Thundery shower day in Bangkok

Not a lot of sightseeing or exciting things happening today. Great for catching up on ‘admin’ and just flopping.

Thought I share some impressions of what we perceive as the impact of ‘you know what’

Saturday night in Bangkok famous shopping and amusement malls – like Asiatique Riverfront seem very quiet with hardly anybody around.

Bangkok – Asiatique Riverfront, an expansive open-air mall with river views and a cutting-edge festival market, restaurants and shopping.

And when you stroll through the mall, the shop owners seem rather desperate – offering huge discounts when you only approach their stall.

The very same goes for dinner cruises on Chao Phraya River. Lots of the reviews we read mentioned packed boats, hassle to board and stampeed at the buffet. The boats we have seen cruising along had hardly one of their three decks filled.

And for hotels? We developed the theory that they are only half full too. And lots of guests got an upgrade … based on the lights being on only in top floors.

Mandarin Oriental – only the top floors are lit up

Will be interesting to see if we can still travel on to Sri Lanka at the end of the months

Selective sightseeing in Bangkok

Bearing in mind that we have been to Bangkok before and have seen some of the big ticket items like

  • Grand Palace / Royal Palace
  • Temple of the Emerald Buddha
  • Wat Pho (reclining Buddha)
  • Canal boat tour to Orchid and Pandan farm

and it’s rather a hot day (37 degrees), we opted for some selective sightseeing – all focused around the cooling Chao Phraya river.

Wat Arun / Temple of Dawn – a temple that has been built in the Ayutthaya period. A very ornate temple where the light of the morning reflects off the surface of the temple with pearly iridescence. We found it immensely impressive … it makes one feel small
Bangkok Flower Market – Pak Khlong Talat. A market that accommodates both consumers and wholesalers. Many local florists visit the market to stock their shops. We wondered how many of these flowers would make their way to Europe.
The market is not only for flowers but lots of wholesale fruit, vegetables and spices too.

Travelling along Chao Phraya River, one can see old and ramshackle next to new, modern and beautiful

Impressions from river cruise along Chao Prahya River
Great thing about the hop on, hop off river boat is that you can travel along the river as much as you like. Wonderful to see the city at night with everything lit up … hides a lot of sins and makes everything look beautiful

Nothing better to finish off a great day than having a fantastic dinner. We went to ZabBangLove … Thank you Andrew for the recommendation

Dinner at ZabBangLove – a fitting end to a great day

Ayutthaya – impressive ruins in the heat

Ayutthaya was the capital of Siam (now Thailand) from 1350 until 1767, when the city was brutally sacked by the Burmese.

Only ruins remain from this period of thriving trade and art but seeing some of the crumbling temples, it’s easy to imagine Ayutthaya’s past grandeur.

But as everywhere, there are so many places to go and see. One has to prioritise – especially on a day when it feels like 43 degrees …

Wat Maha That – was the seat of the supreme patriarch and the kingdom’s most important temple. The most photographed attraction is the sandstone Buddha head tangled within a bodhi tree’s entwined roots.
Wat Ratchaburana – famous for its prang (pagoda) with detailed carvings of lotus flowers and mythical creatures

After that we needed a break …

Even the dogs found it was far too hot to be bothered
Wat Phra Si Sanphet – built in the late 15th century, this was a royal temple inside palace grounds. Most impressive are the three wonderful stupas which are almost intact.
Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit – one of Thailand’s largest bronze Buddha images, dating to 1538. The golden Buddha is impressive in the new shrine that has been built in the 1920s – how much more impressive would it be seeing the statue in the original ruins?

Wandering around Ayutthaya, it’s not only about the past but also seeing some of the modern day city. Pretty rural in places … and most people we met have been absolutely lovely … only one persistent tuk tuk driver 😬

Ayutthaya – away from the tourist hot spots.
Wat Lokaya Sutharam – 42m-long reclining Buddha, ostensibly dating back to the early Ayutthaya period.
I just loved the emptiness of the place, not that the Buddha image wasn’t impressive
Wat Chai Wattanaram – most of the temples are inside ‘the Island’ (the central area of Ayutthaya surrounded by three rivers). This is the most impressive temple outside for its 35m high central prang

Despite the heat we found the ruins of Ayutthaya very impressive, even more than the real temples. The vastness and scale is just phenomenal and there is no bling or donation boxes to distract from the enormity

Lazy day in Bangkok

Expected 36 degrees today. Decided to take it easy and enjoy a lazy day by the pool – especially after walking around ruins in Ayutthaya in 39 degrees yesterday (blog update to follow)

Pool at Hilton Millennium – rather cooling sitting on one of the sunbeds in the water.

Ok, ok – I can’t sit in the sun all day. So we went for a bit of exploring – in nicely air-conditioned shopping malls.

Well, what we didn’t expect is that it doesn’t matter which mall you are going into, they check your temperature – either manually or through heat sensors. And only then are you allowed to enter …

Bangkok – River City Mall, we passed the test.

It’s not only customers that have the green dots but all employees too.

Lived to see another day …

Chiang Mai, former seat of the LanNa kingdom

The city is a blissfully calm and laid-back, an easy place to kick back and relax.

The historic centre of Chiang Mai feels rather residential, more like a sleepy country town than a bustling capital. Yes, there are busy roads with lots of traffic (and the fumes to go with it), but only a couple of steps away, you can find quiet back roads without the noise (and much less of the pollution).

Here are some impressions from the last  couple of days.

Chiang Mai – old town is almost a perfect square surrounded by a moat. Part of the old city wall and forts in the corner still exist

Back streets are quiet and it’s easy to find an oasis for a refreshing drink (if you look beyond)

Chiang Mai – backstreets and cafes to relax in

Curious rubbish collection

Chiang Mai –  Buak Hard, public park

And some green spaces to escape the hubbub up of the city …

Chiang Mai is certainly a place I would come back to and then spend some time exploring the surroundings like the mountains and hill tribe villages.

But that’s better done at a different time of year when the farmers don’t burn the fields after the harvest.

A day to visit Wats in Chiang Mai … and not even scratching the surface

Chiang Mai has over 300 Buddhist temples (Wats), over a hundred of them inside the old city walls. No small feat to decide which one to visit.

After much deliberation I chose five Wats based on importance and variation (and Fergus reluctantly agreed) …

Wat Phra Singh (or Gold Template – no question why), Chiang Mai’s most revered temple. Its prosperity is plain to see.
Wat Chedi Luang – with a towering, ruined Lanna style Chedi (Buddhist stupa). The top of the chedi was destroyed by either a 16th-century earthquake or by cannon fire during the recapture of Chiang Mai from the Burmese in 1775 (nobody knows for sure).
Wat Phan Tao – supposedly the most atmospheric temple as the enormous prayer hall is supported by 28 gargantuan teak pillars and lined with dark teak panels … all behind scaffolding at the moment, we didn’t see anything. Hence a very quick visit.
Wat Chiang Man – Chiang Mai’s oldest temple with the oldest known Buddha image and the Crystal Buddha
Wat Pa Pao – a Burmese (as opposed to Lanna) style temple located just outside the old city walls and moats. Certainly one of the less frequented temples and in need of some attention

5 temples, makes 5% of the ones in the old town but only 1.7% of all temples in Chiang Mai. But having seen a few, it gets a bit the same … and far too many details to remember. So definitely enough!

And even if temples in a sunset hue make for great pictures, there is a better way to spend the time …

Oasis Rooftop bar in the northeastern part of the old town

Train journey through Thailand’s country side

Leaving Chiang Mai this morning with special express train to Bangkok.

Travelling from northern Thailand to Bangkok, we will stop over in Ayutthaya to visit the former royal capital of Siam.

It will be a long train journey with plenty of stops. Getting to the first stop (Lamphun), we are already 19 min late. Slow travel, the way to go 😏

Let’s see when we get to Ayutthaya …

I have a thick book to read … since I can’t watch any films on my tablet 😬

Lost and found … and hopefully getting it back

Boarding the train from Chiang Mai to Ayutthaya and looking to sort out entertainment for the next 8 hours,  frantically looking for my tablet … it’s gone!

Thinking about last time used it, I must have left it on the plane from Perth to Bangkok. 😡

Ignored a mail from Lost & Found of Thai Airways four days ago, saying they found a tablet. No idea how that happened?!

Now keeping my fingers crossed that I can pick up my tablet when we get back to BKK airport at the end of the month.

All credit to Thai Airways!

Thai Farm Cooking school – fun day and tasty food

Never miss out on learning to cook the local cuisine. Another thing we love doing …

There are so many companies offering cooking classes – full day or half day. It was difficult to decide what to do. We opted for Thai Farm Cooking school and half day. Excellent decision!

We got picked up from our hotel and driven to the school which is about 15km outside of Chiang Mai, in the country and surrounded by rice paddies and other farms

Setting of the cooking school with a big ‘Masterchef’ cooking area.

Before starting the cooking we had to get ready and collect some ingredients from the farm garden

Wass, our chef, explained the different herbs – like Kaffir leaves and fruit, birdseye chilli etc – and made us taste them to decide if we want to include it in our cooking

We could chose what we wanted to cook from a list of dishes and ended up with

  • Tom Yam with chicken
  • Chicken and Galangal coconut soup
  • Red / Green chicken curry (me)
  • Pad Thai
  • Bananas in coconut milk
We had to make our own curry paste from scratch … a bit of hard work, more for the green than the red curry paste

Must say, I haven’t cooked that much for a while but the results looked great and tasted even better. A fun day out!

Quite proud of our efforts … and we have eaten it all. No dinner, mind you!

Thinking about it, we didn’t do a cooking class in Australia. Don’t think I have seen one. But then how difficult can it be to make fish & chips or fry a steak……

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