David volunteers to help Aor with the Coconut Cream Sauce

Aor asks for a volunteer and David jumps up to help.  Aor said "It's a good thing - I have been helping you all morning!" David was the least experienced Chef in the group, with me being just a slight notch above him.

See the cooking mirror above the cook

April 29th @Home Thai Cullinary School

All food descriptions below are straight from the chef's brochures! We also received a cook book with all the receipes that they teach in the course over the week.  If we have time I would like to come back in fill in the other days that I have not done yet as we had such a good time.  We have ourselves on the waiting list for the evening dinner course - in that class you learn among other things the Thai fried noodles with prawns and mango with sticky rice.  Our class today held 6 students including Larry and I for the second day, a young Irish girl Ruth who was on a round the world 1 year travel experience with her fiance', and then a couple from Colorado that ran a brewery.  Mark, the brewer, had spent 4 years in south India, doing correspondence courses but his sister had gone to the same hill station school as David, Kodaikanal. 
Small World.

After eating all day at our class we headed to the gym and had a work out before heading home and stopping at a very locale restaurant and got take out dinner for all of $2 each.  Take-out containers here are plastic bags tied with rubber bands at the top. The markets in Chiang Mai are fastinating - the food markets, the flower market, the night market, the Saturday Market, the Sunday Night Walking Market  - this shopper is in heaven but the downside is I can only carry 44 lbs out of here!  Postage is not cheap from here either as we have already checked into that as well as excess baggage which is $10 per pound so shoppers must try and restrain themselves.

Below is what we cooked and ate today at class:

Fried rice with pineapple and prawns - Khao phad sub pa rot sai goong  (A recipe specially made for healthy eaters, with the pineapple adding a touch of tart sweetness to the dish. It has a rich creamy texture that superbly complements the prawns. )

Massaman curry paste - Nam prik massaman ( A unique type of curry amongst the various Thai curries, as it is more like Indian curry using mainly dried spices.)

Massaman curry with chicken - Gaeng massaman gai  (This curry is milder than other Thai curries as the heat of the chilies is mellowed with the addition of dried spices, coconut cream, onions and potatoes. However, it has a sub-continental richness all of its own.)

Chicken satay with peanut sauce - Gai satay ( Simply marinated chicken that is skewered, charcoal-grilled, and served with peanut sauce. )

Grilled beef salad - Yum neu yaang (Grilled, prime quality beef, sliced thinly and tossed with Thai-style dressing, then served with fresh salad for a light, yet satisfying, meal. )

Thai-style banana fritters - Glauy tord (Unlike the well known Western version, these Thai banana fritters use coconut batter and smaller, less ripe bananas that hold their shape and texture better when deep-frying. )

David at Cooking School

See my Steamed fish in the banana leaf & the Red curry with Roasted Duck

I loved stapling the bananna leaves to make the basket for the fish ~

April 28th Chiang Mai Cooking School and Shooting Range

What a wonderful day! I felt liked I learned to cook some really good food! I left this morning at 8:30 to go to cooking@home thai culinary school and lucked out that there was only 1 other person in my class, a fellow from Hawaii, Larry, whose significant other was doing the thai massage course for a week. Coincidentaly it is at the same place we will be next week.  As Larry is signed up for the rest of the week at the cooking school, I thought maybe I could get David to come tomorrow.  After the excellent tour of the local market, where Noi showed us all the produce in the market including the lemon basil, holy basil (thai basil), sweet basil (regular basil), and the various kinds of ginger, mushrooms, eggplants etc.

The three ladies who taught the cooking during the course are Aor, Noi and Pom.  They have been in the culinary school business since 1993. Aor and Noi are very experienced teachers. Pom was for many years the office manager at the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School.  Aor and Noi joined the CM Cookery school as cooking teachers in 2000. Noi moved down to Phuket and worked as the head teacher at the Phuket Thai Cookery School until 2009, while Aor remained teaching and improving her skills at the CM Thai Cookery School, where until 2009 she was the lead cooking instructor. In 2010 they banded together and opened their own school.  I was so impressed today that I went to Trip Advisor and posted a review of their school!

Below is all the food I cooked and ate today:

Steamed fish soufflé in banana leaves - Hor mok plaa (A mixture of fish and curry paste steamed in a banana cup that imparts a special aroma)

Thai red curry paste - Nam prik gaeng ped (The original and classic Thai paste that is used in a variety of curry soup dishes.)

Red curry with roasted duck - Gaeng ped ped yang (An unforgettably delicious curry soup that combines fresh fruit and roasted duck)

Fried chicken with cashew nuts - Gai phad med ma muang him ma pran (Stir-fried chicken with the fantastic nutty flavor of roasted cashews, cooked with dried chilies, onion, garlic, and sauces.)

Deep-fried fish cakes - Towd man plaa (Ground fish, deep-fried and spiced with curry paste, then served with a sweet chili sauce.)

Glutinous rice balls in coconut milk - Bau loi song krueng (This old-school Thai dessert is named for its appearance. Tiny colorful beads made of glutinous rice flour are served in a pond of sweetened coconut milk.)

I got home around 3pm with a full tummy and a doggie bag for David.  He had taken a tuk-tuk out of town to a shooting range and worked with a colt 45 pistol and a ruger 22 rifle to amuse himself while I was gone.  We then went to the gym that we had joined at the Centara Duangtawan hotel.  We managed to get there before the full load of people off work flooded the place which was nice.

We ate in for dinner and tomorrow I told David no breakfast because you start eating your first bit of cooked food around 10 am!  David is now learning about Facebook and I am doing the blog.

Groceries at our feet in tuk tuk

April 27 in Chiang Mai

We rose, had breakfast in our flat, did internet work, and then took a tuk tuk to the Rim Ping supermarket, where we bought supplies for the apartment: salmon, wine, drinking water, veggies, fruit, etc. We also had the tuk tuk stop off to pick up our laundry on the way, and she waited for us for about an hour outside the supermarket. This cost a total bill of $3, with an added dollar for tip.
We then had a nice Greek salad lunch, a nap, and then went to the exercise club at about 5 PM. It was crowded! We found out that 5- 7 PM is peak time, so we will try to avoid this. We had dinner at a German restaurant on the way home – Hofbrauhaus - just passable but air conditioned, and then did some shopping in the night bazaar. We checked out some artists there for Leslie's art project, and found a nice Burmese Buddha that we will consider buying and shipping back. Then were tired and took a tuk tuk home.

Too many groceries and us in a tuk tuk

April 26 Hanging Around Chiang Mai

After breakfast we dropped off laundry and visited a flower market and another, different local market, where Leslie purchased some Buddhist amulets for an art project she has conceived.  We also found a tribal market with local clothes, hats, pillows, etc.

We returned to our guest house, had showers as it was quite muggy, then went out with our computers to get lunch and find an internet cafe where we could get online, as we would not be able to get into our apartment until Janet left in the evening.  David's computer worked, but not Leslie's, perhaps because it has an antiquated wireless receiver.  So then we went to the local mall, bought Leslie a new external wireless receiver, then a wireless system for phone-based internet, then had David's laptop keyboard fixed, and we both had a head and shoulders massage while we were waiting for David's laptop.

Then we had a pizza,close to the night market so we could people watch, bought a few groceries, and took them and the computers over to our apartment.  We checked out of our guest house after removing the rest of our stuff, and started to settle into the apartment. It is nice but only the bedroom has an AC, so it can get very hot.  We are happy to be able to unpack for a while.

April 25 Chaing Mai markets/restaurants

We went to get our laundry and have a 2-hour walk to the old part of town, checking on stores and restaurants of interest on the way  It was very hot by 10AM, so we checked out a swimming pool and exercise club at a nearby hotel.  Cost is about $60 per month for the two of us, so that should do very well. Just getting into their AC would be worth it!

We took our computers over to Janet's apartment and checked to see if they worked with her phone-related internet source.  And they both worked. Then we took Janet out for lunch at a restaurant she suggested right on the river (The Gallery) - Hillary Clinton had dined there as First Lady in 1993 or so.   It was excellent, so we have found a restaurant in the upper bracket. She took us to her phone/internet supplier shop so that we could add minutes to her internet account, which was accomplished in due time but with some language difficulty.

After saying "Goodbye" to Janet, we visited the Sunday market stalls, had a one-hour foot massage at the market ($6 each) while doing some serious people watching, and saw some colorful tribal kids doing traditional dances in their costumes. The children here, both male and female, are required to take Thai dance in school through high school. Then met our friends Bill and Carol from Oman for dinner at Heuan Pen, which is in an old teak house with lots of antiques.  All that ambiance and it only cost $6 per person - only had 1 beer between all of us though.  It was dark and had sprinkled some as we finished dinner, so we took a tuk tuk home and crashed.

Girl musician

Tribal kids dancing/playing music

April 24 Chiang Mai to the mountains and trecking to hill tribes

We were picked up at 8:45 and met up with Bill and Carol Moss at a local temple, saw Wiang Kum Kam, one of the earliest settlements, 13th century, in the Chiang Mai (CM) area.  It has actually been excavated to some extent but we did not feel it was worth getting out of the car and walking around. This area had series flooding problems so they moved in the 16th cenury to the now current old city. The history and culture of this CM area has mainly been shaped by the tribes that migrated south from the Yunnan area of China .  The dominant kingdom in this area was the Lanna (literally million rice fields). We then took off for a couple of hours drive to get near the highest elevation in the area, about 8,000 feet. This required bumping around in a 4-wheel drive with a slippery back seat without seat belts, so we slid around a lot before we ended up at the Doi Inthanon National park.

Carol is in charge of nursing at the Royal Hospital, and her husband Bill works in Finance at Occidental in Oman.  We saw local agriculture, an elephant riding place with a very cute newborn elephant, local villages built on stilts. We had lunch at a Royal project for new agricultural crops to replace the former illegal opium poppies and marijuana, toured the area, saw some local crafts, and then started trecking.  We only walked a few kilometers, but it was good that we wore our boots, as we were hiking down a steep cliff with waterfalls, crossing some rough bridges, and climbing over boulders.  It took two hours to walk the track. Luckily Leslie did not see any snakes!

We saw both a Hmong and a Karin village, and were able to walk among the houses, and Leslie and Carol made friends with some of the ladies who were weaving their skirt material.  Carol had brought candy as gifts, which turned out to be popular not only with the kids but also the ladies!  And Leslie was able to buy two skirts down at the village "store" under a tree. And we had some of the local coffee from the Karen tribes' hand-processed coffee beans.

We then returned to Chiang Mai, showered, collected our laundry, bought David a new external keyboard for his malfunctioning Sony laptop keyboard, had supper at a restaurant near the night market and went to bed pretty tired.

Karen village weavers

Waterfall

Leslie's Karen tribal skirt with weaver

Hiking w Carol/Bill Moss

Hiking crossing stream

Hmong market ladies

April 23 Phnom Penh to Chiang Mai

We rose early to get organized and get to the airport for a Bangkok Airways flight to Bangkok, then another going to Chiang Mai. We took a tuk tuk to the airport and were checked through in less than 15 minutes, very efficient. Transfer in Bangkok was quite smooth as well, but temperature in Chiang Mai on arrival was near a record, 42 degrees C or roughly 105 Fahrenheit!

We took a cab to our Baan Kaew Guest House, a not very pretentious place but its location is next door to the apartment we will sublet starting Monday, and we needed to coordinate with the landlord on facilities, internet, laundry, etc. and pay her before her departure. She is a teacher from Kalamazoo, Michigan, who is leaving for about 5 months to get back to the US and see friends and relatives after working in a Thai high school in Chaing Mai for two years. We went over to look at her apartment, which is a cute 1-bedroom apartment with a balcony overlooking a Buddhist temple.  It is about a 10-minute walk to the Night Bazaar, and close to restaurants, laundry, an exercise club, tuk tuk and song tuk (like a service taxi pickup truck) stand.  She introduced us to the building management and the cleaning lady, showed us how to take out the garbage, etc.

We made an arrangement to be picked up by our trip guide for the following day to go up into the mountains with our newly-met friends from Oman, Bill and Carol Moss, who by chance were visiting Chiang Mai at the same time.  then we had a bite to eat at a cheap local place, had a cool shower that felt so good in the muggy heat, and went to bed.

Special Banana Palm in Complex

Royal Palace

Traffic coming @ you from all directions

April 22 Phnom Penh Russian Market, Museum and Palace

We had breakfast at 7:30, did some internet work, then took a tuk tuk to the Russian Market ($2.50), an outdoor covered market which was nevertheless very hot.  We bought a few trinkets, priced many items, returned to our hotel for a cool swim and lunch.

The National Museum cost a few dollars each, and we hired a guide on the spot for $5.  She took us around for over an hour, showing us many statues that had been taken from Angkor Wat, explaining their history.  It was useful to fill in many gaps in our understanding.

We then walked to the King's palace, where we paid a similar amount for tickets and a guide.  The current king is the 55 year old son of Noridom Sihanouk, who is still alive in his mid-eighty's.  Apparently he was present  in the residence there, but he only has ceremonial powers. The palace is fairly small but impressive.  We also visited the Silver Temple where the Emerald Buddah is housed.  This was contained in the palace grounds and was known as silver because the floor is made of silver tiles, each weighing about a kilo.  The emerald Buddah is magnificent, but is made from a solid piece of jade about three feet tall.  We also saw some impressive stupas where the ashes of former kings and royalty are kept.

We had beer at a riverside cafe and read their Wall Street Journal , then went back to the Foreign Correspondents Club for dinner overlooking the River from its rooftop terrace.  Now organizing for our morning flights to Bangkok and Chaing Mai.

Cambodian silk loom

DDB and Spirit House Silver Pagoda

three forms of transport

The Cyclo (old fashioned rick-shaw), the tuk-tuk, and the motodup (motorcyle back seat ride)

April 21 Sien Reap to Phnom Penh

We rose at 5:30 am as we had reserved seats in a 9am minibus to Phnom Penh and needed to get breakfasted, packed, and organized. We were picked up at the hotel by a Tuk Tuk at 8:30 as promised by the bus company and taken to a little travel agency where our 12-passenger Ford bus waited. Our bags, the only ones, luckily just fit behind the back seat and we left on time.  All the other passengers were local, and the bus, with a Cambodian radio talk show playing, proceeded at a terrifying speed along the highway congested with bicycles, scooters, Tuk Tuks, cars, buses, cows, etc. Only 3 cars passed us, while we passed scores of them under conditions that would be criminal in the West. It was hot and cramped and we had only one rest stop, but we did arrive without any known casualties 5 hours later in Phnom Penh at a little crowded street which was the end point. And we had seen the countryside for sure! The cost was $10 each. We could have had a private taxi for $60, but Leslie remarked that we saw the country better from a local standpoint and we had seen no reason that we would have wanted to make extra stops along the way.

We put our suitcases on the front of a Tuk Tuk ($3) and went to our little boutique hotel Villa Paradiso, which turned out to be an almost brand new (open a month) place with a pool, about12 rooms, very close to the Palace and the restaurant/riverfront area.  We met the owners, a German named Philip and his Canadian wife who had moved here from Dubai, after looking all over the world for the best location to start a new business. Each room is different, ours is Khymer style, but the others are an Arabian, Chinese, 60's retro, etc.

We enjoyed a quick lunch overlooking the pool, had a swim, then went to the Foreign Correspondents Club overlooking the Mekong River for a drink and satay.  The we went off exploring for a suitable restaurant for dinner, and after a couple of false starts in one too seedy old colonial building and the other location which turned out to be the girly bar area, we found a nice place along the river. Had wonderful dinner, Mekong fish with mango salsa and beef (?) style, with crepes for dessert, good wine, cost about $28. Took a tuk tuk back to our hotel early.

First observations is that one can still see why Phnom Penh was known as the "Paris of Asia" in the 60's, before it became caught up in the Viet Nam conflict and then the Pol Pot genocide.  We do not know much about the current politics, but will learn more soon.

Girl selling fruit snacks along road

Wall of Guns

Kalashnikov-DB'sfun

April 20 - Shoot, Shop, Swim, Pay Bills and write Blogs

Today we decided to let the other 495 temples in the area remain unobserved by us, and attended to other interests.  A Tuk Tuk driver had told us he could take us to a shooting range to try out a Kalashnikov automatic assault rifle, so David took off in that direction (Leslie decided to go shopping) by Tuk Tuk and discovered 45 minutes later a military facility dedicated to "Cambodian-vietnamese Joint Military Training".  At the end of a couple of kilometers of dirt track he ended up at a couple of ramshackly concrete buildings where a guy showed him a wall hung wth old and not particularly servicable weapons and told him he could have his choice.  There were no other customers within miles of this place! Anyway, for $100 he got to try an M16 and a Kalishnikov that he told me was the Russian version, as the Chinese version was cheaper but he said did not work as well. David shot mostly high with the M16 and to the left with the Kalashnikov.  He doubts this experience will increase his confidence in his ability to hunt dangerous game!

Leslie got books about the early archaeologists that rediscovered the temples of IndoChina, plus a skirt to flesh out her limited travel wardrobe.  After lunch on Pub Street, a swim in the pool, some computer time, we had a Kymer Barbeque including snake, crocodile, chicken and beef(the crocodile was over-rated).  The Pub Street is the remnant of the French colonial presence and most of the Western tourists enjoy hanging out there. Leslie had a fish massage, which is when you pay $3 to soak your feet in a tank with minnows that nibble on you and provide natural skin exfoliation.  It definitely tickles! Then to post our blog and pack for an early departure for Pnom Penh.

Fish massage

Well I think now I have tried the different massages available here in Cambodia

Cambodian BBQ

A little crocodile, snake and chicken! Leslie passed on the Ostrich and kangaroo

RootsTaProhm Temple

Used in filming Tomb Raider

Ta Prohm tree over temple

Banteay Srey

Eight Apsara Dancers

April 19 - Floating City, Banteay Srey, and Tomb Raider Temple Ta Prohm

We rose and met our driver and guide and drove about 45 minutes to a boat launching site where we got on our own long-tail boat for $20 each.  This putted up a narrow shallow muddy crowded canal passing similar boats moving both directions for about half an hour until we reached the mouth of the lake, said to be the largest lake in Asia.  Since April is the hot end of the dry season, the lake is only 2,500 square kilometers, but during the rainy season it envelopes over 12,000 sq. kilometers.  However, the floating village consisted mainly of vietnamese boat dwellers and it was pretty touristy.

We then went to a somewhat remote but particularly pretty little temple, Banteay Srey, which is noteworthy for the multi-colored sandstone used and for its very fine deep carving.  It is considered the "ladies temple."

Next we wanted to see some of the famous temple that featured so prominently in "Tomb Raider" - Ta Prohm, with the huge tree trunks growing over and through the temple buildings and walls.  We found the spot where Lara Croft follows the little girl to the jasmine flower, then falls into the hidden temple below (that lower part was not real).  An Indian/Cambodian team is trying to restore some parts of the temple complex, an enormous task. One cannot fail to be impressed with the enormous structures that were build roughly a thousand years ago.

We went to the hotel massage parlor for a full-body Kymer massage, which involved putting on local PJ's and having a young lady pull tug and knead your body for an hour, starting on your legs and working up to your head.  This was Leslie's suggestion, but she wanted no curtains drawn between the two of us! Cost was $15 each, about double the rate down around Pub Street.

We spent another evening restaurant hopping on Pub Street, eating for about $12 each, counting our wine and beer. And then dropped into bed.

Angkor Wat

Young Monk at Angkor Wat

Main entrance Angkor Wat

Grand Entrance to Angkor Wat

April 18 Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat

We rose early, had a good breakfast-not only the usual omelet and fruit, but also some oriental green beens, fried rice, noodles, and some other oddments, but a very substantial meal.  Then we met Wamie and Cham, his friend the guide, and took off in Wamie's 1983 Toyota taxi.  We had paid $40each for a 3-day pass to all the sites in the area. The area designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Sight amounts to 401 square kilometers, and contains several hundred temples, many completely unrestored and hidden as yet.

Our first stop was the huge complex at Angkor Thom, which was built near the end of the Kymer Kingdom's era of greatness, roughly 1200 AD. In the switching between Hindu and Buddhist dominance, this was a period of Buddhist dominance, marked however not only by smiling Buddha images, but also assimilating many of the Hindu dieties, so they appear in the same temples. The temple called Bayon in Angkhor Thom was one-square kilometer in size, and within a larger complex of temples and facilites that covered about 9 sq. kilometers. We were climbing up and down steps in the temple as it got warmer and warmer in the sun, then covering other areas such as the Terrace of the Leper King and the Terrace of the Elephants. We had a lunch at a local restaurant but decided that we needed a rest and some AC before going on to Angkor Wat, as it was pretty hot and humid.

After a couple of hours' snooze, we again took off in our ancient Toyota and saw the magnificent ruins of Angkor Wat, considered the centerpiece of the Eighth Wonder of the World.  This temple also involved a lot of climbing, and one area had been closed for several years after some tourists fell to their deaths.  However, the third level was open with a double handrail provided to go up and down, and we were able to get to the top on the last batch of tourists before it closed for the evening.  The views were well worth the heat and the climb, and the size of the interior was surprizing.

We were dropped off by the main market to look for souvenir trinckets, and walked from there to Pub Street for drinks and dinner.  This was quite a good local BBQ with wine, and we stopped for dessert at an ice cream place, then walked back to the hotel.  It was so hot that we worked up a good sweat just with a 10 - minute walk. We watched the relevant (Angkor Wat) portions of Lara Croft -tomb Raider again to remind ourselves of the places we had seen, then dropped off to sleep.

Bayon

David in Bayon Temple

Bayon Temple Entrance - Note smiling Buddha

Nose to Nose

Monks at Bayon

Bayon Gate in Angkor Thom

April 17 Bangkok to Seim Reap, Cambodia

We haven't been on a prop plane in ages so we were surprized to see we would be taking one for the 1 hour flight. Flight wasn't too bumpy and we were served a snack. On arrival we were assigned a taxi to our hotel who sold us on the way there a visit to the excellent museum, an afternoon trip out to Phnom Bakheng at 4:45 to climb the hill to the temple and see the sunset and dinner with an apsara dance show at the Apsara theater ($12 each plus beverage each). While the sunset was not spectacular because of the clouds we could see Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat which we would tour tomorrow.

Wanee, our driver, had us reserve a space at the Apsara theater so we had a excellent front row table.
I am also on a "Lara Croft Tomb Raider" tour so I had Wanee go off to the market to get the DVD so that we could refresh our memories of the scenes that took place here at Angkor Wat. We also found the show very good. We need to research the difference between Thai and Khymer dancing!

Wanee, the enterprising young driver, found us a guide for the next 2 days ($25 per day for guide and $30 to $50 per day for car/driver depending on where you are going).

Our hotel, Prince D'Angkor, was a great deal through Agoda web deals. Our deluxe room with buffet breakfast and free internet is $65 per night. Nice big pool and in town within walking distance to Pub street and the Old Market.

Apsara dancers

Apsara couple- Girl with demon approaching craving the egg in her hand

Apsara dancer feet

Steep stairs Phnom Bakheng

Phnom Bakheng

Lara Croft Tomb Raider Movie is here at sunset after being dropped into Cambodia

TurboProp Bangkok Air arriving at Siem Reap,Cambodia

April 16, 2010 Where shall we go?

We headed off to the Myanmar embassy here in Bangkok in a túk-túk only to find concrete walls with metal spikes at the top, study metal door with a notice and a pad lock. The Embassy was not going to open until Monday so on to plan B.  I had researched hotels the night before in Myanmar along with ones in Cambodia and knew we could book the Cambodian hotels online. The air portion of the trip was something it was best to get help with.  We went to a travel agent over near the Shangria La Hotel who was able to get us flights to Siem Reap  tomorrow and then we will  find out way to Phnom Penh before flying to Chiang Mai on the 23rd. Airfare costs for the 2 of us was a little over $700.  We had to pay 3.5% extra because we used a credit card instead of paying cash. Still saving the cash dollars for Myanmar as we will try again in a few weeks for another trip there.

After setting those arrangements and confirming the area of the Dusit Palace was safe, we headed back towards the water taxis to go there.  We stopped and had lunch at a wonderful place, "Queen of Curry" that was right near the hotel.  One of the other hotel guests said this was an excellent restaraunt and it was so good we went back again for dinner.  The Abhisek Dusit throne room is a one-story building constructed in 1903 and features Victorian-influenced architecture with Moorish porticoes.  The building was restored and reopened by Their Majesties in 1993. The throne hall now displays arts and crafts produced in Thailand under the auspices of the a foundation the Queen has established.

We also toured the Vimanmek Mansion which is still today a place where the royal family still receives visitors.  This area of Dusit Park had many more security guards, cameras etc. and the security guards were also the tour guides once you had taken off your shoes and stowed your handbags, cameras and cell phones. Vimanmek Mansion, "The Palace in the Clouds", is pieced together from golden teak without a single nail & houses an extensive antique collection. It was moved to the current site in 1901  having been orginally built on the island of Ko Sichang. Rama V is responsible for the move and the lay-out of Dusit Park as a result of being the first Thai king to visit Europe - its genteel architecture and formal gardens bear testimony to the influence of his visit. Apart from the King, the palace was for women only. It was the first building in Thailand to have electricty and an indoor bathroom.  the toilet was like the current commode toilets used for those not mobile. The Mansion was renovated by HM Queen Sirikit in the 1980s, and made into a museum paying homage to the late King. You were allowed to take a picture of the Mansion from the outside once the tour was over and you had collected your shoes, handbag, camera and cell phone. 

I had used the hotel room's washing machine with a 50% success rate.... one load came out okay but the second was still sopping wet even after the endless spin cycle.  So it was back to using towels to wring out the clothes.  Hopefully everything will be dry in the morning as we have arranged a taxi for 9am to take us to the airport and damp clothes in a suitcase can get smelly.

April 15, 2010 Songkran Festival, túk-túk rides and reclining budha

With today being a continuation of Songkran Festival there was lots of water to be had!  The white stuff we see is a flour water paste that can also be shot out of squirt guns.  We took a bath in water at least 2 times today riding around in a little 3 wheeled túk-túk. First thing in the morning we were up and out of the hotel looking for a travel agent to see if we could work out a Myanmar visa.  Everything was closed, but a nice Thai gentlemen told us not to go into this one jewelry store I wanted to go in, but "as he worked in the US embassy" he would have a túk-túk take us to the Thai tourist agency so that they could help us with the travel arrangements and then of course on to a few good places to shop in the area.  I was thinking this was the typical scam and didn't want to go in the túk-túk, but David said there is nothing else happening right now so let's go along with it.  So off we whizzed and managed to get wet with different buckets of water being tossed at us from various locations as we drove by.  Travel agency had native English speakers working there, but only covered Thailand travel, so not really of use to us.  We duly went to the other places and bought only one thing - a cell phone case.  The túk-túk driver was of course very interested in the purchase and how much it costs as he will go back and get his commission which he has to pass on back the worker at "the US embassy".  This same worker had contributed to the túk-túk driver 20 baht "to be sure he took care of us".  The cost of the túk-túk ride to the 3 store locations was all of 40 baht (about $1.10).

We came back to the hotel with our purchase, soaking purse, wet clothes and changed.  We put the electronics in plastic bags and put the passports back in the safe - slightly damp and then took off for the water taxi station.

I had chosen this hotel off trip advisor because of the location with access to the water taxis and the sky train. We took a water taxi down the river to the Ko Ratanakosin area which has the Wat Pho (reclining budha) and the Wat Phra Kaew and Grand Palace. This area of Bangkok I visited as a young child, around 10 years old, and the impressions have stayed with me and I love to come back here, and was so happy last time I was here to bring Aniesa and Jonathan there.  David thinks he came here as a child as well but does not have the impressions of it that I remember. I love the 200 years of royal history and the architecture. Unfortunately it got very hot so we breezed by the amulet market which had many small portable trinkets...I have to watch my suitcase weight but these would have been ideal.  We had been to an Omani artist's show just before leaving which had these clay tablets of various interpreted old script which I saw freely displayed there glued onto the painting.

We ended the day with each having 1 hour foot massages ($9 each including tip) and then went to the Oriental hotel and splurged on high tea ($100).