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Thailand 2020

February - March 2020
This trip is about relaxing and visiting the Northern Part of Thailand. Read more
  • 47footprints
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  • 21days
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  • 16.6kkilometers
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  • TravelerThailand 2020
    Day 11

    Big Buddha Pier

    March 10, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Back in Koh Samui after a lovely few days on Koh Phangan.

    Very disappointing that the Full Moon Party was cancelled. I guess that means we just may need to come back this is not the first thing we have missed.Read more

  • TravelerThailand 2020
    Day 11

    Bangkok Airport

    March 10, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Arrived in Bangkok, pleasant enough flight only took just over 1 hour. John fell asleep while I continued reading. Bangkok Airways even fed us with a nice chicken stir fry and sorbet.

  • TravelerThailand 2020
    Day 11

    Anantara Siam Hotel

    March 10, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Home for the next 5 days. This hotel is more luxurious than Koh Samui and Koh Phangan.

    All unpacked and ready to walk around the area. It appears we are staying in an upmarket area, not sure we will be near any street food stalls or laundries that charge 50 Bhat per kilo. Some very nice looking shopping malls including all the designer stores. Just as well I do not need to purchase anything. However, you just never know what I may see so I will take the credit card for those just in case purchases.

    We did not make it to the nice shopping centre. We decided on a short walk and noodle soup for dinner in a food court and finished with dessert at Starbucks...

    Total steps today 12667.

    Bangkok adventures tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerThailand 2020
    Day 12

    Adventures in Bangkok

    March 11, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    Yummy breakfast, so much selection but we both decided on a small breakfast, being lazy and eating all the time will make us heavier than we already are.

    We then walked around the Hotel grounds, it is lovely with so much open space and heaps of restaurants. The pool area even has a children's playground that Charlie would like.

    John will now plan our activities for the next few days during the remainder of the morning while I will continue reading my 6th book.

    Back from our walk to the huge shopping mall. Apparently it is the largest shopping mall in Bangkok and 3rd in the world, it has 500 stores mostly the same as back home. We also just had to have coffee and cake at a very cute cafe, I had an Oreo Shake and John a cold Caramel Macciato and brownie cheesecake, very yummy indeed.

    Next we went poolside doing puzzles and reading as well as swimming. The pool was nice and refreshing, not with a spectacular view over the Gulf of Thailand, but still pleasant. The pool staff set up our sun lounge and umbrella, gave us a cold bottle of water and a lemon shot drink each.

    Back to the room resting and watching TV before going out to dinner.

     Now for dinner, it was provided by the Hotel Club we are in, We could select a tour of the area or a few different places to eat or drink. We selected the Thai dinner at the Spice Market in our Hotel. I am glad we did, Dinner was sensational, so much food.

    Step count today is 9531.    Read more

  • TravelerThailand 2020
    Day 13

    Jim Thompson Museum

    March 12, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    This morning after breakfast we took a cab to Jim Thompson Museum.

    Jim Thompson was an American architect who ended up in Thailand shortly after the end of World War II. He founded the Thai Silk Company, a business that soon prospered and employed thousands of workers producing hand woven silk items.
    Jim Thompson revived the Thai silk industry.

    On display around the house are items used in the production of silk as well as boards with information about the process of silk worm harvesting, spinning and weaving.

    The Museum is the former house of American Jim Thompson. Jim bought six houses in Bangkok and Ayutthaya in the traditional Thai architecture teak wood and were built on high poles to protect the houses form flooding. They were dismantled and taken to this location in Bangkok, Jim had chosen and rebuild there. The buildings do not have nails so the buildings were easy to dismantle and rebuild at their new location.

    In 1959 the houses were completed and Jim moved in.

    The house t is surrounded by a well kept tropical garden and on display in the houses is a collection of mostly South East Asian art brought together by Jim Thompson.

     The house is now managed by the James H.W. Thompson Foundation which aims to preserve the house and its art collection.

    Jim Thompson had an appreciation for Asian art and after moving into his house he started an art collection. He often strolled around the markets in Bangkok where he would buy art pieces at often very low prices, since there was not much demand for them back then. Soon he had acquired a sizeable art collection of mostly Asian Buddhist art, now on display in the various buildings. There are Buddha images from various periods in Thai history like Dvaravati, Khmer, Lopburi and Ayutthaya as well as paintings, porcelain items and old photos. Among the most treasured items are several very old Buddha images, including a 13th century sandstone image. The oldest images date back to the 7th or 8th century, the Dvaravati Mon period.

    In 1967 while on holiday in Malaysia Jim Thompson disappeared without a trace taking a walk in the jungle. To this day it remains a mystery what happened to him.

    No photo's inside which was a shame the art work and porcelain was really lovely.

    We then took the train back to the Hotel.    Read more

  • TravelerThailand 2020
    Day 13

    Neon Night Market Bangkok

    March 12, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    After our adventure to Jim Thompson Museum we went for a swim. More reading and puzzles. Holiday's are so exhausting, he he.

    Now it is afternoon tea time and the Hotel has a chocolate High Tea. The Hopwood' s love a good High Tea and this was no exception very nice indeed.

    Back in the room for a short rest, then off to the Neon Markets.

    The Neon Night Market is like all other markets lots if the same stuff. It was not very busy which was good. Heaps of food stalls but quite expensive, We found a place which had chicken strips and they where yummy and cheap.

    We walked to and back from the markets so our total step count today was 11,925. Which still a bit low considering the walk was about 20 min each way.    Read more

  • TravelerThailand 2020
    Day 14

    The Grand Palace

    March 13, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    Today we are tourists. After breakfast we went by cab to the Grand Palace and walked around for hours. I took around 80 photo's, I think I may need to edit a few of them.

    The Grand Palace complex was established in 1782 and it consists of not only royal and throne halls, but also a number of government offices as well as the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It covers an area of 218,000 square metres and is surrounded by four walls, 1900 metres in length. After King Rama I ascended to the throne in 1782, the palace was built. Prior to this, the royal palace and centre of administration had been located in Thonburi, on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River. For various reasons, the new King considered the former capital to be unsuitable and decided to establish a new capital on the other side of the river.

    The artwork around the complex is very pretty and lots and lots of gold.

    We also went into Queen Sirikit Textile Museum which was very interesting.

    In 2003, Her Majesty Queen Sirikit requested permission to use a then vacant building on the grounds of the Grand Palace to house a new museum of textiles. The Building, erected in 1870 by King Rama V and formerly the Ministry of Finance, was graciously granted for this purpose by His Late Majesty, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

    This Italianate office building had previously served as the Ministry of Finance and the Office of Royal Ceremony. For its reinvention as a museum it underwent a top to bottom renovation that transformed it into a state of the art facility boasting new visitor reception areas, galleries, storage, an education studio, library, lecture hall, and Thailand’s first dedicated textile conservation laboratory.

    Whilst there I had a go at designing my own Batik fabric pattern.    Read more

  • TravelerThailand 2020
    Day 14

    Pak Khlong Talat Flower Market

    March 13, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Still being tourists we walked to a flower market called Pak Khlong Talat which transitioned around 60 years ago into today’s produce market, with a particular focus on flowers for both offerings and decoration. It is also one of the biggest markets for fruit and veg in central Bangkok. We only saw a few fruit and vegtables our visit was more about the flowers.

    We then caught a cab back to the Hotel.

    No swimming today just catching up on a few things at the hotel and resting. Our Tour of the Northern Part of Thailand starts tomorrow afternoon.

    We are going to head back to the Neon markets tonight as we think we need to purchase a bag to carry some of our luggage to reduce the weight of John's suitcase. We noticed that on the tour we are only allowed 20kg per bag, I guess that is because we will be moving every few days to a different Hotel either by car or boat, so it makes easier for them to move our luggage.

    Back at Hotel after dinner at Central World and walk back to the markets to purchase a bag.

    What a big day today, tomorrow until the afternoon is going to be restful sitting by the pool.

    Total steps today 16,511 although it did seem way more.    Read more

  • TravelerThailand 2020
    Day 15

    Relaxing

    March 14, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    The morning was a slow start, another yummy breakfast and a walk around the courtyard of the Hotel. It is lovely in the courtyard very pretty a shame about the 1 person smoking a cigar you could smell it everywhere.

    John took the washing to the Thai laundry before breakfast and has now gone to collect. Last washing on this trip.

    The remainder of the day is poolside, reading, doing puzzles and turning crispy.

    At 4.00pm we meet our Luxury Escapes Tour guide in the lobby so we can meet the other travellers in our group and be given the full details of the next 12 days.

    I am guessing no more relaxing as we will be on a strict timeline.    Read more

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