November 28 - Phi Phi to Bangkok
Well, we decided to head off to Bangkok today. We could have stayed another day here in Phi Phi, but we decided that an extra day in Bangkok would be quite useful.
The trip to Bangkok was a little long and involved. We had to take our shuttle boat to the ferry terminal on Phi Phi, then the ferry for two hours to Phuket where we would wait about three hours to take the overnight bus to Bangkok. This seems quite exhausting, but it wasn¡¦t so bad after-all.
November 29 - Getting Back to Bangkok
We arrived in Bangkok around 7am a little tired, but ready to stretch our legs. After a city bus ride that took over an hour, we finally got to our bus stop, and walked the remaining ten minutes to our hostel. Well, we didn¡¦t know if it would be OUR hostel, since we hadn¡¦t booked anything yet. Yup, we¡¦re really into this ¡§fly by the seat of our pants¡¨ way of living. It is really hard to believe that the two of us have become like this. We¡¦re usually so wound up, with set out plans, and schedules for everything. Heck, a few years ago, we went to Australia with a binder of reservations and plans!
Luckily, the guesthouse had a double room for us. Since it was only 9:30, we would have to wait until 2pm for the room. No problem! We were quite happy to sit around here. The reason we chose this out-of-the-way place was because it offered free wi-fi (wireless internet). We plunked down at a table, plugged in our laptop, and wasted the day away. We knew we¡¦d have plenty of time to see the sights in the next four days, we didn¡¦t mind this at all. In a way, it was quite cathartic. We checked our emails, uploaded our journal, surfed the net for Cambodia information and more importantly surfed the net for our pleasure.
And our room? Well, we had a double bed with clean pink sheets and a comfy duvet! Yup, a duvet in a backpackers! Oh yeah, the walls did meet the ceiling and there was a/c. The only compromise we had to make was that the room didn¡¦t have a window nor a bathroom. But, what a bathroom we had to share¡Kit even had a shower stall and a shower curtain. Oooooh, the luxuries. (Can you imagine what we¡¦re now getting excited over? Ha! Ha!)
Really, that¡¦s it, not much more to say. Quite an uneventful day. Nice.
November 30 - One Day in Bangkok (C¡¦mon, can¡¦t you hear the song?)
Today, we had a goal in our mind: find an earphone and microphone set for our computer. As you may remember from our previous Bangkok posting, there is an amazing technology area in a local mall. We headed straight there.
Last time we were here it was a Sunday and it was packed. Today, it was less packed. We still had to file through people. After walking past probably a hundred cell phone shops, we were about ready to give up. They all had earphone and microphone sets, but all for cell phones. You¡¦d think they¡¦d be the same, apparently not. When we were just about to give up, voila! We came across a shop with various brands. Yahoo! Gerald bargained a bit for a little ¡§discount¡¨ and walked off quite excited to put them to use.
Walking past a hair salon, I figured that it was time that I took the plunge to get rid of these dry ends. As you may know, I¡¦m always nervous with new stylists. To my surprise, the stylist was fantastic and I left there with one of the best haircuts I¡¦ve had in years. fº
This evening, we plugged in the headset, fired up Skype, checked out the time zones and called our friend, Chris. This Skype is truly the best! There we were, on our own computer, using free wifi talking to our friend in Bermuda. While Gerald was talking to him, my Uncle Gary called. Cool! Needless to say, we really enjoyed ourselves that evening.
December 1 - Bangkok¡¦s Hot Tourist Spots
Today, we immersed ourselves in Bangkok¡¦s tourist sites. To start off, we made our way from the hostel to the river, via both the Skytrain and the subway. Arriving at the river, we boarded a ferry for the ride up the river. This wasn¡¦t the shortest or quickest route to the Royal Palace, but we wanted to enjoy the trip up the river in a river taxi. The ride up the river was pretty cool. It was even narrated by a guide who pointed out various points of interest.
Getting off at the stop nearest the Royal Palace, we had to walk three or four blocks to the entrance. We had to interrupt our walk to stop and put on our pants. Well, not exactly. We had to zip on the bottoms of detachable pants. I wasn¡¦t going to make that mistake twice! With our pants securely zipped, we headed across the street to purchase our entrance tickets.
The complex that houses Wat Pho and the Royal Grand Palace is really huge and could take days to explore. We were awestruck by the beauty of the buildings of Wat Pho. Imagine an intricate mosaic of mirror-looking tiles of various colors: red, green, white, black, gold, silver, blue¡KThey just sparkle in the sun. Actually, we had passed the area at night during one of our bus trips and it lit up it looks like that the buildings were made of various colors of sparkling diamonds.
Wat Pho is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. We were expecting a large Buddha, but having seen the actual size, we understand how various kings and leaders would move it to temples in their hometowns. It is a small statue, no more than 1m in length and is suspended high in the air. It looks like it is floating. This has been a very important statue over the past centuries. Sh, don¡¦t tell this secret. The Buddha is not really made of Emerald, but of Jade.
The Royal Grand Palace buildings pale in comparison. The buildings would look quite beautiful if they weren¡¦t right next to the sparkling buildings of Wat Pho, however, their beauty is difficult to appreciate here.
The next, ¡§must see¡¨ was Wat Phra Kaew. At the one entrance, a ¡§friendly Thai man¡¨ told us that it was closed early, but that the other temple a few blocks away was still open. We almost bit, but figured it was a hoax. Sure enough, another entrance was wide open. The ¡§friendly Thai man¡¨ would have like us to believe him, be grateful, and then be thankful that he offered us a ride to the other temple. He¡¦d then possibly take us on a long route and demand a lot of money for the trip. No way, Jose. We¡¦re not in Kansas anymore!
Wat Phra Kaew was in no way a disappointment. The grounds around the buildings were very serene, full of potted trees, trimmed hedges, and little pagodas to hide from the sun. But, the highlight is the Reclining Buddha. This is a huge golden Buddha that is laying on his side, with his head propped up by his arm, his elbow resting on the base. Just how big is it? Well, let me tell you. It is 46m in length, the head measures a height of 15m and the feet are 4m in height. Can you believe this? We had to see it to believe it. As you can imagine, it was impossible to get a good picture. The picture of the head will have to suffice.
Always up for a good walk, we left this temple and walked about an hour to get us back to Khao San Road. We really wanted one last ¡§taste¡¨ of this famous road. Upon arriving, we did just that and had our favourite Pad Thai and Springrolls for less than $2. We then did a bit of shopping and settled back at our favourite bar for some refreshments. Again, it was very relaxing and entertaining ¡§people watching¡¨.
Finally, we knew we had to head off. We decided to walk to the Giant Swing. By doing this, we walked directly through Democracy Monument. The meaning requires no information, the monument¡¦s four towers are really pretty all lit up at night. After a short walk, we found ourselves at the Giant Swing. Basically, this is a large rectangular frame. Yup, that¡¦s it. Not really much to see.
Knowing the direction to walk, we headed off with the idea to stop at a bus stop. Well, arriving at each one, we weren¡¦t sure of the bus numbers and were upset when busses just flew by us. We decided to continue walking until we found a stop that had a few people standing at it. That never did happen. As it turns out, this street would have been very busy during the day, but all of the shop fronts were closed with their iron grates or their metal doors. We walked and we walked and we walked and we walked. We figure that we walked at least 5 km. Soon, we came upon a Tesco. This big department store was attached to a small mall. We stopped in to take a break. That KFC ice cream cone sure hit the spot.
Knowing that we were really close to the SkyTrain station that we needed, we sucked it up and walked the last km. Once in the train, we looked at the map. No wonder we were exhausted we figure that we walked about 6km since having left Khao San Road. Add the other walking we did during the day, we think we may have walked over 12km in all. We were shattered.
Back at our guesthouse, we made the most of the free wi-fi, but found ourselves out cold pretty early, quite satisfied with our big day of sightseeing.
December 2 - Jim Thompson¡¦s House
Looking through our stuff, we realized that we could get rid of some more clothing and souvenirs (are they spontaneously reproducing?) We headed to the nearest post office. Unfortunately, their boxes wouldn¡¦t work. Never ones to give up, we walked down the street popping in to a couple of shops, asking (or rather miming our requests to) the shop owners for a box that would fit it all. Finally, one gentleman just wouldn¡¦t let us go until we were satisfied. In fact, he kept dumping out other boxes to provide us with more packing pieces to fill the box completely.
Finally, we were back at the packed post office to take yet another number. Regretting not bringing our thick marker, I started the painstaking task of making bold letters with a ball point pen. Another customer saw us and told Gerald to take the box next door. We kept our number and headed over.
This shop not only wraps the packages in brown paper, but they also have various sizes of boxes. Wouldn¡¦t you know it? We walked six blocks and spent 45 minutes looking for a box when there were plenty right next door. I don¡¦t know why we couldn¡¦t have figured it out. I mean, isn¡¦t it obvious that a motorcycle tire shop would provide this service?
Having lightened our load, we hopped on the Sky Train en route to Jim Thompson¡¦s House. Jim Thompson was an American who in the 1940s and 1950s was responsible for bringing the Thai silk trade to worldwide recognition. He created factories that produced original designs. He was very good to the Thai people and brought much prosperity. His home is now a museum. It is comprised of a few buildings that were moved from different parts of Thailand. They are all original Thai design: beautiful, rich teak wood all assembled without any nails.
In his spare time, he would tour South-East Asia looking for interesting items. His home is like a museum of cultural pieces. As a matter of fact, while he lived there, he would allow tours on the weekend. On a trip to the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia, he went missing, never to be seen again. Different theories still surround his disappearance. Jealous Thai businessmen, shady dealings, lost in the jungle, car accident? It is doubtful that anyone will ever know. He¡¦d already been divorced from his fashion model American wife and never fathered any children. Due to this, his home is owned by his foundation. His company continues today. It still produces quality silk products.
We really enjoyed the guided tour. The witty tour guide not only gave us details about Jim Thompson, she shared a ton of information about Thai architecture and Thai culture.
Having walked enough yesterday, we hopped on the first SkyTrain and didn¡¦t hop off until we were as close to our guesthouse as possible. We stopped in at our favourite spot for dinner. In fact, we¡¦d eaten here all week: a large grocery store. We love their small food court and freshly squeezed juices.
Back at Big John¡¦s we once again enjoyed the wi-fi and chatting with other travellers. Just as I was heading to bed, I stopped at the front desk for a bottle of water. Two people were checking in. I noticed a Canadian passport. ¡§Do I really have the energy to find out where they¡¦re from?¡¨ I asked myself. Being a friendly Canadian, I did. The girl said she was from BC and the guy said Alberta. When I said I was from the Peace River area in Alberta, his eyes lit up. ¡§You know Peace River?¡¨
¡§Sort of, my dad is from Falher.¡¨ Kevin replied. NO WAY! This is where Gerald is from. Keep in mind that it is a town of 1200 people. Well, I summoned Gerald over and we found out that Kevin¡¦s dad, Jules, was meeting up with a cousin of Gerald¡¦s dad in Phoenix for the Christmas and that I¡¦d taught with one of his cousins at Routhier School in Falher. Unfortunately, their long journey from North America earlier in the day and our early start tomorrow morning kept us from chatting more. What a small world!
15 votes 
