BANGKOK
Even though we don't usually like "big cities", Bangkok was OK! We stayed near the National Stadium and found this area to be handy to shopping centers, good food and transport. The Sky Train (though limited in areas covered) proved to be an ideal way of avoiding the "traffic jams". Tuk-tuks were our choice of transport most of the time. We had to bargain hard for direct routes to avoid the many scams associated with "cheap fares"!
Highlights of sightseeing included:
The Grand Palace was quite a complex with golden stupas, mosaic encrusted pillars, marble pediments and extensive murals.
The Royal Barges Museum . These colorful barges are on display year round. We could just imagine the "pomp and ceremony" involved in the annual Royal Barges Procession along the Chao Phraya River.
Wat Pho is the oldest and largest temple in Bangkok. The famous "Reclining Buddha" is 45m long and 15m high. The entire figure is finished in gold leaf with mother of pearl inlay on the undersides of the feet. Impressive!
Canal trip to Bang Yai. Enjoyed viewing the different lifestyle along the many "miles" of canals (klongs ). We actually wanted to continue on via Klong Om (our trustworthy Lonely Planet Guide said you could do it)! But alas, without Thai language skills this proved to be impossible!
SADUAK DAMNOEN FLOATING MARKET
We caught a bus down to Saduak Damnoen and stayed one night. This enabled us to visit the floating market early the next morning to avoid the crowds of tourists who arrive from Bangkok by about 9am. Good move! It was a very colorful scene .. boats laden with fruit and vegetables plying the canal and vendors selling all sorts of food snacks along the canal's edge.
CHIANG MAI
Highlights of Chiang Mai were the Night Bazaar, Flower Market, Doi Suthep Temple and the culture center. There are plenty of good restaurants to choose from; we opted for a Thai chili fix most of the time!
CHIANG MAI - CHIANG RAI BIKETOUR
We joined a four day mountain bike tour with Contact Travel from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai. Our fellow bikers (Buck and Pamela), Guide (Wut) and Driver (Pon) all helped to make this a very enjoyable trip. We stayed in a combination of basic hut (hill tribe village) and hotel accommodation. We biked "off road" most of the time, with plenty of rough hilly trails and muddy puddles .. some of which were termed "unfriendly mud"! Beautiful mountainous scenery, such as this view looking into Burma, took us along rivers and by/through rice fields to our destinations.
PAI - LOD CAVE HIKE
Our next adventure was a three day hike with the same company. We were accompanied by our Guide (Wong) and our Porter (Pon). It was a great trek, taking us up and down steep trails, through rice fields and hill tribe villages. We were quite surprised at one stream crossing to find three elephants and their mahouts approaching us! The next morning we went for a "slow ride" on an elephant. We are sure we could have walked faster!!
At the completion of the trek we were met by our Driver (Pon) and were taken to the village of Nai Soi (near the Burmese border) to visit the "long-necked" ladies of the Karen tribe . Ma-Nang spoke English so it was nice to have a chat to her about their culture. The bonze coils are initially "fitted" to girls when they reach 5 years of age. Further coils are gradually added and by adulthood weigh 5kgs. The weight of the coils push down on the ribcage and collarbones giving the "illusion" of longer necks!
