Bangkok pictures

Uploaded our Bangkok pictures to the Bangkok albums in
http://picasaweb.google.com/patstephens99

after 5 days in Bophut, Ko Samui

It's now Sunday and we have been at Bo Phut Beach aka Fisherman's village on the north side of Ko Samui since Wednesday.

Until today we've done nothing at all except hang out on the beach. The Lodge where we are staying is very nice, we are on the top floor with a perfect view of the beach, and we literally walk out of the rear door and onto the beach. There are a couple of large trees which give all-day shade, so we get our sun loungers early in the morning and park there all day, eating breakfast there, running out to get some lunch when the street foodsellers (fresh fruit, meat on skewers, sweet rice) come along, and taking a break from the heat in the air-conditioned bedroom for a couple of hours in the afternoon, before a late afternoon swim and then out for dinner.

Yesterday an old friend of ours from Munich days, Ian, arrived here for 2 nights. He's travelling with his partner; they came from the island Ko Phangan where we go next. We haven't seen him for 6.5 years except once I met him briefly in Budapest a few years ago, so it's nice to catch up.

Today we went for a snorkelling trip on a longboat to two small islands off the south coast of Ko Samui. We were considering going to the Angthong national marine park but that's a longer trip. The snorkelling was quite good, with coral and a fair selection of fishes including some rays. The nicest part was feeding bread to the fishes out of your hands - they literally surround you in the water. Briana got in for a short time in morning and afternoon, and Fiona surprised us by spending a lot of time in the water and even trying a mask and snorkel for a while - considering she never likes to put her head under the water this was quite an achievement by her.
Most of the time she liked to put her hands around my neck and hold on with her head out of the water while I snorkelled around. She wasn't at all afraid of the deep waters.

We've been thinking of hiring a car for a day trip around the island but today we went along the entire east side of the island and it wasn't very attractive, so we might save our money and just stay on the beach until we move to Ko Phangan on Wednesday. We know the main Chaweng and Lamai beaches on the island only by reputation, which isn't good, so we won't miss much I think.

Going scuba diving from here is too expensive because of distance from the main dive sites so we will postpone that until we reach Ko Phangan where it will be cheaper (and it would be cheaper still if we would change our travel plan and stay some nights in Ko Tao where most of the dive sites are).

We've avoided most of the relatively expensive restaurants by eating each night in on of the very few ordinary Thai restaurants in town. The difference is mains ranging from 50 to 80 Baht (1 to 2 Euros) there, versus mains ranging from 180 to 450 Baht (4 to 10 Euro) at most of the eateries. We wouldn't care if it was just a 2 week holiday but over 3 months expensive eating out would add up. And anyway the Thai food is very tasty! However we can't resist the temptation to hang out after dinner for a while in a nice cocktail bar, usually spending a good bit more than we paid for dinner. Tough life.

We aren't following the news from home much but I note that Ireland won the triple crown and grand slam, Gyurcsany might be on the way out as Hungarian PM, and Man Utd are under pressure.

One other thing - Ko Samui has the nicest airport we've ever seen. This picture doesn't show much but sums it up. First of all, the bus from the plane is open-sided like the sort you find at a theme park. Then the baggage carousel is in an area that has a roof to keep the sun off, but no walls. The toilets have large aquariums. In fact it doesn't look like an airport at all, except for the runway.

(We flew here on a Bangkok Air Boeing 717 which was about 2/3 full, mostly westerners. The resort here is very quiet and we heard that the airlines are reducing flights.)

Bophut, Ko Samui

Styarted to upload a few pics to http://picasaweb.google.com/patstephens99 but the connection is too slow so will quit it.
Very hot here in Ko Samui. Guest House is fine and location right on the on beach is great; water incredibly warm.
We are in a very quiet area in the north of the island; just one short street. It's called Bophut beach.
But expensive here, everything twice to price of north Thailand so we are trying to be careful about spending money.

Sunday in and around Chiang Mai

Yesterday we visited an Elephant camp which was rather touristy but Fiona and I had an interesting Elephant ride. We went up and down hills and into the river but even on the flat the ride is fairly uneven. Although the camp claims it is dedicated to conservation of the Elephants (whose numbers are very much lower than a 100 years ago due to changes in forestation), it was an uncomfortable feeling to see the elephants not in use with a chain round their legs that allowed them movement of only a meter or two.

After that we visited Tiger Kingdom which I expected would be very touristy, but actually turned out to be a quite special experience. For a not-very-cheap fee you can spend 15 minutes "private time" with tigers of different sizes (or lion cubs). I got in with three 8-month old tigers (and 3 handlers!). Now, an 8-month old tiger is not far off fully-grown so these are not at all small. I could stroke them and sit beside them for photos. The girls got in with 2 baby lion cubs (and 1 handler) and could stroke and play with them - I could video them through an open window. Naturally we made dozens of photos too! It was worth the money.

In the evening we went back into Chiang Mai for the Sunday "walking street" market. As I wrote before, the quality of what is on sale in CM is much better than Bangkok, relatively little tacky crap, so even if we weren't buying it was interesting to "window shop". And the food stalls were excellent - not only different kinds of Thai food, but also lots of other like Sushi, fried fish, etc.

On the way we saw a Wat (temple) in the grounds of which, among other bizarre ornaments, stood a large statue of Donald Duck eating noodles.

Transportation in Thailand

As anyone who has already been here knows, public transport consists mainly of
* Tuktuks: have to negotiate - typical cost 50-70 Baht = about 1 Euro to 1 Euro 50
* Songthaews: shared taxi, fixed cost for any trip per adult 15 Baht = about 33 Euro cents
* Metered taxis: typical cost for a short trip is about 50-100 Baht = about 1-2 Euro.

Private transport consists mainly of motorbikes and pickup trucks. Pushbikes are fairly rare. Cars are much less plentiful than pickup trucks, and more often than not driven by women. What you don't see here at all are clapped-out 20 year old cars (like Hungary's Trabants)!

Petrol currently costs 28 Baht (about 60 Euro cents) per litre for 91 Octane and oddly it is cheaper (24 Baht, about 50 Euro cents) for 95 Octane. UPDATE: It turns out the so-called 95 Octane is really a poor quality Ethanol mix; real 95 Octane if available is much more expensive.

The Secret Garden

Since Friday we are staying at the Secret Garden 12km outside Chiang Mai. It's fairly much in the countryside and we hear lots of weird animal noises like from Geckos. In fact there are small lizards all around including on the bedroom walls and surprisingly the kids haven't freaked out.

This place is run by a German man Peter and his Thai wife Pai, and consists of about 10 bungalows around a nice garden with small lake and swimming pool. They have a big open air kitchen and eating area which is very relaxing, lots of books and CDs we can use, etc. All of their business comes via TripAdvisor reviews; the other guests are American, Spanish, US, Australian. Pai cooks Thai food for dinner each evening and the guests are welcome to join in. There's a trust system for drinks - we take what we want from the fridge and write it down. The kids love the pool so yesterday I stayed here with them while Gyorgyi went off to look at silk production factories and naturally she came back with another few metres of silk!

I went for a longish run yesterday along the main road and got stared at a lot by the locals. Almost got lost on the way back when I took a wrong turn.

Today we are off to see some elephants and tigers.

We have 3 more nights here before going south.

I got all our photos written onto a DVD, unfortunately the PC at his resort doesn't have a DVD drive so I can't upload them.

Chiang Mai 2

Yesterday we strolled around Chiang Mai. There is a 'Wat' (Buddhist Temple) on every corner. Perhaps it would be the same for a Thai person visiting Ireland, to see a Church on every corner. But these temples are very ornate, decorated with gold and dragons, and totally photogenic. Lunch was at a local Northern Thai cuisine restaurant, where most of the food was spicy, perhaps reflecting the Indian influence. Luckily they had fried chicken and spare ribs for the kids. We were given chopsticks as well as spoons and forks, which the girls could use fairly easily (if not correctly) with the sticky rice that practically has to be torn apart. Fiona's technique was to roll the rice into a little ball with her left hand and stick one chopstick into it with her right.

After lunch we visited the most ornate Wat in Chiang Mai - the Wat Chedi Luang - the buildings feature really life-like waxworks of past monks. The main template was being repainted so we could watch them repainting the intricate designs and applying golf leaf.

In the evening we went to a "Traditional" entertainment evening - obviously packaged for the tourists with food, dance show, hill tribe music etc. Very touristy but at least not tacky, lots of food, and didn't cost the earth.

Today after another big breakfast (sticky sweet rice, poached eggs with satay sauce, banana pancakes, fresh mango and watermelon, smoothies) at the hotel, we went to the excellent Chiang Mai zoo and went around it twice with the hop-on-hop-off bus. The distances were too far and the weather too hot to walk. Kids were getting a bit worn out.

One more night at this hotel and then we move a few km outside the town for 5 nights. We'd be very happy to remain at the current hotel which is lovely, but the idea was to "do" the town and then see the outskirts. And the next hotel has a POOL!

Vienna-Doha-Bangkok

We flew Vienna-Doha-Bangkok with Qatar Airways. The airline itself is good but the flight experience was not excellent.

The first flight was in a fairly old aircraft, an Airbus A320-100 or -200. It still had ashtrays and no individual tv screens, and the movies on offer weren't interesting. But we were fresh, had plenty of entertainment with us, and the time passed.

The second flight was supposed to be an A330-200 and according to their plane layout when I booked the seat the economy cabin had a 2-4-2 (or 2-5-2, maybe) layout. We booked 2 pairs of seats on the window. It turned out to be a 3-3-3 layout which meant we had 2 other people blocking our access to the aisle. Not convenient with kids. It may have been a Boeing 777 according to the plane types shown on their website. Luckily there was an individual entertainment system, and it was a night flight so we didn't need to move around too much, and the neighbours were understanding. Briana and I were sitting together, and we were delivered the meal, but then the girl went off and never offered a drink, so I was getting pretty thirsty and thinking of pressing the assistance button by the time someone arrived again which was 20 or 30 mins later.

The main problem was the guy behind Gyorgyi, a 50-something Mr. Chatterbox - he never shut up the whole flight long. Even with ear plugs in, I could hear him clearly from 2 rows away. At the end of the flight I heard him tell his neighbour it was great to have a good chat on a plane - not surprising since he was doing all the talking! And also no surprise when he said that he liked going to Thailand because the ladies in England have no time for him. Poor Gyorgyi could get no sleep at all and was exhausted when we arrived (at 7:10 AM Thai time).

Any problems?

The only problem we've had so far is that we've spent far too much money and my (new) iPod failed. It's not easy to spend less money and still have fun, but the good news is that the iPod has magically come back to life. The iPod was loaded with some eBooks for the kids and without that I would have to invent stories each night. Now that it's back in action, we started the Wizard of Oz last night.

So how is it, travelling with small kids?

Fun, but not always so easy!
The main thing is that we cannot do so much as we would do on our own, and of course the kids are not so interested in sight-seeing - they just want to play. They get hungry and thirsty at different times, so more stops are needed.
Fiona turns out to be a very good traveller - rarely complains, eats well, LOVES tuktuks, and even she didn't want to leave the Grand Palace in Bangkok she was having so much fun running around (she believed princesses live there and we weren't going to shatter her illusions and tell her it's just boring old monks). Briana, despite being older, is harder work - she has got a bit homesick, is more picky about her food, and yesterday was looking a bit pale - on the other hand yesterday she also said she wants to live here, so let's see!

In our first room in Bangkok we had a big double bed and a single bed - the kids shared the single bed. The first night Briana didn't want to share, so that took a bit of persuasion. It was funny to see them in the morning literally lying on top of each other. After that, they now really want to sleep together. However now in Chiang Mai we have two smallish double beds and for the first night we slept with one adult and one child in each bed. I imagine we will do lots of bed-hopping before the trip is over!

Chiang Mai Day 1

Yesterday early afternoon saw us arriving in Chiang Mai with Bangkok Air on an Airbus 320 nicely decorated on the outside with pictures of fish. The flight was quiet - not much more than 30 passengers - and almost all were "Farang" (literally I believe it means Guava, but it refers to Westerners). Despite being a low cost airline and the flight time only 1hr 15 mins, they gave us a decent sandwich, pastry, soft drink and the kids got jigsaws.

Immediately on leaving the airport - which is only 3km from the city - we realised how different Chiang Mai is from Bangkok. No high-rise, much quieter.

Our hotel Pak Chiang Mai is delightful. It's a small family-run place built around a courtyard where they have lovely quiet niches to sit and relax. The decking has an area where massages can be given, a kids area, and underneath it runs a little fishpond. The kids were really happy playing here although we were embarrased when Fiona decided it would be a good idea to feed baby powder from the massage area to the fishes. Luckily the owner wasn't upset and said the filter would clean it.

The hotel has two PCs for internet usage. It also provides as much bottled water as we like. And lots of other nice extras like jars of Thai sweets and snacks sitting waiting to be tried. It's really at the level of a boutique hotel and the family who run it clearly try to go the extra mile. Our room doesn't have any view unless the neighbour's wall counts, but it's very quiet.

We ate a late lunch at the hotel, where they serve Thai and some western food for street market prices. Only the owner speaks English so it can be a little tricky to explain what we need.

After a late afternoon nap we headed off to the Night Bazaar which was nicer than the ones we saw in Bangkok - more spacious, relaxed feeling, and not just tacky rip-offs. Gyorgyi bought a couple of meters of nice silk and some other items, as well as spending an hour tea-tasting - which was free so we felt obliged to buy some tea we don't need. The young son of the lady who ran the tea shop was sleeping behind her on the floor - and she is there every night until 1am.

The people and the food look a little different here - more of an Indian food influence (the area is not far from Burma/Myanmar) and more women dressed in Muslim clothes.

So far we've stuck to Thai food only, but gave in yesterday and visited a Burger King for the kids. Fiona is quite happy eating rice and noodles all the time but Briana shows a little homesickness and would like some home comforts.

While at the market it started to get windy and we felt some drops of rain. Since the vendors started to cover up, we decided it was time to get going too, jumped into a Tuk Tuk and scooted back to the hotel. After the heavy overnight rain, the hotel owner told me this morning it is the first rain in 4 months. The air is clear and cool this morning. Apparently the air quality here in the last week has been very poor, so this is welcome.

Today we plan some temples. We stay 2 more nights at this hotel which is just inside the old city (a 1 km square area surrounded by a moat), then we move to another hotel a few km outside the city in the countryside for 5 nights.

Now the mosquitoes are starting to feast on me. Time to get some repellent creams...

Morning run in Bangkok

For the first time I woke up early enough to go running and it turned out to be a great idea. Our hotel was only a couple of minutes from Lumphini Park, and there I found thousands of people, especially older folk, doing early morning activities - running, tai chi, yoga, even ballroom dancing! The circuit had distance markers and I went twice around for a total of just over 5km. This is a pretty short run for me but I was dripping sweat. This was at 7am. I walked another couple of km just to get a feel for the place. Very different atmosphere than later in the day.

The walk to/from the hotel was also interesting. The foodsellers that lined the street in the evening had been replaced with others selling breakfast - one stand seemed to be selling just hot butter toast - another made a fry-up: rashers sausages and eggs. It made me wonder if Thai people ever eat at home. The streets are simply lined everywhere with food sellers.

Bangkok

We've now been in Bangkok for a few days, still sleeping off the 6 hours time difference so everyone is very groggy in the mornings. We've managed to fit in quite a lot here before our flight tomorrow to Chiang Mai. Our hotel the The Inn Saladaeng is very nice and in a good location. Lumphini Park is nearby which has a big playground that our kids loved on the day we got here, and just across the road from it there is a big nightmarket and the "Joe Louis" Traditional Thai Puppet Theatre where we saw a fairly expensive but very highly regarded show. Each puppet is controlled by three people who move in unison with the puppet, and their movement is almost like dance.
We've also walked through the Patpong night market where we averted our eyes from the bar girls in skimpy clothes (we did?), taken a long boat ride on the river and canals, saw a snake/monkey/etc farm, visited the Grand Palace which really is breathtaking, been on numerous tuktuks (which Fiona adores), been to the Jim Thompson House, Gyorgyi bought silk in tiny family-run "factories" (a shed which doubles as their home) in the muslim area where we saw them work the looms, etc., I got four shirts made and delivered within 24 hours, lots of local food, and, well, that's quite enough. We're all worn out and need a holiday now!