Thailand – Page 4 – On the Loose Live

Mae Wang Bike & Trek Day 1

April 16, 2017May 23, 2017livevigorously

Tour company: Green Trails Guide: Tui My rating: Excellent, highly recommend

After lunch, we drove another hour climbing steadily North alongside a river and happy Songkran celebrants young and old. (Thai New Year Festival is April 13-15.) Songkran traditions include visiting local temples and offering food to the Buddhist monks and drizzling water on Buddha statues. This water ritual symbolizes the cleansing of one’s sins and bad luck. Paying reverence to ancestors and returning home are also an important part of the Songkran tradition.

The holiday is perhaps best known for its water festival, which is mostly celebrated by the young and young at heart. Basically, it’s a countrywide, good natured water fight.

Traveling in the back of a tourist transport truck we were sitting ducks for playful ambush by hoses, buckets and hopped up water guns from both sides of the road and passing trucks. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pics of this as I didn’t have a waterproof case for my camera. (I do have one for my cell phone so I will try to capture some of the fun upon return to Chiang Mai.)

We started trekking in the heat of the day. (About 103 F.) My travel buddy Walter and I were on a “join in” tour, but no one else joined so it was our private tour. We didn’t see any other foreigners until the end of the last day.

Trek Geeks

Starting the climb out of the valley

It was a hot, dry, upward slog. Far drier and a bit scrappier of a trail than I’d imagined. Of course, April is the hottest and driest month of the year. How hot was it? So hot there were no mosquitoes even along the stream that we followed up to a waterfall. Ahh, what a refreshing reward at the halfway point and an our first introduction to a couple of Karen tribesmen.

As my Dad used to say, “How refreshing!”

Some of my favorite pics of today’s trek are these of a local at the waterfall and a farmer and his ranch. The crop is peanuts, rotating from rice. I’m using my new Nikkon D3400 for most of these. (My first “real” camera.) Can you tell the difference?

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What an incredible experience this is! Up a hill and around the corner, an unexpected surprise…to be continued…

Bangkok: Wat Pho, Grand Palace, Wat Arun

April 12, 2017July 31, 2017livevigorously

Not a city girl so only 1 day in Bangkok before I take off for the mountains of Chang Mai. My day’s agenda in Bangkok is Wat Pho, The Grand Palace and Wat Arun. After a not so refreshing 5 hours of sleep and a buffet breakfast at my hotel, I hit pavement for the 5k stroll to Wat Pho.

While walking provides great perspective of the area, I quickly learned that it does not provide the best experience here.

Impressions:

It’s SWELTERING here! 96 degrees plus “big league” humidity. (The pool at my hotel is bath temperature.)

The sidewalks are crowded minefields of obstacles, uneven pavement and unpredictable curb heights. Must be very alert, which is tough when you’re sleep deprived. The air quality is poor – heavy with vehicle exhaust, industrial and cooking fumes.

It was fascinating to be up with the locals, getting a glimpse into their morning routines as they opened up their storefronts, walked to school in their blue skirts and pigtails, or to their jobs in various work attire. (Strange, just realized schoolgirls present, but no school boys.) There are thin feral cats running amok, experts at dodging the traffic and darting here and there.

shop — A typical storefront and living quarters as well…

Wat Pho is one of the oldest, largest temples in Bangkok and also one of the most significant temples. Best known for its 51 yard long Reclining Buddha which is composed of a brick core, plaster covering and gold leaf finish. The buildings are spectacular as well with their ornate, detail of typical Thai temple architecture.

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Having read all about the various tourist scams in Thailand, I wasn’t entirely surprised when a helpful, friendly Thai man struck up a convo and told my travel buddy and I that the palace wouldn’t be open until 1:30 PM due to Songkran, the New Year Holiday underway and a special Buddhist ceremony. It seemed plausible though. It was a holiday. He took out a map and described other attractions where his friend could take us instead. (Typical scenario where a tourist gets hijacked and financially extorted for the day.) There were many religious groups dressed in black around, which supported his story and he had no trouble looking us in the eyes as he pitched us. The palace compound is surrounded by a high wall so it’s difficult to ascertain what is going on unless you walk around the perimeter, which we did. Guess what? It was open. So we dodged our first scam bullet. The Grand Palace was a bit of a mob scene. Too hot and crowded for this semi-agoraphobic so I made a quick escape and headed for Wat Arun instead.

Next we picked up a Chao Phraya Tourist Boat Day Pass and headed to Wat Arun. As reported by others, the Tourist Boat is a great way to see the area. It’s only about $5 and you can hop on and hop off as many as 13 stops in different districts. Plus you get a little breeze on the boat. Tip: The boat runs every half hour, but you must stand on the dock and wave it in if it is not dropping passengers. Lesson learned. (They don’t mention it when you buy your ticket.

The iconic Khmer style tower of Wat Arun (temple of dawn)was under construction, but it was still worth a stop as you can see. The 76 meters high tower is decorated by thousands of tiny seashells and porcelain, I’ve added some pics from the boat ride and various other stops, including the a flower market. i don’t think it’s the famous one (Pak Klong Tald), but it was spectacular in it’s own right.

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After 6 hours of walking around on 5 hours a sleep, I saluted the day with an early margie. Returned to the hotel, solved some tech issues with the blog and got a quick gym workout in. (Bike & some weight.) With plans to bike and trek in Chang Mai, I need to make sure I can workout in these conditions. The gym was minimally air conditioned at best so it simulated real conditions…

Thailand here I come! First 5 impressions.

April 11, 2017June 2, 2017livevigorously

I took to the skies Sunday. Underestimated the impact of the construction induced traffic at LAX – brutal. Ken had the clever idea of dropping me at international arrivals instead of departures. It gave me a head start which I needed since I discovered shortly after that United international flights are through their Terminal 7. Has to hustle with my backpack 4 terminals. Luckily, I got the weight down to 15 lbs.

Smooth sailing through security and I made it. Boarded the 787 Dreamliner headed for Bangkok by way of Tokyo.. Roomy plane, lots of headroom, mood lighting economy plus bulkhead seat not bad for the first 12 hours. The additional 6 to Bangkok made this semi-claustrophobic a bit antsy (understatement). Of course, I’d already been up over 24 hours so sleep deprivation factored in too…When are they going to put spin bikes on these things?

Impression 1: All Nippon stewardness – Extremely considerate and attentive Asian porcelain dolls who never stop smiling. They are genuinely interested in helping you. At one point, a stewardness noticed I was getting sun glare from the windows of a couple other passengers. Without me saying a word, she took care of it. And when I say “never stop smiling”, I mean genuinely smiling for 6 hours straight! Good foreshadowing for the land of smiles. (This in stark contrast to the United American staffed flight from LAX to Tokyo. Should have taken their picture for you.

Impression 2: So not having slept yet, I was a bit delirious when I ordered my entre. Seafood –on a plane, what was I thinking? Wasn’t really hungry, maybe I’d just inspect it…Guess, what? It was great! Sweet shrimp, crab morsels, a robust round clam thing, mushrooms, squid and some porous veggie.

Impression 3: Speaking of considerate, an elderly gentlemen helped me get my bags out of the overhead when we landed. (I wasn’t struggling or looking for help, he simply lent a considerate hand.)

Impression 4: Admist the sea of people in the bustling airport, I noticed a conscientious Thai youth go out of his way to pick up an empty chip bag that was in the middle of the concourse. (Not his.) Wow and bravo.

Impression 5: OUCH!

This is the raised room divider between the bathroom and the bedroom of my hotel room. (Apparently, it’s very common in Asia to have this height anomaly. This is my bruised toe after several run-ins due to sleep deprivation and related cognitive incapacity.