Tapestry of Adventures - Thailand
Thailand
Our Thai adventure began in Phuket, a beautiful coastal beach haven on the Andaman Sea to unwind after the vibrant chaos of India. Our hotel was located right on a beautiful sandy beach with lovely warm clear water. Our goal was to relax before our next stage of adventures around southeast Asia and that’s exactly what we did. Mark scuba dove one day, delighted by beautiful corals and the variety of marine life including moray eels, clown fish and more. Fully intact wrecks provided the opportunity for a few “swim throughs”.
A day cruise to “James Bond Island” in Phang Nga Bay, made famous by the movie classic “The Man with the Golden Gun” unveiled a spectacular waterscape — rock formations with dramatic overhangs, some stalactites and other eroded limestone formations. We had several opportunities to cool off by hopping into crystal-clear 85° waters. One of the coolest experiences was hopping off the boat into an inflatable kayak for a guided excursion through small hidden caves dodging stalactites overhead – definitely added an extra level of thrill.
Bangkok
In Bangkok, life revolves around the river and canals. From our hotel, located on the Chao Phraya, the major river in Thailand, we saw barges coming and going, laden with rice, coal and possibly teak. There was also a plethora of water taxis, tour boats and long boats moving in a slow dance along the water. It was beautiful to watch and even more fun to be in the middle of it as we took a water taxi or ferry wherever we went.
Thailand is a very religious country with over 90% of the population being Buddhist. There are over 40,000 temples across the country and more than 400 temples or “Wats” in Bangkok. We visited some of the more spectacular ones. In particular, Wat Arun is covered in intricate decorations from the ground up to the spire and is a spectacular and iconic sight of Bangkok at night. Wat Pho has a beautiful reclining Buddha that is 150 ft long by 49 ft high, all covered in gold leaf. Wat Phra Kaew contains a meditating emerald buddha statue that is 26 inches tall. It is jasper but still precious – emerald refers to the color. Made in the 15th century, it has been relocated a few times as kings and conquerors took possession until it moved to Bangkok in 1785. Wat Tramit or the Golden Buddha Temple contains the largest solid gold buddha statue at 5.5 tons!
A canal tour in a shallow draft longtail boat took us out into the extensive network of narrow canals where life exists beyond the city. We spent a couple of hours cruising these small waterways seeing a variety of homes ranging from modest to mansions, small businesses, schools and apartment buildings all along the waterfront. It was very interesting to try and imagine daily life here. Your canoe-like boat took you to and fro. I’m sure there were roads and maybe cars, definitely bikes but we couldn’t see much of that from our perch at water level. We also cruised through a floating market that was lined with stalls full of clothes and souvenirs as well as boats selling drinks. When Mark was here 35 years ago, he took an amazing photograph of the floating markets selling local produce. Unfortunately, that market has given way to the tourist trade. Too bad!
Betsey had a photo tour with a local photographer to work on her street photography and explore some of the back alleys and hidden gems of Bangkok’s Chinatown. She definitely got to see a side of the city most people don’t. One turn took her down a suspicious, tarp covered alley to a Michelin star takeout spot for shrimp dumplings which were absolutely amazing! The alley was more than a little creepy when she went down during the day but when we went back at night so Mark could taste the dumplings. He definitely was questioning her sense of direction, even with a google map! The few rats we saw scurrying didn’t help her case. All was forgiven when the shop was located, and Mark had tasted the dumplings.
Mark enjoyed wandering through the night markets with lots of people and crazy energy. Stalls sold scorpions, worms and other exotic things to eat. Fortunately, we had already eaten dinner, so he wasn’t too tempted.
When not exploring the city, we hung out at the amazing hotel Mark found. We had a waterfront room on the 20th floor, but the coolest view was from the infinity pool on the 26th floor! Well done, Mark! Our hotel also hosted an intimate evening dinner cruise on a restored rice barge with a 7 course Thai dinner. With a table at the bow of the boat, we enjoyed an incredible view and an even more amazing dinner as we cruised the harbor for Betsey’s 65th birthday.
Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai had a completely different atmosphere than Bangkok. With the feeling of a small town, it was much more laid back with lots of backpackers from all over the world, a lovely change from the hustle and bustle of a big city. We found a local thai cooking class that was both educational and tasty. Along with our group of 8 other budding chefs, we had a tour of the local market to pick up spices and noodles. We each had our own wok and several types of soups and curries to choose from. In the end, we each made spring rolls, pad thai, two different curry dishes and a soup. The food was abundant and delicious! Needless to say, we did not eat dinner. A bonus was that we left with recipes!
Speaking of food, the meals we had throughout Thailand were amazing, whether it was a simple Tom Yam soup, pad thai or something more exotic. We tried lots of different curries we had never heard of and never had a bad meal.
With 300 more temples or wats to explore in town, we tried to walk off some of the great food. There seems to be one on every corner! Some were large and ornately decorated with lots of visitors, others were small or deserted, tucked down some side street or crumbling because they had been neglected. In the bigger ones, monks and novices would be working, studying, meditating or moving about. It’s hard to miss them in their bright orange robes!
The most famous temple, Wat Doi Suthep, is on a mountain overlooking the city. To reach it, there’s a windy road followed by 309 steps or a funicular. At the top, we were rewarded with a beautiful complex with pagodas, statues, bells, a museum, places to meditate and shrines. According to history, a relic, half of Buddha’s shoulder bone, is located in a chedi or pagoda, a sacred structure of the wat.
Chiang Rai
Our next adventure was a 2 day cruise down the Mekong River in Laos. We hired a car to drive us 4 hours to the Laotian border. On the way we had one final stop in Chiang Rai to see Wat Rong Khun, also known as the White Temple. In the late 1990s, the original temple was in disrepair and funds were not available for its renovation.
A prominent local visual artist decided to completely rebuild the temple using his own funds. His construction, an artistic interpretation of the buddhist cycle of rebirth. The sparkling temple is whitewashed and covered in mirror fragments to signify the purity and wisdom of Buddha.
As you crossed an entrance bridge to the temple, you passed over thousands of outstretched hands symbolizing unrestrained desire- eerie. Inside the temple are modern murals with orange flames and demon faces as well as references to influences of today’s world including images of Michael Jackson, Freddy Krueger, Osama Bin Laden, the Twin Towers and so many more. Certainly leaves you with something to think about - quite the contrast from the white sparkling exterior!
Off to the border and on to Laos!
