Day #17 March 27th: Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

This would be the last of our tour days.  Fourteen of our 28 tour friends left the hotel at 7:15.  The other half would spend it shopping, getting a Thai massage and having a more relaxed and enjoyable day near the hotel.

Bangkok is a very modern, thriving city.












Our first stop was at a salt flat.

We saw salt being extracted from ocean water.

Another stop brought us to a place where coconut and palm flowers were used to to make candy, soap, oil, etc.

Art tried his hand at making some coconut candy patties.

Ummm...

They had to be reshaped.  He'll have to leave candy making to the professionals.






Yes, I did buy some scented soap.

We boarded these speed boats to go to the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market.





I was rather surprised at the speed at which we were traveling through the canals.

It felt like a James Bond movie at times.

People along the river waved at us.










We passed by this boatsman.  I'm glad we didn't topple him over.

Damnoen Saduak is a district in central Thailand in the province Ratchaburi. The central town is most famous because of its floating market held every day till noon on a khlong not far from the district office. However as it has become a prime tourist attraction of the Bangkok vicinity the market has lost its authenticity.
             --Wikipedia


There was some kind of beauty pageant going on and this procession of boats were filled with beautiful women.

You could feel the energy and excitement of everyone around us.

There was a restaurant at the floating market area that had a huge sign displaying several dishes.  One of them caught my eye and I'm sorry, but I had to laugh.  Noodles & Congealed Pork Blood!  Actually, it's not the blood part that caught my attention because I remember my Filipino neighbor making something with pork blood.  It's the "congealed" wording that made me raise my eyebrows.

I'm happy to say that the restaurant we did go to for lunch was a lot more sensitive to our western palates.

We went to the Vanda Restaurant.

Ms. Lucky advised us not to fill our plates with everything from the buffet, but to select one thing and savor it before moving on to something else.

We tried the pad Thai and added cilantro, lime juice and other condiments to really experience it.  It was the BEST pad Thai we've ever had.  YUM!

The pho was so wonderful that no matter how full she was, one of our tour members went back to get another bowl.  I would have joined her, but the dessert bar called to me.

After lunch, we saw the elephant act which was OK...

There was a Thai boxing, wedding and dance show next which gave us a nice flavor of Thailand's culture.

This was our last evening together and we were feeling sad about parting after spending so much time together.





The hot pot dinner at M & K Restaurant was excellent.  You got to order whatever ingredient you wanted to add to your shared hot pot.  We put a whole bunch of stuff in ours and it was absolutely scrumptious!!!

We had some of our best food that day.

We loved seeing Ronald McDonald wishing us Sawadeekrup with his hands together in Thai fashion.

Was he wishing our tour a Thai goodbye or an American welcome home?

Art and I would not be going home yet.  We would now embark on the most important part of our trip.  We were going to visit our son and I could hardly wait!

Day #16 March 26th: Chiang Mai to Bangkok

This was probably our most exhausting day!  I was so tired at the end of the day that I actually fell asleep before I could write in my journal.

Our day began with a 5:00 wake up call.

Breakfast was at 6:00.

We left our hotel at 7:00.

Our tour guide, Dare had a sweet parting gift for us.  His mother-in-law made large packages of tasty rice crackers for each of us. We saved it to bring with us to Bangladesh to have with our son.  Yes, we did give him a nice additional tip for his services. (Evan, our tour coordinator in Hawaii told us that all country tour guides are already tipped by Vietnam Travel ahead of time.)

Dare regaled us with more jokes all the way to the airport.  Hmmm... maybe we should have given an even bigger extra tip.

We were met by our Bangkok tour guide, Ms. Lucky.




We'd heard some rather disturbing news reports of violence in Bangkok with people being killed in government protests.  We saw signs of the struggles.  Barricades were still evident on the streets but Ms. Lucky seemed unconcerned.

We went directly from the airport to the Grand Palace.

We saw tuk tuks here too.  They were similar to the ones in Cambodia.


Grand Palace

The Grand Palace is a complex of buildings at the heart of Bangkok, Thailand. The palace has been the official residence of the Kings of Siam (and later Thailand) since 1782. The king, his court and his royal government were based on the grounds of the palace until 1925. The present monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), currently resides at Chitralada Palace, but the Grand Palace is still used for official events.
                             -- Wikipedia

Those of our tour group who were wearing shorts had to rent long pants to enter the complex.

It's unfortunate that Ms. Lucky left us mostly to our own devices.  We didn't always know what we were looking at.  Still, it was all very grand... very gold... very glittering.

And it was very impressive.

The large gold stupa is supposed to contain some relics of the Buddha.

The detail on the decorations were absolutely eye catching and mind boggling.

We couldn't take enough photos... but we tried.

I didn't realize we would be going to all these sites directly from the airport so I didn't have my larger camera with me.  I had to make do with my tiny point and shoot.  However, between Art and me we managed to take enough photos.

It was an extremely HOT day and I didn't have my umbrella with me.

Doggone it!

This is a scale model of Angkor Wat.  This giant monitor went scuttling by us.  Ms. Lucky told us that they do eat monitors in Thailand.

I was glad we were able to have a group photo taken in front of the Grand Palace (Chakri Maha Prasat) so I could remember everybody.  I have been blurring out people's faces who were not comfortable being on a blog.

Below is the Aphorn Phimok Prasat Pavilion.  Art had to research what all these places were on the Internet when we returned to Hawaii because we really had no idea then what we were looking at.

Ms. Lucky forgot her cellphone on the bus when it drove off.  She therefore couldn't tell the bus driver where to meet us. 

Her solution was to put us into these teeny tuk tuks to take us to our restaurant for lunch.  Can you believe Art and I, along with Mike and Julia rode in the back seat of this tuk tuk?  Mike must be over 6 feet tall.  We were quite cozy!  It's a good thing we like each other!


The restaurant was on this ship. 

The buffet lunch was lovely and restful.  We needed to sit down.

We got back on the boat and headed to the Temple of Dawn.  We saw a huge poster of the king and his heir in their younger days. The king is 86 years old and the queen is 81 but is said to look half her age. 

This is a view of the Temple of Dawn from the river.

Little did I know I'd soon be climbing up to that high tower.

Wai Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan or Wat Arun "Temple of Dawn" is a Buddhist temple (wat) in Bangkok Yai district of Bangkok, Thailand, on the Thonburi west bank of the Chao Phraya River. The temple derives its name from the Hindu god Aruna often personified as the radiations of the rising sun. Wat Arun is among the best known of Thailand's landmarks and the first light of the morning reflects off the surface of the temple with pearly iridescence.
                                                                                                 --Wikipedia

"You can do it," coaxed Art cajoling me to make the climb.

I just made sure I didn't look down.

We emailed this photo to our little granddaughter, KC.  She used to always give us the "I love you" hand sign from the time she was about four years old.  We try to remember to do this whenever we go abroad.

Then we went from the boat onto a bus to our next stop!

 








The Golden Buddha

It is 5.5 tons of SOLID gold! 

The Golden Buddha, officially titled Phra Phuttha Maha Suwan Patimakon is the world's largest solid gold statue. It is located in the temple of Wat Traimit, Bangkok.       --Wikipedia

The Golden Buddha was definitely impressive and very shiny.

The bus took us to The Reclining Buddha next.
 

Wat Pho is a Buddhist temple in Phra Nakhon district, Bangkok, Thailand. It is located in the Rattanakosin district directly adjacent to the Grand Palace. Known also as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, its official name is Wat Phra Chettuphon Wimon Mangkhlaram Ratchaworamahawihan.
                                                                                                        --Wikipedia                                                                                        

The statue is concrete covered in gold leaf.  It's HUGE!!!

There were more barricades on the Bangkok streets.






We were so tired, I'd have settled for fast food and an early bed time.

It was not to be.

We had a Thai dinner at Silom Village Restaurant.  The food was OK...

and there was another cultural dance show.

 

We fell into bed around 11:00.   Half of our tour group were so exhausted that they decided to skip the following day's activities to have a more restful, last day in Bangkok.

Us?  Are you kidding?  Art would never let exhaustion stop him!

Day #14 March 24: Maetamann Elephant Camp

This would be a day that I would not soon forget.  It was a day packed with places to see and adventures to experience from 7:00 until late at night.

Dare said there are over 300 temples in the Chiang Mai area.  The river was being purified by the government for a new year celebration where water would be thrown at everybody.

Information from Dare:

• Tourism is Thailand's #2 economy.
• Born in 1819, the reigning king has ruled for 67 years.  The heir is a playboy.
• Thai people haven't seen King and I because it is not factual.
• At 21, young men must take part in a lottery.  Blind folded, they pick from a container containing red or black pieces of paper.  If it's red, they must enter the army.
• 90% of most men spend at least 3 months in a monastery because then they will be looked on favorably by prospective in-laws.

We visited a Long Neck Karen (Village)

In the late 1980s and early 1990s due to conflict with the military regime in Burma, many Kayan tribes fled to the Thai border area. Among the refugee camps set up there was a Long Neck section, which became a tourist site, self-sufficient on tourist revenue and not needing financial assistance.

^--Wikipedia

It is a controversial site because it's been called a "human zoo".  Much of their proceeds are said to go to Thai tour conductors.

Still, on the other side of the coin, it enables the Karen people to have an income since they are unable to return to Myanmar (Burma).

Dare told us that the necks are not really any longer than anybody else.  When the rings are added to their necks a little at a time, their collarbones and shoulders are pushed down. 

When we asked our daughter, Tiffany what she would like us to bring back for her from southeast Asia, she'd said the only thing she could think of was a little stick for her hair.  Well... we couldn't find one anywhere.  When I saw the silver colored stick in the hairstyle of the young woman on the left, I asked her if she was selling any in her stand.  She wasn't, but she promptly pulled it out of her hair and offered it to me.  I didn't bargain and paid exactly what she asked.

Tif sent this photo to me recently saying the silver hair stick works beautifully to hold up her hair.  I'm just surprised you can do this with a little stick.

Our next stop was the Maetamann Elephant Camp and Rafting.  We were encouraged to sit on the elephant's knee and then feed the elephants sugar cane, bananas or money which they handed to their trainer.  Art did buy sugar cane from this woman to feed the elephants.  I can truthfully say I've never been so close to an elephant before.  I would soon get even closer.

I thought for a minute I would fall off the elephant's trunk, but the trainer (mahout) held on to my ankle to make sure I was safe.

The elephant show had the huge animals doing all kinds of tricks.  They piled up logs, twirled hula hoops, played soccer, etc.

Someone sent me one of those forwarded videos a while ago of an elephant painting a picture. 

What a shock it was to see an elephant doing it right before my eyes.

Each elephant seemed to have one type of picture that they were trained to do.

Now that I'm home and researching a bit about these elephant camps, I'm reading about training torture and what is done to elephants to make them perform for tourists.

We had such a good time there, but it's sad to read that there is the controversial side to this experience.

We had an ox cart ride and lovely lunch at the park as well.

Rafting was a fun experience.

Art had to try his hand at poling the raft, of course.

It's a good thing it was cloudy and temperate.

The Orchid and Butterfly Garden was fun.

Coming from Hawaii, the orchids were not very interesting or unusual.

Our dinner was at the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center.

There was a cultural show featuring a lot of different traditional dances.

The children really drew most of our attention though.

Back at the hotel, we did laundry together and I had to nurse a gouge on my shin that I managed to get from a bamboo bench at the elephant park.  Sigh...  One more scar to add to the collection I already have.

Still in all, it was a wonderful day.