Venturing outside of Bangkok for a few days

The next few days we spent exploring outside of Bangkok.  It was great to get outside of the city as the life outside the city is very very different than that inside. 

Maeklong Train Market
This daily market is set up RIGHT next to the railroad tracks.  Whenever a train comes, the vendors very quickly roll their stalls back about 5 feet so they are not run over.  Let's just say it was not very sanitary and I would not buy any food that was sitting a mere inches from the train tracks.  The walkway was the train tracks and we were trying to be careful not to get in anyone's way.  It was a very active market with lots of buyers and we felt kind of guilty standing there taking pictures when people were doing their daily shopping.

Walking on the train tracks next to the food stalls

Horseshoe crabs

Preparing some very fresh catfish.  I will never look at catfish the same way again.

Palm Sugar making
We made a brief stop at a house where palm sugar is produced. I can't imagine slaving away in front of three open boiling cauldrons of palm sugar liquid.  We bought some to take home - it's very good and tastes like maple syrup.

Damnoen Saduak Floating Market
This was the coolest market we've ever been to.  It's set up along a few canals and many vendors overload their boats with various foods and other goods and navigate the waterways selling their wares to shoppers on other boats or on shore.  We told our guide at the beginning of our trip that we didn't want to eat any street food (we're trying not to get sick...) but she bought a few things for us at this market and we felt obliged to at least try them.  The food was very good and luckily we were ok.  We stuck to things that were piping hot as those foods tend to be safer.

Cooking on the floating boats - note the large propane tank

The boats working their way through the crowds

Elephant trek
There was a nearby elephant camp and we stopped for a quick ride.  I never realized how hairy elephants can be. The seats were pretty unsteady as they were balanced on top of the elephant tied on with a few pieces of rope. 

Us on the elephant ride

Thai cultural show
We stopped in the afternoon for a Thai cultural show that walked us through some of the unique Thai traditions - from a wedding ceremony to dances using poles the dancers adeptly ran through without getting their feet caught.

Intricate vegetable carving display

Bang Pa-In Summer Palace
This palace of the royals sits about an hour outside of Bangkok.  There were some beautiful gardens and lakes.

Ayutthaya
The Ayutthaya region of Thailand is home to many great temples and is rich in ancient history.  It was a Siamese kingdom from the 1300s to the late 1700s.  This area was previously known as Siam.  Although many of the temples have fallen into disrepair, you can stand immersed in the grandeur of the area and imagine what it must have been like in its heyday.

A stone Buddha head tangled in the roots of a tree

A posh movie experience
To change the pace a little bit, one evening we decided to check out one of the movie theaters at Siam Paragon.  This shopping center is well known for its designer goods (you can buy a Maserati there) and on the top floor there are 5 or 6 different movie theaters.  We decided to splurge and check out a fancy one that was recommended in our guide book - for $25 you got a movie, a popcorn & drink, a free 15 minute massage, and a reclining leather movie seat complete with pillow and blanket.

Marc enjoying his fabulous movie recliner

Kanchanaburi War Cemetery
The next day we drove a few hours outside of Bangkok to visit the town of Kanchanaburi.  This area was a stronghold for the Japanese during WWII and many Allied POWs were forced to build a railroad to aid the Japanese in transporting goods for the war.   It was a very moving day, visiting the War Cemetery, the Bridge over River Kwai, and taking a train ride along the Thai-Burma Railway (also known as the Death Railway, as many POWs died during its construction.)

Kanchanaburi POW Cemetery

Looking down the tracks of the Death Railway

Our view from a little restaurant overlooking the River Kwai

Silom Thai Cooking School
On our last day in Bangkok we decided to try our hand at some authentic Thai cooking, and signed up for a hands-on class with a local Thai cooking school.  We love cooking but had never tried our hand at Thai cuisine before.  We started out by going to a local market to pick up some fresh ingredients, then prepared them for the group.  We made the standard pad thai and Tom Yum and a few other dishes I had never tried before. This class was a blast and we walked away with some ideas for what to do with the fresh lemongrass from our garden and a great recipe book.  We're definitely going to try some dishes when we get home.  Does anyone want to come over for dinner?

Cooking some great Thai food

Our little cooking station on the balcony of the cooking school

The Thai Red Cross Society Snake Farm
*DISCLAIMER* - If you are afraid of snakes, you might want to skip this post!  I wasn't afraid of snakes before but I think I am now. 

Thailand is home to more than 60 varieties of very poisonous snakes.  As a result, many people have the unfortunate experience of getting bitten and need anti-venom.  We found out that there are a lot living in downtown Bangkok. The snake farm was created by the King of Thailand as a research institute and manufactures anti-venom from the snakes it houses.  We watched a crazy snake handling demonstration, given by some of the Red Cross snake handlers.  They brought out a few cobras, kraits, and some other very dangerous snakes.  They had the sense to wear thick rubber boots, but picked the snakes up (eek!)  We also visited a museum that explained a lot about these venomous snakes and how their poisons work.

A King Cobra

Different types of cobras

Banded Krait

I don't know how much money this man makes, but he deserves a raise for sure

Part II of my journey - VACATION!!! Starting off in Bangkok

On Saturday after my CSC team said their goodbyes, I had a relatively short flight to Bangkok, Thailand to start the next leg of my journey - Vacation!  As I suspected, my luggage was overweight (no surprise there) and I had to pay some extra baggage charges.  After arriving in Bangkok I decided to leave one of my bags in storage for the next two weeks - they have a great storage facility at the airport that's secure and relatively inexpensive.  Marc arrived a few hours after me, and we met up at our hotel.  He had a really long flight (Raleigh to Dallas to Tokyo to Bangkok) and was exhausted.  It was great to see him after 5 weeks. 

I originally thought Indonesia was hot.  Then I arrived in Bangkok, which made me realize that Indonesia was simply warm.  Bangkok is noted to be one of the hottest cities in the world.  It doesn't really have seasons and the average temperature every day of the year is between 90 and 100 Farenheit with relatively high humidity.  It was scorching every day we were there and we'd easily each drink 5 to 6 bottles of water each day.

The day after we arrived we decided to take it relatively easy and check out a few of the things near our hotel.  Back in November we booked a hotel near the central shopping district which was very conveniently located to a lot of restaurants and to the Skytrain.  In December, things started to heat up with the political situation in Bangkok with protestors taking over many of the main intersections and blocking them to traffic so we started to get a bit nervous.  Many Thais are looking to have the Prime Minister step down, and it has caused a lot of conflict over the last few months.   Prior to arriving, we had been keeping up to date with a lot of travel blogs and decided to head to Bangkok after multiple assurances that the area we were staying in was outside of the protest zones. In the end, we were really glad we didn't cancel our trip.  As luck would have it, most of the protests disbanded the day we arrived, the six main intersections were cleared, and the remaining protestors moved to a park on the southern side of the city.   The political situation is still not settled but it definitely did not put any damper on the first part of our trip.

Below are some highlights from our first few days in Bangkok. 

Chatuchak Weekend Market 
This is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest flea market in the world.  It has over 15,000 vendor stalls and on a typical weekend day there are more than 200,000 visitors.  We bought a few souvenirs, but were disappointed that haggling wasn't getting us much of a discount so we mostly kept to browsing.  (As many of you know one of our favorite pastimes while traveling is haggling at local markets.)

The Jim Thompson House
Jim Thompson was an American who moved to Thailand and built up a very successful silk company.  After WWII he ran the OSS office in Bangkok (the predecessor to the CIA) and in 1967 he mysteriously disappeared while on a trip to Malaysia.  His house is now a museum and it houses many of the Southeast Asian pieces of art he collected while living in Thailand

Siam Ocean World
This aquarium is housed underneath one of the biggest shopping malls in Bangkok, Siam Paragon.  We decided to check it out as there were a lot of sea creatures from this part of the world that we had never seen before.  It was a bit touristy but interesting nonetheless.

On Monday, we started our four day tour with a local guide and driver that we had hired.  If anyone decides to vacation in Thailand I would highly recommend them - TravelHub.  They were on-time, our guide spoke great English, and we got to see so many things that would have been difficult for us to do on our own in such a short amount of time.  The air conditioned van, cold towels, and water were a plus as well.

The Grand Palace & Wat Prah Kaew
The King of Thailand was based at the Grand Palace until the mid-1920s.  It is still used for ceremonial events and there are several royal offices still inside.  The palace is made up of many buildings.  One of them is Wat Prah Kaew which houses the Emerald Buddha.  This Buddha, which is carved out of a single piece of jade, is relatively small but sits on a giant gold pedestal.  This place was amazingly beautiful and pictures do not do it justice.  We were amazed by the amount of real gold and the intricate detail that went into all of the buildings & statues.

There were a ton of tourists here and I was unfortunately pickpocketed while our tour guide took a picture of us.   Fear not, I never carry anything of value in my bag, and they only got away with my Epi-Pen.  They probably were quite perplexed what they just stole.  It's a good thing I brought extras along with me.  It's funny because I think of myself as a pretty savvy traveler, always sling my bag diagonally across my body, and always think "that only happens to other people."  Apparently this area is notorious for pickpocket gangs and I did see signs all over the place warning of such occurrences.  In a very quick 20 seconds of inattention I slung my bag from my front to my back so it didn't get in the way of the picture, and bam, someone opened my bag.  I didn't feel a thing.  Needless to say the next day I started putting a lock on my bag.  It looks a little ridiculous but I only have 2 Epi-Pens left :-)

 

Wat Pho - The Reclining Buddha

This is a HUGE buddha and is housed in one of the oldest temples in Bangkok.  It stretches the entire length of a building and is 160 feet long.

The Reclining Buddha

One of my favorite pictures thusfar from our trip

Long-tail boat ride on Chao Praya River and exploring the Thornburi Canals
We chartered a traditional Thai Long-tail boat and set off exploring some of the canals around Bangkok and then down the Chao Praya River that divides the city.   This type of boat is very common in Southeast Asia and runs off of a car engine with a very long propeller shaft attached to it.  This journey was very interesting as it got us off the beaten path and we got to see some of the daily life in Bangkok along the canals and the river.

Sitting in our Long-tail boat for the ride through the canals

Wat Arun
Our boat dropped us off on the western shore of the river, where Wat Arun is located. By this point in the afternoon we were very hot and the thought of climbing to the top of the temple wasn't making us feel better, but we did it anyway.  We knew we would have regretted it if we passed up the opportunity.  The climb up was so steep - it was more difficult than when we visited the Great Wall in China, but the views from the upper terrace were gorgeous overlooking the river and the rest of the temple below.

Wat Arun

Overlooking the Chao Praya River

Marc climbing down Wat Arun

Exploring Chinatown

There is a very vibrant Chinese community in Bangkok and we set off to explore Chinatown and its markets.  

Various types of dried fish (?) in the market

Handguns for sale on the street in Chinatown

Preparing some seafood in a road-side food stall

Wat Traimit - the Golden Buddha
This Buddha is made out of solid 18K gold.  It truly was stunning in the light.

Us looking overheated in front of the Golden Buddha

By the end of this second day of exploring we were utterly exhausted. The temperature had to be around 100 degrees and we had done a good amount of walking around many of the temples.  By this point in the day we had also taken our shoes off about 10 times to enter the temples out of respect for the Buddhas.  Each time bending down to put our shoes back on made us never want to get up again.