The Beach with Byrner
Trip Start
Jun 05, 2007
1
62
82
Trip End
Jan 06, 2009
Koh Chang,
Thailand
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Our first day with Byrner was spent letting her recover from the crazy plane journey she had just dealt with. We walked around a bit, headed to the National Gallery, and sought AC where we could. We also made the decision to head to Koh Chang the following day, an island in the East. In the morning we had planned to wake early, but this rarely becomes a reality with us, or the Byrne, and the morning dragged a bit, but we got down to the Grand Palace none the less. What an amazing sight!! The holiest place in Thailand for Buddhist, covered in murals and gold. Huge guardian statues everywhere, and at the focus was a giant emerald Buddha. Right next to the temple is the old residence of the Thai king who is also considered a sort of holy man, like the Egyptian pharoah
Byrner finally gets here
. Giant white building with an impressive courtyard, and guardian elephant statues that looked real. As the day really began to heat up we got out of the sun and headed for the bus station to get down to the islands.On the way down to the bus, Byrner was getting a little woozy from the motion of the taxi and the skytrain, but I think a good dose of Dramamine and a bit of time off the bus did her well. Her and Amanda chatted the 5 and 1/2 hours to Trat away like old school mates. We met a couple of American guys on our arrival in Trat and ended up sharing a taxi with them, and then on to dinner. They were happy just to hear our accents, they are studying to be doctors and had been out in the stix for awhile. We all had a good chat, and headed off to the island together in the morning. When we arrived at the dock we were greeted by the one taxi that was functioning on the island, which happened to be a pickup truck with benches in the back and a sun shade. We were all overpacked in, and still payed more than I thought we should, and I voiced it to our driver. By this time, I think Byrner was beginning to sense just how cheap Amanda and I were, as we haggled with just about everyone. But really, its just the style here. Anyway, we got to Lonely Beach, and he dropped us off in the center saying that the hotel we wanted was just down the road, and as we found out, it wasnt, so we opted for a closer one
The golden stupa
. On our walk down there a couple in a pickup offered us a ride, but there wasnt room for all 3 plus luggage, so I said I would walk. Well, about 15 seconds later it began to downpour, and yes I got really soaked. Though, my stuff stayed fairly dry in the cab.For the next 5 days, we did very little. Woke up around 9, had breakfast till 11, layed on the beach, escaped the rains by playing cards, lunched, read, lazed, dinnered, drank a little beer(not Byrner), and generally just enjoyed ourselves, and having our friend. On the day before we were to leave we decided we would go an visit the elephants at the reserve. We arrived, and right away we were ushered off with two elephants to the river to bathe them. This was absolutely fantastic. As soon as we get down to the river they call us into the river, with the elephants, and we climb ontop and start brushing their thick skin. The one Byrner is on keeps sucking up water and shooting it in her face, by the mahot's command. Then it stands up and she is just riding it like a horse. All in stride. Most of the people wouldn't even get in the water, and we were playing around in it like little kids.
After the bathing session we took a ride on them in the Thai style sedan chairs atop the elephants. Through the jungle we rocked back and forth on these giant creatures. At one point my elephant decided to trumpet in disgust at something the mahot was telling him to do, and I realized just how big... and scary these animals can be. Everything was fine though, near the end we stopped at a pomelo tree and he had a feed. Amanda and Byrne rode Cindy for a while with similiar stories.
We had the rest of the day on the beach, and enjoyed our last sunset before retreating for a shower
Guardian Statue
. Byrner won at 500 rummy for the fourth or fifth time, I swear she cheats, and the evening passed as most of them had at Lonely Beach. We left the next day for a ferry ride, followed by a 5 1/2 hours bus ride, followed by a skytrain ride, then a 3rd class train ride, and finally another ferry to get to Ayutthaya, the ancient city of Thailand. The next day we spent there, walking around through the heat of the day, looking at all the ancient temples and buildings that are scattered through the city like some sort of park system. They are really incredible, especially the ones that were not destroyed by the Burmese invasion. Amanda ate an ice-cream from a street vendor, and Byrner looked at her as if she were a crazy woman. I shared the icecream. We also saw the giant golden buddha, and a reclining buddha that dates way back as well. After a late, and well deserved lunch we headed back for the train to Bangkok. We arrived in the city, got showered, ate, and slept.
The next day was the day Byrner was leaving us, but we made the most of Bangkok. First we went to the Jim Thompson silk house, and she was able to get some presents for family and friends at home. Really nice stuff too. We also went around to some of the handicraft markets, which are ironically now placed in some of the mega-malls. These places are quite interesting though, monstrocoties of the capitalist society. Ironically enough, one of them had a photo exhibit about global warming and climate change at its feet. Amanda felt the need to comment, extensively.
We got Byrne back to the room for a shower before her long flight and to get prepared
Plaza
. We had our last dinner together, and set off for the airport. We had planned to take the bus, but due to some mistakes by Amanda and I, and the mounting pressure, not to mention the insane humidity and heat that never goes away, we ended up in a taxi. There were some hiccups at the airport, but she got on her plane, and we parted ways. It was so fantastic to have a long time friend close by, its been a year with very little contact to our life lines. We stayed in Bangkok a few more days getting our passports sorted, and our Laos' visas. In the off time we explored downtown near Siam Square. Eating good street food, thai noodle, tom yum, stir fried morning glory with basil and chilli, and the like. We booked our ticket to Chiang Mai, third class, because nothing else was available due to the festival. Which meant we would be sitting on a 90 degree bench for 17 hours, in the heat. Ah well, on to Chiang Mai. We enjoyed our last days in Bangkok, soaking in the city which is so unlike any of the SE Asian cities we had been to thus far. So big, so alive. Not that the others weren't, but Bangkok was especially so.
