Am Canadian, Will Roadtrip

When confronted with the question of how to move ourselves all the way from Nonthaburi to Phuket (900 kms), we provided the obvious Canadian answer "we'll drive there". We then proceeded to rent a truck (this one), pack up our stuff, and hit the road.


It was a beautiful drive. Shane was armed with the steering wheel and the task of not hitting other vehicles (more challenging in Thailand than in Canada) and I was armed with two maps, some Google map directions I wrote in a notebook, and the knowledge that as long as we went south and a bit west (and didn't cross the border into Burma) we would probably make it. We left at 5am (to miss Bangkok traffic) and around 12 hours later arrived safely in Phuket. On the way we saw incredible scenery, beautiful tropical trees and pre-historic looking mountains that wouldn't have been out of place with a Pterodactyl or two circling the tops.

 A "bus" filled with people. You can't really see in this picture just how many there are but they are really crammed in there like sardines! Glad we didn't have to travel this way.

 My job as navigator for the day.

 Beautiful mountains along the way!

 Beautiful jungles as you get further south!

It was a really great way to see some more of the country, even in a brief kind of way. It is always interesting to watch the changing landscape as you drive long distances. Luckily Thailand isn't very big compared to Canada, so it took only one day to drive across, rather than our road trip to BC in September that took 5 days! Now we are in the process of settling in to our new apartment in Phuket town, on the island of Phuket. We will post pictures as soon as we get things unpacked and cleaned up!

Songkran

Imagine Times Square in New York City at New Years, people packed into every square centimeter of space on the streets and all in a festive mood. Now picture all these people armed with water weapons. This should give you some idea of what the Songkran festival is like in Central and Northern Thailand.

Over my parents' visit, we got to see Songkran in three different cities: Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Ayutthaya. In Chiang Mai they take the holidays very seriously, turning a three-day festival into a five-day water war.

In Bangkok the downtown area ground to a halt as sidewalks were FILLED with crowds (mostly teenagers) all spraying each other like mad and generally celebrating.

In Ayutthaya there was a street party, complete with the usual spraying of water coupled with loud music and dancing.

Sometimes we liked Songkran, when it was festive and fun and people were shooting water guns at us. Sometimes we hated it, when we were just about to catch a plane and had ourselves soaked with buckets of ice water... Overall it is definitely a one-of-a-kind Thailand experience that is not to be missed! 

Overall, Songkran is a holiday that we would love to bring back to Canada, although it would probably not be best to celebrate it in April (too cold).

 Rambo with a watergun... This kid was serious!

 Getting thoroughly soaked in Chiang Mai

 View from the skytrain platform in downtown Bangkok!

Talcum paste, another Songkran tradition!

We Love Trunks

 As part of our trip to Chiang Mai, we decided to check out the Elephant Nature Park. This is a sanctuary for domesticated elephants who have been rescued from their previous lives as beggars on the street, as illegal loggers, or working in unsafe trekking camps. Many of the elephants are scarred (mentally and physically) from their previous lives, and some of them have broken legs, or even broken backs, that make it difficult for them to walk (and heartbreaking to watch). Over our day at the centre we got to feed the elephants, bathe them, and just generally hang around watching them and seeing what happy elephants do on their days off.A wonderful trip and an amazing experience!

 

Tourists in Chiang Mai

From Bang Saen we flew to northern Thailand, the city of Chiang Mai. This is a beautiful city with a charming old-town surrounded by the ruins of the 100s-of-years-old ancient city walls. We splashed out a bit and stayed in a beautiful bed and breakfast in the heart of the old town, close enough to all the action but peaceful and comfortable for sleeping (it even had hot showers!). This time we decided to really get into the tourist spirit and try to do as much sight-seeing as possible over our short visit.

In Chiang Mai we got to visit some beautiful temples, our favourite of which was Wat Chedi Luang (right next to our B&B). It had beautiful dragons and elephants and was the temporary home for a whole crew of young novices who were staying at the temple. It is customary for Thai men to don the robes for at least a short period in their lives, and for these kids it appeared that it was some kind of summer-camp.

From the temples in the city, we headed up into the mountains for another temple and a hike through the jungle. On our hike we were followed by an adorable puppy (for the whole 3 hours!) and by the end I think everybody wished we could have taken him home with us.

We also enjoyed lots of yummy nothern Thai food, walks about the city, checking out the botanical gardens and touring around the markets (lots of neat souvenirs for people back home). We even got the chance to go on a lovely river cruise, a perfect way to relax after a long day of sight-seeing.

Bang Saen

From the sleepy beaches of Koh Mak it was off to the Thai holiday town of Bang Saen. This is a bustling little waterfront town where many Thais come from Bangkok on the weekends to enjoy sitting under rafts of umbrellas so that the sun doesn't actually ever touch their skin. We spent a couple days here visiting my father's PhD supervisor from long ago, who has moved out to Thailand.

While in Bang Saen we got to visit some great places like a big Chinese buddhist temple (couldn't fit more dragons on it if you tried), a mangrove swamp restoration project that is being led by the princess, and the busy pier where they sell 1 million kinds of squid. 

 Beautiful Chinese Buddhist temple. Note all the dragons everywhere (basically every pillar has a dragon wrapped around it)!

 A dog guarding "his" fishing boat at the pier in Bang Saen. He makes sure nobody sneaks aboard while the owners are selling their squids...

 Walking in the mangrove swamp. A mangrove swamp is a salt-water swamp that is muddy at low tide and covered with sea water at high tide. This was possibly Mum's favourite part of Thailand??? Upon arriving she exclaimed "wow! Look at this swamp!Look at this boardwalk! We don't have boardwalks this long in Canada!" Sadly you can't see all the gazillions of mud skippers who were fighting each other in the mud. Since they are the same colour as the dirt, it is pretty hard to get a good picture.

A Thai Buddhist temple in Bang Saen. Many stairs!

It was a great visit, enjoying some AMAZING home-cooked Thai food and some new fruits (now have a fridge full of mangosteen) courtesy of our hosts. It was neat to see a part of Thailand that is off the beaten path for English speaking tourists and catch a glimpse of what the Thais do on vacation.

Parents' Arrival in Thailand/ Koh Mak

Mum & Dad arrived safely in Bangkok after their long flight (part of which we were able to track through the Tokyo airport!) ready for all kinds of adventures! We thought we would start them off with a bang, and took them to Chatuchak market (as mentioned in an earlier post). We shopped for a bit but Chatuchak can be daunting for the most experienced, let alone two jet-lagged Canadians whose busiest city experience is probably Toronto...

After the busy first day in Bangkok we retired to the rather more peaceful Koh Mak... an island we visited early in our travels and totally fell in love with. Koh Mak is a lovely little island, fairly close to Bangkok (close enough for a long weekend visit) which is only about 16 kms away from the more famous Koh Chang. While Koh Chang is full of bars, parties and wild times, Koh Mak is teeny tiny and is home to a much quieter lifestyle. It is near the Marine National Park so is home to some pretty good snorkeling and the beaches are quiet and beautiful. To us, it is paradise. We stayed in the tiny and basic, but charming, Suchanaree resort in little thatched wooden huts where you could lie in bed under your mozzie net, listening to the sounds of the night and the sounds of the waves.

As expected, Mum is a big fan of snorkeling. She says that she is giving up terrestrial ecology to become a marine biologist and run an ecotourism outfit in Thailand. We spent a glorious day with our faces in the water, watching the antics of the reef fish.

 A jellyfish we found in the water!

 Evidence of my Thailand tan...

 Mum enjoying snorkeling!

Beautiful sunset at the end of a great day!!