Sawadee ka!
Februray is here: dreary and surprisingly cold. In fact, all of eastern Europe is in the grips of a terrible cold snap. By pure - and excellent - coincidence, that's the exact time I flew off to Thailand! Yay! The plan was to meet my friend Adelene, her aunt and uncle and a family friend. We'd spend a week together and then I'd return to Vienna while they went on to a 2-week tour of Thailand.
I took off Saturday evening on an overnight flight to Bangkok. Once there, I had to wait around 4 hours before my Canadian friends' flight would arrive. How would this go? Well, first off, I actually got a solid 4 hours of sleep on the plane, so I was not doing too bad upon arrival. Got through customs etc, and then I look around. First order of the day, food! I settled on a Japanese-style restaurant, and had a lovely lemonade complete with a fresh orchid garnish. In fact, the whole airport was covered in orchids.
After about an hour of sitting around reading, I ventured out again. Score! I found a nice massage parlour. I got a foot massage and shoulder massage for a full hour, for almost no money. Now this is the way to waste time! Then I moseyed to the gate to wait for my friends, while munching on some mysterious fruit I picked up. Turns out it's surprisingly easy to meet up with people at an airport.
We all piled in to a taxi and drove to the coastal city of Pattaya. Upon arrival, we were met by Vichay, Adelene's Thai uncle. He helped us check in and then took us on a quick night time drive around Pattaya. We also went for dinner at a little place around the corner. It was quite good, and we returned there for dinner the next evening.
Monday morning we were off in full tourist mode. We first went to the Sanctuary of Truth. It's an all-wood temple filled with sculptures based on traditional Buddhist and Hindu motifs.
We toured the sancturay, and also were treated to a little show of traditional dancing. I was pulled into a demonstration of sword fighting, and I must say I held my own. Didn't injure anyone or myself, anyways. Adelene was the target of attention of a strange goat-like animal during one of the dances. I think it weirded her out a little, kind of funny, actually.
We went back to central Pattaya for a late lunch, and ended up in Central mall to escape the heat. We had a nice lunch and wandered the mall a bit. In the evening, we went to Tiffany's to see a supposedly famous transvestite show. It was not bad, but not so good either: no live music, all lip-synching to various degrees of success. Most of the dance choreography was quite simple, and the dancers were not really into it. Oh well, it was an experience. After the show, we went back out with the vague goal of walking back to the hotel. We wandered around, looking at roadside stalls, and ended up in a square where there was food, music, and a boxing ring with ongoing fights. Nice atmosphere. Some of us had young coconut milk, others freshly pressed citrus juice. Yum!
On Tuesday, we took a private speedboat out to Coral Island. On the way, we stopped at a cluster of platforms organised for parasailing. Ady and I wanted to parasail, and asked to be dipped - which is having the boat driver slow down so that we fall down until our feet drag in the water before we fly back up again. Worked great for Adelene. As for me, well... Not sure if it was intentional or a mistake, but I got double-dipped. First dip was fine, dropped about knee-deep into the water. Back up I went, but then suddenly I was going down again. Unfortunately, this time I went down faster and ended up completely under water. When the boat accelerated I was pulled under water for about 5-10 seconds before emerging. Felt like a fish on a hook. Not cool! I was not prepared to go under, and wasn't holding my breath or blocking my nose. On the upside, the semi-drowning did clean out my sinuses!
We went on to a beach on Coral island. Had a nice few hours of lounging around, browing the stalls of touristy stuff, and ate excellent seafood. A nice blue crab smiled at me, so I ate him!
When we had our fill of sand and sun, we returned to Pattaya. A bit of a troubling return, as the outboard motor kept sputtering. We twice had to stop so the driver could tinker with it before we were able to go on. We dropped off our beach gear at the hotel, and went off to the Gems Gallery, "the world's biggest jewelery store". We got an informative tour of the displays of gems from around the world, and then ended up on a huge sales floor. The rubies and sapphires were gorgeous, but quite pricy of course. Nonetheless, most of the girls ended up buying something.
In the evening, we went to the Pattaya Walking Street, a combination of restaurants, bars and red light district.
On Wednesday, the group split up. The older guys went to the botanical garden, which I hear was really beautiful. Adelene and I opted to do the Flight of the Gibbon, ziplining through the forest. We drove up into the mountains, and stopped in a kind of zoo where we had fun feeding the giraffes. We went on to zipline for about 2 hours in a lovely but incredibly hot and humid forest.
Then we had some lunch and returned to Pattaya. Fairly exhausted by then, we did a bit more shopping in a nice air-conditioned mall before meeting up with the others. All together, we went for dinner and then to investigate the products in a large supermarket. I just love Lays chips, they produce region-specific flavours of chips around the world.
We went back to our rooms early, and had a movie night. I forget the name or plot of the movie we watched, but it was terrible, fortunately in a hilarious B-movie way.
Thursday was our last day in Pattaya, and we wanted to pack as much in as possible. We hired a taxi for the day, and off we went. First stop, the Elephant Village. We rode elephants, and bribed them all with mini bananas. We also saw a crocodile tamer, not a bad show but too long. Unfortunately, we didn't dare snek out early, as we were the only spectators and didn't want to be rude.
Next stop, the Tiger zoo. Saw tigers, and more elephants. Also got drenched in a sudden downpour, people running in all directions. We then drove on to see a giant Buddha carved into the side of a mountain. Impressive. Last, we went to a floating market. The atmosphere was nice, so much to see. Took many pictures and bought nothing.
For dinner, we went to this outdoor food court type place. Very crowded and visually busy, but fun. And the food was delicious and nicely plated.
On Friday, we left Pattaya and went back up to Bangkok. The first thing we went to see was Rama V's residence, Vimanmek. It's the largest golden teak mansion in the world. To tour it, we had to remove our shoes and cover our arms and legs. We then wanted to go back to the hotel, which turned out to be a problem. We first walked a bit, wanting to see a lovely temple down the road.
However, from there we were unable to find a free taxi. The roads were clogged, too. We crossed a big intersection a few times, once being almost run over by a large horde of motorbikes who thought the green light was more important thans silly people in the middle of the street. By the time we found a taxi, we were overheated and dazed from the pollution. Uncle Vichay met us at our hotel and took us for a nice dinner at a riverside restaurant. Plate after plate of food came out, we stuffed ourselves silly. He then drove us around town a bit, and through the wholesale flower market, which starts getting going late at night. Piles and piles of flowers everywhere!
On Saturday, we first went to the briefing for the tour that the others were going on. It's no fun to hear about the great places the others will get to see but you won't. :-(
Since transportation within the city is atrocious, we joined the bus tour of the city organised by the tour group, and Ady and I left the group once we reached Wat Pho. This temple was gorgeous, and we spent a couple of hours playing with our cameras to get some nice shots.
We then went to see some shopping malls. The first one, Platinum, supposedly has knockoffs of everything. However, we found it claustrophobic and overcrowded. We lasted less than 15 minutes. We then tried Central World - much better. Considered Apple products, then decided the price was not good enough.
While the others went on a dinner show with the tour group, Adelene and I met up with Uncle Vijay for dinner. He took us to a fancy restaurant with delicious food. We then walked to an area that combines red light district and market. On your right, stalls of goods. On your left, tittie bars. Odd combination, and not as salacious as imagined.
On Sunday, we all went to the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew temple. It is a beautiful and impressive complex.
Overall, I have to say Bangkok was not my favourite. The temples and sights are absolutely gorgeous. However, transportation within the city is horrendous, bumper to bumper at all times, no public transit to the main sites of interest, crowded and SO polluted. I am definitely not a big city girl. Conclusion: was nice to visit, never want to go to Bangkok again.
And then it was over, and I was at the airport to fly home. I gave myself a treat and upgraded to business for the return flight. What a great decision, I love business!
Thailand is a fantastic place. The people are so friendly and laid back, the architecture and nature are amazing, and the food is great! I have to go there again!
For more pictures, click on this link:
Also see the next post for fun, pretty and odd pictures of my trip.
Cheers!
