After a very long 36 hour journey (with short stops in Chicago, Honolulu and Tokyo) we arrived in Bangkok at 5:30am but we were running on adrenaline! The ambien worked great on our three 7 or 9 hour flights to help us get some sleep, so we were ready to go after checking into our beautiful small boutique hotel on a canal. Bangkok is large and bustling with taxis, tuktuks, and crazy drivers on motorbikes everywhere! It feels like 90 degrees and humid all the time! On our way back from some early morning shopping at a weekend market, we had our first viewing of the large protest rallies against a reputed corrupt Thai government very near to our hotel. The protesters are very peaceful and one TripAdvisor poster said he “walked by a large group of protesters sitting in chairs having a sing-along…it was terrifying!” Really the only impact has been closed roads and even worse traffic, particularly when trying to get back to our hotel.
That first afternoon we also met our tour guide to explore some rural areas and floating markets outside of Bangkok. It’s beautiful and very tropical. Seeing small motorbikes carrying 4 people including a grandma and small child is truly amazing and frightening… we even saw a motorbike with a sidecar carrying a very large pig/hog! When we finally went to bed that night Billy fell asleep immediately, but as tired as I was, sleep was elusive for hours!
The start of day 2 had us finally experiencing our first Thai massage! There is NOTHING like a Thai massage! This is not a massage that you can sleep through!…they are strong ladies that massage everything and twist your body into positions you didn’t know were possible…think massage and extreme yoga! I LOVED it…Billy not as much. And at $6 for an hour massage, I’m wanting one everyday!
The rest of the day had us riding ferry boats up and down the Chao Phraya River, visiting areas devoid of any tourists, and watching an ancient looking woman stringing prayer offering flowers and other women creating incredible and beautiful looking food items in their street carts.
We met wonderful fellow travelers on the road for many months and together we visited the beautiful Wat Arun temple. The steps to climb that temple were incredibly steep and narrow and when it came to going down, that first step was terrifying!
It amazes me that we feel so safe in such a large hectic city…certainly we are always aware of possible pickpocketers, but we are well prepared for that…otherwise the Thai people are very gentle and respectful.
Day 3 turned into “Animal Day”! Our private tour guide picked us up at 6:30am to drive several hours NW to a beautiful area called Kanchanaburi. Our first activity of the day was my long-anticipated Elephant Ride and Bath…or maybe our bath! Our elephant “Fullmoon” was a beautiful and gentle giant with a very large soft wet tongue which we contacted with every piece of papaya or mango we fed her! We walked down to the River Kwai where we rode her, got squirted mercilessly, and dunked for fun! The experience was amazing and we had a blast!!
Then we found an area of 50+ wild monkeys which we hand-fed peanuts, making them jump really high for the peanuts sometimes. They were all really gentle with us, but sometimes aggressive with each other, with the large males chasing away the children and some of the females…must be the testosterone! And the many baby monkeys were so cute with beautiful eyes…time!
Getting up close and personal with tigers was our last animal adventure of the day. We visited the Tiger Temple which is a monastery which has been caring for (originally sick) tigers for 15 years. The tigers are well fed and cared for, and very comfortable around people. The monks wonderfully engage with these beautiful animals, and all the tourists got to get very close to the tigers, big and small, for beautiful photos. Watching a tiny cub tiger follow a walking monk was adorable…such a little cub, it looked like he was still learning to walk!
Our “Animal Day” was fabulous, and included some delicious Thai food…especially a scrumptious and beautiful mango sticky rice dessert! The day was finished with another Thai massage for me! We’re having a terrific time!
