Bangkok

We’re off to Bangkok for the weekend!

We boarded the airplane very early on Friday morning for Bangkok, Thailand. Bangkok is in southern Thailand so the weather there was even warmer than the weather in Myanmar. It reminded me of Florida’s weather in the middle of summer. We checked into our backpacker’s hostel, SUK 11, after a taxi ride from the airport. The room was clean but had no extra frills. We did have our own bathroom so it had the necessities. I enjoyed seeing how present day backpackers travel so it was just another fun experience for me. The location was great, not far from the subway and the sky train that would take us everywhere we wanted to go. It was also close to a number of fairly good restaurants, including a Hard Rock Cafe. Included in the price of the room was breakfast of coffee, tea, toast and fruit.

We decided on a tour so that we could see a number of sights in a shorter time than on our own. The tour’s first stop was the Floating Markets at Damnoensaduak. There was just about anything you might want to buy there. We did buy a few things but felt prices were better in Myanmar. It was quite a sight to see however. From the boats, we could buy soups with a choice of ingredients, all sorts of vegetables and fruits, stir fry, fresh cashews, and clothing.

Next on the tour were wood carvers. The carvers were from all over SE Asia, along with one from China and one from Russia. They were all wonderful craftsmen. The wood they were carving was teak. You can see a large carved dining room table in one of my photos. It had a price tag of $20,000 US. It was beautiful but very large and I imagine it took a long time to carve. I am sure the carvers aren’t paid much.

After the wood carvers, the tour took us to an elephant show. Now those animals were amazing. They raced, they played soccer, they bowed, they swung their trunks around, they participated in numerous other events and at the end, the audience was invited to buy treats and feed them. There also was a baby elephant of about 1 year with mother in a fairly open pen where Tamara was able to photograph it nursing.

After the elephant show we went to a Crocodile Show. We were amazed that these aggressive animals weren’t on the attack. Their handlers put their arms in the croc’s mouth, and most surprising one of the handlers put his head into one of the croc’s mouth. The crocs just had to have been drugged to let the handlers treat them as they did. Whatever they did with the animals, it equaled an amazing and well-attended show.

The next day we rode the sky train to the Siam Paragon shopping area.

This has to be the ‘show place’ shopping center in Bangkok. While we were there, we saw two movies at a theater where we were supplied with blankets to make us comfortable and the leather seats also reclined nearly into a bed. You could take a great nap there if the movie was dull. We also visited a Cyber room where we were able to send long overdue emails to friends and family. This shopping center has all of the upscale fashions and brands. It is one beautiful place to shop. We ended up going there several times during our weekend in Bangkok.

We also treated ourselves to several foot massages while in Bangkok. Now that is living!

Our last adventure was a huge market where I believe you can buy anything your little old heart desired. It was so huge that I asked Tamara to go on without me and I would rest and drink tea. I did buy some neat buttons and beads there to take home for future projects. I was getting pretty well filled up with souvenirs so I had to slow my purchases down or I wouldn’t have room in my suitcases. All in all it has been a really fun weekend here in Bangkok.