#ashleysgoodvibes

[pgirl1986]

ashleysgoodvibes replied to your post: Added joy of seeing Captain Marvel: my mom can’t...

Isn’t the cat called Goose after the character in top gun?

Probably.

My mom is not familiar with Top Gun.

[duchessvondelulu]

This morning we got up, got dressed and had our breakfast in the outside restaurant. It was delicious. I had a Spanish omelette, Denali a bread plate with pineapple jam and orange marmalade. After those plates were taken away, you were given a fruit plate. This was the first time I’ve had dragonfruit by itself, it tasted like a plum with lots of tiny seeds.

It was particularly hot today. The heat takes a lot out of you, we were tired before we left. Our driver was waiting, we got in the tuk tuk and started for Thom Wat. We get our passes punched at the check point and make our way. The first place we stopped was the Bayon Temple. I know I say amazing, incredulous, indescribable a lot, but it’s always true. It baffles me how people hundreds of years ago were capable of making art that I can see today. Bayon is the temple with the many headed statues.

There were four main gates that led to stairs. These were not as steep as the ones at Angkor Wat. When you got to the top, you were able to get a better view of the heads. They were all over the complex. The only bad thing about Bayon were the loads of rude people. But I tried not to let them get to me. I learned early on this trip that in order to survive you have to assert yourself.

Like I mentioned earlier Bayon was part of the Angkor Thom complex. When you went back down the steps and out one of the gates, across the street was another temple. We crossed a long stone bridge , walked through a gate, and climbed stairs. These first stairs weren’t too bad, it was the next set that were terrible. They were very steep. By the time I got to the top I was dying and Denali was out of breath. You know it’s bad if Denali is having trouble breathing. The view was nice and there were a lot of dragonflies.

We went down the stairs Aunt Rosa style and walked around to the back of the temple. There was a little hut with information about the restoration of the stones of the wall. The wall incorporated a reclining Buddha. It was hard to see, but once found it was a sight to see.

We followed a path to see several more temples in the complex. We got lost for a minute but eventually found our way. We come out in a shopping area. They were selling the same things as always. Pants, art, food, souvenirs, etc. We looked for our driver but he was nowhere to be found. So we walk back to where he dropped us off, which was about a ten minute walk, he was still nowhere to be found. We walked past the Elephant and the Kings terrace several times.

At this point we’ve been walking for hours and I’ve reached my max. I sat while Denali kept looking. No luck. We walked back to the shopping area where a lot of tuk tuks were. I sat in a shady area while Denali kept looking. I could see he’d gotten to the irritated stage now. I suggested we ask a tuk tuk driver to call the tuk tuk drivers brother. If you recall he drove us from the airport, we still had his number. Apparently new phones don’t work in the area but one of the men we spoke to had an older phone, and was able to call the airport driver. He then called his brother, the tuk tuk driver. He waiting in some crazy place. He finally arrived and we rode on to the next two temples. We decided to do a drive by for one of them and stopped at one of them.

There were people selling things at all of the temples. They were always extremely pushy. Denali found an Angkor beer shirt. Then we went to Ta prohem. Also known as the Tomb Raider temple. Angelina Jolie partially filmed her movie on location here. It is one of several temples that have been overrun with trees.

At that point we were templed out and went back to the hotel, it was only 2:30pm. Just in time for happy hour.

Cambodia Day Two This morning we got up, got dressed and had our breakfast in the outside restaurant. It was delicious.

[brooklynmuseum]

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Photos by recent visitors @costumingcaroline @jolie_explorer @timelessvixen @afireinparis @cyborg.jpg @pinkdurian @cat.french @_retrodancefreak_ @annsunwoo @ashleysgoodvibes

[themermaidstudio]

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[duchessvondelulu]

By siem reap. Hello chiang Mai. Travel day! This morning we woke up late. It was wonderful. We had breakfasts as usual and waited for our ride to the airport. There were ridiculous lines at the check in, mostly people trying to check overweight luggage or trying to bring things on the plane they weren’t supposed to. We finally get checked in and got a lovely surprise. Both our seats where aisle seats across from each other. The flight to Bangkok was uneventful. The immigration line was long and full of people cutting.

We had McDonalds for lunch because we wanted a familiar taste. We weren’t disappointed. There was the normal fair but they Thai chili sauce on tap! It was amazing it goes with literally everything

We checked in and waited for our flight to chiang Mai. The flight was easy and we were there in about an hour. There was no problem getting a taxi to our hotel. Bonus, our taxi was Tuberculosis free! The hotel wasn’t great but it was passable. We had a short rest and then got a tuk tuk to the night bazaar after sticking up at 7-11. We walked around the huge Night Market and saw all sorts of goodies. We decided to have dinner before discovering more.

Denali chose an Irish pub for dinner. The drinks, food, and music were really good. We went back out into the Night Bazaar and looked around some more. It was very busy and over stimulating.

We found a few interesting things for family and then tuk tuked back to the hotel. There was terrible wifi. This was the second hotel in a row with terrible wifi. This slowed my daily posts to a halting stop.

Goodbye Siem Reap, Hello Chiang Mai. By siem reap. Hello chiang Mai. Travel day! This morning we woke up late. It was wonderful.

[duchessvondelulu]

This morning we had a late start. I broke another nail and Denali spilled coffee on himself. I dropped a water bottle and it broke in the floor. This morning wasn’t looking good. We had our normal breakfast. We ate and waited for our new driver. He was a friend of our old driver, who had to cancel in us to take his prewedding photos. The new guy arrives and we get in the tuk tuk. Not ten minutes later he stopped to pee in the woods. We ride for an hour to get to Banteay Shrey. With 9 km left he got stopped at a police check point for having no right mirror. He talked to the police for about 7 minutes. He looked very uncomfortable. He came back over to the tuk tuk, apologized and off we went. We arrived at Banteay Shrey and he drops us off. He tells us where to meet him when we are done. This temple is made of red rocks and is littered with picture frame windows. The Chinese tourists were pushy and cutting lines. We had enough so we tore a page out of their book and aggressively got the photos we wanted. We started a perspective trend. We found a spot to take a photo with two people in two different frames. We asked a woman to take the picture. After she took ours, we took the same photo for her and by then a line had formed.

We spent a little more time wandering around and then checked out the little shopping area. We found lots of goodies. When we were done shopping we found our driver. I didn’t notice he had a new mirror. But Denali did. “New mirror,who dis”, were the exact words he whispered to me. Then off to the next temples. We ended up driving by two stop and stopped at three more smaller temples. By this point we had seen quite a few temples and they all started to look the same.

We were dropped off in the city of Siem Reap. We discovered Pub street and found a place to eat. We ordered way too much food and the drinks were massive. Everything was mediocre. We paid but they came back and said they couldn’t take a $20 that had a tiny rip at the top. So Denali gave them a different one and all was well in the world. I thought the waiter gave us more change than he should have. So we doubled checked. I was right and we gave back the extra money.

Denali eyed a fish pedicure tank. Only this tank had huge fish instead of the tiny ones. He had been talking about getting a fish pedi, so he decided to go big or go home. He literally dunked his feet in with very little hesitation. It took me a few minutes to agree. When I finally got up the nerve, I couldn’t put my feet in completely like he did. I started with my heels and then slowly lowered lore of my feet. Denali convinced three girls to try the bigger fish too. They had mixed reviews and. Over to the smaller fish. They said the smaller ones were less intense.

We walked another block and found the night bazaar. There were rows and rows of stalls with all sorts of things. Food, fresh fish, fruits, clothes, jewelry, etc. When we were done wandering the market, we headed back to pub street for some fries and another drink. The power went out. It came back on about 5 minutes later for our building, and about 10 minutes later for other buildings.

We hailed a tuk tuk and went back to the hotel. Denali crashed. I watched some tv. Some kids were making noise at the pool but that stopped when the pool closed. I was happy for the silence and then the factory across the street was blasting music while ironing/ welding. I popped in some earplugs and fell asleep.

Cambodian sights, Day three… This morning we had a late start. I broke another nail and Denali spilled coffee on himself.

[duchessvondelulu]

This morning we packed and checked out. I was sad to say goodbye to Bangkok. I will definitely be coming back. The bellboy asked if we wanted a taxi to airport. We said yes and he quoted us a decent price so we agreed. We got in taxi and we can clearly see money changing hands between the bellboy and the driver. When we drove away the driver said we must pay the tolls. We told him no, we did not agree to that. He got a little argumentative and we said we would get out of the car. Then he sang a new song. He would pay highway. Then he put the meter and covered it so we couldn’t see the numbers. It was very sketchy. I asked if he was using the meter. He said no. At this point it was just hilarious.Then I reiterated we were not paying tolls, and we had a set price. He was driving on and off the highway to avoid the tolls. It was quite a ride. We got to airport with no trouble after that. We went through the normal airport experience. This time I apparently pre-paid for bags when I bought the ticket so that was nice. We got through customs and security with ease. I finally had Starbucks in Thailand. They are everywhere but I had never stopped. I checked out the gift shop and then went to the gate.m. There was some sort of commotion but I don’t speak Chinese, so I didn’t know what was going on. It was two gates down so it wasn’t really my concern. Just a lot of shouting. Finally it was time to board. The birding was late so they didn’t even go by rows. Just a final boarding call. The line was massive. So we took a cue from our Chinese experiences and walked to the front where they were taking the express customers. By then they were taking everyone. So we skipped the long line. We got on the bus to the plane, boarded the plane and took off. The flight was short, we pretty much filled out the customs paperwork, the arrival card, visa application, and then it was time to land. We had to wait in a short line for the visa application. The whole time an older man behind the counter was staring at us. I’m assuming he couldn’t figure out why we were in the line for foreign visas. We handed over the application, our passports, and $30. We waited for about 5 minutes and then got our passports back with a really cool Kingdom of Cambodia visa installed. We get our bags and go the taxi area. We have to choose what kind of ride we wanted. Mini bus, car, or motorbike. We chose door number two and went for the car. We got a ride to our hotel for $7. The car driver asked us what we were going to be doing while we were here. We told him and he offered his brothers services. His brother drives a tuk tuk. So we bargained a price for the two and a half days we would be in Cambodia. We arrived at the hotel and left him a down payment for our upcoming tuk tuk ride. The hotel was clean and spacious. It was weird to use an actual key for the room but that really my only complaint.

We arranged for the tuk tuk driver to pick us up at 2pm, so we had two hours to relax. He arrived on time and off we went. First we went to the Angkor ticket pavilion.

We bought our three day passes. They take a photo of you for your pass. After getting our tickets we drive toward Angkor Wat. We ride past a lake and saw a free roaming monkey. Then all of a sudden we saw Angkor Wat in the distance. It was a beautiful sight. Our driver drops us off in front of a bridge. We started walking across it. Angkor Wat keeps getting bigger and bigger. We finally get to the gate. It was beautiful. You could tell the rocks were ancient, they told an old story.

We kept walking though the various doorway and courtyards until we arrived at the Bakan tower. It was very high and the steps were very steep. It was frightening going up and I dreaded thinking about going down. The view was breathtaking from the top, so it was all worth it. There was a main courtyard surrounded by hallways. There were Buddhas in various alcoves. Then came the worst part, going back down the stairs.

I listened to my very wise, long last, Aunt Rosa. When going down stairs that were very high or steep she would say, “go down backwards.” That’s exactly what I did. After the death defying decent, we were done sightseeing Angkor Wat. But before we walked over the bridge we saw a monkey digging in the trash. It found a smoothie and was ecstatic.

After seeing the monkey we hurriedly walked over the bridge to a little shopping area. Same trinkets and wares, but the people were very pushy. We walked back to our tuk tuk through another shopping area. A woman tried to sell me a scarf. I told her no multiple times. She would t take no for an answer. When I started walking away she gave me a ridiculously cheap price. I told her no again, and this time she got mad and finally gave up. We got back in the tuk tuk and went to the next area. It was a temple on top of a hill. I’d had enough, so Denali went up without me. He told me I made a good choice in staying behind, it was a Benner hike. There was another little shopping area below. I got some more harem pants. I may never wear real pants again. There was also an elephant ride at the bottom of the hill. They were going up and around a small incline over and over. The had the elephant seats on them so people could ride them. It was pretty sad. At least the seats were the better kind for their back, that was the only positive. But after learning about elephants at the other park, I knew this was not great for the elephant.

At last we hopped in our tuk tuk and rode to the hotel. We made it back just in time for the last few minutes of happy hour. Drinks, spring rolls, and red curry coconuts were what we needed after a long day.

Goodbye Bangkok, Hello Siem Reap This morning we packed and checked out. I was sad to say goodbye to Bangkok. I will definitely be coming back.

[duchessvondelulu]

It was nice to sleep in. I was still tired from yesterday. We got ourselves together and went downstairs. A tuk tuk driver tried to scam us into going to the less than stellar local floating market. He lied about the opening time of the wholesale market we were going to. It opened at 7 am and he said it opened at 11. He got indignant when I insisted it opened at 7. He the was like, yeah oh ok, THAT market is open. He knew we weren’t falling for it so he moved on. We walked up the street and grabbed a taxi. It dropped us off at the Pratunam Market. It was crazy! Just stalls and stalls, row by row. It was a maze of stores. Some rows dead ended. Some rows just look liked they did but if you turned you would get to another row. It just went on and on.

The main row was wide enough for a car to squeeze through, so you had to pay attention for cars. So rows were only wide enough for people and motorbikes. You could hear them slowly winding through the people. The people were the craziest. Most of them had huge bags of carts filled with clothing they were going to sell in other places. The more you bought from a shop, the cheaper each item was. There were lots of knockoffs. Mostly really cheaply made. But if you searched hard enough you could find better quality fakes. It was overwhelming after a little bit, so we walked towards the sunlight and made our way out. We hadn’t had breakfast yet, so we looked for food. Denali saw an escalator to an inside market that said it had a food court. It too was a strange sight. Lots of clothes and stuff. I hate to use the word stuff, but that’s the best way to describe it. There was a little but of everything. Shoes, trinkets, pots, rope, you name it, you could find it. The food court was in the third floor surrounded by shops and kiosks. In order to pay, you had to exchange your money for food coupons. I’ve never seen anything like that except at an arcade. Tokens in the place of quarters.

Denali gets the coupons and we pick where we want to eat. There is a decent choice. Arabic, Indian, Thai, Americanized, vegetarian, etc. With that choice came all of those smells, mixed together. I got my standard chicken fried rice from the Arabic place. I was lured in by the photos of samosas, they weren’t ready yet. Denali got green curry rice from an eatery on the other side of the food court. We both enjoyed our food and marveled at the environment. I don’t want to call it strange, just different. We had some food coupons left over so we got some ice cream. I couldn’t decide between cookies and cream or rainbow so we got a scoop of each.

The cookies and cream tasted like a bunch of an Oreo filling with a few cookies crumbled in it. The ice cream wasn’t really creamy. The rainbow tastes better but we couldn’t quite place the flavor. But we finally figured it out. It was birthday cake! We were sharing back and forth until we got to the cone, I took the rainbow. Right as I was biting into the bottom I dropped it on the table. Denali and laughed and he went and got another cone. But by that time I was full so he ate it all. We went back downstairs took a short look around. I found some elephant pants and we made our way outside. We hopped in a taxi, it was time for the Grand Palace. The taxi let us off a block away of the closer side. A woman tried to scam us into going somewhere else first because it was too crowed right now. We told her we were going anyway. She got mad as usual. We walked to security, passed through, to the main gate. Today we got in with no problems, Denali’s legs were covered.

Like the woman said, it was very crowded. It felt like Disneyland but there were no rides. We walked around and saw the sights. It was amazing. I can’t think of a better word. Photos do it no justice. Almost everything was tiled. Some with tiny mirrors and gold, some with ceramic flowers. Everything was glittering in the sunlight. It was awe inspiring.

The Wat with the little emerald buddha was just incredible. They won’t let you take photos of the emerald Buddha or inside where it’s located. It sits high on top of an impressive shrine. All around on the walls are paintings like in the Sistine Chapel. Im not a good enough wordsmith to conjure up the words that will do it justice. If you ever get a chance, you should go. After leaving the Grand Place. We walked to Wat Pho, to the see the giant reclining buddha. On the map it looked like a small jaunt but in reality it was far. By the time we got there I didn’t even want to go in. I gave myself a 5 minute sitting/ water break and then we made our way in. The reclining Buddha was enormous. I thought the one in the monkey cave was big. That one pales in comparison. There is an order of what you have to do while inside Wat Pho. You stop and take a picture of the head when you walk in.

Then walk to the middle where there is a place to get closer to the Buddha to take a shot of you and the head behind you.( There was a line here. It was not very long but people kept trying to cut, and the line kept making an uproar about it. It was very funny) After taking your picture you keep walking until you get to the end. You walk out the door and then left. You are greeted with a view of the feet, inlaid with what looked like pearl or abalone. It’s breathtaking. You can’t get a good photo of the feet because there is a mesh wire over the window. You then walk back into the wat, but this time behind the giant Buddha.

There are rows of metal pots. If you want, you can buy a bowl of coins to put in the bowls. It makes a constant clanging sound. (We wondered what it was when we were in the other side.) After you admire the back of the Buddha, you make your way out of the front of the Wat and then you realize just how much there is to see at Wat Pho. Disclaimer: after seeing all of these wats in the last few days, I’d become kind of jaded. But seeing all there is to see at Wat Pho brought me back to life. It is my absolute favorite Wat to date.

There were multi courtyards with rows of buddhas. Multiplicity of form is a beautiful thing. After gazing in wonder at one courtyard, you would walk through th a doorway into another courtyard with more buddhas, this time just bigger. If you looked to the left or the right, there were more courtyards with more buddhas. There were stone giants, there were spires of gold and spires covered with ceramic flowers. There is just no way to describe everything.

We thought we would only need a half hour or so at Wat Pho. We spent about two hours there. We could have spent more but it was time to get Denali’s suit. We got a taxi to The Factory, given a bottle of water and guided to an upstairs room. Not as posh as downstairs. There was a curtain, a couch, a mirror, and some suits hanging up. We waited for the suit to be brought in. I had a brief thought that we had sold ourselves into slavery, but then they brought in the suit. Denali tried it on and it fit nicely.

He picked out a free tie and the gentleman packed everything up. No one wanted to drive to Chinatown in rush hour but we finally convinced a taxi to take us to our hotel. We relaxed, got spring rolls, and called it a night

Bangkok day two… It was nice to sleep in. I was still tired from yesterday. We got ourselves together and went downstairs.

[duchessvondelulu]

7:45 am pick up today. We had to get up earlier than usual. We got down to breakfast with 15 mins to eat. There was a yellow curry that looked delicious, so I put some on my plate. There was no warning about how spicy it was! It was still tasty though. This morning they actually had breakfast potatoes. Well a Thai version but it was good. The bus driver showed up at 7:43.

It was nice to see someone show up before the scheduled time. We got on a small 11 passenger van, there were three other people already in it. It was very posh. Plush, tan leather seats. The ride was very comfortable. I’m very glad it was comfortable because the guide told us the ride would be 1 hour, 40 minutes, and 15 seconds to the elephant park. But we thought it was worth it to see the elephants ethically. I just realized that when we got on the van, we must have smelled heavily of curry. 😂 The road up the mountain snaked. Literally the whole way. It was really cool? Another word. When we finally got to the park, we were greeted with the sight of elephants. It was quite the reward for the long drive. We walked up to the registration area and had an hour long briefing about the park, elephants in general, and how to behave around them. We learned about how the park was started and its philosophy. We got a welcome drink. It was made out of a traditional Thai flower. It was dark blue but then turned purple after a lime is squeezed into it. It was sweet but tasty.

We walked over to where the elephants were. Then we climbed stairs to a raised platform, where the mahouts brought their elephants. Each rider had to decide where they were going to sit. Either in the front, like a mahout, or in its back. The back rider had a rope to hold on to, the front rider had nothing. What do you think I chose? Denali sat like a mahout and I wanted the security of the rope. I’m happy with the choice I made.

We rode the elephant up to the top of a hill over rocky terrain. Here’s where the rope came in handy. Even with the rope, I was sliding all over the place. At the top of the hill, we fed the elephants many bananas and they got s rest while we learned more about them. For instance, Asian elephants have been domesticated for over 3,000 years, in Thailand they are like pets, like a dog or a horse. They are endangered. 75% of the population is domesticated in captivity. Most of the other 25% live on preserves so they can be monitored. They roam free in large areas, but are not completely free. It’s illegal to poach an elephant from the wild, if you get caught you will go to jail for the rest of your life. But people still do it because if you have an elephant you are set for life with the amount of money you will make. If you are successful with the capturing of the elephant? The government won’t come after you. They will only do something if they catch you in the act. I think my most favorite fact was that elephants have 400,000 muscles in their bodies. 100,000 are in their trunk alone.

After we learned more about the park and the elephants, we rode them back down the hill. Then we changed our clothes and gave them a bath. When bath time was finished, it was time for lunch. As you can see it was very appetizing.

After lunch we headed home. We arrived late for our ride to the Thai cooking class, so we hustled upstairs to change clothes. I don’t think I ever said the crazy way we got to our Ao nang hotel room everyday. You start in the lobby on the ground floor. You take the first elevator to floor 3 where you get off and walk around a corner and up a few stairs to lobby number 2. Then you go around lobby number 2, up two small flights of open stairs to a second elevator with now happens to be a different ground floor. You take this second elevator to floor 3, make a left, walk to a walkway, cross it and turn right into our hallway. We were the last room on the floor. It was quite a trek at least twice a day.

Back to the story…so we arrived late. No time to do anything but change a catch a tuk tuk to the cooking class. As I struggled to wriggle out of my pants that are a beast to get off when wet, my right thumbnail went flying. It was painful but I had to suck it up, get a few bandaids and head to the cooking class.

We finally arrived at the class, I realized it was outside. Cooking outside in the heat is not my cup of tea but I did it because Denali wanted to. We cooked 6 meals. It was actually a great experience, it was just hot.

I was happy that it ended early, I was well fed, and able to get into bed. Elephants and Thai 7:45 am pick up today. We had to get up earlier than usual. We got down to breakfast with 15 mins to eat.

[duchessvondelulu]

Breakfast was awful. I couldn’t really eat anything after I saw the mouse yesterday. Denali dropped his egg. It did not bode well for the day. We checked out and got on the tour bus at 7:00 am. If you are an avid reader you will remember we booked this tour through the ministry of tourism in Bangkok the day of the four temples for four baht. The van arrived in time.Check out the name of the company, we were always able to find our van because of it. It was a 14 passenger van. The driver was confused about dropping us off in chiang rai and that we had bags, even though we made sure this was noted before we booked. I had to pack the nonexistent trunk myself, because that’s my super power. We got in and off we went. First, we picked up a couple. They had the same idea as us, getting dropped in chiang rai, but they had actual luggage. The driver looked exasperated and ended up putting the suitcases on the back seat. We were sitting in the back seat but moved up a row because I didn’t want to sit next to other people’s luggage. The back row had four seats. The next row three, but was split one and two. I took the two, Denali took the one. The man barked at us that we would have to sit together because the van was fully booked. We decided we would move when necessary. Two girls got on, then another by herself. That’s three. Now there are only three seats left in the van. A single seat, the one next to me, and the one with the couple with all the luggage in the back. On our last stop three girls were getting on. Denali moved over and the couple behind us rearranged so that the extra seat would accommodate a person. When the guide opens the door he looked back at us, already moved and ready for more people, and emitted a stern hmmmmm. It was like he was waiting to chastise us to move but he lost out on the satisfaction because we already did it. When everyone is in we drove off, and our guide introduced himself as Boo. He rattled off the itinerary and didn’t say anything about when he would be dropping the four of us in Chiang Rai. This was going to be an interesting day.

We had about a one hour ride to the hot springs. I wasn’t expecting much, as the photos to entice you to go were less than stellar. We had 20 minutes to visit the hot spring. It was more than enough time. It was the biggest tourist trap we had seen yet. Just a few walled holes in the ground, with pipes creating fake geysers. It wasn’t even awesomely bad. It was depressingly sad.

Women were standing around selling eggs boiled in the hot water. There was also a giant hot spring across the street. By street, I mean a giant four lane highway. We froggered our way across, it was just more of the same thing. So back to the van we went.

We all packed back on the bus for the half hour ride to the White Temple. More than an hour later, we arrived. We had forty minutes to explore the temple grounds. I didn’t think it would be enough, but the staff there did not let you stand in one place too long. We were yelled at through a bullhorn to keep moving over the bridge to the temple. You could only go one way and once inside, no photos could be taken. You got a little plastic bag to carry your shoes and exited on the other side.

There were all sorts of pop culture heads hanging from the trees. There was also a gift shop, a museum with a gift shop, and plenty of places to buy trinkets. They also had two stations, one outside the main gift shop and one inside the museum, where you could stamp a postcard for a souvenir. It felt a bit like Disneyland. There were life sized cutouts of the artistfor people to pose with. The museum was a full homage to him. It was very narcissistic.

Back into the van and onto the next stop. It happened to be the Long Neck Tribe of Karen. We got out of the van and walked down a small dirt hill. We stopped at a shopping area. Filled with the regular and and locally made trinkets. Three in our group must not have had the long neck package because they had to stay in the shopping area. We were guided down a small dirt trail to the village. The part of the village we were allowed in was a giant U shaped area. All around us were long necked women working on their hand crafts. We stopped at the first table and saw a woman working with yarn. Our guide started giving a little background on the long necked people. They were not originally from Thailand. Most were from Myanmar and some from China. The have refugee status in Thailand and cannot leave the area they live in. He then talked about the rings in their necks. They put on the first set about age 5/6 and add a ring every year. At first the rings hurt but then the children get used to it and the pain no longer bothers them. The guide said that tourism was their only source of income and that the tour groups pay money to bring people to see them. He also said we could take pictures of everyone. It felt dehumanizing, kind of like a human zoo. I definitely did not feel comfortable posing for a picture with fake rings on my neck. A man in our group asked me to take a photo of him and his friends. As they gathered around a woman and her small children it just made me feel slightly sickened. I’m not saying I didn’t take any photos of the women, we just chose not to pose with them. I asked before I took anyones photo and we ended up buying a few of their hand made scarves.

This experience brought up the conversation of how life is the luck of the draw, where and when you’re born. What’s considered normal versus abnormal? Who decides? It brought up a lot of thoughts on colonization and what that meant for various countries around the world. We went back up to the shopping area and noticed there were representatives of a few other different hill tribes. This is a woman from the Ahka Tribe.

We didn’t get very far into the rows of shops because it was time to go. But I did get my aunt something very cool. I’m not going to say because she reads this blog and I want it to be a surprise. We got back into the van and made our way to the next stop, the Golden Triangle. Our guide tried to up sell us a boat tour of a river between Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand. We decided against it. So we had an hour and a half to wait for the rest of the group. We wandered around.

We found a 7-11 and got some snacks. We did a little shopping. We also stopped at a local restaurant for some chicken friend rice. It was the best chicken fried rice I had the entire trip. We decided to share a plate because the tour would be giving us lunch soon.

The food was so good we ordered another round. We finished and walked towards the van. Denali wanted some iced coffee. The woman was using boiled mystery water. He said if he regretted this decision later, remember that happiness on my face while I’m drinking the coffee.

We rode for about a half hour from the golden triangle to where they gave us lunch. It was a buffet. Thank goodness we had already eaten. It didn’t look appealing at all. The only thing I felt comfortable eating were the brand new French fries they put out. I’m a semi adventurous eater, but I wasn’t trying to get food poisoning. Denali bought a glass bottle of sprite. It was flat. He was irritated so he went to try to get a new bottle. Of course trouble ensued. But in the end he got a refund. Did I mention the buffet was the back part of a jewelry store? Or that it had no sign? Nothing that let you know it was a place to eat? It was very strange. Almost like the jewelry store provided the food because they wanted you to buy their gems.

We got back in the van and drove 10 minutes to do a drive by of the Myanmar border. We could only see the immigration building. Then back to chiang rai, at last. Our new hotel had extra pillows in the closet. Denali didn’t want any extra, so I ended up with four pillows. It was almost like home. Bus trip from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai Breakfast was awful. I couldn't really eat anything after I saw the mouse yesterday. Denali dropped his egg.

[duchessvondelulu]

We had plans to sightsee Chiang Mai today. We had breakfast. I saw a mouse dart from under one table to another. That was it for me eating at our hotel. We got dressed and tried to hail a tuk tuk outside of our hotel. We went through three drivers before we haggled a decent price to the mountain temple and a few other temples. Quick note: Denali told me later this was actually the tuk tuk driver we had the night before that over charged us for a ride to the night bazaar. I was under the impression we were going to visit the mountain temple, Doi Suthep, first. But I was wrong. That should have been my first clue. First we stopped at the silver temple. Come to find out I cannot go inside, no women allowed. But from what I can glimpse, the inside is more beautiful that the outside. Denali went inside and took pictures for me. The silverwork was incredible inside and out.

We went to several other temples, two in our list, the others were not. Wat Our driver kept passing a huge temple but he couldn’t find the foreigner entrance, so he gave up and drove to another temple.

We approached a mediocre temple and at this point we just wanted to go to Doi Suthep. So we told the driver and we started up the mountain. We got half way up the mountain and stopped at a check point. We waited for a few minutes. Our driver came back and said tuk tuks can’t go up. Which he should have known, another clue. So he tried to find us a bigger tuk tuk that was allowed up. They were a big red truck. The first man our driver found was 300 baht. Our driver said that would be on top of what we were going to pay him for the day. I said absolutely not. We weren’t paying him his full price because he said he could take us up the mountain and that’s not what he was doing. He got mad and tried to haggle but in the end he looked for a cheaper ride. It took him a while to understand we weren’t paying him the full price. He took us to a communal red truck that would take us up and back for 80 baht a person. We say ok but he wasn’t getting 190 baht plus whatever it cost to get home from the red truck stop. He was livid. But I wasn’t having it. Eventually we came to a price which I then lowered to the nearest hundred for wasting our time. He was so irate but he took the money and left. Then we waited for more people to show up. The red truck needs ten people and only eight were waiting. So we waited. I was even more livid when I realized the driver didn’t take us to two of the temples that were on my list. Two more people arrived and we were herded into the truck, only to wait some more. For no good reason. They squeeze ten people in the back and two in the front seat, next to the driver. We drove half way up the mountain and then the driver stopped the truck and asked everyone to pay for the ride up. It was so weird. Five minutes later we arrived at Doi Suthep. We grabbed some water from local sellers and made out made our up the stairs to the first gate.

Then we tackled the 300+ stairs to the top. That was a challenge but the railings were two giant tiled dragons so they distracted me. We made it up to the top and drank a bunch of water. Took off our shoes and walked up more steps into main courtyard. It was glorious and gold. People were everywhere and it was hot.

We walked around and found a shady spot to people watch. Then we got some ice cream and made the trek back down. We realized how much cooler it was in the mountains as we drove back down into the town.

We were dropped off at the night market location. It was so different in the day. Every day they put up and take down the stalls for the sellers. At this point, people were putting the stalls back together. Denali chose the lunch place again. He chose an America style restaurant, again. The food was good and so were the drinks.

The owner was there and was giving an interview to a magazine about his restaurant and his inspirations. It was interesting to hear until they started taking pictures and it was annoying because we were trying to eat. We got a tuk tuk to our hotel and just relaxed.

Chiang Mai We had plans to sightsee Chiang Mai today. We had breakfast. I saw a mouse dart from under one table to another.

[duchessvondelulu]

Roaming Bangkok

Denali and I slept in. We decided it would be a walk around and discover the old town day. We took a taxi to Banglamphu area. We didn’t know quite how to explain where we wanted to go to the driver, so we asked to be dropped off at the Grand Palace. (more…)

[duchessvondelulu]

Flying to Bangkok

We had a late start today. We were saying goodbye to Ao nang. When we got all of our stuff back into the backpacks we called for buggy down hill. They sent a man to carry our bags instead. We were never able to catch a buggy ride, even though they were advertised in all the elevators to our room. We checked out and sat down for breakfast. (more…)

[duchessvondelulu]

This morning went as usual, wake up and head to breakfast. Then wait in the lobby for pick up. The van was 2 mins early! Our guide had lobster hands like the lobster boy from old school side shows, it was amazing. We rode in the 15 passenger van for about an hour picking people up. Our guide gave us a briefing on our itinerary but in the end we did nothing in the order he told us. He was very pleasant and loud. Which combined with a thick Thai accent was a tiny bit comical. He said he was loud because we were going places with a lot of people. And when it’s time to go, and you don’t hear him, you get left behind.

About an hour in we made a stop at a gas station for a bathroom break and snacks. It was like a bodega but more crowded. Then back in the van to the Monkey temple.

Apparently a lot of temples here are in caves and this was one of them. There was a very large, gold reclining Buddha. There were also a lot of other statues of buddhas and monks. But oddly enough, no monkeys.

It was extremely hot inside. Beads of sweat covered my face. I hate sweat, so this wasn’t pleasant. We had 20 mins to roam around. Up some stairs there was a Buddha dressed in white, placed up in the wall of the cave. To the left there were stairs down to a huge cave. More stairs to the right up to an opening in the ceiling. These stairs were very old, hand made, cut into the stone. They were also very steep. I decided to not to attempt. Denali, on the other hand, climbed them in flip flops. He was slipping and sliding, I thought I was going to have a heart attack when he was climbing down.

Then back into the van and to the pier. We stood around for a little bit, this seems to happen a lot here. We got on a speedboat to Khao Phing- Kan aka the James Bond island. The views along the way were indescribable.

The island itself has a very small beach area with caves and a small climbable mountain. There were stairs built so you could get higher to achieve a better view. One very huge negative, there were so many people. It’s become a tourist attraction since being part of a James Bond film. There is a large vendor area near the bathrooms. You passed them as you get on and off the boats. The vendors were hawking trinkets you didn’t want or need. We had 30 minutes, which was plenty of time, then on to the next stop.

Our speedboat pulled up to a bigger boat that housed a mini store and a huge covered platform with tables and chairs. We decided not to go ocean canoeing. When we go there, it was not in fact canoeing but small kayak shaped blow up rafts. Some in our group went “canoeing” so we used the time to rehydrate and rest. There were free strawberry drinks and shade.

When it was time to go, we all got back on the boat and headed to the floating village. We did a drive by, for real. I guess we missed the part where we weren’t stopping. But at least we got a few pictures of the village. It wasn’t long until we were back the dock debarking. Then back in the shuttle bus to lunch at the Fruits Garden. Yes the FRUITS Garden. There were giant fake fruit everywhere! We were lead down a long path to an outside dining area.

We were give an interesting combo of food. Rice, thin noodles with veggies, a fish dish, ground chicken in a coconut sauce, chicken wings, and some kind of ground mixed vegetable dish. There was also questionable water, we didn’t drink. After we ate, we walked around and took pictures.

Then back on us to waterfall. The waterfall, if you can call it that, was a bust. Best guess it dry because it’s not the rainy season. I feel like they should have told us before we booked the tour. But on the bright side, Denali saw this cool plant.

We got back to hotel around 5:15 and noticed the room had not been cleaned. We let it go. Then came at knock at 5:30. A lady from housekeeping was trying to clean the room. We told her to come back in 20 minutes but she said she was leaving for the night. We just asked her for new towels. When we went down to dinner we complained. The receptionist barely understood us. She kept asking if we wanted the room clean right then. We said no. We just wanted it cleaned while we were gone tomorrow. It went back and forth for a few minutes of miss understanding but the final result was that the room would be cleaned before noon tomorrow. We had dinner at an Indian place close by. The food was good but the set up of the restaurant was strange. The dining are was on two sides of walkway. The walkway lead to a massage parlor upstairs. We ate and called it a night.

Khao Phing-Kan by Speedboat… This morning went as usual, wake up and head to breakfast. Then wait in the lobby for pick up.

[duchessvondelulu]

Today we set off early on our first full day in Phuket. Over a hotel breakfast is an interesting mix of food, we decided what we wanted to see and do.

  We decided to head to the Big Buddha first. So we dressed accordingly and found a tuk tuk driver for the next few hours. His tuk tuk was slightly less fancy than the previous one but it was still a wild ride. I neglected to say yesterday that you have to hold the railings or you could fall out of the windows while moving.

    Riding up through the hills was amazing. Greenery, elephants, stray dogs, big houses,tiny houses and everything in between. It was quite interesting because around every curve was something different.

We get to the top of the mountain and there is was, the Big Buddha. It was glorious. We walked all around and took a million photos. There was a lookout with a thatched roof. I stepped in and this was the point it really hit me, that I was in Thailand actually seeing these sights for myself!

We hopped back into our tuk tuk and made our way to Wat Chalong. There were so many amazing buildings, most of the covered with beautifully carved decorations. In every temple you have to take your shoes off, it’s funny to see all the  empty shoes outside.

It was approaching noon, so it was getting too hot to walk around. We found our tuk tuk and ventured off to the next location…Tiger Kingdom.

It was not the most ethical location, but where else in the world are they going to let you do this? Definitely not in America. Most of the tigers were obviously sedated, I felt a little twinge of sadness because I know this isn’t a life for a tiger. I was stuck somewhere  between guilt and wonder. Tigers are majestic and it was awe inspiring to be that close to one. We were in a large caged area with four large tigers, a trainer, and a photographer. Of course when Denali posed with the final tiger, it yawned and look like it was roaring. In my pictures the tiger could careless. We left with a bunch of photos on a CD and the glee of a small child.

We then headed into town to get some drinks. We had a blast. Our bartender was named Nooun and she hustled us at connect four. It was quite impressive.

After drinks we walked around, found a mall, and soaked up some much needed AC. We happened upon a 30 minute escape room. Neither one of us had ever done one, so we decided to give it a try.

We we got out with 30 seconds to spare! But we got out in time lol. After winning, we enjoyed a celebratory lunch. I chose a place in the malls atrium that said it served traditional Thai food and it had AC and free wifi. Bad idea. Denali was not pleased with the unspicy “traditional Thai” food. I was just glad to eat. I got veggie spring rolls. They had glass noodles inside. I love them. After eating it was time to rest….

Temples, tigers, and fun… Today we set off early on our first full day in Phuket. Over a hotel breakfast is an interesting mix of food, we decided what we wanted to see and do.

[duchessvondelulu]

Finally on the flight to Bangkok at 3:00 am. I fall asleep before we take off and wake up about 35/40 minutes later. That little bit of sleep was so nice! I woke up just in time for the customary tiny drink and a weird snack, especially for the middle of the night.

It was a sandwich cut in half. One side was some sort of cheese, the other was was I believe was mayo and diced pickles? And they let you use real silverware!!!! There was also bread and yogurt with a straw and no spoon. I had some of my snack and tried to get some sleep.

I gratefully land in Bangkok and walk out of the gate. There are women holding signs with names on them for transfers. I really don’t think my name would be there, but it was! They had already rescheduled my last flight. That was such a breathe of fresh air. And then I realized how far I had to walk to get to my new ticket counter, back through Thai customs and to my new gate. But it was nice to not have to worry about finding a flight.

I get through customs and patiently wait for my flight. I board another bus to my plane, but by now I’m a pro. The flight was pretty much empty and it was super short. They hour and ten minutes flew by. But somehow Thai air has time to serve me the customary tiny drink a breakfast.

The food was interesting. I ate the potatoes and one piece of broccoli, along with the yogurt again. Then it wa time to land. I cannot tell you how happy I was to finally be in Phuket. I was delayed ten hours but I made it.

On a side note, when I missed my flight I realized that I didn’t have a contingency plan with Denali. And that I didn’t give him the airport hotel info, so he had no idea where he was staying when he got to Thailand in the middle of the night. It was hectic and stressful but I finally reached him through various channels and he met me at the airport. I have never been so glad to see someone…

Bangkok Bound…and beyond. Finally on the flight to Bangkok at 3:00 am. I fall asleep before we take off and wake up about 35/40 minutes later.