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Published: August 23rd 2007
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We arrived in Bangkok on July 7th. Finally, Rich and I have met up to do the rest of the trip together! For the first day and a half Rich had to put up with me having some form of jetlag, and slept away the first day of us being in Bangkok! Sorry Rich! We stayed in Bangkok until the 12th of July visiting tons of sights! First,Bangkok is a huge, bustling, crazy city! We stayed in an area called Thanon Khao San, which is actually the road we stayed on, where most backpackers stay. This area is especially crazy! There are street vendors everywhere selling anything from red bull T-shirts to wooden frogs that make croaking sounds, to Pad Thai out of a mobile kitchen! There are also a ton of tuk-tuks! If you have never experienced a tuk-tuk ride before then I definitely recommend it! For those of you who don't know, tuk-tuks are motorcycles that have a carriage welded to the back that carries like 3 people, and they are extremely loud and the drivers (well all drivers in Bangkok) drive like maniacs, at times on the wrong side of the road! On the 8th, we went to
the National Museum. The information in here was pretty interesting, it dates back to thousands of years ago until the present and information about the present Royalty. That is one thing that is very big here, they love their king! It seems he has done a lot for the people in the last few years and he is very well respected (maybe a lesson for other leaders out there who shall not be named). On Monday the 9th we visited the Jim Thompson house in downtown Bangkok. Jim Thompson was an American that came to Thailand after WWII when he was stationed here by the then beginnings of the CIA. While he was here he found the art of making silk fabrics fascinating although at that time it was a dying art. So, he helped revive the silk industry here, even helping to sell some silk products to Broadway plays. The house he had built in Bangkok is now a museum and it is a really neat place. It is surrounded by plush greenery and it is made out of dark wood and in places is raised on stilts. On Tues the 10th, Rich happened to run into a friend
that he met in Australia and he is in Bangkok before he returns home to England. We all decided to spend the day together and to tackle the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaeo, and Wat Pho. Wats (temples in the Buddhist religion) are very prevalent in Thailand as many of the people are devout Buddhists. Wats are usually also very detailed in design and color and are amazingly ornate. Wat Phra Kaeo, which is actually in the grounds of the Grand Palace is breathtaking! The area that it makes up is not that big but many of the buildings and temples inside are very tall and have extremely detailed design. Some are gold platted, others are designed with different colored tiles, and in one of the buildings is an "Emerald Buddha", but it is actually made of jade. The Grand Palace is beautiful too, with stone elephants guarding the front steps, as well as actual guards that are not supposed to break a smile also guarding the front entrance! Wat Pho is also not to be missed! It has a huge reclining budda, laying down in one of its buildings that takes about 15 min to even walk around. Its
feet are made out of mother of pearl! The following day we saw the "Temple of the Dawn" which is across the river from most of the city. That Wat is also amazing and some of the tiles used to decorate the buildings when you look up close look like old European dinner plates!
Thursday the 12th we left on an overnight train for the Northern city of Chaing Mai. Chaing Mai is known for being a jumping off point to do trekking in the Northern part of Thailand. The first afternoon we went to a Wat in the inner city of Chaing Mai. This was actually a "working wat". Some of the ones you visit are not used for actual worship, but this one was. Between the 14th and the 16th we did a three day and two night trek through the Doi Inthanon National Park. Our guides, Bond and Didi were great and led us through hillside rice patties, dense foliage, and villages of the hill tribe people, the views were also breathtaking. We traveled through the Hoy Koa Lip and the Hoy Hoi villages. At night we would sleep in bamboo huts on mats under mosquito nets,
which actually was quite comfortable with the breeze coming through.The first afternoon we did elephant rides as well! The elephant that Rich and I were on was actually (I think) the mom of a two year old that kept following us around and sneezing on my leg! The last afternoon we took a bit of a break and went bamboo rafting. It was fun to float down the river standing on bamboo rafts hoping to not fall off and plunge into the river!
Our last outing before leaving Chaing Mai was to go to the Pad Thai cooking school! I know what some of you who know me are thinking.....but it was fun and now I can somewhat cook Thai food! In just one day we cooked Pad Thai, chicken with cashews, spring rolls, spicy soup, green curry, and sticky rice with mangos! We really recommend this school if anyone gets up to Chaing Mai!
I guess thats it for the first part of Thailand.....Look for the Laos entry soon!
Brittany and Rich
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Kimmy
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Nice rip, Brittany!
I love your rip on Bill Clinton! I couldn't agree more... =)