Trip Report - Just Back From BKK and Beyond
 

Thanks to everyone and their many suggestions and recommendations, we had a fantastic trip to Thailand! In spite of suffering from massive jet lag, I've decided to start this report before the memories fade too much. I hope it won't be too repetitive, given that jgg's recent report was really good and totally steals all my thunder since we did a lot of the same things! But stay tuned, because we actually did do some different things too.

First, by way of introduction, DH and I are both afflicted with travel disease and since becoming avid scuba divers 11 years ago, we've tried to make up for our misspent youth, and cram lots of diving in before we both expire! Most all of our travels center on liveaboard diving and tend to be in Southeast Asia, PNG and many other South Pacific destinations. We try to do a land excursion before or after so that in addition to a lot of water, we actually get to see some of the country too. We also suffer from an inability to relax, so this trip might sound a little hectic to some, and truthfully, although I swore this time was going to be different - I was going to do some pool time and more massages - I lied!

THE PLANE
We were using points and had enough for two free tickets, BUT only the cheap seats and only on certain airlines. I decided that while I really like Singapore Air, the haul from SFO - BKK takes too long with stops in HK and Singapore, plus they wanted extra $ for that airline. I liked the route through Taipei, which was shorter, so I thought I'd give China Air a chance. Immediately thereafter, I heard not so great reports about China Air (oops). It turned out OK, but the 747's do not have the individual monitors and the food is pretty lousy. On the bright side, it gave me more of an incentive to take an Ambien and sleep as much as I could to Taipei. The flight from Taipei to BKK was on a brand new Airbus with monitors, etc.

ARRIVAL
We had stayed at the Peninsula for a few nights on our last trip, using a package called River Retreat. In 2004, it was a deal, but the price has gone up more than 50%, so now it wasn't such a deal, but I did it anyway because I had wonderful memories of coming out of the old airport, tired and hot into a world of luxury. There was a beauiful new Benz with a chauffear in white livery complete with hat and white gloves, cold towels and water - and all for me! This time we got off the plane and were met by the same nice car, but where oh where was the white livery??? Darn it, now they just wear an ordinary dark suit - the romance is gone! Anyway, we were whisked off to the Pen in short order and because we arrived mid-day there was very little traffic, so it waas great. On the side-of-the-river debate, I love those little boats that take you across and give you a cool breeze, I love sitting in the room looking out at the other side and I especially like that all the rooms have that wonderful river view. There is nothing like sitting comfortably ensconced in your terry robe watching life on the river go by. And so we did - until teatime when we went down to the lobby and lolled over our tea set included in the package, and listened to jazz. OK, that was enough relaxing. Now we had to cross the river and walk until we were totally dragging and every store for blocks behind the Oriental was closed. DH views shopping as exercise!

DAY ONE
Thanks to an enticing post by MichaelBKK back in January,detailing a walk he had revisited, we had our itinerary for the day. I had copied the post, and his directions were impeccable. The only unfortunate thing is that we did the walk in April, and it was HOT. But we were game. It started out at Wat Pho. We took the ferry, which I think is great fun in and of itself. I can never spend too much time looking at the Reclining Buddha; it totally enthralls me. The whole walk was great because it took us through streets we'd never think to go down on our own. We followed the directions through a park and across the Lord canal to the next stop Wat Ratchanada, making an unplanned detour down a side klong with little hole-in-the-wall local eateries overlooking the less than scenic muddy water. It was a real slice of life kind of place. Where else would you see a guy meticulously bathing his rooster, prior to the big fight?

But the next stop was the one I'd been really looking forward to after reading great restaurant reviews for Chote Chitr. We got a little mixed up on which direction to go on Tanao, but once we got a little help (from someone who I now realize was trying to get us to fall for the "last day of a big sale at this special jewelry store where they don't usually let the public in and I wouldn't lie to you because see my hat, I'm with the Phuket Tourist Police and by the way I can get you a tuk-tuk to take you there"), we got our bearings. And when we saw the Giant Swing down the street on the right and saw a shoestore on the left, we knew we'd found it! From previous posts I'd expected a very grumpy proprietress and at first I wasn't disappointed (and I definitely did not try to wash my hands in the bathroom sink, as I'd been forewarned!). But she turned out to be really friendly and kind, and I had to get her to be quiet so I could eat my mee grob. Boy, was that good! It was so hot out by that time that we weren't at all hungry and couldn't manage more than the smoky eggplant salad after the mee grob, and if I'd had a beer I'd have just passed out. She suggested we come back for dinner some time when it wasn't so hot.

After a lot of water, next stop Wat Suthat. Then a long walk to the next Wat where we climbed all the way to the top for a good view, but not enough breeze, the amulet market and on to the Golden Mount which by that time, they should have paid me for walking all the way up to it, instead of the other way around!! I must have looked a total sight by this time. My face was so red that a lot of local women were looking at me and whispering amongst themselves, probably wondering if I was going to die on the spot. Well this was the end of walk as described and any sane person would have immediately gotten into a cab, it now being around 5 hours since we'd started. Well....it didn't happen. We started back towards the river and then, would you believe it, every cab going our way was full and we kept walking and then it seemed we might as well just keep going since it was getting closer anyway. We ended up walking all the way to the Memorial Bridge, practically doubling the distance we intended and I was never so happy to see a ferry boat in my life. Back at the hotel some 7 hours later, we definitely needed a shower followed by a drink in the bar. We were pretty pooped, but later decided to try out Harmonique for dinner. We sat out in the garden area and had a very nice dinner except for the seeds from the tree, which kept bonking me on the head! I can't remember which prawns we got, but they were good.

Sorry for the extremely long post - I guess I just got caught up in remembering the day and many thanks to MichaelBKK. Tomorrow -Damnoen Saduak and the fishing village!

Susan, great start to your report. I'm anxious to read more. Keep it coming! I'm in BKK right now and SHOULD try your walk, but as you said, it's really HOT here right now.
Carol

fantastic start....and its not long at all...love the details keep it coming.....7 hours, are you crazy??

Great start to the report! Glad you found Chote Chitr and the the Mee Grob and the eggplant salad.

Keep it coming. I never tire of hearing about other's visits to my favorite city!

rhkkmk - yes, I am crazy. DH still can't believe I dragged him all around like that. I mixed up wats, by the way, for those of you counting, Wat Ratbophit was the second one and it was Wat Ratchanada, with the ironwork, that we climbed a very tall circular staircase for what seemed a million flights to get to the top. It was after that, that we climbed up to the Golden Mount.

Carol- I read your post about the elephants. One night I came out of Adelphi Suites to find one drinking out of the fountain by the front door. Say hello to Maeng for me and tell her how much we enjoyed meeting her.

Don't worry about repetition. Each entry brings us back to the magic. Timely report, no penalty.

Susan
I laughed out loud at the thought of an elephant drinking out of the fountain in front of Adelphi!!

Of course I'll say hello to Maeng. I will see her this evening at the big birthday party at Tawandang in a little while. Tawandang is my favorite nightclub in Bangkok. It is actually a German brewery. It is a huge place with great food and great live entertainment. I think you would enjoy it... NEXT time you are in BKK.

Keep the report coming!

Ever consider going to a GTG (fodors get together)... I'll be attending the one in HNL in September. Give it a thought.

Carol

Great start to your reporting susncrg! And I'll second the invitation to the Honolulu GTG.

Thanks everyone for the encouraging words. Here I am at work, sick as a dog, trying to prepare for court this afternoon and instead writing a trip report because it's a lot more pleasant to think about BKK than this case.

DAY TWO - OR THE DAY WE NEVER STOPPED EATING!
We had planned three days with Tong's team and called Tong as soon as we got to Bangkok to confirm that Tom would be picking us up. I knew that Tong had landed in hospital again because she had answered my last email from there. Well, she was still in the hospital and sounded absolutely awful. She had been released and then re-admitted. The doctors want her to rest for 3-4 weeks and given the amount of phoning and coughing she was doing, the doctor is not going to be very happy with her.

Tom called and arranged to get us in a larger van because we were being picked up at the Pen and dropped off at Adelphi Suites and all our dive gear takes up more room than a sedan can provide.

I knew there would be lots of food today, but in spite of this I couldn't leave the wonderful buffet breakfast at the Pen without eating too much anyway. We started off to the Floating Market and passd by the Railway Market on the way. Tom thought we would not see the train come because it was 1/2 hour too late for that and the train is always on time. Well...it was late and just as we pulled into town the train was going through. We jumped out of the van and ran down the street in the hopes of seeing all the wares moved out of the way. We just missed that but saw them putting themselves back together and pulling down the raggedy awnings on pulleys, that they use to shade the tracks once the trains out of the way.

We continued on to the floating market, which I'd had mixed feelings about since it's primarily just for the tourists now. I really enjoyed, especially the outer area where people still live and farm (and where there were no other tourist boats) and the noodles and satay that Tom got for us - things I wouldn't have bought myself. Even the touristy area was fun; just playing bumper-boats with all the others. It's amazing the boat people can steer through that madhouse. I wasn't really interested in shopping there, so we left for our next stop, the fishing village. On the way, Tom stopped at roadside stands for fresh lychees (not my favorite)and then pieces of coconut roasted in a leaf and sort of smoky tasting. It was quite good and again something I'd have never tried on my own.

All this was fun, but nothing is as good as the fishing village. It couldn't have been more perfect. Reed met us with his nephew and took us out on his longtail boat, stopping to chat with fishermen and look at their catches. We even saw a huge 6 foot monitor lizard in someone's yard. We cruised through the cockle farms and saw some women up to their necks in water harvesting the cockles. We went through the mangroves and as soon as they heard the boat, monkeys came racing in. Now I've seen lots of monkeys before, but nothing could have prepared me for hundreds of them! We had huge bags of all kinds of fruit for them and tried aiming for the moms with babies and the undernourished looking ones. But in all things natural, there's always a pecking order and this was no exception. There was quite a bit of squabbling and stealing going on. Then a pack of dogs came in to see what all the fuss was about. The monkeys weren't too happy about that, but no war broke out. When all the fruit was gone we went to Reed's fishing house up on stilts surrounded by water. His sister Champ had prepared a veritable feast (and of course we were so hungry what with all the eating so far)and it was one of the highlights of the whole trip. Everything was so fresh and tasty and she kept urging us to eat more, by peeling our prawns and cracking our crab claws. We happily complied. The catfish and a whole sea bass with a wonderful spicy sweet sauce, and a great tom yum pla, fresh cockles and rice capped off everything. She is one terrific cook. After eating we were relaxing when Reed came running to have us look out at the water. A whole bunch of monkeys were swimming all the way across the water to get to the mangroves on the other side. He said it doesn't happen very often, and sometimes some get caught in the fishing nets, but they all made it safely, just their little heads sticking out of the water. I never knew they could swim that far!

Well all good things must end, and we took off back for BKK. We got to Sukhumvit Road and traffic came to a halt. Boy is that one busy street. Adelphi Suites is a far cry from the quiet and calm of the Peninsula. It's a very nice place, done in modern zen-feeling minimalism. The Nana skytrain station is very close and very handy. At first I missed my river view, but as the days went by I got very attached to the little Soi and all the comings and goings on the street.

Needless to say, we did not eat dinner that night!

Next up, Ayutthaya.

susncrg - I am with you, I just couldn't pass up the great Peninsula breakfast buffet, but turned out not to be that great of a decision when going to the Floating Market as I was completely stuffed by 10am!! I can't believe you also had Reed's lunch the same day - you probably thought you wouldn't eat for a week!

I'm looking forward to what you have to sat about Ayutthaya, as I was last there over 20 years ago, and am thinking of making a return trip in November.

Thanks so much for the enjoyment I am receiving reading your post. I've just searched, found and printed out directions for Chote Chitr for my upcoming visit.

BYW, I have tried with your post as well as others to figure out what DH stands for...darling husband, daffy husband, doting husband????

impacked - I always assumed it was dear husband, but depending on the day it could be dazzling, daring, dopey or, just da husband!

what a great day outside bkk....i still do not feel that the floating market is a total tourist place...it is colorful, natural and serves a purpose....i think its fun...

Great report so far. We just returned and I am reliving our experience through your report (and jgg's). I'm in the process of writing our trip report and it's interesting that all 3 of us had similar experiences and opinions. I wonder if we were at the Peninsula around the same time?!

Just curious, did you make any dives this trip too? We are avid divers as well, but only got in 3 dives (day trip) off Phuket.

Yes - This was primarily a dive trip, the 3rd we've done in Thailand. We were on a 10 day liveaboard, the Ocean Rover, which unfortunately is being sold soon. It will be moving to Indonesia (which IMO is the best diving in the world).

Thanks Susan. I'd love to hear more about it (both Thailand and Indonesia). We were so impressed with the diving in Thailand that we'd love to come back and do a live aboard. Any advice is welcome!

Kimberly - Diving is my favorite topic, but I don't want to bore everybody else on the board (though I'd be happy to by popular demand), so feel free to email me at [email protected] with any questions you might have on diving the Indo-Pacific.

DAY THREE - AYUTTHAYA
We started out the day with the breakfast included at Rojo, the restaurant in Adelphi Suites. It was quite good, not as big a spread as the Peninsula, but still more than anyone could ever need! Although it's right on the soi and only a block from Sukhiumvit, I was surprised at how quiet the room was at night. I like this hotel (but be forewarned, unlike Carol's daily washer/dryer ritual, the studio's don't come equipped with one). We had discussed the day's itinerary with Tom and he had suggested a 1/2 day in Ayutthaya, just hitting the highlights and then returning to Bangkok to see a few sights that we had not managed to get to yet, either on our last trip or this one.

Our first stop was at a Wat that was a more Chinese Thai temple, than ones we had previously seen. It's too bad that the Buddha there was undergoing renovation. It was black, as it had not been regilded yet, and had scaffolding around it, but it was still really impressive, 90 feet tall! Across the street was a Chinese cemetary; unlike other Thais who use cremation, but Chinese cemetaries use burial, in above the ground mounds. Some are rather small and humble, others extremely tall and grand with fancy landscaping (if you got it, flaunt it). Tom explained that this was the last day of the period where families are to come to the cemetary to honor their ancestors, so it was pretty busy with family groups making offerings and bringing lots of food for a party after doing the honors. When they're done paying their respects, they set off firecrackers - perhaps they are loud enough to let the ancestors know they've been there.

From there we visited three sites of ruins. The name escapes me, but the first one was a big area where the Wat and Grand Palace had existed. Very little of the ruins are left and all of the buddhas in all of the ruins we visited had had their heads removed, either during the wat's destruction or by poachers to sell on the antiquities market. There was nothing at all left of the Grand Palace.

The second wat, Mahathat (sp?), was more intact and is the site of the famous buddha head with the roots of the bodhi tree all around it. It's very cool and Tom told us several stories that are told about how this happened and suggested we go with whichever we liked best, as no one really knows the truth.

The third wat was the best, just across the river from the Queen's summer palace and built in the style of Angkor Wat. It just made me want to visit Angkor Wat all the more.

On the way back, Tom stopped and got us a treat of what he called Thai cotton candy, a sort of pulled candy in thin strings. Next door, a guy was making thin little crepes and Tom bought a package of these and wrapped the candy in the warm pancake. I didn't think I was going to like it but it was really good. What he didn't stop for were the roadside stands with piles of roasted rats (tails still on and sticking out all over the place!!). Tom said they charge more for these than pork. We didn't stop for the rosted cobras either!!!

When we got back to BKK we stopped for lunch at the Coconut Palm (I'm beginning to see a pattern here. With amillion restaurants around, why do they always go to the Coconut Palm?). As I've read in other posts, the order was for the Sukothai Pancakes, spicy prawn salad and a noodle dish. It was OK, but not great. If someone is doing the tour with Tong's team, I would suggest that they request going to Chote Chitr - much better IMO.

We had never managed to get to Wat Traimit, so that was our next stop to see the golden buddha all 5 or whatever tons of him. We took a swift walk through Chinatown and bought a whole bunch of mouse shaped water pistols to use on the dive boat during Songkran. Then we grabbed a tuk tuk, something we don't usually do, but with Tom we figured the price would be appropriate to the distance. We wandered (well, raced really) through the flower market and into the vegetable area. Tom said he'd never been in there, but I thought it was really interesting. Back to the hotel and had happy hour margeritas at Rojo, and forced one on Tom which he was polte enough to pretend to drink. They really weren't the best I've had, but it's fun to sit on the deck and watch all the foot traffic through the soi.

We were fairly tired and just went across the street and split a pizza at Via Vai. Our dinner entertainment was watching (and I hope I don't offend anyone here) two somewhat out of shape and very sweaty middle-aged men and there two VERY young Thai "dates" having dinner at the next table.

We had no tour the next day, a Saturday, so off to Chatuchak we went, with our ever so handy Nancy Chandler map in hand.

thanks for adding this part....did you like AY?