Thailand (2 photo links below)
It was a 6 hour flight from snowy Osaka to tropical heat, chairs, utensils, swinging doors, smiles and typical Bangkok scams. On our first day we caught the bus into Bangkok to go to the Grand Palace, and a tour guy told us it was closed from noon until 3pm. He offered to take us around to some interesting places for 50 baht. We went to a silk store, a handmade rug store, the government jewellery store, etc. He got a commission, or maybe gas. It would have been fine except that the palace closed at 3:30, and we got there at 4pm. Oh well. It was still a good afternoon.
Joseph and Thavorn (from the walking club, living in Thailand) picked us up the next morning, and drove us to their place in Rayong. Beautiful house! They brought us everywhere – to some great beaches where we spent the day, picnicking and having Thai massages; to some stunning beach condos; to their rubber plantation, and to the infinity pool at Bali Residences, which has a long ramp into the water and also a set of stairs. We also ate several meals out with them, and had no problem with spicy food – it was always optional.
On the 19th they drove us to Koh Chang, and dropped us at the Alina Hotel. Sean and Leah had just arrived. It was Sean’s birthday, so the timing was perfect. We checked in, went to the beach, had supper, did gifts, had a wonderful time. White Sand Beach has a whole series of restaurants right on the beach, some with table cloths, all with great sunsets. There are also dozens of small stores and gift kiosks lining the main road, and lots of tourists, mostly from Scandinavian countries.
Lonely Beach the next day was also interesting but had garbage, sharp shells and stones in the water. Leah and Sean went to Danny’s Tattoo place there and checked out designs. Travelling is done by taxi-type trucks that can fit about 8 on facing seats in the back and can be waved down whenever needed. On Monday we went to the hotel pool and spent the day there, plus eating and shopping and playing cards. It’s very hot, around thirty degrees, never cools down, so the water is the best place to be.
Tuesday we went to one of the many elephant places; rides are available but we just fed them bananas and sugar cane and took photos. Then we went farther south, to Bang Bao, with its very long shopping dock, to check out the tour boats. They do 4 islands for $15 including lunch and snorkelling, but they weren’t terribly accessible for Jim & left early in the morning, so we dropped that idea. We went to Cliffside Cottages where Sean had proposed to Leah a year ago. Neither Sean nor Jim were feeling well that day & must have picked up a bug. (Photos of Koh Chang – family, sunsets, elephants)
Sean’s passed quickly but Jim’s lasted so he just ate rice soup (a popular option in any case) for a while. Sean and Leah got tattoos done at Danny’s Place in Lonely Beach. We did some great walks on White Sand Beach, which is clean, warm and perfect and goes on forever. Like the other beaches we’ve seen here, it’s shallow enough to walk past where the waves break and paddle around, but this one has almost no garbage in the water or on the beach. Alina’s is at the far south end where it starts to get rocky, so we’d often cut through Kacha’s or Bampu and walk from there. The north end, at Rock Sands hotel, is very funky and merited photos. In the middle are the larger places like Cookie’s, some with spas etc.
Wednesday was a lazy day with torrential rain for a couple of hours (we watched a movie and the kids went to Lonely Beach to get tattoos done). We all went to the pool afterwards; when the rain stops¸ it stops. The sun comes out and blazes away every last trace. We played cards and skyped Jamie, the eve of his birthday.
Thursday was another lazy day without the rain. We both had thai massages, I walked with Leah at the edge of the water (burning both feet), Jim and Sean hung out at Thor’s, and we swam in the ocean. It was the 24th so we skyped Jamie again after supper from our hotel room, all of us sitting on the bed and giggling. Jim started some antibiotics in the morning, to get rid of whatever bacteria was bugging him, but didn’t feel too bad, just a low fever and lack of appetite. At Thor’s, Mao has been feeding him rice soup for the runs and being generally very solicitous.
Friday was our last day. We tried out breakfast at the restaurant at the part of Alina’s on the other side of the street, near the pool. Good, but the orange juice everywhere looks and tastes like koolaid and the breakfast coffee is instant. Jim and I swam in the ocean and Leah and Sean waded a bit, taking care not to wet the new tattoos. We avoided the rocky part in front of Alina’s and came up at Grand View Resort. Had supper at the India Hut, packed up and went to bed early after a game of cards at Thor’s.
The shuttle was there at 7am, the ferry left at 8am and we arrived at the Trat airport, the coolest airport any of us had ever seen, before 9am. There are no walls, traditional grass roofs, troops of topiary elephants and every sort of fragrant flower. The colourful Bangkok Air propeller plane took off at 10am and landed in Bangkok about 45 minutes later, avoiding all day on the road. We took the Great Residence shuttle to the hotel, unloaded and recuperated stored baggage. Jim stayed to shower and rest and the rest of us headed into Bangkok on the City Express train from the airport. (Photos of Bangkok, Trat airport & Rayong)
We went first to Khao San Rd., crowded with tourist stores and tourists, with a few motorcycles trying to thread through the pedestrians. Lunch there cost about 35 baht each and was freshly cooked and good Thai food. If you continue towards the river you can cut through some beautiful grounds, a college I think, and jog a little to the left to connect with Phra Athit pier, where there’s far more interesting shopping in a small alleyway. We caught a long boat there to the Grand Palace, again closed because it was after 3:30pm. That was okay though, because Wat Po was still open and it was magnificent! The gold on the many buildings had been recently restored to its original brilliance so the whole place glinted with colours and forms too diverse to take in.
We all had supper with Nikolas and Victoria Trebesh, Bahá’í friends, at the hotel. They’re international travellers now teaching in Bangkok, with a condo on Humbolt St in Victoria! Leah and Sean left right afterwards for the airport and we left very early the next morning, after another minor scam at the airport. (I asked for a tea, so the guy brought some water with it, and charged me 95 baht for the tea and 55 for the water. About $5.) Good lesson in buyer beware. We also got great treatment, though. JAL changed our seats to bulkhead and then upgraded us to wider seats that recline, all because Jim asked for a tylenol!
We left 8:30am Sunday and will arrive in Vancouver at 9:30 am Sunday after about 16 hours travel time.