Kanchanaburi #2

This past weekend, I went with a group of Lertlah teachers back to Kanchanaburi, to the Pong Phen Guesthouse.  This time around, I had already seen most of the sites to see in the city.  We went more or less just to relax and for an excuse to get out of Bangkok. 

A view from our boat at the floating market.

A wood carver at the handy crafts store.

On Saturday morning, one of the U of M teachers and I got up early to see the floating market.  We went as a part of a tour, and had to drive an hour and a half outside of Kanchanaburi to get there.  I am very glad to have experienced a floating market, because it was a very unique experience.  We were taxied around in a long, narrow boat, through canals lined with shops.  If we wanted to stop for a closer look at any particular shop, we signaled the boat driver and he pulled us closer.  Then the owner of the shop would grab ahold of the side of the boat and hold us to while she haggled with us over prices.  I was kind of shocked when the vendors accepted prices that were half of what they originally asked.  Usually my haggling skills are not quite so successful.  While there, we got off at one dock to see coconut sugar being made, and had a free sample of the sweet drink they made.  After we were done at the market, the tour took us to a handy crafts store.  We got to witness incredible wood carvers making pieces of art.  One particular piece was made from the side of a huge tree, and had been in progress for a year already.  It was a jungle scene, made by two carvers.  Amazingly, it contained layers of detail that seemed impossible to produce.  The carvers would create both fore and background, and both in very great detail, with little room in between.  While there, we also saw marbled paper being made.  I was very excited to see wood carving being done by people who were so practiced and precise.  The rest of the day, once we returned to the hotel, was spent relaxing by the pool.

The jungle scene wood carving.

The World War II cemetary.

On Sunday, I tagged along with some teachers in the morning to see the World War II cemetery in Kanchanaburi, within walking distance of our hotel.  Afterwards, I walked across town to the Bridge over the River Kwai (which I had visited previously).  I spent all morning walking, and by lunch was fairly exhausted.  We ended up eating at a place called The Jolly Frog, where I had a chicken sandwich.  Then, we picked up our bags and hired scooter “taxis” to take us to the bus station.  I really enjoyed those, because we rode in a flimsy sidecar.  Our driver had to stop at one point to fill his scooter up with gas.  That was amusing as well because the gas was sold out of whiskey bottles on the side of the road (and no, I’m not sure if it was home brewed).  Overall, it was another relaxing weekend.  

A train on the bridge over the River Kwai.

Our scooter taxi filling up.

Our scooter taxi.

Hua Hin #2

Last weekend, I returned to Hua Hin for a relaxing time with one of the other U of M Lertlah teachers.  We stayed at a different hotel, one with a rooftop pool and comfortable beds, which was very nice.  I do not have a lot to report about the weekend because we didn’t really do much of anything.  It is now the off-season for tourism in Thailand, so I think that some of the beach activities the town may have at busier times were not available.  I ended up relaxing on the beach one morning, spending an afternoon by the pool, and enjoying another Thai massage.  Hua Hin also houses many tailoring shops, and I decided to have a dress custom made.  It was fun to pick out my own design and have the dress fit me perfectly, but in the end it did not turn out as the spectacular creation I had envisioned.  I am still happy with it though.  In the evening, the two of us wandered around in the night market once again. 

The ocean view from our rooftop pool at the hotel.

I should report, however, that the whole weekend in Hua Hin I was sick with terrible abdomen pains.  It felt as though my stomach was in a vice, and it got to the point that I had trouble walking.  I spent a lot more time in the hotel room because of my abdomen pain than I would have liked.  When we returned to Bangkok Sunday night, I went to the emergency room at the hospital across the street from our apartments.  I got a huge shock when the nurse felt around on my stomach and said she suspected appendicitis.  I had to take a blood test and a urine test, and all the while the orderlies were wheeling me around in a wheel chair so I wouldn’t have to walk.  I had to wait half an hour for the results, and spent the whole time trying to calm myself down and keep from crying over the surgery and recovery time I expected.  Luckily for me, the blood work ruled out appendicitis, and I was told I probably just had very bad intestinal cramping.  I was given four different pills to take at every meal of the day.  The whole excursion, meds included, cost me about $45.  Further, I was only at the hospital for a little over an hour. 

Hydro in Thailand.

The next day, I already felt a bit better, and saw a surgeon for a follow-up consultation.  He examined my stomach and said I may have had a bacterial infection from something I ate.  My visit with him only cost $2.66 Canadian.  Overall, I was happy with the health care system in Thailand, and even happier I didn’t have to undergo emergency surgery. 

(Update: It is now a week later and I am completely back to normal)

A gem I found in a Hua Hin bookstore.

Phuket

Our master bedroom at the hotel room.

This past weekend, a group of four teachers, including myself, travelled to the south of Thailand to visit Phuket.  While there, one of the teachers ran a half marathon (and placed very well).  We were fortunate to be able to stay at a very luxurious hotel (the Best Western) in the Laguna resort area.  I was not being sarcastic; our two hotel rooms were joined by a set of in-wall doors, and we were privileged to a living room, television, dining set, and small kitchen.  We even got the luxury of a fridge with freezer, which is something we’ve had to go without so far, even at our apartment.

 We made this trip once again by plane, which is far more convenient than it would be to drive or train.  The flight was once again short, just over an hour.  The night that we arrived, we were all very hungry from rushing to the airport directly after school.  We were shocked to discover that Phuket does not have near the amount of 7 Elevens that one would find in Bangkok, or any of the other places we have visited so far.  We checked into our rooms and asked the front desk where we could find something to eat.  By that time, it was nearly 11 o’clock, and the hotel restaurants were beginning to close.  The hotel directed us to another hotel, and we were able to take the free Laguna shuttle there.  Unfortunately, we seemed to have been sent on a wild goose chase, because we wandered the other hotel for nearly an hour (it was huge and complicated to navigate), and never came across any place that served food.  We went back to our hotel room disappointed and hungry, and ended up raiding the mini fridge supply of ramen noodles. 

Our lovely hotel kitchen (complete with granite tops!)

The next morning, the continental breakfast we had MORE than made up for our disappointment the night before.  We gorged ourselves on freshly made French toast, bacon and eggs, fruit, pastries, and traditional Thai breakfast (normal supper foods).  I even had black tea with milk and sugar, which was a huge treat.  The buffet reminded me somewhat of Aalto’s in Winnipeg, and what made it better was that it was entirely free.  That meal put me in a good mood very quickly. 

After breakfast, we began to lounge by the hotel pool (which had a very nice view onto the lagoon).  At one point, I made the small walk to the actual beach, but was disappointed to find out that the waves were too hazardous for swimming.  Phuket had apparently just been hit by a storm a few days prior, and the beach was covered in garbage.  Many umbrellas that were rooted deep into the ground were also uplifted.  It was unfortunate that we could not spend time on the beach, or do any of the water sports that we had been planning.  It was very lucky, however, that our hotel was so nice and pleasant to stay at. 

The beach.

For lunch, we took advantage of the hotel stovetop (while avoiding the overpriced hotel food), by making pasta with sauce.  It was nothing fancy, but still kind of a treat because it had been so long since we had anything close to spaghetti.  It felt weird to be able to make your own meal after eating street food for so long.

 

The waves were huge.

Later that day, we caught a very overpriced taxi to Patong, a small town nearby.  Everything in Phuket was much more tourist-oriented than what we had experienced prior, and the prices of everything were much higher than what we were used to.  We spent some time at the mall in Patong, and ventured a little bit into the markets around the area.  I felt a lot more uncomfortable in those markets than any others I have been to, because the vendors seemed a lot more desperate to sell their merchandise.  They were much more pushy and abrasive than any I had met before.  I speculate that they may be desperate due to the flooding Thailand recently experienced, which may have devastated their business and income.  Overall, I did not really feel comfortable shopping in the markets, and did not buy anything there. 

The next day in Phuket, we really just relaxed.  There was not a whole lot for us to do, so we enjoyed another amazing breakfast and spent time lazing by the pool.  I got a fair bit of reading done both of the days.  In the late afternoon, we had lunch at a restaurant and got dropped off at a national park very close to the airport.  The beach there was unfortunately quite dirty as well, although the waves were calm enough to allow for swimming.  There were also a large number of wild dogs at that beach.  We waited around in the park, keeping ourselves amused, until it was time to go to the airport and catch our flight.  Overall, this was one of our more uneventful weekends.  I don’t know that I need to go back to Phuket, but I do not regret the experience, and it was rather relaxing.

Chiang Mai

This past weekend, some of the Lertlah teachers (mostly from U of M) and myself headed to Northern Thailand, to the jungle area of Chiang Mai.  Chaing Mai turned out to be my favourite destination so far because of the many different things you can do there.  We were fortunate to have visited on a Thai long weekend (for a Buddhist holiday), so we got to spend three days taking in the sights.  Because Chiang Mai is farther away from Bangkok than is convenient to bus, we flew by plane instead. 

One of the vertical zip lines.

When I thought about Chiang Mai originally, I expected a city much like Bangkok.  Instead, I found Chiang Mai to be far more laid back and relaxing.  There were far fewer people, and the weather was not as hot and humid, making it much preferable to Bangkok.  There were still plenty of tuk tuks and trucks to hire for transportation, and enough 7 Elevens that we were never in need of cheap necessities.  Further, the hotel restaurant was quite decent, and I had many meals along with every breakfast there (I had the banana pancake twice).  The nice thing about our hotel (SK House II) was that there was a travel agent located right inside the lobby, who asked us what we wanted to do and helped us to book tours and set up all of our plans.  The not so nice thing about our hotel was that giant rats infested the lobby.  There was actually no door to the lobby, so in the evening the rats can just walk in and make themselves at home in the decorative rock garden.  It was unfortunate that when we first arrived it was in the evening, and we saw the rats right away.  I was relieved to find afterward that our hotel room was clean and pretty nice after all.  I did wake up both mornings to some dead cockroaches on the floor (and even had to kill one…Ahh!).  I recently found out that when you kill cockroaches other ones swarm to the corpse.  I think that if I knew that earlier I probably would have found the courage to pick the dead ones up.  Oh well…

A view of the jungle from zip lining.

The first day, Saturday, our group signed up for an all-day zip-lining package at a place called Flight of the Gibbon.  We spent all day zip-lining on 32 different runs for a very reasonable price.  What made the excursion even better was that the zip-lining ran through the jungle, and we were amidst all of the exotic plants.  Many of the zip-line platforms were built onto giant trees, and were very high in the air.  Despite the fact that we were in Thailand, the course was extremely safe and professional.  We were clipped onto a safety line at all times when above ground level.  I liked that this zip-lining facility included some shaky wooden suspension bridges to cross.  Also, it had many unusual lines, including some called “honeymoon” runs where two people went on parallel lines at once, and some completely vertical runs that dropped you straight down.  My favourite run was called “Superman” because you were harnessed to the back instead of the front, and had to leap off the platform with the faith that you would be caught.  After zip-lining, we ate an included lunch and went to see a waterfall near the facility.  It was not as grand as the one in Kanchanaburi, but the hike to the top was still somewhat grueling at points.  In the evening, I explored the night bazaar in Chiang Mai, which consists of an outdoor market in the midst of a shopping district.

One of the elephants and I posing at the end of the tour.

Our guide with a mother elephant and her baby.

The next day, Sunday, I went with a fellow teacher and friend to an elephant training facility for a day long tour.  As it turned out,  we were the only two people who signed up that day, and therefore we got a private tour.  The guide was named Woody, and he seemed more than comfortable sharing all the details of his life with us.  Besides the potential awkwardness, he was very nice and explained the elephant training process to us truthfully.  Elephants are trained with a tool called a hook, which is named for what it is.  Although the hook looks scary, it is necessary for training such a big and powerful animal.  Woody told us that any facility who denied using a hook was lying to us, and from how he acted with the animals, you could tell he really loved the elephants.  The elephants we met were all “spoiled”, for they were fed generously and given a long break during the short time that we were riding them for free time.  We began the day by feeding the elephants some bananas, which for them are like treats.  The elephants opened wide and we stuck the bananas directly into their gaping mouths (which got us pretty covered in saliva).  We met the baby elephant of the bunch, in a corral with its mother.  It was very cute, and very playful and curious.  We then learned a bit about controlling an elephant while riding it.  We took turns practicing getting on an elephant and commanding it for turning left and right and moving forward and backwards.  While mounting the elephant, it assisted you by bending its knee and hoisting you onto its back.   We used the hook as well, although only as one might use a riding crop or reins while on a horse.  We had lunch at the facility and then went for an afternoon elephant ride up a nearby hill.  While we were waiting for the elephant to have a break, the guide showed us how to make a fire with only bamboo and a machete, which was very interesting.  After, we got back on the elephant and rode it to a small stream, where we got off and bathed it.  Another elephant joined us, making two, that absolutely relished being in the water.  The elephants were bothered by biting flies, so the guide made a medicine from leaves and applied it to their bites.  While in the water, the elephants took up water in their trunks and sprayed us.  They also relieved themselves at one point, so we were forced to avoid the floating snowball-sized balls of poop.  After that, we climbed onto the elephants once again, and they took us swimming in a deep dug out.  The elephants were trained to duck under the water, completely submerging themselves and forcing me up to my neck in water.  It was an unreal experience to be swimming with such giant animals.  After that, our tour concluded and we returned to the city.  I am so happy to have been able to do something like that, which I would never have had the opportunity to do at home.  That night in Chiang Mai, I took to the Saturday market (which is quite well known) and spent far too much baht on presents for back home.

Me posing with the smallest of the tigers, only 2 months old!

One of the "small" tigers at 8 months old.

The next day, Monday, our group headed to the Tiger Kingdom.  It is a facility that allows you to get in a cage with trained tigers to pet them and have your picture taken with them.  This actually turned out to be a great experience!  Despite rumors that the tigers are drugged (which is true at other facilities), this facility claimed to use other training methods that included hitting the tiger on the nose with a small stick when it tries to bite or claw, and introducing them to people at a very young age.  While we were there, many of the tigers seemed to be active and even playful with each other.  We first went to the smallest tiger cage, which held babies of both 4 and 2 months.  The two-month olds were about the size of a large house cat, and were very adorable.  One even surprised me by climbing into my lap.  While there, I also saw the biggest tigers they use with people, which were a little bit intimidating.  Each person went in with a trainer, however, who monitored what you did and where you pet the tiger (making sure you kept away from its face).  The tiger fur was somewhat coarse, but their bellies were still very soft.  I also pet a medium sized tiger, which was content to relax while sunning his stomach.  It was so incredible to be able to get so close to such a powerful and dangerous animal.  Although the facility was almost like a zoo (and is in fact affiliated with the Chiang Mai Zoo), it broke the boundary between animal and spectator, which was amazing.

One of the large tigers cooling down in a pool.

Overall, I am sure it is easy to see why Chiang Mai is likely to be a repeat destination for me.  I still want to experience some more of the attractions that it offers, including the zoo, a shooting range, a cat fishing trip, a jungle trek, and white water rafting (which is apparently much better in July anyway).  I am eager to get back there!

If you are interested, you can also check out some of my elephant pictures directly from the trainer's website:

www.woodyelephanttraining.com/

Koh Samet

A fishing boat right off the beach.

Two weekends ago, a group of teachers and I headed out to the nearby island of Koh Samet (“Koh” means island in Thai, so anywhere in Thailand that contains that word in the name is actually an island).  Koh Samet was an attractive travel option because it is not too far from Bangkok and features some amazing beaches, right on the Gulf of Thailand. 

We left straight from the school on Friday and took a taxi to the BTS station, where we then travelled to a stop near the Eastern bus terminal.  The bus was perfectly timed, and we got straight on for a three-ish hour trip to the ferry.  This bus trip was actually very pleasant, and we even got a free water bottle and snack!  (Our snack was kind of odd though, because it was a Danish-type pastry filled with bean paste that tasted like chocolate …  I avoided that part).  Instead of a ferry, the group hired a “speedboat” to take us on the fifteen-minute ride to the island.  The boat was huge to be considered a speedboat, and could hold up to twelve of us.  By the time we got to the island, I was exhausted.  We found our hotel room/bungalow, which was very cheap but pretty dingy.  Three of us shared a room, with only one rock-hard bed.  It was pretty tiny, but that was okay because we didn’t spend much time there anyway.  The worst part was that the toilet didn’t have a flushing mechanism; you had to fill a bucket with water and wash away your urine yourself.  I don’t mean to be gross, but it took us far too long to figure out how that worked.  Besides that, there were some geckos found crawling on the walls.  Overall though, you can’t complain when you only spend $6 a night each on accommodations.

Some mermaid statues on the beach.

Our bungalow (it looks much better from the outside).

Early Saturday morning, I joined a group of people and set out for Jep’s Bungalow Restaurant.  It was a worthwhile recommendation, and I ended up eating most of my meals there.  I gorged on North American food, after being on a Thai diet for two weeks.  I will also mention that they served the best mango smoothies that I have had.  Other than the food, I spent the entire day Saturday (and what time I had Sunday) relaxing on the beach and swimming in the ocean.  The ocean was a lot of fun because the waves were decently big.  At the end of the day, I was a bit sunburned (after I was careful to use SPF 50), but it was not that bad.  The group of Lertlah teachers and I headed to a nighttime fire spinning show held on the beach.  We sat at the very front of the stage, which we thought was fortunate until the tide came in and started to soak us.  The fire spinners were all relatively young boys, and pretty good at what they did.  Despite that, I felt like it was probably more dangerous than Canadian standards would allow, since we were seated fairly close to the bucket of gasoline or fire starter that the boys kept coming back to.  The neatest part of the show was when the fire spinners worked in some acrobatics, standing on each other’s shoulders. 

Jep's Bungalow Restaurant.

When we headed back the next day, our speedboat picked us up right on the beach where we were sunbathing.  I thought this was pretty good service until the motor went on the boat and we had to be picked up from another dock while it was being repaired.  Overall, it was a fun and relaxing trip.  Because it is so close and convenient to Bangkok, we may head back in the future. 

The beach.