa and decided to have a 2 ½-hour facial, body scrub and aromatherapy massage. Heaven!

Day 30 - November 8, 2008
Back to Mothership Bangkok

Back to Bangkok. Checked in Dawin Hotel, a new hotel, only 2 months old. We walked around Sukhamvit area. More shops here. Slept early.

Day 31 - November 9, 2008
Grand Palace, Emerald Buddha and Marble Temple

Woke up early for the tour to Grand Palace. According to our tour guide, the Grand Palace buildings are a mix of European, Cambodian, Sri Lankan, and Thai architecture. It has a total area of 55 acres and was built in 1782. Within the walls of the Grand Palace is the Chapel Royal of the Emerald Buddha, which is not really made of emerald but carved from a huge block of jade. Within it is the Assembly Hall which serves as the monarch’s private chapel. The Buddha effigy was found among the ruins in Chang Rai in 1464.

The Marble Temple is so named because it’s made of Carrara marble. Built in 1899 by Prince Narai, the half-brother of King Rama V (King Chulalongkorn), it was being restored when we went there.

Finally we went back to the “mother of all markets”, Chatuchak! And literally shopped till we dropped. We were so tired after shopping we couldn’t get up the next day for our Ayutthaya tour.

Day 32 - November 10, 2008
Platinum Mall Take Two!

We skipped Ayutthaya and instead slept in. Then we went to Platinum Mall and shopped some more. We have shopped so much we have to ship some back home. In Platinum Mall, if you buy 1, you pay more, if you buy 2 or 3, you pay so much less for each product. They call it “wholesale price”. For dinner, we had at A&W, where we found out that their curly fries are called “curry fries”.

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Comments

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pong
i'll bet they have some interesting (aka disgusting) beer pong games.