Bangkok - to start our Indochina Tour

Trip Start Nov 21, 2007
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Trip End Oct 01, 2008


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Friday, April 11, 2008

We met up with our second tour group for The Great Indochina Loop, this time with Intrepid Travel, at the rooftop bar of the Grand Ville hotel in Bangkok. We have a different group this time. There are no other couples with this group compared to the South America tour where we had 3 other couples...no one is even dating! Just us showing the true way to have a happy marriage! No pressure, haha. We have 3 other Americans (Boston, St. Louis, San Diego), 5 British, 2 Australians and an Australian leader, Dean. Our ages span from 18 (yes, 18!!!) to mid 40's. We got a neat logistics book and printed itinerary which was something we both thought was a great addition to the beginning meeting.

We went to dinner in a tourist area around Khao San Road. This is usually a safe, easy 20-25 minute walk. However, the Thai new year is from April 14th - 16th. The locals celebrate with a festival called Songkran which is basically a huge citywide water fight more fun "things"
more fun "things"
 . It was started by just sprinkling water on people as you passed them to "wash" them clean for the new year. However, the younger generation now carries around buckets, HUGE water guns and barrels of water on a tuk tuk. Another fun addition is a powder like substance that they smear on your face. It took us an hour to get to the restaurant, one of our guys got his cell phone snatched away, and we were all filthy! Thankfully, we did not take our camera and survived the night well. You will see a pic of us with white powder all over us from that night!

The next morning we took a klong (a long motorized boat) tour along the river which we had done before in 2006, but it was so refreshing to be back in a city we "knew". The boat took us to the Wat Pho where the reclining Buddha resides. Since it was the new year, we were privileged enough to see some of the local traditions like the washing of the Buddha and alms given for good luck in the new year. OH! We got a Thai massage while we where there which is where the traditional Thai massage originated. It is not like your normal massage. It is much more "participative". The client does lots of stretching and moving compared to the kinds we are used to at home where we just lay there in a coma. It is great though. You just have to be prepared for it. They are pretty amazing too. Jana had some stomach issues going on and the masseuse actually massaged her abdomen! You know Jana...she asked everyone in the group if they had the same experience and NO ONE did...so they literally "read" your body and adjust the massage to your needs. CRAZY!

That night we climbed on a night train (our very first over night train!) and headed to Chaing Mai. We both slept pretty well, so we were happy campers.
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