Chiang Mai - Friday, Feb 10

 We began the day with the most wonderful breakfast buffet.We are so enjoying the luxury of this hotel.

Eight a.m. And we're back on the bus for our first temple complex of the day (in truth, this may be the only temple today.  Up a tortuous hill with many twists and turns to Pratart Boi Suthep, the most important shrine here.

On the way Tim explains how this shrine was sited to hold relics of Lord Buddha, a story this includes a white elephant.  And she explains about the spirit houses we see everywhere. Almost every structure in Thailand, from homes to hotels, have a spirit house with offerings to the spirits who inhabit that piece of land.

The shrine is at the very, very top, and the last distance includes a funicular.  Again, you have never seen so much gold and so many devout saying prayers, consulting with a monk and making merit.

Hooray, hooray we were able to opt out of shopping tours this afternoon and will catch up and rest in our most gorgeous suite before our Thai massage at 4 p.m.

Then this evening we have a Kantoke dinner and show including classical Thai dance.  Of course we will take more photos.  There is so much I want to remember.

Northern Thailand, Thurs, Feb 9

Another early start and travel by bus and small jitney trucks to visit two hill tribes - the Akho and the Mein. We drove up into the hills just like the locals over bumpy roads.


Learning about the hill tribes was absolutely fascinating. Please look at the Picasa photo stream for more pictures.

Then it was time to leave Chiang Rai and make our way by bus to Chiang Mai through lots of hills, national forests, jungles, and rice fields.

First stop was a temple in Chiang Rai in wedding cake style, all white and quite surreal, the efforts of a successful contemporary Thai artist.

After a good four hour ride we arrived at Le Meridien Chiang Mai, and we got a suite - what a gorgeous set of rooms. We have two giant screen TVs, 3 sinks, a shower and a tub, and a wonderful view from the 17th floor. One could get lost in our suite. Gorgeous!

Chiang Rai - Weds, Feb. 8

 Here we are in the north of Thailand, and first thing we're off to add some countries to our visit.  Tour guide Tim has connections and she can get those who want into Myanmar without a visa with just $40 under the table.  Of course you have to give up your passport for the hour of two.  Nancy and I decline.  She for political reasons; me because I don't mess with borders and passports.  (P.S. the Myanmar visitors have a great time, visit a traditional village, a temple and get home entact with their passports).

But there is always shopping, so while some of the group are off to Myanmar, the rest of us shop the border town, and take lots of pictures.

 

Then back on the bus to the Golden Triangle along the Mekong River where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet.  And look!  If you look way upstream there is China in the distance.

After lunch we take a Mekong River cruise across to Laos where we disembark for a few minutes of shopping - lots of Chinese knockoff designer handbags in a dusty, poor street market in the middle of nowhere.

The Golden Triangle is notorious as a home for the opium trade, so our next stop is at the Hall of Opium, a state sponsored museum which is really excellent.  The benevolent Thai monarchy has a "project" to educate not only the hill people but everyone else about the dangers of opium.
Now we are back on the bus for about an hour-and-half back to the Meridian Chiang Mai, and I'm hopeful that I'll make it to the pool this evening - maybe just me and the mosquitoes (not that I've seen any yet!)

Feb 7 Sukhothai Historical Park

Sukhothai (dawn of happiness) was the first Thai kingdom.  Established in 1238 by local chief Indraditya, the size of the city was increased tenfold under his son Rama the Brave (Ramkhamhaeng) who ruled from 1279-1209.

Rama the Brave was, in many ways, the true founder of Thailand and made lasting contributions to Thai culture, education and art.  Some of the most beautiful Thai art and architecture was produced during Sukhothai's golden era - between the 13th and 14th century.

More snacks

Then we boarded the bus for drive way north to Chiang Rai. Along the way we stopped to photograph workers transplanting rice.

 And here is a fun photo of a "Burmese" style reclining Buddha and our bus

And, of course, our hotel Le Meridien Chiang Rai is wonderful, although certainly not in the thick of the city.

Feb. 6 - On the way to to Sukkothai

 Monday, Feb 6
We spent a fair amount of time traveling north through the Thai countryside in the bus today, but there were some great stops along the way.
First at the Monument to Queen Suriyothai who is reputed to have saved her husband during  elephant battle by throwing herself in front on the enemy (probably those pesky Burmese).  Small plaster elephants and other animals have been left in prayer for wishes to be granted.

The whole trip was a snack tour as our leader seems to have a ferocious sweet tooth - fried bananas, sesame peanut brittle, coconut cream buns, and a stop to watch women along the roadside frying things in woks of oil.

Then a stop at the spectacular Temple of Mirrors (Wat Chantaram in Utaithani), just full of columns covered with small diamond shaped mirrors.  We've learned a lot about Buddhism with lots more to go.

We finally got to tonight's hotel, the very lovely Legendary Sukkothai, all one level of individual rooms "in the Thai village style" around a swimming pool.  Lovely, lovely landscaping with flowers and or hides and yet another ruined temple out back.

Feb 5 - Travel to Ayutthata

 Greetings from the Kantary Hotel Ayutthaya where they not only have gorgeous rooms but FREE wifi in public spaces.


Today we drove through more Thai traffic to Ayutthaya, a ruined city of an empire that ruled much of Southeast Asia for almost 400 years between 1350 and 1767.  Although most of the city of more than a million was destroyed, some of the religious buildings remain in atmospheric ruin.  Ayutthaya was the most prosperous capital of Thailand and was friendly toward foreign traders, including Europeans, permitting them to set up villages outside the walls of the capital. In the sixteenth century, it was described by foreign traders as one of the biggest and wealthiest cities in the East.

  On the way we stopped at Bang Pa In Royal Palace, which was a summer palace for Thai kings and shows European and Chinese architecture as well as Thai.

We were required to put on sarongs to enter the temple

Except for stomach trials (we may only eat Thai food in the US from now on), we are enjoying ourselves and hope all is well at home

Bangkok - Feb. 2, 3, 4

View from our hotel window

Bangkok is an incredible mess.  People all over, but they have all been considerate and nice. Shanties side by side with 5 star hotels (the stars seem to have something to do with the bathroom facilities).   Our hotel the Park Century is very nice and very modern and right next to a wat, a Buddhist temple compound.
 And the traffic is unbelievable, but we haven't seen an accident yet?
 Motorcyclists drive on the sidewalk at will.  And there must not be any lawyers here are the sidewalks are full of holes, so, yes Nardi, you do have to be very careful.  That hole is waiting for you!
 The hotel is lovely except no free Internet.  I bought an access card for what in Thailand is an outrageous amount and then didn't use it up as I didn't understand that it expired in 24 hrs.  So I don't know when I'll get this posted.  I'm told there are Internet cafes, but don't know when I'll have the time to locate one.

Our tour leader Tim (Pattraporn Sangkapat)

I wasn't feeling well yesterday so I slept while Nancy drove through Chinatown, the flower market, and toured watt Pho, the temple of the reclining Buddha.  We are very favorably impressed with the tour organizer, Gate 1.  Our escort, Tim (female), is a lot of fun and very informative.
Today I feel just fine and am ready to venture out into more Bangkok traffic to see the palace and some more Buddhas.  The Buddhist influence is very strong.  There is a functioning watt right next to the hotel, and shrines pop up everywhere, the hotel even has one.

On Feb. 4 we toured the Grand Palace.  The grounds are absolutely spectacular.  If you ask me right now I may be able to tell you a thing or two about all those Ramas, but it will be a long time before I get to post those photos, especially with the hotel Internet difficulties.







After the palace, Nancy and I went to the giant mall at Siam place which has a food court and food court that challenges any in the world, plus all the high end stores you would ever want not to shop in.  It was fantastic, and it has FREE WI-FI, but of course I didn't have my iPad.

Nancy enjoying noodles at the mall food court

It is quite hot and humid even if it is winter here, but after we shower we're going out to find a cafe where I can post this.

This this evening we have a dinner cruise up the river.
If you hear from us irregularly, please don't worry, it's just sometimes hard to find Internet.

On our way to Thailand

 The flights just after midnight so the day creeps by with lots of time to throw even more stuff into the suitcase.  Of course I need three sets of ear plugs!  We've booked a ride to JFK with Airbrook, the most recognizable company relying on their reputation to get us there. We arrange pick up at 7:45 pm, and just about that time the driver calls to say he's stuck in traffic.  On no!  But I remember that we were told to get to the airport 3 hours early so there's plenty of time.

He shows up within 15 minutes and we're off guided by his GPS which always makes me a bit nervous because that route is seldomly the one I would choose.  The driver appears Russian...aren't all limo drivers in NJ Russian?  No matter, we're off and, without incident, arrive at JFK in 45 minutes.   Good trip.  

Terminal 7 is teeming with Chinese high school student - were they checking out US colleges in this time of Chinese prosperity?  But we've checked in on line and get to go to the front of the line and are through security in no time.  Terminal 7 only has about 12 gates and the usual array of high end luxury goods shops, some celebrity restaurants, and a Macdonalds.  We have an expensive drink and close the bar - almost everything closes, but finally it's time to board.

Cathay Pacific staff announce that the flight time will be shorter tonight - 15 rather than 16 hours to Hong Kong....the winds are right.  We're in the tail of the plane, which is huge, so we get to board right after a hundred families with babies and small children.  We settle ourselves and people keep coming with much jostling, crying babies, and cramming luggage into the overhead compartment.  The pilot announces we are ready to leave.  Hundreds of people are still in the ailes.  It's like a Chinese restaurant at rush hour, but finally people sit, and we're off.

And yes, we get dinner after midnight.  Three choices and I pick the sweet and sour chicken which is exactly like American sweet and sour chicken!  Well, I could have picked beef bourgeon which was just like American airline food.   And best of all there were Haagen Daz ice cream bars for dessert.

next we try to sleep and I manage that for about 5 hours until my knee starts to complain so I walk around a bit.  I'm listening to classical music on the airline entertainment system with my noise canceling headphones and it's very nice, and very lucky, too, because I have a terrible time figuring out the controllers and it was already set to that station.

I see on the monitor that we are almost half way there - somewhere over the North Pole I guess.  I've never flown over the North Pole before.  Noodles arrive and almost everyone except us and some of the students slurp away.  Nancy says she smells breakfast cooking so stay tuned.  Then I'll get her to show me how to use the entertainment system.

No breakfast for hours, but each staff station has packets of peanuts, cookies, crackers, rolls, and a lot of noodles are consumed.  I have some.  Yep, top ramen pretty much just like home and too salty for a plane ride.  I figured out the entertainment system, more or less.  The offerings are quite good.  I watched Tin Tin, Family Guy, Big Bang Theory, and now that I know how to use it, I can watch even more (and some more exotic fare, perhaps) on the way home.  But we only have one good pair of headphones, and the foam rubber is disintegrating on those (That's why my ears are black).  Now we know at least one thing we have to buy.

We have arrived in Hong Kong.  Departing the plane was a zoo, but we survived, and had yet another breakfast.  This one at McDonalds as not much is open at the Hong Kong airport at 5 am.  We're a little tired but doing well.  

The trip has started very successfully