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Published: September 15th 2010
The flights from India were perfect and the airport connections were made with clockwork precision. The first flight was smooth and we landed in Singapore with time to grab a coffee, some dinner and some shopping. Zuzana managed to buy herself a rather fancy SLR Camera, the Pentax-KX. It is fluorescent red I must add. This would mean that I would be sidelined for a few days while she befriended and became accustomed to her fancy new toy.
The flight to Thailand from Singapore was also smooth although I did start to feel a little bit odd and thought I may have a bit of a temperature. I was still suffering with some very uncomfortable 'movements', shall we say and started to have very sulphur like burp'ages! Zuzana was oblivious to this as she clicked incessantly in the seat beside me.
We landed at Bangkok airport and after Zuzana had acquired her visa we passed through immigration and were greeted by some old friends of mine that we were going to stay with.
When I was 14, my Mother had some Thai students to stay so that they could improve their English. Well as you can imagine, having spent
Zuzana's new toy Pentax Kx
Moja nova hracka Pentax Kxa month with me at 14, they'd perfected most of the profanities on offer at such a tender age.
We'd managed to get in touch as I had found email details, that I thought I'd lost, deep in a box during some spring cleaning. When I told them we were coming over to Thailand they insisted we stayed with them which would work out perfectly for us as it was free and we love things that are free. We were going to be staying with Natcha and his family. Father Zak, Mother Pakaporn, Sister Puifai and his Brother Note. All names translate to peaceful and lovely meanings but our favorite was Puifai which means 'Little Cotton Flower'.
We arrived and within 5mins we were all gathered in the living room chatting and telling stories. It turned out that Natcha's father worked in a very senior position in Thailand. He was the Chief Prosecutor in the Thaiskin/ Red Shirts debacle currently taking place, though not yet at full, burning and shooting pace. We had bought them a little something from India, T-shirts and some scarfs of which they were very grateful. It was really lovely to be with a family
Oops... 39degrees
Chudak David v nemocnici, 39 stupnova teplota again. Even though Zuzana and I loved being together we really enjoyed the diverse atmosphere a family brings.
We were then offered some food and even though at the time, I don't think we were that hungry, the prospect of homemade Thai cuisine was too good to refuse. We both sat and ate heartily in the knowledge that this had been made by the family cook who was very very good it turned out. I was still feeling a little funny from our travels in India and after a few minutes at the dinner table I needed to use the toilet. Well oh my lord I have never experienced anything like it. My buttocks hit the seat and, using the adjective WOOSHHHPLOP, my world/ bowels opened up and projected into the toilet. So taken aback was I that I had to make an objective decision over what just happened so I looked down. It wasn't what I was expecting. It was fluid, just lots of fluid. “That was a bit bloody odd”, I thought as I returned back to the dining table.
I'd not yet picked up my cutlery and “rarblegarble” went the beat of my stomach. My eyes
My Nurses
Ale sestricky boli uzasne widened as the sensation grew surprisingly quickly. I ran, from the knees down, to the toilet only to partake in the same exercise with the same result. I came out and by now my body had clearly decided enough is enough. Within, literally, minutes my colour and my energy had been sapped from me. I returned to the table and Zuzana, concerned, asks if everything is ok? I reply that not all is as should be and by the time I've let her know I'm off again. Same place, same result. What the hell was this?
I returned and she, clearly knowing the answer, asks whether or not I'd like to go to hospital.
“Darling, I think I should go to hospital”, came the bewildered and confused response.
I was raced to the hospital with Zuzana, Pakaporn and Natcha in tow and was greeted by a wheelchair bearing porter who was only too happy to take me the 8ft into A&E. What service!
Within 10minutes I'd been fully examined, had a drip inserted into my left arm, had my temperature measured which was 39 degrees and was in the most comfiest bed I'd been in for a long
Family visits at hospital
Rodinne navstevy v nemocnici time. I was taken to my suite, I know... a suite, and a few more checks were made before I was left alone with Zuzana and my thoughts and my stomach that was still making the most horrendous “rarblegarble”, sort of noises.
Pakaporn and Natcha stayed with us for a while and made sure we had everything we needed. We ended up calling her “Thai Mother” as she just couldn't be more caring. Once they'd left it was just Zuzana and I. Well we were chuffed as this was the best accommodation we'd had so far on the entire trip. Zuzana did a bit of recon as I was bed/ toilet ridden and it was like a studio flat with all the mod-cons and fittings you could imagine. It didn't matter much to me as all I needed was very easy access to a very forgiving toilet.
I was in hospital for 4nights on a diet of dried pork (amazing), boiled rice (not quite as amazing) a saline drip, intravenous anti-biotics and 6 different types of pills. It took a lot out of me and made me stop biting my nails for at least a week. Not quite knowing
Time well spent
Bez tejto miestnosti by to bohuzial neprezil what was indeed wrong with me, as it wasn't translated fully, we self diagnosed me with a parasite, Giardia. This parasite lives in your stomach and feeds on all the good stuff while you're body has the waste for nourishment. I lost around 6kgs in total, which pleased me no end as I've been trying to shift those last few kilos for around 6mths!
Luckily I had my girl with me tending to all my needs. She had her own little bed/sofa area and was quite content using the wireless internet, picking dinner from the vast menu and getting to know her camera. She would wake at all the hours of the night to assist me in getting to the toilet as I was so very weak. She was a trooper and never complained once. She's amazing like that and I'll remember her attentiveness when I next get man flu. You guys know what I mean, you women on the other hand will never have to go through it... ever!
Family and friends would drop in regularly and Thai Mother would bring oodles of noodles and other treats for Zuzana to eat. She also brought me some boiled rice
A simple yet amazing dish
Fantasticka Thajska kuchyna je jedna z najlepsich na svete, teda az po slovenskej :-) and insisted I eat hers rather than the hospital food. The family was just lovely.
When I was feeling well enough I decided to give my family a call via skype and managed to speak to my heavily pregnant sister Rebecca. “Hello dear how are you?” I asked as I turned the camera on for her to see me bed ridden.
“Why are you in bed and what are you wearing?” Came the response.
I told her all about it and she demanded I come home this instance as she did whenever I spoke to her. I'm glad I told them when I was on the mend rather than the day of entry. That way they wouldn't worry.
My little visit cost us no more than £50 and the rest was collected by the insurance company. £1000 for 4nights in what has to be repeated as our greatest accommodation so far on the trip.
Once I'd finally recovered we went back to stay with the family. Thai Mother had already been thinking of things we could do and what we could visit while in Bangkok. Natcha, who lived in the centre of town, would often come back from
his apartment and take us both out to a bar or to the shops (Bangkok is just one big shopping mall) or dinner with his girlfriend Panda. Those guys really looked after us and made sure we tried all of the foods plus some amazing deserts. That's all our blog is about now.. just eating the food cause we loved it and I needed to add some weight to my, now scrawny, physique.
They were an amazing family. Very strong in their Buddhist beliefs. One particular evening we spent until the wee hours of the morning getting an understanding of Buddhism taught to us by Thai Mother. Zak, the Father, would get up at 4am every morning to prey for 1hr and we often heard his chanting along with the waking birds as the sun rose to start another day. This really helped my recovery and soon I was back to my usual, yet slightly more cautious self.
We took time to see the city. We went to Phra Borom Maha Ratcha Wang, the Kings Grand Palace which was covered with gold, vast and many, many Buddha sculptures. Temples and shrines were everywhere and images of Lord Buddha
Back at home with family
Jedna z nasich veceri u nasich Thajskych kamaratov were sculpted and crafted in every nook and cranny and in every style possible. The temples, that were lined or plated in gold, shone so impressively under the sunshine.
It was peaceful. People were respectful and thoughtful in their ways as the surveyed the beauty of the grounds in their thousands. It is funny to see all the tour guides with their flags, bobbing around in a mass crowd, followed by at least 50 people all wearing the same 'Tour' hat.
We were accosted at one stage by a couple of Thai students on a day trip as they had to interview an English speaking person with some simple questions they had prepared. Well I was that person on this occasion and did my best to help them complete the questionnaire. They may never come to England now.
After I'd been released by security we went on to visit the very famous golden laying Buddha at Wat Pho. It was huge and very very golden and was, as promised, laying down. As we were walking around, taking pictures, people were dropping coins into little prayer jars so Zuzana decided to buy some and as she dropped the coins in she'd
say a little prayer. I had a couple of coins but Zuzana took them off me when she heard me wishing for a PlayStation 3 for the 4th time. She said I'd not quite got the point and maybe I should go and stand somewhere on my own for a while.
Thailand is lovely like that. Little humbling practices that make you feel very human and remind you of things in life that are important. Even if you're not very religious it was a thoughtful and peaceful thing to do. It's not worked yet as my PS3 has still not arrived.
We also visited the Vimanmek Teak Palace. A sort of manor the King would bring foreign guests to entertain in times of old but had now been restored as a museum. He'd often stay there himself as it was such a beautiful building that was, indeed, made entirely of teak wood. Sadly, however, we weren't allowed to take any photographs.
Once we'd finished the brief tour we received a text message that little Maggie Jayne Law (my new niece) had been born at that very second. I did speak to my elder Sister, Elizabeth and Mother but sadly
not to Rebecca who had been in bed giving birth to the wee bundle of 'squidgy'ness'.
It was an extremely joyous moment and I was so happy to be an Uncle and Zuzana an Auntie again. Only then did I remember that I wasn't going to meet little Maggie for a very long time and that really was difficult to accept. We sent them our love and contacted Rebecca soon after on Skype. Maggie Jayne is beautiful.
Thai Mother and family then took us off for the weekend to their family home in the hills in Khao Yai, just North East of Bangkok. A home surrounded by gardens and plants as that's what they love to do when they're not living in the city; gardening. We were treated to even more types of amazing food which was a delight. Things like a cocount'y rice dish that had been cooked in a palm leave and tasted wonderful according to Zuzana. I think coconut is the work of the devil. We tasted sticky rice that is genuinely sticky. You could grab a handful and shape it to fit into whatever you were dipping it in. There was also some aromatic pork
covered in cracked black pepper that reminded us a little of jerky. It was all fabulous and having spent the last two months on 2meals a day, it was heaven! We also dined on mountains of Phad Thai, which is our favorite dish, topped with enormous prawns. It cost $1 and the best version we had was at a random roadside shack on the way back from some shops. My first instinct was, “Hang on, I've just spent 5days in hospital!”
But my lord how tasty it was. This opened up a whole new experience for us. It was street food but street food that wasn't going to kill you! We could happily survive on this $1meal forever.
Being with the gang we had started to grasp a concept of basic language as well (mostly food related) and were able to specify what type of noodle dish we did like and how we'd like it cooked. Obviously Natcha and Panda made sure that we picked up a few of the more street phrases. How to tell someone to go away and then referring to them as mentally beneath you just seemed to roll of the tongue and this pleased
Wat Pho
Wat Pho Palac our younger hosts.
Talking about food, which I was, they took us to a very modern and Italian outlet retail park called Palio's where we dined on fruit smoothies, cake and sour rope sweets for the car. Oh we were in heaven. Later that evening we went to a local market to grab some more street food. I think we had another Phad Thai as we weren't too keen on the skinned frogs or drying seafood on offer. It all smelled fantastic. There was so much to chose from, everyone was cooking something!
That night we were treated to a night safari at the Khao Yai National Park. The only big animal we saw was a monster elephant on the way to the park before the safari had begun. It had decided to dine on some of the vegetation that bordered the roadside and scratch its buttocks on the barriers before it disappeared back into the forest. That was the highlight of the night. On safari we saw quite a few animals but they were of the smaller variety and were not scratching their bottoms. It was a great experience though as you go out into the wilderness on
Security.....!
Fotka so straznikom musi byt! the back of a truck with nothing more than a flashlight and and elephant gun should things take a turn for the worst.
The next day we went to an elephant reserve and had the pleasure of riding one of the beast'ies. It was great fun. Our elephant pulled up alongside an elevated platform and, as if it was natural to us, we boarded our transport and ordered it into the thickets. Well, our trainer did. He was very good actually. You hear stories of eleplops being treated badly, having their ears pulled and kicked and just generally feeling unhappy. Well this one was full of beans. We'd not been gone 2mins and our guide jumped off and left us to ride him through a few shallow pools and some forest. This was a little unnerving but we both took a turn at being on his head as the driver. I would say being in charge but had the elephant wanted to we'd have gone in whichever direction it chose! I preferred Zuzana being the driver as it gave me a chance to sit like a King on the throne behind her and wave at the commoners who went
One of many Buddhas in the Grand Palace
Jeden z mnoha soch Budhu v Grand Palaci wild at my arrival... is what I'd like to believe. In truth I really wanted to drive but Zuzana said I couldn't.
We'd only been in Thailand over a week and we'd packed so much in. We loved it. Did I mention we loved the food?
Once we'd finished riding elephants, we went to a very remote temple and place of worship near their home. It was a monastery where young and old men came to start on the path to enlightenment as Lord Buddha had done centuries before them. Enlightenment is the point at which your soul leaves the earth for the final time, never to be reborn into the suffering circle of life.
Their meditation rooms were set deep inside an amazing cave. It was huge. We climbed the steep staircase carrying a bag of rocks each as a payment for entering. The rocks were being used to complete some building that the monks were doing and as the stairs were 250ft tall it was only fair that every time someone went to meditate they would carry a bag of stones for their use of the chambers.
Once inside we spent time weaving through various tunnels
Zuzana in the Lotus position
Clovek sa nauci rozne zvyky inych nabozenstiev, ja v lotusovej pozicii and archways. It was a sanctuary, very cool compared to the heat outside and very still.
We then got the chance to see the new recruits practicing blessings and prayers. As we approached they greeted us in Thai and Natcha was kind enough to translate. We took pictures and watched them master the art of sitting down correctly as sitting down incorrectly would expose their twig and giggle berries and that wouldn't have been appropriate at any occasion.
They wore no other clothing accept the robes they were given when they first began their journeys. This little place wasn't on any map and only known by locals so no foreign tourists came here. We were watching religion at work and it was pure and simple. They do everything in their robes and it is their only possession, that and an urn they carry to receive food and donations.
We really enjoyed our time in the mountain with the family. If we'd have come over without having somewhere to stay and a family to stay we wouldn't have seen all these places. We'd have been on a tourist street called Koh San Road viewing all sorts of sex shows
Emerald Buddha
Emeraldsky Budha, velmi vzacna socha. Aj ked sa nemohlo fotit, ja som zachytila zaber and drinking with the Ladyboys... but we didn't and we were being very cultural. I mean if I wanted that sort of thing I could have dressed up myself!
Back in Bangkok we went shopping for some clothes and other bits which we'd quite like to send home. We were walking through the markets and came across some food stalls. Indeed there was our beloved Phad Thai and various other scrummy noodle dishes. We'd eaten earlier so passed up the opportunity to dine until we came to a different stall. This one was selling various creepy crawlies so Zuzana thought that as we were here we might as well give it a go.
We both tried meal worms and variously sized crickets. It must have been the flavour of the oil as they weren't half bad. In fact they were that good that we had several of the wee critters. They had a bit of a crunch to them and as some of them were quite large we'd often have the odd leg hanging out as we were chewing on some other part of the body. The meal worms even had a slight chilly twang.
When we returned
The Grand Palace
Thajska architektura home, full from snacking on insects, Thai Mother had organised, with her sister, that we should go and visit a town called Ratchaburi and spend some time with her. So we did.
We took a 4hr bus ride and Patu, Thai Mother's Sister and her husband Lung Yai, collected us from the bus station. As was tradition when we were traveling through Thailand, Patu had some dumplings filled with sweet pork already prepared for us in the car. We had a wonderful time with them as everyday we had something to do as she was so very organised . We went to the bat cave, the Snake Mountains and many temples. They were a lovely lovely family. They took us all over Ratchaburi.
Our first outing was to go and see a bat cave (I told you) with over 5million of the buggers in. It took them 2hrs just to vacate their cave and go on an evening hunting spree. It looked like a black ribbon passing over us there were that many.
They took us to a cave ranked in the top ten of Asia. It was at 90% humidity but cool and very beautiful. Patu took us to
Having a rest
David si dava maly odpocinok the morning markets and we helped her carry all her shopping but she showed us things we'd never seen before and made us try a variety of new foods. Yummy. From there we went to an old war museum and had a look at tanks and trains and guns and other stuff that boys love.
Patu was such a dear lady. She told us so much about Ratchaburi and her history from when she was a little girl. She would often sing to us as we were driving between destinations and she really loved the song that starts, “Why do birds suddenly appear, every time you are near?”
She was a very thoughtful and gentle Lady and felt so at ease to sing to us. The family humbled us with their generosity and kindness. One fond memory was when we went to the highest temple in Ratchaburi which overlooked this little town. We placed our gold leaf on the Buddha statue and recited a short prayer before taking pictures of the fantastic view.
They were also kind enough to take us to Siam Cultural Park, Bang Phae. A waxwork museum with exhibitions of Thai history and Thai culture. There were
houses crafted in regional styles and waxworks of very influential monks over the years.
Patu (which means Auntie) and Lung Yai (Uncle Yai) were a delight to be with and so very down to earth. We really took to them. On the final day we met there daughter, Ploy, who had travelled home to celebrate the Chinese New Year with her family. On the morning of the New Year we prepared a feast that was offered to ancestors and Lord Buddha before being consumed. When we left we were given gifts to keep us safe and to make sure that we remembered them. It was very sad to leave as it's not often people go so far out of their way to make you feel special having never met you and may never meet you again. I think Zuzana had a tear or two in her eye when we were leaving. They were lovely and we'll always remember our time in Ratchaburi.
Lung Yai took us to a meeting point and then Natcha collected us as we were going to the floating markets at Amphawa. We said our goodbyes and gave Lung Yai and Patu a parting gift to
say a heartfelt thank you. We'd never forget our time with them.
Well we were back with the gang which had now grown to 7of us all in the car. It was going to be fun, fun, fun! We were heading to the floating markets of Amphawa for two nights. We had our own riverside apartments right over the water. A welcome drink from the hostess and we were off on a little tour of the area and probably the prospect of some food. Our first visit was to a traditional coconut sugar plantation and we watched as they turned the sugary liquid that had been collected from the coconut flowers into sugar that was exported all overt he world.
We visited the floating markets and had ourselves oodles of noodles which were fantastic and when it got dark we were taken for a night trip to see the fireflies.
I've got to describe the boats to you. They're very pointy boats and about 20ft long but the funny thing is that they have these V6 Turbo car engines hanging off the back of them. You could accelerate from 0-600mph in an instant, launching you across the water.
Thai Students at the Palace
Niekedy sa citime ako nejake celebrity Very dangerous but exhilarating at the same time.
That evening after returning from visiting the floating market, which was superb, we had a few beers and chatted into the night while buggering about with this plastic bubble stuff making strange shapes and dressing one of the guys, Patch, up as a girl. You know, silly stuff you do when you're a little pizzled.
The following morning we woke at 5:30am as we had food to give to the monks that arrived, skillfully, on their little rowing boats. This is traditional everywhere in Thailand. Locals give monks food and blessings if they pass their way as it enlightens the soul. Later that day we visited temples and our friends all performed rituals and prayers in the Buddhist way before we jumped back in the car and drove back to Bangkok.
The following day we would be leaving the family and heading North so Natcha, Panda and the gang took us to a restaurant that cooked hot pots. A hot pot is a type of restaurant where in the middle of a table you have a vat of boiling stock in to which you added anything and everything you had
Grand Palace
V priestoroch Grand Palacu ordered, raw. Chicken, fish, pork, vegetables, salad, chillies etc and it was superb. It was a shame that we were leaving our new friends but knowing we'd be back in around three months we said our goodbyes and headed back to the family home.
We had a little more to eat when we arrived and then after we'd taken showers Thai Mother invited us up to the prayer room. This was where Zak performed his 4am chanting ritual. It was full of pictures and idols of great Buddhist monks and scholars and was a very clean and organised room. A tidy room is a tidy mind. I imagine this helps a lot when meditating.
We sat behind Zak who led us all in a 20 minute prayer before he brought us both to the front of the room. He took a huge ball of string and cut us both a length that he tied around our wrists. While doing so he wished us a safe journey, let us know that Buddha would be watching over us and that we should carry his and the family's love with us at all times. How wonderful is that? We loved this Buddhism
thing, really loved it.
We said our goodbyes and thanked them all dearly for looking after us. Especially me having been so ill. They'd really helped me recover and had fed us both with the most incredible food. I don't think I remember being with them and not eating. We loved it and were very sad indeed to leave. I know we'll see them again though whether they come over to the UK or we go over there. I mean let's face it, they do have the best food in the world!
We took our first Thai train the next afternoon and headed to a city called Chang Mai. The trains were set up differently to the Indian ones. In the Indian trains you lay horizontally in the carriage but the Thai ones you lay up the carriage. Well when the carriage bumps and shakes, you roll with it so you're all over the place. The amount of times we banged our heads which woke us up put us both in a cranky mood the next morning. Plus we had the most annoying of German lady travelling next to us that found a reason to complain about everything!
Amazing gardening skills
Musia mat dobreho zahradnika We had found that most Germans were great fun to be with, but this one was the other sort of German that made you think about all the times we had beaten them at football.
Chang Mai was a lovely city built, originally, inside a great wall but had expanded as all cities do. We were staying a small guesthouse that was a little out of the hustle and bustle but it suited us just fine. While in Chang Mai and first thing was first, we had a rather splendid foot massage that put us in the right frame of mind and added a little more spring in our step. We then hit the markets and managed to buy a lot of things for the house that we sent home costing us a fortune but hey we all love a souvenir or two.
You may have heard about the markets in Thailand and yes it is true, you can literally buy anything. I think we passed at least 3 Tiffany outlets, 40 Rolex watch outlets and more designer sun glasses huts than you could shake a stick at. We did make a very sensible purchase and that was
The Palace
Grand palac a Cribbage board which we have both enjoyed using. I happen to be leading the series as it goes although Zuzana is destroying me at a Slovak card game we play. Last time we checked it was something like 235 to Zuzana and I had 127!!
One evening we had managed to get ourselves some front row tickets at a Thai Boxing arena and watched some very entertaining, yet very oily, fights with both male and female boxers. We did have a girl representing the UK but she was up against a real Thai Ninja who took her apart and made her look like a bit of lardy donkey in shorts.
Between fights and rounds we were well entertained by the LadyBoy bar to the left. The girls/ boys/ girls/ I'm confused/ boys would start their routine and flick their hair all over the place while camping it up. It was a little unusual for us but we enjoyed it and at one stage I found myself clapping away to their little number while Zuzana took all the pictures.
We also managed to book ourselves an afternoons cooking class. Well this was a joy as one of the dishes we
Wat Pho Laying Buddha
Leziaci Budha v Wat Pho were going to learn was our beloved Phad Thai! We both prepared and made a variety of meals and it was good to find out what ingredients went where and in what order. We were also given a tour of the local markets as we still had some ingredients to purchase. The chef showed us what was what and we had a chance to get to know what ingredients actually looked like before it came in a made up sachet.
We had our own prep areas and our own woks to use. The chef would cook first and demonstrate and we would do our best to repeat all of his fancy moves to the exact timing. We've always been a little tentative when it come to that sort of flash fry cooking but you literally show the ingredients to the pan and the job is done. Zuzana won the best dish as she made, from scratch, a Green Thai Curry and it was to die for. Oh how we were loving the food.
We had really enjoyed Thailand more than expected. We were so lucky having friends and family to show us around. Without them we would have seen
Prayers Jars at Wat Pho
Modliace nadoby - do tychto sa vlozia mince a pritom sa ludia modlia the more touristy attractions but this way we had a chance to see the real Thai life. We'd loved the food, loved the people and loved the shopping which was more like window shopping due to our meager budget and we were so pleased that we would be coming this way again.
We left Changmai on a bus and headed for Chiang Khong, the Thailand/ Laos border. When we arrived we had our last noodle dish, 'Sen Me Heng', before embarking on a narrow boat voyage that would take us 200m across to the other side of the Pak Beng river and into Laos.
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Danka
non-member comment
To je nadhera je super ze si vedies blogy o tom kde ste boli a co ste zazili... tisko zavidim (uprimne samozrejme) :) prajem vam este veeela dobrodruztiev a tesim sa na dalsie blogy Danka K.