Today we have only one thing planned. A dinner cruise at 6:30pm. Heavy rain started at 5:45pm but lightened by 6pm.

Although the early part of the day was kinda sunny. We just wandered around a few street, taking a different from any other walk. I have seen that the lottery here is serious business. Its not like in North America where Government controlled corporations and their appointed agents, are the only officially licensed placed to get tickets. Here you will see everyday people set up with a board and a bunch of tickets to chose from. Very strange. We also saw this whole big tented area where there was nothing but lottery tickets to buy. I am going to take a wild guess that the people selling the winning ticket must get some sort of bonus otherwise why so much competition unless there was some sort of promised dream attached to it?

Everyone who told me “don’t stay in Bangkok for more than a day ” was right. The place feels like a ‘has been’. Like there was a great time to be here when it was fresh and new. When the streets were clean and ‘Armani’ suit hawkers didn’t call you ‘boss’ every 50ft that you walked.

Bangkok has slipped into a grimy future and is limping along on trinkets and tattoos. While I am certain that this may not hold true for all of Thailand, it does paint a poor first impression. I keep hearing good things about the northern area.

Oh good, the rain has picked up again. Well this will make the boat dinner cruise interesting to say the least.

The dinner cruise was quaint. There was about 30 people all told. I chose the traditional Thai menu (more meat) and my wife got the vegetarian one. Originally we were supposed to be on the 6 – 8pm cruisebut somehow that got translated to the 8-10pm one. So we were a wee bit hungry by time the boat actually got to the dock we were waiting on.

We were greeted by some girls in traditional outfits and we got this little flower garland. Not something you could wear but more of something you would hang somewhere. Then they splash some water on it/our hands as part of the greeting. We were then directed to our seats and waited for the rest of the boat to board and head out.

They brought the food out in curses and there was a lot of it. Still too many veggies for me but that’s ok as there was enough meat and the guy running the show was more than accommodating for both of us.

I will list food here once I have it handy.

There were acouple of ladies who danced to some Thai music while we ate.

2 hrs later and we were back at the dock and made our way to our waiting mini-van.

It was just about 11pm when we got back to our hotel. We took our showers and went to bed.

This morning we wanted to try some crepes at a restaurant that we saw last night. We get there and them get told “we no have”. Umm maybe they meant it’s not a morning thing. Ok fine we’ll settle for the pancakes. I ordered the banana and home and my wife wanted the mixed (meaning pineapple and banana) . They said they “no have”. Huh? Eventually we learned they don’t have any pineapple. Ok then we settled for just banana and honey. It was ok.

As for coffee, they make it rather strong. It took quite a bit of sugar and milk to make it palatable. I was hoping it was just the Indian restaurant that made it strong. Ah well.

We walked around our area looking for souvenirs to buy for other people. Once you understand the conversion rate you begin to realize just how much they are ripping you off for given the prices of things like food and taxis (to some degree, even they think they are making a killing when you rent a taxi for your person limousine service for an hour and only pay about $10).

Here, like any other tourist trap, vendors hawk their stuff and many of them are quite militant/insistent on you buying something. Especially the guys selling custom suits. I’ve seen tailored suits being a big thing in Korea but here there is a custom suit shop every 100ft or so. They try everything to get your attention. Not really surprising but is surprising is that they are all run be East Indians or Nepalese people. We met one ethnic Indian Guy who was born here.

It is surprising how many people we have met are, and I believe this is the right term, 3rd culture generation. Basically people who’s origin is of one country but lived the majority of their life in anohr and are now in a 3rd country for work. It would be a quirk if it was only one or two people, but we have met 10 people like that. Its like a whole new culture of “world citizens” that really don’t call any one place home save for the room they are sleeping I’m at the moment. I believe I can honestly say that is what we are rout now. World Citizens.

We get to the “bus” (read oversized minivan) and its filled with Koreans! Talk about funny!

These trips usually encompasses a bunch of stops. The first one is called the Train Market. This is because it is set up on the side of train tracks. Active train tracks. They simply pull back their awnings and food wait for the train to go by and then put everything back again. Video will be here shortly :)

While that was entertaining for all of 10min, it as still just a food market like any other. Fruit, vegetables and fish stuff lined the tables. Not much to see. When you’ve seen one market in a mildly undercivilized country, you’ve seen them all. Just the the ones with fish smell worse than ones that aren’t so seafood rich.

We walked around the immediate area. More market stuff, more trinkets and jewelry to buy. More strange food being sold and no body to tell you what you migth be eating. We played it safe and bought some fried chicken. Well it was at least in the shape of a chicken leg. We opted out for the deep fried food option.

Next we finally got to the floating market area. We arrived at 4pm but weren’t getting in a boat till 6:30pm. This being a Friday, the tourfuide assistant informed us that most shops are closed during weekdays. Great. Well we walked around and there were some shops open to give us an idea of the place.

When we finally did get on the boat it was an enjoyable ride. I originally thought the point of the floating market was that you went out on the boat to shop for other things on boat. At least that’s what some of the pics i saw seem to imply. Nope, not at all.

There are some boats that float over to certain areas and these boats have stuff for sale on them. Veggies, fruit, BBQ meat of some sort (seafood, beef and such) .

We were also told about fireflies. Apparently the Thais think that going on a boat tour to see fireflies is a big deal. Now I will admit that it did Lockhart neat as some trees looked like Christmas trees by how many fireflies there were blinking away. I think the Bret part was simply being in a boat relaxing and chatting with the Koreans behind us.

So once you see these pics, it is safe to ignore this trip if you ever come to Thailand. Unless you do this on a weekend when there will be more stores open and maybe somemore interesting things to see. Or maybe more trinkets that say “I {heart} Thailand “.

A 2hr drive back to hotel and we were done for the day.

Today we visit Arutthaya.

2hrs to get there. A really cool old temple and one of four areas that used of be a capital of Thailand. The steps up were quite the hike and then the rain started. So everyone found some sort of shelter till it calmed down but by that time we had to leave. I ventured out with an umbrella to take some pics before that.

You have to admire cultures that have ancient history dating back hinders and thousands of years. This is one of the reasons I like it here. There is so much to learn and enjoy. That being said, some of those outdated cultural beliefs prevent many people from spiritually evolving and accepting that this is one big world and we all share it.

So I could go on about another temple bit I’ll let you just browse the album. We saw 3 different temple sites and really they all kinda look the same. If I only saw one then I would have gotten the idea.

It was also very humid again so that sapped a lit of energy.

After we got back we took a quick shower and headed out to get a real Thai massage. We had gotten a partial one that one did legs that day before and that was nice. A traditional Thai massage is not relaxing. It is therapeutic. It is deep muscle working and you know which muscles hurt and you also know which ones you never knew you had :)

I got pulled and stretched pretty damn well. It’s kinda like going to the chiropractors. My lower back was really worked out and probably the first time on a very long while that it was so worked. I was feeling it the next morning for sure. Just goes to show how much it gets ignored I think.

I slept well regardless :)

Using technology abroad requires some planning. I did a bit of research prior to coming here to make sure that I can use my Galaxy Tab here. You can rent SIM cards here right at the airport. I chose to go only for data as I really am not planning to make any calls. Regardless you still get a phone number. I just don’t know if can even make a call, although I might get some complimentary time.

The most important thing we forgot was the camera battery charger. Well luckily my GTab takes decent pics so one the camera battery dies we won’t be stuck.

Today we are visiting the Tiger Temple. Yes, that really does include Tigers. I even have some pics on my GTab to add to this post today :)

First, we had to do other stuff before the Tigers. We went to some WWII memorial place (yawn) and then we stopped at anoher place for a rest but of course it was filled with all kinds of trinket stalls and jewelry sellers. At least there was a real leopard there! (Yeah, that pic is on the camera).

There was this really cool rusted train with an old Mercedes Benz on it. Why the car was there I have no idea but it was interesting.  IF you view the whole album, you’ll see a nice panorama shot of the car along it’s side.

Next we went to a place and went down a river on a big bamboo raft. While I feel this could have been left out I thought it was a bit relaxing to be in the quiet surroundings of a river. After that we went for an elephant ride. That was entertaining but I was feeling a bit sorry for the elephant and the baby that was chained to her to follow along.

Finally we made it to the Tiger Temple. It really isn’t a temple so much as a Tiger Reserve. Think African Lion Safari but you walk around yourself. Seriously. Animals wandering around and no cages.

Ok finally onto the Tigers.

We got the usual warnings about how to approach the tigers as well as how to act around them. We also could wear any hats, which was odd as the guides were wearing them, and no sunglasses or bright colours. We were told about the colours before the trip so we wore plainer coloured clothes.

So the deal is you stand in line, a guide comes and they take the pictures for you with your camera while a second guide holds your hand to direct you around.

The tigers were tame as hell. Someone told me they were drugged. The pamphlet had a FAQ section and the one said “Are the tigers drugged?” To whit they talked about tigers only being active in the evening and being raised by humans from a very young age. I have learned to read between the lines and noted that at no point did they say “no they are not drugged.” Still, they were chained down and extremely docile.

A few were even rolling on their backs looking to play like any Kitty you mouth think of.   I was glad to have this opportunity but again felt that this whole displaying of animals for human entertainment is not a good thing.

Regardless I will be thankful for the opportunity to see and touch tigers.

After he whole petting section we then got a chance to walk the tiger back to another area. This was interesting and we got some more warnings on how to act and such.  It was unfortunate that the person with my Galaxy tab had no clue how to take a non-blurry picture for this part.)

Then we got one last opportunity for a pic with the tiger drinking from a bottle held by a monk. That pic is on the camera.

There were baby cubs there and due to the time we arrived, we couldn’t see both.  So Bharati went to see the little guys and I stayed for the bigger kitties :)

So we left for our 2hr ride home.

We got back, took a shower and headed out to get some food. We went to one of the local restaurants and I ordered some “chicken in Chinese sauce” and a bowl of rice. The sauce was some sort of soy sauce and there was some hot dipping sauce. It W’s good.

We then walked over to get a massage. For 30min you got your legs worked on and for Tue shopping cost of 100 Baht, which is about $3.50. It is now 11:30pm and we have another 6 am wake up time for he next trip. :)

See the whole Part 6 album here.

Thailand Trip Part 6

Today we planned on visiting different temples. The plan was to walk to them because they looked pretty close on the map. Keeping on mind that we are walkers and close has a lot farther range than most.

We started the day by having a western-style breakfast (at the same Indian restaurant no less!) and then booked our trips for the rest of the week with the travel agent beside the hotel. The agent was a very nice girl and helped us plan based on the few things we knew we wanted to see.

When we told her that we are walking she suggested to take the water taxi. There is a big river that goes throuh through Bangkok and it is a main form of transportation for the locals.

I find that I am saddened be the pollution the river gets but I am hopeful that one day we will have some sort of pollution free motors.

The ride was a neat way to see another part of Bangkok. Not good and bad. Like every city, you have your pretty sites and you have your regular not-so-clean views. Sadly, Bangkok seems to have more of the latter than the former.

We get to our pier and get off. A short walk through some trinket stores and a permenant makeshift food market and we were on the streets once again. I pulled out the tourist map the travel agent gave us and checked our bearings. As I we looking a ‘helpful’ cabbie gave us the suggestion that we should start at the furthest temple and make our way back. Of course he was quite willing to take us there. We politely declined.

We crossed the street and went into the closest temple.

I should add a note here regarding the lack of pictures you are all probably wondering about. The reason I have very little pics up is because I have taken a lot of then with our regular digital camera. We also left the USB cable for said camera back in Korea….along with the battery charger….DOH! Pics will be up after we get back.

The temple was beautiful. We got some cool shots of the giant reclining Buddha statue and other amazing pics of the ornate designs. You’ll have to trust me on this for now :)

When we left we went out a gate where it seems that you have to pay to visit the site. The gaurd on the way out asked to see our tickets. We apologized and told him we didn’t know that we had to buy. He said no problems and asked where are we going next. I showed him the map of the other two temples and he said that the next one is closed for lunch till 3pm. He suggested we take a tuk tuk to some other places and make out way back as it was about 1pm now. There was a tuk tuk right by us, of course, that could take us around and we could rent home for 20 Baht, the equivalent of $0.67.  We said sure and off we went.

Now, I read about thee tuk tuks and generally they didn’t recommend them mainly because you are sucking in a lot of fumes from other cars, not to mention the tuk tuk itself when it stops and the wind is from behind. Luckily our tuk tuk was CNG powered. I was surprised at this but otherwise not bothered too much by the fumes.

Essentially this ‘side trip’s was an attempt to get us to spend money on jewelry at 2 different places. The ride around town itself was an experience to be had but not one I will probably repeat any time soon.

By the tome we got back to our original area e got told by one of the other locals that the Grand Palace was now closed. Go figure. Ah well, oh and now we were getting dangerously low on the amount of cash we brought. Luckily we had enough for the boat ride back to our area were we could grab some more money from the safe to get some supper.

After we just walked around the local area and I spoke with the people at the tattoo studio about my next tattoo. Then off to bed to get up at 6am the next day.

View the whole album, with a lot more pics, here.

Thailand Trip Part 5