Our final morning in Sukhothai greeted us with grey skies and driving rain.  We had already decided against another sunrise visit to the park so this weather erased any lingering “should I? or shouldn’t I” doubts.  Watching the rain pour down as we ate our breakfast made us so grateful for the wonderful day yesterday.

After breakfast we piled into a couple of tuk tuks and went the 2 km to the old city bus station to catch our 9:30 bus to Chiang Mai.  Or perhaps that should be “bus station”!!  The only thing reassuring us that we were in the right place was a picture of a bus on the awning that also declared: Old City – Bangkok / Old City – Chiang Mai.  Eventually we were joined by a few other tourists making us feel a bit better!  Note the red flag that was placed after we arrived to signal to the bus to stop.

The bus starts in the new city which caused some concern that the seats would all be taken (the booking process consisted of 4 scraps of paper so we are pretty sure that each point of sale doesn’t actually know how many seats have been sold in total!!)  In the end we were fine and we all got seats – but people at later stops did have to stand….  As seemed to be the trend, the bus arrived a half an late.  We can’t figure out how they always manage this since the trains and buses seem to leave the origin on time…and in this case, the new city is only 12 km away!!  Thailand Charm!  The 5 hr 47 min journey cost us 239 baht each (just under 6 €) and included a 20 minute pit stop.  The toilets at the stop were more than adequate and it was welcome break.  There was snack food available and even a proper rice/noodles stand.  All in all the journey wasn’t as bad as we anticipated – decent roads and much smoother than the train!!  I don’t think I mentioned the constant jostling on the train from Ayutthaya to Phitsanulok.  If I had to do the full 10 or 11 hours from Bangkok to Chiang Mai on the train, I would have gone insane for sure!!

Upon arrival in Chiang Mai we took our first of many songthaews (red pick-up trucks) to our hotel, Sakorn Residence.  The hotel is one block back from the river so a fair distance from the walled old city.  It was walkable (30 min) but with the trucks zooming around looking for fares we always just hopped in one.  It was 20 or 30 baht per person (50 cents) depending on where we were going.  The hotel itself suited us perfectly.  The rooms were large, decent shower, and there was a pool for cooling down at the end of the day.  There was a safe in the room but it wasn’t attached to anything and very light….i.e. with minimal effort, any would-be thief could just tuck it under their arm and be off!  It was a little comical!!  We didn’t have any security concerns but figured it was a good place to test out our new PacSafe travel safe.  Peace of mind more than anything else!

We arrived on a Saturday which meant we could experience the Saturday Night Walking Street on Wua Lai Rd.  The market was completely different to how I imagined it. The souvenirs and goods for sale were actually nice quality and it was all much more “bright and shiny” than I expected.  It was a very pleasant walk along the street even with the crowds of people.  For our dinner we ended up at the market area at the moat at the beginning of the walking street.  None of us were actually that hungry since we had a late lunch at little place across from the hotel that actually turned out to be the cheapest meal of the whole trip – some 360 baht for the four of us (and that included 4 beers)!  Lack of hunger aside, we still managed to have some coconut water, smoothies, and our first sticky rice with mango.

Chiang Mai’s claim to fame is it’s endless supply of wats.  Big wats, little wats, golden wats, wooden wats, new wats, old wats, wat-ever you are looking for, you can find it in Chiang Mai!!

Over the course of our stay we visited (clockwise from top left): Wat Phra Sing, Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Phan-Ohn, Wat Bupparam, and Wat Chiang Man.

We ended up on Ratchadamnoen Road just as the Sunday Walking Street was opening for business.  This was even longer than the Saturday Walking Street!  The setting sun was still beating down on us so we only managed a few blocks before we had to throw in the towel and retreat to the hotel pool (but not before enjoying a mango shake, of course!)

Tired from the day’s pursuits, we decided to treat ourselves to dinner at one of the nice riverside restaurants near the hotel.  We chose The Gallery and were not disappointed.  We enjoyed a delicious (and huge!) meal for not even 15 € a head (beer, main dish, shared dessert, and a gin & tonic).  The clear winner of the night was Carlos’s Massaman Curry, while the clear dangerous dish of the night ended up with me in the form of northern-style sausages that were amazing but SPICY and quite lonely on my plate…no sauce or other company!!  In the end it was just a bit much!  Nevertheless, it was an evening to remember.

After a great night’s sleep we awoke on Monday morning full of anticipation and excitement – it was elephant day!!!  We had booked the one day Pamper a Pachyderm experience with Elephant Nature Park (ENP – www.elephantnaturepark.org) and it was the day I was most looking forward to!!  To do it justice, I have written about it in the next post.  Truly amazing!!!

Another excursion outside of the city is a trip up to Doi Suthep and Bhubing Palace.  It took about an hour to get up the mountain in our red truck (700 baht round trip) and we visited the palace first due to its curious hours.  The palace is open from 8:30 to 16:30, but the ticket office is only open from 8:30 to 11:30 and then again from 13:00 to 15:30.  I think only foreigners need a ticket so locals can go anytime but tourists have to pay attention to those ticketing hours (50 baht)!  We also needed to rent “jedi” pants for 15 baht to cover up our shorts/capris.  Our trousers were all being “professionally” laundered at that moment since they were filthy after the elephants!

Bhubing Palace is the winter home of the royal family from January to March.  We didn’t actually see much of a palace, but the rose gardens and green houses were amazing.  There were some varieties of roses that were bred right there.  We also saw the huge bamboo and lovely butterflies at the fountain/lake area.  A nice peaceful walk after the chaos of the city!

We then trucked back down the mountain about 10 minutes to the famous Doi Suthep.  Or rather Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep since the mountain itself is called Doi Suthep.  We elected to take the funicular up the hill to save our energy.  The funicular takes 2 minutes or there are about 300 steps to climb.  When we arrived at the top, the whole wat area was shrouded in cloud giving it an eerie feeling.  We spent about an hour exploring the mount.  The clouds parted somewhat to allow a view of Chiang Mai below.  The most prevalent area was the airport with the runway clearly visible.  We then took the steps back down (dodging a dog fight – the street dogs in Thailand are SCARY!) and jumped in our pick-up truck for the ride back to the city.

We hopped out in Chinatown to have a look at the Wororot and Ton Lamyai Markets.  We were hoping for some street food but we didn’t see anything really appetising….  I don’t know if we were just never in the right places but generally the street food didn’t appeal to us.  All of the food was cooked and sitting in trays waiting for takers as opposed to being cooked fresh in the moment or at least staying warm in a pot or something.  I don’t know…we just never indulged in the street food the way we have done in the past in Vietnam, Cambodia, and China.  🙁

We wandered towards the old city in search of food and finally found a place almost at the city gates.  I think the street we were on is the longest stretch of street in the world without a restaurant!!  or maybe I was just hungry!!  We enjoyed a nice meal of soup/noodles/rice and then discovered that the owner of the restaurant is Canadian! He chatted to us FOREVER!  It is what we call “Canadian Mode” since the Spaniards always tease me when I talk to strangers…it’s a Canadian thing, eh!

Our final activity in Chiang Mai was a much anticipated cooking class!  Time to learn some secrets!  We went with Thai Farm Cooking School (www.thaifarmcooking.com) and were not disappointed.  It was 1,300 baht per person and was a full day from 8:30 until almost 5 pm.  They have an office in the old city (38 Moonmuang Road, Soi 9) but the actual class takes place on a farm about 40 minutes away from the city.  On the way out, we stopped at a market to learn about the curry powders we would be making, different types of rice, and the special sauces that are fundamental to Thai cooking (soy, oyster, and fish!)

On the menu was Yellow Curry with Chicken, Tom Yam Soup with Shrimp (or Tom Kaa coconut milk soup with Chicken for those looking for a milder alternative), Chicken with Cashew Nuts, Pad Thai, and finally Sticky Rice with Mango for dessert.  We were quite nervous about the quantity of food since each of those plates is what we would consider one meal!!!!  Before getting started, we took a walk around the farm to see some of the spices and herbs that we would be cooking with.  Carlos nibbled on a chili and 5 minutes later had tears running down his cheeks!!!  Don’t worry, 5 minutes after that he was back to normal!!  It must have been a doozie of a chili!

First up was the yellow curry.  My previous experience with cooking curry involved a complicated process of opening a jar from Carrefour…not so here in Thailand!  We ground our very own curry paste with mortar and pestle!  This of course is ideal since you can put as little or as much chili in as you want!  Once the paste was ready (after working up an incredible sweat!!) we set it aside and prepared our Tom Yam soup and feasted.  It was so delicious!  Mine was a little too mild since I was nervous about putting too much spice in.  Carlos’s was perfect though (no fear there!)  With the first course complete, we went back to preparing the yellow curry and chicken with cashew nuts.  Both were sensational.  This was quickly turning into our favourite meal of the whole trip.  I was hoping to pick up some tips on cooking rice, but they used a rice cooker!  Perhaps that is all the tip I need……

After lunch we had about an hour of free time to have a walk, siesta, or just chill.  And then it was Pad Thai time!  More food???!!!  The idea here was that it would be packaged up and we could take it with us to have for dinner.  Again with the prepared food just sitting around waiting to be eaten….!  Our Pad Thais looked so good that we decided to just eat it there and then since taking them with us didn’t really appeal to us.  So good.  Virginia was the official Pad Thai expert since she can’t tolerate any spice at all in her food and it is the safest dish.  She declared this one of the best, if not the best.

To cap off the day of indulgence, we had our amazing sticky rice with mango.  The rice was steamed in a bamboo basket and then combined with coconut milk.  This is the only dish that we didn’t make individually.  It was mind blowing!  So good and yet we were so full….!  We did the best we could and stopped short of licking our plates clean!

Needless to say, we definitely recommend Thai Farm Cooking School.  Just be ready to load up on delicious food!

And this capped off our 6-night stay in Chiang Mai.  We could have easily done everything with just 5 nights, but this allowed us to be very relaxed and not rushed at all.

We woke up bright and early to enjoy a local breakfast at the famous Lung Lek just around the corner from the hotel. Unfortunately we were a little too bright and early and they were still setting up!  Next door though there was another place that was already up and running so we had some dumplings and bowl of delicious noodles there. The dumplings were “same same but different”….still dumplings but kind of the sensation of comparing flour tortillas with corn tortillas…fundamentally they are the same but really completely different. How’s that for ambiguity!!!!  We didn’t have much time to linger before it was time to head to the train station for our journey to Sukhothai.

Once at the station we checked the white board that lists the delays. Our train (which started in Bangkok) was listed as half an hour late so not too bad!! By the end it was 40 minutes late but the time passed really quickly with people watching and general chatter.
Second class was certainly quite deluxe! We had comfortable seats, air-conditioning (that wasn’t frigid), and even a cold welcome juice that was a throwback to birthday parties at McDonalds and their “orange juice”!! The biggest surprise of all however was the lunch that was served – noodle soup and chicken curry!

The journey to Phitsanulok was under 4 hours and we maintained our 40 minute delay so didn’t lose any more time. Once at Phitsanulok we grabbed a tuk tuk to the old bus station to catch our bus to Sukhothai. Upon leaving the train station there is a list of tuk tuk destinations with prices so it is easy to know what to expect. As four people we paid 80 baht I think for the trip. This was the smallest tuk tuk yet so the big bags had to go on the roof….without being tied down!! With everything being open though the guys kept a hand on the cargo during the sharp turns!!!

At the bus station we bought our tickets at the window (being led there by a lady who turned out to be the conductor on our bus). We were certainly overcharged with the 50 baht fee but we weren’t about to start counting pennies! There were two berths on opposite sides with Sukhothai as the destination so I set out to try and nail down which one we should be at. It wasn’t very successful but my tourist look prompted a couple from Spain to ask me if we were on the same bus – safety in numbers!!!!!  As it turned out we were the only foreigners on the bus!  Team Spain!!

The bus ride was an experience in itself. The back door was wide open so Carlos tried to close it a bit since our bags were all piled right across from it. Not long after, the conductor lady came and opened it again!  However, Carlos thought that she closed it properly and when he went back to rearrange one of the bags he moved around with astonishing confidence and agility. I was gobsmacked that he wasn’t even holding on with his free hand. Eventually he realized that the door was open and couldn’t believe it!!!! Too funny!

We pulled into New Sukhothai an hour later at 3:30 pm and were whisked away in a tuk tuk truck to the old city where our hotel was located. We were staying at Thai Thai Sukhothai and it was lovely! The only thing it was missing to be perfect was a pool. The staff were really friendly and rooms very nicely appointed and comfortable. The hotel is about 1 km from the historic park so we rented scooters to zip around with ease. It took a little convincing to get me on board but in the end I gave in and I’m so glad it did! It was so much fun! It was 300 baht (7 €) for 24 hours.

We went to a neighboring hotel (Sinvana?) for a pre-dinner Chang. This was the most expensive beer by far at over a hundred baht each (a whopping 2.40 €!!) Ridiculous! Needless to say we got out of there quickly! We took our scooters for a test drive into the old town for dinner. We had some fresh coconut water and some standard noodle and rice dishes.

Before coming away we had read about how the water provided by hotels and often restaurants is called “drinking water” and is stripped of everything but the H2O it seems! We have really noticed that we feel much more dehydrated than on any other trip since unless you buy mineral water from a 7-11 you aren’t giving your body anything to work with. So coconut water is our new best friend to get a boost of electrolytes!!!

The guys dropped the gals off at the hotel and then went on a quest for petrol which turned out to be easier said than done!!! Especially in the dark!! They survived attack dogs, blank looks when asking directions, and in the end the pumps themselves and finally made it back to the bungalows!!! It was then straight to bed since we had a 5:15 wake up call to see the sunrise over the temples!!!

Needless to say, the wake up call came waaaay too quickly! Haha! But wow was it ever worth it! We weren’t exactly sure how to get into the park (since it was still technically closed) so it took us a little longer than needed to get in place at our temple of choice – Wat Tra Phang Ngoen. The sunrise itself wasn’t very spectacular but the cool temperature and exclusive access more than made up for any initial disappointment in the lighting!  Half an hour after sunrise we got about 3 minutes of amazing light as the sun broke through the clouds – magic!!!

We rambled around for a bit and then moved on to one of the most popular temples, Wat Mahathat. There was still no one else in the park so it was fabulous to have it all to ourselves. The first people wandered in around 7 am and while the number of people grew steadily you could never claim to describe it as crowded at any point. We set up the tripod for a photo of us and our amazing scooters by the lagoon.

We ducked into Wat Si Sawai which is known for its khmer-style towers and offerings in the roots of an ancient tree. This was very peaceful.

The next temple on our list before going back to the hotel for breakfast was Wat Sa Si. This one is famous for the Standing Buddha that touches the Sitting Buddha when looking at the right angle. It also sits on a little island that is reached by bridge. The groundskeepers were working hard clearing some grass so it was a hive of activity.

We did a few victory laps of the area on our scooters to take videos and photos while on the move!! Finally three hours after sunrise we returned to the hotel for a well deserved breakfast!! After a quick turn around we were back on the road heading to the northern zone of the park. There are three zones that each require a 100 baht entrance fee: the central where we saw the sunrise (and didn’t pay since the park wasn’t open yet!), the north, and the west.

Our first stop was at Wat Phra Phai Luang which also has a khmer-style tower. The most famous temple in the northern zone is Wat Si Chum which houses the enormous seated Buddha that peeks through the temple opening. It was truly astounding! Naturally it was the most congested place we had encountered since the space is quite small, but it is difficult to only take a quick look since the sight is so spellbinding.

Next we motored further out of town to the west to see some of the forest temples. Wat Saphan Hin was first and involved a climb up to the temple. There were steps and it wasn’t too bad! At the top are Standing and Sitting Buddhas looking out over the land and ancient city. You can’t make out individual temples but the view is lovely to take in.

As we descended it started to rain!!! Noooo! Rain is not easy on a scooter!!!! 🙂  We waited it out a half an hour and finally got back on the road. We saw a few temples from the road but the other one that we explored more closely was Wat Chedi Ngam. You reach this one through a forest path and it was very cool! The setting really adds to the feeling of adventure!

By now it was time for lunch so we continued to the little strip of restaurants and had our feast. The food was pretty standard from place to place and while our meals were not the best we’d ever eaten, they were still completely satisfying and tasty! Afterwards we went back to the hotel to have a little rest and gear up for sunset.

Our plan for sunset was to return to Wat Mahathat and the lagoon for the famous sunset photo. We took a quick detour to Wat Chang Lom near the hotel for a look at the elephant statues around the chedi. I was already getting excited for the elephants in Chiang Mai!!!!

As we were entering the central zone after closing time, we didn’t have to pay! Again! And remarkably there was really no one watching the sunset. We anticipated crowds of people at the lagoon! I guess we’re the only people don’t pay attention to the opening hours of the park! It has to be said for the record that the gate is open but the ticket booth is closed – so we aren’t even jumping any fences!!!!

We had another wander around the temple as the sun set. Unfortunately once again there wasn’t really any spectacular light but as with the sunrise, it was just magic to be there!

Our luck continued when night fell and they started testing the lights for a light show that was being held the next day. We hung around and saw Wat Mahathat lit up in all its glory. Very cool!

With darkness upon us, there was only one option to do: eat! And get ready for the next stage of the adventure: tomorrow’s bus to Chiang Mai!!

And so the “real” adventure begins with our first foray outside of the city as we make our way north!! We had a potential train schedule from the internet (potential only because I kept reading that schedules are so optional here in Thailand!) The site I found was www.railway.co.th/checktime and as far as I could see, the schedule was accurate.

We decided to take the 8:20 train to Ayutthaya from Hua Lamphong station in Bangkok. A taxi to the station was 60 B although the driver first offered us the low low fixed price of 150 B!!!! Since we had just taken a taxi from near the station in Chinatown the day before, we knew that there was no way we were paying that!!!! We asked him to put on the meter and when he said no and we said OK next taxi please, he changed his mind! So the lesson here coincides with everything I have read about taxis in Bangkok – always use the meter!!

We made it to the station and had the tickets bought in no time. We were first offered 2nd class tickets at around 900 B for the four of us (can’t remember exactly) but I asked about 3rd class and we made away like bandits in the night with a charge of 80 B for all of us!!!! That’s 0.47€/0.69¢ each instead of about 6€/$8 each.  For a two hour train ride! The trick with 3rd class is that you don’t have an assigned seat so you might have to stand and there is no air conditioning. We did however have soft seats which was a big surprise! We also were able to sit the whole time. The train left on time but ended up being “only” 40 minutes late into Ayutthaya.

The station at Ayutthaya was well equipped with luggage storage, advanced booking office, toilets, etc. And tuk tuks! We went ahead and bought our tickets for the next day to Phitsanulok where we would then take a bus to Sukhothai. This time we sprung for the 2nd class tickets since the journey was listed as almost 4 hours. Once we were organized we set out in a tuk tuk for Baan Kong Hotel. It cost us 100 B with no negotiation.

Baan Kong is right across the road from Wat Ratchaburana so ideally situated for exploring the central area of temples. The man on the desk was so nice and his English was quite good so we got lots of information from him (mainly helping me locate my list of temples to see on the map!) We also signed up for a private longboat trip around the island around sunset time. It was either going to be 200 B each to join a group or 1000 B to just get our own boat so we opted for the latter. Our bungalows were brand new (four weeks old) and great! Pretty basic but comfortable and really all you need!

Our first temple was our neighbour Ratchaburana. The most notable feature here was the tall tower that you could climb. Inside the tower was a bat cave!!! It was so freaky to see the bats flying around and hear them. We didn’t really venture too far into that area!!

We skipped over Wat Mahathat in the hope that there would be fewer people towards the end of the day when day trips would already be on their way back to Bangkok. Amazingly though, from the road you can see the famous Buddha head encased in tree roots.

From there we crossed the big park to Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit and marveled at the giant Buddha inside.

Next door is Wat Phra Si Samphet which is distinctive with its three chedis.

By now it was time to start heading back to Wat Mahathat so that we didn’t run out of time. There were still enough people around but as with all the temples, a little patience usually wins out in the end for photos. The Buddha head in the roots really was fascinating to see, especially because there were so few statues with heads that it was a bit different to see a head without the body. Its location was quite surprising to me since all of the pictures I had ever seen of it were really close up so it was neat to see the tree itself.

Next on the agenda was a bite to eat before the boat trip. We went to Malakor on the corner of our street.

The boat trip started at 4 pm with a tuk tuk ride to the night market area where we caught the boat. We motored around the moat/river clockwise and stopped at 3 temples with 20 minutes in each. The first was a new temple, Wat Phanan Choeng. And as is the trend, there was a huge Buddha inside. Fascinating!

The next stop was Wat Phutthai Sawan. This had Buddhas all around the perimeter and then towers in the middle. This trip turned out to be the ultimate test for us in that we only had 20 minutes to take pictures! We are usually very slow about the process (just ask poor Virginia who has to wait around for us!) So this felt like a sprint!

The third temple was our favorite of the day: Wat Chaiwatthanaram. It was khmer-style so had that Angkor aura about it. The sun was just about to set and the area was so peaceful even with the boatloads of people running around!

We then boated around the rest of the island and ended up back at the night market. We had a beer to quench our thirst while we pondered the food options. Meanwhile mother nature was hard at work building up a rain storm that would last over an hour and scutter our plans for market food. We eventually abandoned the area in a tuk tuk and went back to Malakor to eat since we knew we could stay dry. The hotel actually left umbrellas at our bungalow doors which was a nice touch!

Our three days in Bangkok followed a general format that we settled into quite easily: breakfast nearby, tourist trail, lunch, massage, pool, dinner, bed. Our hotel, Casa Nithra, was in the old side of the city about 15 minutes walk to Khao San Road (for lack of a better landmark – more about that later!) There were plenty of great restaurants in the surrounding streets that varied from super-local to nice tourist friendly (ie with air conditioning!) And then of course all the street stalls. Hunger was never an issue! We did find a favourite place that we went to a few times. We nicknamed it El Niño since there was a hilarious kid serving us. Everyone is so nice and we are definitely enjoying our food!

In terms of the tourist trail we concentrated on the old area since we’ll have time in the new part at the end of our trip. From the hotel we walked to the river and walked along it as far as we could then deviated to the the big park that leads to the Royal Palace. Bangkok is all decorated in preparation for the Queen’s birthday on August 12. It is also Mother’s Day. In the park there was a big stage set up and they were rehearsing for the celebration. We saw the cutest kids doing a traditional dance.

From the Royal Palace area we took the ferry across the river (3 B) to Wat Arun and saw that temple area. I’m not sure of the name of the Wat that is beside Wat Arun but it was a really peaceful introduction to Thai temples.

Wat Arun was much more crowded but still cool.  The steps up were crazy so I only went to the first level!! The temple was much more colourful than I imagined it with all the porcelain bits.

We then crossed back over on the ferry and saw Wat Pho and the reclining Buddha in all its glory. Wow. Seriously amazing!

We were pretty hot and sticky by this point so we hopped in a taxi back to the hotel (50 B) and hit the pool! It is on the rooftop of the hotel so great views and a very pleasant cooling breeze. In fact we were chilled when we got out!  Watching the sun set from up there was great. In fact we never did make it to any other sunset spots these days. The hotel is great (no breakfast included and the one on offer was waaaay overpriced at 250 B per person but with all the options on the doorstep that is more of an advantage than a disadvantage!) It’s a new hotel so everything is new and modern.

Day 2 had us in a taxi first thing in the morning to the Royal Palace (43 B). Even though it had just opened at 8:30 it was still crawling with people and very hot!!! The sun was shining and we had blue skies! The palace area was spectacular. Everything was so colorful and vibrant against the backdrop of the blue sky. We spent a good two hours exploring all that we could before finally retreating to cool down with a mango shake!

Refreshed, we set out on foot to Wat Suthat and the Giant Swing. We really found the temples to be fascinating and the devoutness of the people inspiring.

After the Giant Swing we went to the Golden Mount which is nearby. We were honestly left a little neutral from the experience but it is an easy climb up and worth a look for the views.

We hopped a taxi home (50 B) and had our first lunch with El Niño. We also had our first downpour of rain! Luckily all it meant for us was that we could order dessert! The fried banana…..oh.my.!!!!

Then it was time to see what this massage thing is all about!!! We actually just did back, shoulders, and head for 250 B on our street. It was a good experience with only a few strange contortions thrown in!! The four of us were in a row and we must have made quite the sight!!!!

This was the night we decided to check out Khao San Road. We have never felt so old!!!! Just one party after the other and we definitely weren’t exposing enough skin!!!! We walked the length of the street and got out as fast as we could!!! We retreated to our neighborhood and had a nice peaceful dinner!

We spent our final day touring the khlongs in a longboat. I’m quite sure that we paid too much (700 B each for 1.5 hours in our own boat) but we just couldn’t be bothered to either barter it down or find another departure point!

The canal life was really interesting. And terrifying when we saw the enormous lizards (more like crocodiles) that were swimming below us! Enormous!!!!! We stopped at the Taling Chan floating market. Everything looked delicious but we were still quite full from breakfast (I have to stop eating these massive rice soups!!)

After the longboat we grabbed the orange flag bus/boat to go to Chinatown.  We went with the cheap/local option so it was pretty crowded but it did the trick!  We were on the right side of the boat to see Wat Arun as we motored by.

Once we arrived, it felt like we had gone back in time to our trip to China!  We wandered the market lined sois and marvelled at the Canadian cherries – for real?

Finally hunger got the better of us and we found a great place Hua Sen Hong to indulge in our Chinese duck love. In the cabinets there were packages of “Birds Nests” for sale. We asked about them since they were insanely expensive or at least they appeared to be unless we were reading the labels wrong. From what we could tell, they put them in soups. I just asked google and they are indeed bird’s nests that average $2500 per kilo. Yowzas!!!!

This day’s afternoon massage activity of choice was a foot massage. I was quite reluctant since I’m just getting over tendonitis in my ankle but it was great. A lot of the points that she touched in the ankle area were exactly those that the doctor did in Madrid and it didn’t hurt so all was good! She did leave bruises on my calves though!!! 200 B for a hour.

There were fireworks tonight for the Queen’s birthday but it was raining! We didn’t try to see them (although we did see some right from our hotel window). We hoped that the show in the park was a bit earlier in the evening so that they didn’t get too wet!

And that was Bangkok! Overall we enjoyed it and thought the traffic and getting around would be so much worse. Being a holiday on Tuesday we suspect that the city was actually quite empty since its traffic infamy can not be based on anything that we experienced! Looking forward to exploring the bright and shiny side at the end of our trip!

EDIT:  Traffic in Bangkok is ATROCIOUS!!!!!  At the end of our trip we experienced the legendary traffic jams in all their glory.  45 minutes to turn at one intersection!!  Holiday weekends are the way to go for sure!  🙂

We made it to Bangkok!  And as it turned out, we arrived in high style. It seems that I made a mistake in my previous post when I said that we were flying in economy on the A380 from Dubai to BKK — yes! We were upgraded to business class! There were at least 11 of us who were given the golden ticket! (Note: it wasn’t actually golden….!)

But first let me comment on the first leg of our journey. Everything was perfectly on time leaving Madrid and we had a relatively comfortable flight. Our route brought us over Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Iran before crossing the Persian Gulf to the UAE. Dinner was good (even though they had run out of the better sounding lamb curry and we had to make do with chicken) and then settled in for about 4 hours of sleep.  It was only a 6.5 hr flight so between take off/landing and dinner there really wasn’t much time for shut eye.  I witnessed a spectacular sunrise over Iran – wow!

But even more of a wow was getting off the plane in Dubai. We didn’t have a Jetway direct to the terminal so we had to walk outside to a bus. At 7:05 AM it was 34°C and humid like you wouldn’t believe! The humidity really surprised us!

And even more of a wow was getting our upgrades an hour later! There was no one going through to the gate so Carlos and I each went to a different lady to show our boarding passes. Carlos was finished first and neither of us could see or hear the other lady so we weren’t sure if we were both upgraded!!! It was quite funny! And now I honestly couldn’t even tell you how long we waited to take off or how long the flight was (well actually I can – 6 hours of bliss!!!!)

We were in the middle with the two seats together. We passed the time before take off by playing with all the buttons while sipping our moet & chandon. Lift off was freaky since you couldn’t see out any window and it felt like the plane was moving soooooo slowly! Once in the air, we had fun with our noise canceling cushy earphones and watched a movie while we waited for lunch. The meal opened up with an impressive plate of Arabian mezze and green salad.

This was followed by a steak for me and curry for Carlos. The curry was delish while the steak was well done but still amazingly tender. We rounded out our meal with chocolate mousse for me and cheesecake with lychee for Carlos.

By this time a good three hours had passed so we decided it was time to check out the lounge. The barman was from Philadelphia and poured us an excellent Patrón tequila and coffee mix for me and a chives regal for Carlos. We stood at the bar chatting and a German couple came along. The husband became our good friend Helmut – as drinking with someone at 37,000 feet makes them an automatic friend! We were part way through our drink when the captain switched on the seatbelt sign. We were asked to take a seat and when we started leaving the lounge, we were directed to the bench seating beside the bar that is equipped with seatbelts! As it turned out, this was the longest stretch of turbulence …. EVER!!! so what could we do but continue drinking??? Over the next 2 hours we had a great laugh! I sort of feel bad for the people in the last row since everyone seemed to be sleeping in the cabin (lay flat and all) and we were all out belly laughing!

Finally with about an hour to go, we were able to return to our seats. This was good because we still had lots to discover. The main thing was the lay flat experience which I forgot to combine with the massage function (silly me). It goes without saying that this was the best flight of our lives!!!

Our welcome to Thailand was in the form of the most hilarious immigration officer. Hilarious but s.l.o.w. for every person that he processed, the guy next to him did 4 or 5 people! On the one hand it was brutal but on the other entertaining once we got through eventually. As it happened, I went through first and our luggage carrousel was right beside the booth so I was able to watch both Carlos and the luggage coming off! The bags came off together about  2 minutes later so once Carlos was through, we were off!

We had booked an airport transfer through our hotel, Casa Nithra.  I have to say that even though they are always pricier than the local transport options, this is something that I always arrange when possible. It is always nice to see a friendly face holding a sign with your name when you arrive in a foreign place. And most importantly in a place like bangkok, they know where the hotel is!!!

Before we knew it, we were at the hotel and reunited with Javi and Virginia. It turns out that Javi was upgrade too with emirates but Virginia wasn’t!!!! They had booked their tickets in two reservations so were in the system separately. Nooooo! We exchanged all our travel stories over some pad thai, soup, pad sieu (bad spelling!) And naturally a few large beers to officially kick off the holiday! Then it was back to the hotel for a long awaited sleep!