Day Fourteen.

Songkran! The Songkran festival is celebrated in Thailand as the traditional New Year's Day from 13 to 15 April and guess what? We were here for it. Fittingly it is our last day in Thailand and what a way to go; a country wide water pistol fight!

The whole place was eerily quiet this morning and we took the chance to eat a late breakfast (Huge breakfast buffet here at the Siam City) and did some shopping at the MBK which is 5 stories of Thai goods and cheap knockoffs.

We ate lunch at a small Thai chain and then caught the light rail to Sala Daeng station. Songkran is celebrated country wide but in Bangkok, there are two main hotspots. The first is Kao San which is where the tourists go and is supposedly quite big. The second is at the Sala Daeng station and is supposedly more authentic and where the Thai prefer to go... so that's where we went.

Well! Thousands of Thai milling about shooting each other with ice water and selling water bottles for 5 bart (about 15 cents) and little compounds of white powder that you bought and mixed with water to make a kind of paste. The streets were lined with food vendors selling and cooking and the smells were fantastic.

We bought water pistols at a 7-11. They are everywhere.

We all had a ball, squirting old ladies, teenagers and youngsters alike. Everyone had their phones and wallets wrapped in plastic as a matter of course so it was open season. We were plastered with the white slop as people would randomly approach and apply it to your cheeks or splatter a little on your clothing. The water was freezing but not too bad in the heat of the day.

The whole thing was done with such good humor. No a soul was angry. Strangers wished us happy new year and we returned the blessing. It was a great, great thing to do and such a fitting end.

Woot!

The crowd building. It got way more crowded than this.

From the walkway to the station.

Even up here you got splashed.

Now for a shop in one of the upmarket centers we breezed through yesterday before an early rise at 4:00am for a flight home.

Day Thirteen.

Today we journeyed to Damnern Sandauk, a floating market outside of Bangkok.

The tour also included a visit to a working coconut plantation where we saw how coconut was boiled and turned into different products but our attention was drawn to the many cute dogs peeking out from under tables as well as a massive python they had just cruising about. The dogs kept their distance. There were also many caged animals, several of them in broad sunlight with no shade. A squirrel, monkeys, bids of many varieties and fish in tanks. Again, we would have liked to open the cages and let them free but alas.

Errrw!

Soon onto the floating market via a boat ride through the canals of the area. The long tail boats with their propeller shafts extending  way beyond the rear of the boat, gained some speed as we cruised toward the market. The canals had houses and plantations built right up against them as seemed more like Venetian waterways than simple watercourses. Every house had a boat hoisted beside.

I guess if you imagine floating markets you might picture fruits and foods prepared and colorfully displayed and there was a good deal of that, but to make ends meet the locals have turned to trinkets and knockoffs so the whole experience was marred by people hassling to buy shirts and tiger balm and souvenirs. That said, the market still retained enough of it's picture postcard charm to keep us wandering through.

After the market we drove the hour and a half home, swam in the Siam City pool and then prepared for a night out cruising the Chao Phraya river, Bangkok's primary waterway. 

The boat was called the Grand Pearl and was one of several dinner cruise boats on the river. Before the main cruise we sat in a rather nice riverside restaurant as guests arrived. A girl in traditional Thai costume gave us an orchid corsage and a Thai Elvis serenaded us which was great entertainment.

A drink in a nice riverside restaurant before the cruise.

One of the many riverside temples under-lit and beautifully presented.

The food was okay and all served in one hit as the cruise started. A lot of guests (read: rude tourists) launched at the food like pigs at a trough. The desserts were the first to go with people piling the chocolate cake as though they were building their own mini pagodas, then the suhi and then the mains. The food was mostly seafood which left me with only a few choices but it was still tasty. I just wish they had metered the food out in courses over the cruise and told us what was sailing by rather than just have us guessing. As it was, the food ran dry fairly quickly, a girl came around with our flashed out family mugshot and the rest of the cruise was sitting and looking out the window while the singer on the top deck tried to encourage everyone to Che-Cha. It was a little like the Swagman.

One highlight was a traditional Thai dance performed by a Traditionally dressed girl and a guy dressed as a Thai costumed monkey. The girl's dance was elegant. She bent her fingers right back into a curl and popped her elbows beyond horizontal (which we immediately tried around the table and failed to accomplish). The monkey was great and he shook Brad's hand before running away.

And, in another classic Thai tradition, they had Mr. Bean playing on a plasma at the food counter for the whole trip (Odd). We had to keep prying Brad from it to look outside.

The cruise finished and we took a slightly (very) annoying drive hoe with some little kid and his rude parents BLARK! BLARK! BLARK!-ing all the way home. There are some people have little respect for others and I think we pretty much met all of them. (this naturally excludes the Thai who have been so hospitable and friendly).


~~~

Tomorrow is Thai New years... Songkran. We are very lucky to be here for this festival on our last day as the whole country basically has a water pistol fight. We have bought super soakers from the 7-ll and are planning to avoid the tourist part of the festival and hit the spot where the locals celebrate.

Night!

Day Twelve.

The boys will drink anything not available in the stores here.. even if it's got odd bits of jelly floating about in it.

The trip from Phuket to Bangkok. A one hour flight.

Bye bye Phuket!

We have arrived in Bangkok in the rain at the Siam City Hotel and it wasn't long before we hit the streets. We caught the skytrain which is modern and efficient, two stops down to a shopping district that has on one side, a high end multiplex that makes Chadstone look tiny and on the other side, five or more floors of cheap knock offs.

Fashionista.

We met all sorts of celebs. Hey Jim Who's that you're with?

On the streets of Bangkok.

While Bangkok has slums of corrugated iron and cement sheeting, it feels quite Japanese with plenty of cute shops with great designed logos and wares as well as friendly, polite Thai folk. No graffiti anywhere and for the most part its clean and inviting. We have been here only one afternoon but feel right at home.

Tomorrow will be a floating market kicking off at 6:30am and a dinner cruise.

~Glenn 

Day Eleven.

Goodbye Phuket.

Our last day in Phuket was intentionally relaxed.
Late breakfast before a TukTuk ride into Patong beach for some shopping.

Sharon and us boys separated and we hit the technology section of the local shopping center resisting the urge shoot off some live ammo in the firing range. We did a 4D ride and basically saw a lot of techno junk that was of no use to us.

Sharon had found a few things and met a Loris which we back tracked to find but it had gone, its owner preferring not to display the little guy in the heat of the day. What a shame for us.

Ash was feeling a little unwell (sleepy) and spent the best part of the afternoon asleep in bed. I caught up with some blogging and then we all swam.

After a quick shower and freshen up, we walked back to that nice restaurant off the beach and had our last dinner here as the now-to-be-expected thunderclouds and distant lightning strikes rolled in.

The small from this little wagon was heavenly.

Now packing to leave before sleep.

Glenn

Day Ten.

There's no such thing as too much elephant.

Today we were bound for the mountains outside of Phang Na for a day of river rafting.

The journey began at 8:00am and took almost 2 hours to complete, winding out of the city and out into the lush countryside. Rubber tree and pineapple plantations hugged the base of sheer tree topped monoliths, the land locked cousins of the same cliffs we canoed around the day before yesterday.

Sharon was keen for the day to be over as she felt that broken bones or acquired brain injury might dampen the spirit of the holiday. Nevertheless, we drove upward through ever narrowing streets toward adventure base-camp.

Our guide was a really warm guy named Tick (Tik? Tick? Tich? Tique?) who was full of great information about elephants, rubber plantations and Thailand in general. He was pretty funny.

Before we arrived, our van drew up alongside a mountain bridge and we piled outside. A stream flowed about the rocks underneath and as we walked down the red earth incline to the river bed we were overtaken by two baby elephants who walked into the stream and began to play. They were great; holding each other under until their trunks broke the surface for air and using their legs to pin the other down. We were enchanted.

Beside the bridge.

Young Elephants playing

An older elephant walked the banks toward us and we patted its head and trunk and you could tell it enjoyed it as much as we did.

Tick showed us some delicate fern fronds near the ground which, when stroked, closed to protect themselves. He picked another variety of fern, placed it on Sharon's arm and slapped it gently. When he removed the frond, it had left an image of itself on her arm in a white powder. “Tattoo!” He exclaimed. We all had a go.

Onto base camp where we kitted up in life jackets and helmets for the rapids. I found a helmet that would allow me to wear my waterproof GoPro which made me happy.

Sharon was chosen to help the instructors demonstrate the safety requirements of the journey and before long we were pushing our inflatable blue raft into the fast flowing waters. After sitting in the humidity with all that padding on,  the chilled water was welcome relief. The river guaranteed good rafting action as it was fed by water released each day from a dam upstream.

We were off! Great fun. Hoots and hollers and splashes as 50 or so rafts, each with 4 or 5 occupants twisted and slid and plunged down river. We lost our oarsman who re-joined us later further downstream and we marveled at the jungle as it rushed by. Chris and Ash did the paddling while Sharon Brad and I hung on as boulders swung past. It was a fairly low grade ride with no great prospect of injury and we all really enjoyed ourselves, even Sharon who had changed her mind on the trip.


Back to base camp for lunch. Chicken curry with steamed rice, seafood tom yum soup and tempura vegetables, finished naturally with fresh pineapple, watermelon and coffee.

Beautiful gardens are everywhere.

Tick took us a short distance to a rubber plantation where we saw the sap being collected and how it was processed into rubber sheets for sale. Chris helped the two guys there crank the machine to squeeze the water and acid mixture from the rubber, leaving it in thin white sheets.

Chris cranking the handle of the rubber press.

Next was a short drive further up the mountain, past the river dams to the Tonpariwat waterfall. The water was freezing and it took time to slowly ease ourselves in. People were diving in to the pool from the rocks above which looked fairly unsafe though Brad and Ash both wanted to try it.  Ashley, Sharon and I fought against the current and moss slicked rocks and plunged our heads into the heavily falling torrent of the waterfall and emerged feeling refreshed and quite energised.

An iguana on the way to the waterfalls.

We thought that was it for the day but Tick told us that next was the baby elephant show (yay!).

We drove down to the show via base camp where we collected our things and saw a show performed by two young elephants. Whilst we feel that these things tread a blurry line between play and servitude, the elephants seemed to be enjoying themselves the way dogs do when they are working with a trainer.

They stood on two legs, one played a harmonica while the other span hula-hoops on its trunk. But by far the highlight came at the end where we each took turns at lying on the ground while the elephants gave us a massage. One pressed on our backs with his foot while the other thumped us with its trunk. Sharon and Chris got more than they bargained for and I won't go into detail but the those elephant trunks are quite nimble. :) No one laughed harder than Bradley.

Sharon getting 'the treatment'.

To finish, one of the pair gave each audience member a kiss, placing its soft trunk on our cheeks, sucking in and releasing with a gentle pop. So gentle and wonderful.

Hoops and harmonica.

Here is a video showing the whole day..




Finally home again, two hours back tracking, stopping at a 7-11 where drinks for everyone and custard cakes cost the princely sum of $3.00. Tick explained why the Thai love their royals so much and it all fell into line with our understanding of this wonderful people. We will be sad to leave. (If only there weren't so many objectionable tourists here :))

Dinner on the terrace watching the nightly fireworks and a cruise ship depart. Sneaky cat, a cute local keeps his eyes on us, appearing stealthily from behind pot plants and keeping the boys amused.

The phones and internet have been out for 3 days here and we had a power outage for a few hours tonight which meant I lost a bunch of what I was uploading. On to our last day...

~Glenn

Day Nine.

Another break in the traffic.

We had a quieter type of day after yesterdays canoeing. We rose later than usual, had a great breakfast on the terrace before splitting up for a while. Sharon took the shuttle into the main drag to look at clothes and the boys played pool and watched a movie in the room (no in-room TV, just hire from the front desk).

Crazy wiring that is everywhere here.

I decided to have a Thai massage in a little place just to the right of where we are staying. In the resort, 90minutes for massage is 1,500 but at this little spot, a mere 250 for an hour. And it was great; a real treat.

I returned and when Sharon came home, she and the boys went down and had a massage of their own. Brad kept giggling which the women thought was funny. All four of them enjoyed the experience.

We swam in the afternoon and are about to go out for dinner on the town. Tomorrow, white water rafting.

The boys. Our guide in Chaing Mai did this with her fingers when she showed how and elephant sniffs.

Sunset from the room. Pictures don't do it justice.

Dinner by the shore close to our hotel.

~Glenn

Day Eight.

James Bond Phang Nga & Canoe

After a day of rest, it was time for a day of adventure. Once again we rose early and caught a shuttle bus to the Royal Phuket Marina. There is a guy who we found out was a local politician thanking Thailand for his recent win, has his insincere smile plastered all over signs on the trip. Brad and I think they are really funny and he counted nearly 80 of them on the journey.

Thai harry Potter is everywhere!

After check in and the obligatory photo which would be gaudily framed for us on return that evening, we were introduced to our Thai guide and ushered onto a speedboat.

Our first stop was a canoe trip around Hong Island in Phang Na Bay, 45 minutes by speedboat. The towering limestone cliffs jutted out of the sea in impressive shapes that kept us pointing and snapping photos until we reached the small cove where red and blue inflatable canoes were moored, each with and experienced guide at the helm (if canoes actually have a helm).

Chris and I took a canoe and Sharon, Ash and Brad took another. We punted around Hong Island navigating beneath odd shaped stalactites  that clung to the undercut of the sheer cliffs. Sea eagles flew overhead and lush green palms and trees grew sometimes horizontally from the limestone walls.

We entered a fairly large cave which led to a lagoon inside the mountain, like the basin of an extinct volcano except that the system is not volcanic, but rather pushed up from the sea by earthquakes.

As we were first to leave, we arrived back at the boat before the rest of the group. Our guide recommend we have a dip. No piranha, no shark, only Nemo! We dove in and splashed about in the warm green water. It was great until I brushed past a bunch of what felt like floating noodles and ZAP! My arm was stung by a jellyfish. We all got the hell out :) I will add a photo of my arm. The guide put vinegar on it but that didn't take much of the sting away. I can still feel it today, almost 20 hours later. I have a tattoo from Thailand courtesy of a jellyfish.

Jelly fish sting. Yikes!

Then we jetted across the calm ocean to our next stop, Pan Yee, a floating Gypsy village moored around one massive jutting piece of rock. We alighted on the floating soccer pitch and walked through the village marveling at the simple way these people live. Cool photo op.

As seen from the air ( actually as seen on a postcard)

View as we arrived.

It was easy to forget that the whole place was out on the open water.

Narrow stalls of local wares for sale.

Naturally there were stalls of handmade goods and the opportunity to hold a gibbon which we couldn't pass up for 100 THB ($3.00). So cute.

We ate a lunch of Thai curry chicken, beef and seafood with the ocean visible between the floorboards before shopping a little. Ice-creams all round. It was about as hot as we had felt here.

Lunch at the floating Gypsy Village

Next was James bond island, where they shot “The man with the golden gun.” The photos won't do it justice. It is probably most famous for the single pillar rising from the sea just off the small beach. We stood and marvelled at it for ages. Behind was a single slab of rock that had slid and leaned on another as though cut with a massive knife and leaned over. Really amazing. I don't know why people bang on about the 12 apostles. This place puts what we have in the shade.

The iconic rock formation in the small bay.

Mandatory photo of the triplets.

A narrow path down to the secluded bay. that rock above is just to the left of this picture.

We then moved onto another site for more canoeing. This time we paddled through a cave so shallow and long that the guide wore a head lamp and we had to lean flat on our backs or risk a head injury. On the other side of the cave was a stand of mangrove in a lagoon completely cut off from the outside world. Chris and I were one of the first through and it was amazing to see it appear when our eyes adjusted to the brightness. I have some good video of it which I will try to post.

And here it is at last... Internet is quite sporadic here. :)

At a mangrove inside the secluded lagoon.

Lastly we spent time on a beach 10 minutes from the marina where we swam, ate more ice-cream and watched a boy peddle for money with a tiny monkey that the threw about a bit to much by a choker chain. Sharon and I disapproved naturally.

Back to the marina and home to an early dinner. The sun and spectacle (and stinging arm) took it out of me and I nearly fell asleep at the table despite the delicious food and spectacular view. I almost didn't make it up the 100 odd steps to our room and was fast asleep by 8:30.