Blogs from Central Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 923

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Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Ko Chang October 26th 2004

I’ve just been to Ko Chang, which means Elephant Island. Ko Chang is Thailand’s second biggest island after Phuket, and two years ago Taksin, the evil Thai Prime Minister (he's friends with little Johnny Howard and Dubya - hardly illustrious company - and boasts that he's a 'Texan Cowboy' because he studied there... *spew*), said that he wanted Ko Chang to become the next Phuket. So lots of government ministers bought land there and resorts and beach huts started going up all over the place, lagoons were filled in, forest areas were cut down. It still looks like a tropical island paradise in many places, especially the beach I was staying at, but driving along the main road, and seeing all the razed plots of land where more resorts will be built, it appears that even ... read more
Lonely Beach, Ko Chang
More sunset
Waterfall on Ko Chang

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok October 25th 2004

Actually, the name of the last island on our trip is spelled Koh Phi Phi, but we thought that we'd give you the phonetic spelling:)... We boarded a 3 day/2 night train ride to Krabi, which is in the southern west coast of Thailand. We read about this cool little town in a magazine while on our Brisbane to Bangkok flight a few weeks ago and met some nice folks throughout our trip who suggested that we make the trip. And we are so lucky we did!! After leaving our mud filled laundry (which was just about EVERYTHING in our packs) with a local laundry place, we went out to explore the town. We hired a longtail boat to a beach about 30 minutes away (Rei Ley Beach) and we found ourselves surrounded by palm trees, ... read more
on our way to Phi Phi Ley
the most expensive picture of the trip
crazy fruits

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok October 21st 2004

Waking up early morning (more like noon actually) somewhere over the Bengal Sea. I'm having breakfast and photographing the rivers of Myanmar. It is a beautiful day with cumulus clouds stacking up over the wilderness. At around 2 pm we're down on the ground and I now face another 10 hours of waiting around until the next leg of the journey to Shanghai. I weigh the options, thinking about heading in to town for a hotel with a nice shower and some sleep, as my original plan of going flight-sightseeing for the day is now a lost opportunity that I fortunately do not have to think about. I decide to stick around at the airport and spend an insanely boring afternoon walking around the corridors and people watching, hoping the hours will soon whisk away. My ... read more

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok October 16th 2004

This month in Thailand, the Vegetarian Festival took place. It goes for nine days, which was Bliss. The food was soooo good. By the end of the Festival, I was having curries or noodles for breakfast and two dinners, because I realised that otherwise I wouldn’t be able to try everything before we returned to the Fascist Carnivorous State. I wish we had Vegie Festival more than once a year. Apparently the main place for the Festival is Phuket, where the monks - Vegie Festival is actually during Buddhist Lent, so the vegetarian diet is considered cleansing and purifying - stick knives and bicycle spokes through their cheeks. Ow. Not quite sure what the purpose of that it - maybe the transcendence of intense pain is cleansing and purifying too. The Vegetarian Festival is particularly associated ... read more
Above the shops
Typical Chinese knick-knack store
One of the main market streets

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok October 6th 2004

My dear friend Elizabeth was just with me for two short, but glorious days. We visited the following Wat, Wat Pho, famous for its reclining Buddha and its massage school (without a doubt, the best massages in Thailand). This diary will be updated later with more information about the Wat.... read more
The length of the Buddha.
His mother-of-pearl inlaid feet

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok October 3rd 2004

Petite rétrospective sur nos bons temps passés en Thaïlande... Commençons par sa capitale qu'il nous fallut visiter à 4 reprises afin de l'apprécier.... read more
mal reveillee
bakgkok
beurk

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 22nd 2004

This weekend, I went out with Aurélie (Lily), my beautiful French friend. On her way to my place, she had a Thai taxi driver who could speak very little English except to say “Zidane - good!” and “French women - big boobs - good!” The last statement was also accompanied with hand gestures, indicating the squeezing of breasts. Anyway, we went out dancing which was fun. I had the slightly odd experience of being ignored by all the men - the Thai men were mostly gay, and the farang (foreign) men were interested in the Thai women, some of whom were in prostitution. They even ignored Lily, who usually turns heads. This was odd, because bars are fairly sleazy in Australia so usually one receives a few leers; (and, of course, if men aren't sleazing onto ... read more

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Ayutthaya September 20th 2004

This weekend Lily and I went to Ayuttaya, 90 minutes away from Bangkok, which is a UNESCO World Heritage listed site, due to its numerous ancient temples. The temples were good, though in a state of considerable disrepair. It was bloody hot, and by temple #7, they were seeming a bit samey. We went an elephant kraal (sanctuary), where you could ride elephants for a whole 20 minutes for only AUS$14! (Considering that you can do a one-day ‘trek’ in Chiang Mai for $35 which includes an hour elephant ride, I wasn’t that impressed with $14 for 20 minutes.) They also had ‘trick’ elephants, which would pose for photos. If you paid a dollar, you would get an elephant sitting down on its hind legs like a dog and flipping its trunk back onto the top ... read more
Sitting Buddha
Chinese temple
At the elephant camp

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 19th 2004

So this is it for Bangkok until I leave for Kathmandu in October. Yesterday was a crazy day. We started off at the Chatuchak Weekend Market, which has about 1500 vendors, may be more. It was pretty crowded and there was SOOO much stuff! I couldn't believe how much stuff there was- everything from plastic fruits and vegetables to used clothing to furniture to touristy stuff and pets. Everything you could possibly need was at this market. Pretty incredible. We then went to Chinatown and Little India in the evening after it cooled down a bit. Even though it was the weekend, it was pretty crowded and there were more street vendors. Chinatown area is known for it's gold. There were gold shops everywhere! Tomorrow we leave for Chiang Mai. I'm looking foward to seeing some ... read more
another pic in Chinatown

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Ayutthaya September 18th 2004

Hello, Again I have no pictures, but I'm still trying to figure this city out. It's very crowded and it seems like most of my pictures are of temples or Wats so far. There's A LOT of temples in just Bangkok (over 400 is the last quote) and they're all along the river. I think I've seen about 12 so far and I've been touring for 3 days. Today we went to Ayuthaya which is the ancient capitol of Thailand. It was built in the 1300s (?) and 33 kings lived there. It was destroyed by the Burmese but the ruins are still there, which seems pretty amazing seeing how old it is. We also got to ride an elephant, her name was BaiThei and she's 20 years old (hopefully pictures later...). It was a little ... read more
Riding an elephant in Ayuthaya




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