Thailand Adventure

Sawatdeekaa, everyone!  That's Alice and Irysh across the table from Su and me having lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKG).  Our destination?  Well, the title and previous posts probably gave it away but the following 200-odd pictures--so many, I know--are from beautiful sunny Thailand.  Our flight was scheduled to leave at 3:00pm so we enjoyed a nice lunch after checking our luggage.  Delicious sweet and sour fish, and broccoli.

Later that evening we arrived in Thailand's only international airport:  Suvarnabhumi Airport.  If you think that's a mouthful, don't ever try to learn Thai.  It'll blow your mind.  It felt good leaving the plane after sitting for 2.5 hours, and the warm weather was a big change from Hong Kong's November chilliness.  Since Thailand is right at the equator, it's rather hot all year-round.  The weather forecast for the duration of our trip was hot and rainy, as it was when we arrived.  Still, we had some hope!

On our way to baggage claim, we saw this lovely mural and had to take some pictures:

There, proof that I went to Thailand!

Alice and Irysh posing with the traditional Thai greeting:

Even though we arrived in Bangkok, our real first destination was Pattaya, the old capital of Thailand.  We hired a taxi through a travel agency that would drive us the 2 hours from the airport in Bangkok to our hotel in Pattaya, and then would take us back to Bangkok from Pattaya in a few days.  They did promise us an English-speaking driver, but language-fluency is apparently a very relative thing.  Our driver knew about 2-3 words in English, but he was able to find our hotel through the map and address that Alice had printed out.  I think we confused him a little because throughout the 2 hour ride we were speaking in Putonghua.

Anyway, we arrived at the Nova Platinum Hotel in Pattaya in just under 2 hours.  This was on the side of the hotel.  It seems pizza is truly universal.  I just hope there's no tuna and/or mayonnaise involved here.

The street outside our hotel, which Irysh said reminded her of Manila (she should know since she's from the Philippines):

Once we got settled into our hotel rooms, we began our quest for renyao or, in English, lady-boys.  The Thai word is kathoey.  This one's VERY complicated so I'll refer you to (of course) Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_boy.

We asked the staff at the front desk of our hotel where we could find a more "family-friendly" lady-boy show, which believe-it-or-not DO exist, and they told us to just stroll down Walking Street.  That way we would inevitably find one.  Well, Walking Street is the Pattaya equivalent to Lan Kwai Fong so most of what we saw advertised were go-go bars and strip clubs:

The good news is that the Tourist Police were out in full force.  I asked one of them (from his accent, I'd say he's from the UK) about where to find Tiffany's Show since we had seen online that this one was recommended for people who wanted a good cabaret show but with no stripping involved.  He told us to catch a ride on one of Pattaya's special "taxis" and ask for Tiffany's Show.  As you can see, the "taxi" is basically a truck with a roof over the bed of it.  We paid about 25 baht a piece, and 30 baht equals approximately US$1.  Not a bad deal.

Su and me on the "taxi:"

And then Irysh and Alice:

Here's our luxurious ride:

In no time at all, we arrived at Tiffany's Show but, unfortunately, it was already past 10:00pm and the last show began at 9:00pm.  We did, however, arrive just as the final show was letting out, so we got to see the lady-boys:

If you can't guess, they're the ones in the cabaret costumes.  You had to pay 50 baht to take a picture with them so I just took pictures of them instead:

There was a night market just across the street so we decided to wander around (naturally, no one was tired).  Irysh and Alice again:

Our first time trying Thai street food.  It was most definitely NOT the last time:

Su's fishballs and my pineapple pork grilling:

Thai street food is delicious, by the way.  There are 2-3 carts on every corner and usually just as many in-between.  It's everywhere.  I think I tried the pineapple pork, cumin chicken, grilled glutinous rice, pineapple, and papaya.  I already miss having freshly-cut fruit for sale every few yards...especially the papaya.

Moving on, we took the Pattaya-taxi back to Walking Street so we could go back to our hotel.  On the way, we stopped to watch a break-dancing competition:

And laugh at the slightly-morbid seafood signs:

Typical Walking Street:

We came back to the hotel around midnight, went to bed sometime between 1:00am and 2:00am, and slept until 6:30am.  Waking up that early after being out that late was no easy task, but the nature of our morning activities was more than enough motivation for us to get up and go.  Our first stop:  Elephant Village!

We met the most awesome taxi-driver ever outside of our hotel that morning.  His English was quite good, and he told us his name was Sanhdee (although the spelling is just a guess).  We talked for a bit and he agreed to drive us around all morning, waiting on us while we completed our activities, for just 600 baht split between the 4 of us.

First, he took us to the Elephant Village and, since the ride was a little long, he played some Thai music radio for us.  It was still just 8:30am when we got to the Elephant Village, and the rides weren't supposed to be available until 9:30am.  Still, since we were the only customers, they went ahead and took us.  I'm glad we got an early start, too, because it quickly became very hot outside.  It was 2 people per elephant, and one driver.  This was the elephant that Su and I shared:

Some of the elephants at their stalls:

This one is the only bull that I saw.  Notice how his tusks have been cut at the ends to make sure he can't gouge anyone:

The view from on top of the elephant:

With Alice and Irysh behind us:

They took us through some fields with palm trees:

And into some areas with a little more jungle:

This got my attention:

At least enough to do a double-take.  I don't know for sure what it is, but I know what it looks like:

Despite the forecast for rainy weather, we had still seen none of it.  Saturday was shaping up to be a beautiful sunny (and hot) day:

Our final destination:  the river.

I'm sure our elephant felt relieved when we finally got to the river.  She happily walked in and half-submerged herself.  While she was cooling off, I got a picture of our driver:

And of course those silly people on the elephant behind us:

Riding off into the not-quite sunset:

One of my favorite things about riding the elephant was simply the fact that our driver had a Hello Kitty bag slung over his shoulder.  Very manly.

On the way back, he climbed down from the elephant and offered to take some pictures of us:

Riding solo:

The elephants themselves were adorable.  They kept pulling up bushes and eating them.  Every time the trainers caught them, they made the same sorts of angry-noises I make when I see a cat on the kitchen counter.  Other than wanting some snacks, the elephants were extremely tame and followed the trainers around like puppies.

We saw some other "wildlife" too, but it was mainly chickens and horses:

Coconuts (you might have to look hard):

And back to the village:

We each got a souvenir picture and, thankfully, mine turned out really well.  It's in a cardboard frame at my desk right now, but I'm planning to take it home over Christmas.  Mom, Dad, y'all are going to get a kick out of it.

Since we still had a fair amount of time, Sanhdee recommended we go to Gems Gallery, which is a fairly new attraction in Pattaya.

We took this little tour about gem mining and how the stones are cut, and then we walked around for a bit in the largest jewelry store in the world.  The idea was cool, but we weren't terrible impressed.

Next on our list of thing-to-see was the Sanctuary of Truth: http://www.sanctuaryoftruth.com/index.php?id=7.  It's one of the most famous temples in Thailand, and is located right on the water at the Gulf of Thailand.  It's most distinctive feature is that it is made entirely out of wood--even down to the nails.

We were told that, to get there, we would have to ride the horse-carriage.  Due to my rather severe horse allergy, this prospect was thoroughly unappealing, but walking for an unknown distance in an unknown direction in increasingly hot and sunny weather was also not on my list of favorite activities.  I broke down and rode the carriage.

It turned out to be a half-minute trip along a straight path which, to me, kind of defeats the purpose of having a horse carriage, but at least I got minimal exposure to the horse.  Here's a statue of a Thai goddess outside of the entrance to the Sanctuary of Truth:

And the sanctuary itself.  This building is truly huge, by the way.  I took this picture from quite a long way away.  I think we still had a 5 minute walk from this point.

The entrance gate:

Guardian statues:

Here is a description of the philosophy behind the Sanctuary of Truth.  It's easy enough to click and enlarge if you want to read more about it:

There was actually some renovation going on while we were there so we had to wear hard-hats.  Irysh, Su, and Alice are trying to look like tough construction workers...and kind of failing (sorry guys):

Us trying feebly to spell CUHK:

Getting closer to the sanctuary.  I think this one's going to be the new desktop background on my computer:

The Gulf of Thailand (literally right on the water):

The entrance:

Su and me dwarfed by the sanctuary:

And a view of the construction work:

We had to go in the back way, which was through the Eastern Corridor, seen here:

Along the way, we passed many wooden statues of old Thai deities and supernatural figures.  Demons in particular are very prominent in Thai culture.

This is the back entrance:

And some of the elaborate wooden carvings around the outside of the building.  I especially like the elephants in the left-hand corner:

 

On the inside, we saw some of the construction work.  It seems that I have a talent for traveling to places when they're undergoing renovation.  Nevertheless, the Sanctuary of Truth was undeniably breathtaking.

Alice posing with the Gulf of Thailand in the background:

Also, in case you haven't noticed yet, elephants are a huge part of Thai culture and are often featured in their artwork.  They symbolize royal power, which somehow seems appropriate in this depiction where they make up the support for this pillar.

There was a lot of natural lighting on the inside, but also some well-placed spotlights to accentuate the more intricate pieces within the temple.

Below is a picture of the temple's only shrine.  Unlike shrines at many other locations, this one was small and very down-played, which is actually much more appropriate for traditional Buddhist values such as simplicity and modesty.

I do not know the name of this elephant-headed god as I don't know much about Thai mythology.  However, as I've mentioned before, the elephant in Thai culture is a representation of royal power.  In addition, Thai culture and mythology draws heavily from Hinduism--so much so that there is a separate Thai version of the revered Hindu epic, The Ramayana (a very good book if you have the time and the patience to finish it).  Part of the influence is due to Buddhism's origin in India, and part of it is due to other factors, namely, early trade between modern-day India and the Kingdom of Siam (a.k.a. Thailand, although I'm sure most people know that).  Since the representation here is of a man with the head of an elephant instead of just a regular elephant, it seems more likely to me that this statue is closely related to the Hindu god, Ganesh, god of wealth and prosperity.

If you feel so inclined, enlarge the picture below and you can read about the philosophy behind the construction of the Sanctuary of Truth.

Or you can read it in Thai:

After much oo-ing and ah-ing and walking around, our stomachs began to rumble so we came back to the taxi and asked Sanhdee for lunch recommendations.  He didn't understand very well that we were hoping for a local restaurant.  Instead, he kept asking "McDonald's?  KFC?"  Finally, we just said "Thai food" and he took us to a local shopping center with a little bit of everything...including McDonald's.  Check out Ronald McDonald, Thai-style:

Don't worry, though, because we didn't dine under the famous golden arches.  We found a Thai place at the shopping center and shared a few dishes--namely, shrimp pad thai and sizzling oyster hot-plate with spicy sauce.  I very carefully watched them prepare these dishes and I think I can replicate them at home.  I certainly hope so because Thai food is spicy and delicious!

As it turns out, we finished that day's activities extremely early (probably because we barely slept the night before!).  Somehow the dead-tiredness didn't fully kick-in until after we were full from lunch, but once it came, it stayed.  Since we had missed Tiffany's Show the night before, we had already purchased tickets for that night's show at 9:00pm and none of us knew if we would be able to stay awake that long.  Therefore, we just didn't try.  We caught a ride back to our hotel and slept for 2-3 hours, waking up in time to grab a bite for dinner.  This time, we really wanted something more local than Thai food from a shopping mall food court so we walked down some of the streets near our hotel and found one with lots of street vendors and motorcycles--usually a sign that good food is nearby.

And we were right.  This is the outdoor seafood restaurant we settled on:

Waiting for food:

Tired and hungry Alice and Irysh:

Everyone ordered one dish and we got 3 bowls of rice (none for me, thanks).  The first one to come was more pad thai:

Fried morning-glory:

And finally, spicy pepper beef and stir-fried seafood with vegetables (usually "seafood" in Asia means shrimp, squid, and scallops):

We rode the Pattaya-taxi back to Tiffany's Show and took our seats in the middle front-row of the balcony.  The show itself was a hilarious gender-bending cabaret with both Thai culture and American broadway classics thrown in.  We weren't allowed to take any pictures during the show, but afterward we followed the performers outside, where I took even more pictures (though I still wasn't willing to fork over 50 baht).

Pattaya was a lot of fun, but by Sunday morning, we were ready to get a move on to Bangkok.  We had arranged beforehand for the taxi-driver who took us from the airport to our hotel to come back and pick us up at 9:00am Sunday morning.  Surprisingly, he was exactly on time so we were able to hit the road quickly for the 2 hour journey to Thailand's capital city.  He took us directly to our hotel, which was actually a youth hostel called Rambhattri Inn.  Despite the varying quality of youth hostels, this is one I would highly recommend.  For less than US$40 a night, it's just like any other 3 star hotel you might stay in, except you must bring your own shampoo, toothpaste, etc.  We dropped our stuff off there and then went to find lunch.

Again, we ended up at a seafood restaurant.  Our dishes here are the fried vegetables, stir-fried shrimp and cashews in spicy paste, and red-curry seafood balls with coconut sauce (I shamelessly admit that I ate 3 of the seafood balls...so yummy):

Su looking a little tired from the drive:

After lunch, we tried walking to our first tourist destination, Wat Pho (a temple), because it looked extremely close on the map.  However, we are apparently all horrendous map-readers because we ended up at the Chinese Tiger Shrine instead, which was way further away.  While everyone pondered over our transportation dilemma, I snapped this photo of a tuk-tuk--funny little tourist vehicles unique to Thailand.

As it turns out, the tuk-tuk was way overpriced so we just hailed a cab and saved 50%.  The drive was just 5-10 minutes, and the driver dropped us off right outside the gate:

Here's a look around one of Bangkok's most famous temples:

Once I point this out, I'm sure you'll notice it everywhere (if you haven't already), but take a good look at the roofs on all these buildings.  That style is actually distinctly Thai and can't be found in many places outside of Thailand.  Thai people are very proud of the beauty of their architecture:

Bonsai tree (not so special):

Speaking of "special," this particular statue caught me off guard.  Is it just me, or does this Chinese statue look a little too...dapper?

Alice surrounded by a labyrinth of mini-pagodas:

Here's a closer look at one of the miniature pagodas.  Flowers are also highly prevalent in Thai artwork so, if you want to open a Thai restaurant, try decorating it with flowers and elephants:

So many Buddhas:

And so many courtyards!  It was very easy to get turned around at Wat Pho.

There was some construction going on, but it was probably just because I was there.

Somehow the fast-food cup on the alter here just struck me as odd:

Another thing Wat Pho had a lot of:  kitties!  This one was the first out of 5 that I saw during my short visit:

After all this looking around, we were all rather confused.  The main attractions here are the big Buddha statues and we hadn't seen so much as one measly little sign.  Still wary of our map-reading skills, we attempted once again to self-navigate:

Amazingly, it worked!  The building in the picture below houses one of the main Buddhas.  I think the bright beacon of light gave it away:

Since this particular building had a Buddhist service going on inside, tourists were expected to be especially reverent.  Thus, all the shoes had to come off:

Our first glance at the Buddha:

This is one of my favorite pictures from this trip.  It was so breath-taking to see the religious ceremony taking place, and the degree of devotion shown by the attending Buddhists.

In a way, some of the other Buddhas were less impressive:

The one we really wanted to see was Wat Pho's most famous:  the Reclining Buddha.  Following the map, we got turned around in more courtyards:

Saw even more pagodas:

And even more kitties!

Some water-lilies:

And, at last, the sign for the Reclining Buddha:

This statue is the largest Reclining Buddha statue in the world and, surprisingly, we were allowed to take pictures.  Since he was surrounded by pillars, it was impossible for me to take one shot, but here's the big guy in several pieces from top to bottom:

Having seen the main attraction at Wat Pho, we were satisfied enough to move onto our next destination--another temple, Wat Arun!  Since it was on the other side of the river, we had to take a ferry.  It cost only 3 baht per person and took 2 minutes to ride, but it was still fun enough to take some photos:

Wat Arun is the tall building in the background:

Irysh getting her things ready for the next temple visit:

Here are a couple of river scenes:

And the beautiful Wat Arun itself, open daily from 8:00am--5:00pm:

Or not.  As it turns out, there was a sign posted on the gate of the temple saying "Nov. 7, 2010:  8:00am--noon."  Disappointed, we wandered around the grounds trying to still get some good pictures and we noticed that some kind of official festivities going on:

These guys were out in full force, as well as tons of police officers and military men.  Finally, one of us just asked someone what was going on, and it turns out the Princess of Thailand was going to pay a visit!

Naturally, we wanted to watch so we asked when she was coming.  5:00pm was the response, and we still had a little over an hour, but all of us wanted to catch a glimpse of the princess.  Seriously, how often do you go to a country for 4 days and see the royalty?  We all took final pictures of Wat Arun and started looking for good seats:

Ideally, we wanted to be near this runway since that would be where the princess would make her entrance:

The military band was warming up:

And the crowds forming:

By the time the princess came, the place was packed but, miraculously, the 4 of us were able to find excellent places to sit that left us mere feet away from the runway.  There were some rules pertaining to meeting the princess, but they were rather trivial.  Firstly, we had to remove our sunglasses.  The dark color is bad luck when greeting royalty and it is much better if they can see your eyes.  We also had to sit so that no one could look down on the princess.  No photos were allowed, of course, and we were expected to sit with our feet pointing away from her, which is an act of respect also shown to statues of the Buddha.  With all the pomp and circumstance, the 4 of us had something a little different than what really happened in mind.  The princess very quietly came, the band didn't play a note, the people bowed and greeted her, she smiled, shook a few hands, and quickly entered the temple.  My impression:  Not what I expected from a royal public outing, and the princess was far from the Disney stereotype.  She was simply a nice-looking middle-aged woman with bright red lipstick and a big purple umbrella.  Still, I was actually kind of glad to see that the ceremony was modest and simple.

From Wat Arun, we took the ferry back across the river and caught another taxi to the Suanlum Night Market, which is (you guessed it) one of Thailand's most famous night markets.  These 2 photos are from our wanderings around.  We bought some stuff, passed others by.  I got a lovely royal-blue pashima scarf that's big enough to double as a shawl, and I bought some Thai snacks:  dried kiwis, strawberries, and mangos as well as some tangy dried guava slices.  Obviously, Thailand's most famous snacks are it's wide variety of tasty dried fruits and milk candies (in coconut, durian, and pandan flavors).  To me, the most interesting snack was the durian chips, but I was a wimp and didn't buy any.

At long last, we made it back to our hostel in the hope of getting a good night's sleep.  There was one big obstacle to that objective, however, and that was the fact that we had a triple room for 4 people.  During the booking, all the 4-person rooms were already filled and paying for 2 double rooms was more expensive than it should have been.  Therefore, we came up with the solution below.  Oh so clever, I know.

Well, not surprisingly, it was nobody's best night of sleep.  I found out later that I was the only one who wasn't bothered and who bothered no one.  I just stayed in one position all night and didn't kick anyone, for which I'm very thankful.  Alice spread out, though, and Su apparently slapped Irysh when she rolled over during the night.  Still, we woke up bright and early in search of breakfast.

Go figure that, out of the 2 restaurants near our hostel that offered breakfast, one served American breakfast, and the other British.  We wound up at the place with the British breakfast, although I don't really know the distinction.  Something just seems wrong about eating muesli from a fish 'n' chips restaurant in Bangkok.  I daresay it was the name that reeled us in:

Having finished my unexpectedly tasty muesli, we began walking to our final tourist destination:  the Grand Palace.  I've never seen so many Americans and Europeans in one place since I've been in Asia.

Throughout our trip, the weather had been very good--sunny and with no rain--staying at around 85 degrees Fahrenheit.  Our last day, while still bright and generally cloudless, was a sweltering 95 degrees Fahrenheit...and humid.  Here's a look around the outer grounds:

Approaching the interior gate:

And this is the first sight when you get inside.  I'm impressed.

Look carefully, and you can see itty-bitty us in the corner here:

The staff at the Grand Palace was actually considerate enough to offer English-speaking tours for free--well, free after you pay the 350 baht entrance fee.  Anyway, since we were already there, we signed up for the English-speaking tour:

This particular building was closed to tourists as it was the passageway to get to the Grand Palace's library, but it was beautiful enough that I wanted to take a picture in front of it:

These are actually monkeys and demons holding up the pagoda.  You can tell them apart because the demons don't wear shoes.  In the Thai version of The Ramayana, the White Monkey warrior was the strongest and most loyal soldier serving King Rama.  In fact, Hinduism and The Ramayana have such a strong influence in Thai culture that, regardless of his real name, the king of Thailand is always called "King Rama," after the main character of the famous epic.  The current king is King Rama IX.

Next, we stopped at the Grand Palace's religious center, the Emerald Buddha.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside:

This was as good a photo as I was able to legally obtain:

Our guide showed us around the palace walls, which also held depictions of The Ramayana.  All along the interior walls were murals from all the scenes of the famous holy book.  The original poems were written in Thai on close-by pillars.  Here, you can see the White Monkey warrior helping to defeat the demon armies by creating a whirlpool to sink their ships.

These were the living quarters for the royal family when the palace was built in the early 1800s.  The style is European because a French architect was hired for the design.  Up until the reign of the previous king, these were the primary home of the Thai royals, but now they are used only for vacation homes.  The building on the right is where the Thai princess (the oldest daughter of King Rama IX--he has 3 and 1 son) who we saw is living while visiting Bangkok.

Here's a better view through the gate:

The buildings aren't the only aspects of the Grand Palace with a little European influence.  The guards are just like their British counterparts in that they absolutely will not budge...until they change shift.

The main hall is the only building with a blend of Thai and European architecture.  Notice how the exterior walls, doors, and windows are rather Victorian, but the roof is distinctively Thai:

Last but not least is a building with an interesting purpose.  This place is called the "Funeral Hall."  Inside is a throne for the king and another smaller throne in a glass box.  The king may use this hall as a regular throne room, but when a member of the royal family dies, the body is placed on the throne in the glass box and a statue of Buddha is placed upon the throne to watch over it for however long.

You might have noticed it in previous photos of some of the Buddhas, but most Buddha statues in Thailand have a serious of umbrellas hanging over them.  The same goes for the king's throne.  According to our guide, there is a kind of hierarchy of umbrellas, which I will explain here.  In Thailand, odd numbers are considered more lucky so the umbrellas representing your status also increase in increments of 2 so that there is always an odd number.  There are 9 umbrellas for the king, 7 for the queen, 5 for the sons and daughters, and 3 for Buddhist monks.  Cool, huh?  I'm glad we took the tour.

Sadly, after the Grand Palace tour, it was time for us to go check out of our hostel.  We took the tuk-tuk back just to have the experience of riding one, and packed up our stuff.  We ate lunch at a nearby outdoor restaurant with plastic table-covers, fully-blowing fans, and chicken barbecuing in the front.  For dessert, we bought one more round of papaya from a street vendor, and then caught a taxi to the airport.  From there, as you can surmise, the trip had essentially ended and we were all so tired and worn-out from the fun that we nodded off some on the flight home to Hong Kong.

Thailand is an amazing and beautiful country, and the only thing I regret is that I wasn't able to see more of it.  Korpkoonkaa, Thailand!  I will be back.