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Thailand with Gi - 2024
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  • It's not unusual...

Thailand with Gi - 2024

A 29-day adventure by It's not unusual... Read more
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  • Trip start
    April 2, 2024
    It's not unusual...Thailand with Gi - 2024Traveler

    Here we go!

    April 3, 2024 in Hong Kong ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    After a 15-hour flight from Toronto, we arrived in Hong Kong a little while ago. Our connecting flight to Bangkok leaves in an hour and a half. We'd be way more excited if we weren't so tired, but I'm sure the sights and sounds of Bangkok will revive us.

    I'm back in Thailand after after 18 years, and for Gi, it's her first time. So, in essence, with my memory, we'll be discovering together 😁.

    Here we go...!    Read more

  • It's not unusual...Thailand with Gi - 2024Traveler

    Bangkok

    Apr 3–6, 2024 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C

    Our Thailand adventure began in Bangkok with a whirlwind three days in the bustling, hustling capital. Bangkok is a city of contrasts, of chaos, of excesses and beauty, of flowers, canals, alleyways, food, markets, night markets, food markets, malls, high-rises, tuktuks, taxis, skytrains & subways, wats, Buddhas, expats, massage places, and pot shops. It's this, and so much more. Three days is not enough to even scratch the surface, but it's all we had, and we made the most of it.

    Working on very little sleep and no internal body clock adjustment yet to our new time zone, 11 hours ahead of Toronto, we fought through the tiredness, avoided getting horizontal on the very comfortable looking bed in our hotel, the CHERN, and hit the streets.  Bangkok has excellent public transportation along with a seemingly endless supply of taxis and tuktuks, but nothing beats walking a big, vibrant city so we decided to walk to our first site, Jim Thomson's (AKA the Thai Silk King) House Museum, a mere (!) 3.4 km from the CHERN. Then another couple of km to the Siam Square - super vibrant with tons of nightlife, fashion, shopping, etc. - area to pick up a Thai SIM.

    By now we realized we should start using public transportation as we were getting super tired. Our first trip on the subway, which is clean, modern, efficient and cheap, was to Chinatown which was predictably chaotic. The crowds and smells were at times overpowering, especially in our sleep deprived state. We found a nice little dumpling vendor in a relatively quiet corner and watched the craziness go by.

    Then we walked back to our hotel and found a lovely little pot shop on the way.  The friendly budtender told us we could go upstairs to enjoy one of the two pre-rolls we had just purchased. Exhausted, but happy and buzzed, we walked the final few hundred metres to our hotel and crashed mightily.

    Day 2:  Grand Palace, Giant reclining Buddha statue, insanity of Chinatown, Wat Arun -  where locals, and the occasional foreigner, don fancy Thai traditional wear that can be rented at one of the many shops nearby and get their picture taken, sunset drinks across the Chao Phraya River from Wat Arun, and finally, dinner, drinks, and live music around the Khaosan road area. Khaosan road is near unrecognizable from when I was there last, 18 or so years ago. At that time it was known as the main backpacker place to stay and hangout, and party, but the party-time ethos has been sent into hyper drive as touts shout, shove menus and various signs into your face and try to pull you in to the one of the many bars/clubs that are blasting their music at insane levels that basically cancel each other out and combine to form a  thumping cacophony of bad dance music. Drink specials, pot, and laughing gas are constantly being offered up from left and right...it was nuts. We walked the gauntlet and got the hell out of there!  After catching our breath we continued our night and hit three bars, 2 with good live music, the third was a weird bar that looked intriguing but was a bit lame finally. It was time to go back to the CHERN.

    Day 3: Flower market in the morning, then took the public ferry down the river to visit the Talat Noi neighbourhood which seems to be in the midst of a makeover from car, motorcycle and all things motorized repair area to a bit of a hipster place with cool street art in the many winding alleyways by the water, funky cafes, choco-cafe, restos, etc. Then we took a bus to Lumphini park to chill and check out the Monitor lizards - fearsome looking but mostly harmless...we were told. And then finally, finally! we hit a spa in the Sukhumvit neighbourhood for a glorious foot and neck/shoulder/arm massage...ahhhhhh. Supper at W food market in the W district before heading home to freshen up before going out to enjoy a nightcap at the rooftop patio bar at the Swing Bar close to our hotel. Another busy, awesome day in Bangkok.

    The next day, April 6, we took the train to Kanchanburi to visit elephants and waterfalls. See you then!
             Read more

  • It's not unusual...Thailand with Gi - 2024Traveler

    Bridge over the River Kwai

    Apr 6–9, 2024 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 39 °C

    Kanchanaburi is probably best known as the town closest to the Bridge over the River Kwai. The railway bridge was part of the infamous Death Railway. During World War 2, the Japanese used South East Asian civilians abducted and forced to work by the Japanese and captured Allied soldiers, to supply troops and weapons in the Burma campaign of World War II. During the construction of the Burma Railway, over 100,000 people lost their lives, including 12,000 prisoners-of-war and more than 90,000 civilian labourers. The bridge and river was made famous to North Americans when David Lean's 1957 film 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' came out which centres around one of the line's main engineering feats, the bridge across the Kwae Yai (River Kwai), and tourists starting flocking to Kanchanaburi searching for the bridge. There are memorials, museums, and cemeteries in and around Kanchanaburi related or dedicated to the bridge and the Death Railway.

    We took this train from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi but not so much to visit any of the "attractions" related to the bridge or the railway but to go to an elephant sanctuary, and visit Erawan National Park, famous for its tiered waterfalls, scenic hiking trails, nature viewing & swimming. I posted about the elephant sanctuary last time, this post will be about Kanchanaburi, the next about Erawan National Park.

    Since we had decided to stay in Kanchanaburi, we read there were floating raft hotels and guest houses on the river in Kanchanaburi. We found a simple place called the Nita Raft House near the old part of town so pretty much no foreigners as they all seemed to be staying in the newer part of town. The main street was nice and even had a few historic buildings. At the end of the street was a Wat with a lovely cafe where all the servers were monks. On the road there we saw a rooster that was high up in a tree...strange. The sunsets from our funky little place was the best part of staying at Nita though, along with all the bats that came out at dusk looking to feed on whatever they were feeding on. It was our home base for a few days as we went out exploring. We found good food and coffee nearby, a pretty cool skywalk, cheap beers, and a really good night market on the Saturday night that seemed to attract many locals. It had great food stalls and not so great local bands playing. We had a blast!    Read more

  • It's not unusual...Thailand with Gi - 2024Traveler

    Bridge over the River Kwai

    Apr 6–9, 2024 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 39 °C

    Kanchanaburi is probably best known as the town closest to the Bridge over the River Kwai. It's a railway bridge which was part of the infamous Death Railway built during World War 2. The Japanese used South East Asian civilians abducted and forced to work by the Japanese and captured Allied soldiers, to supply troops and weapons in the Burma campaign of World War II. More than 90,000 civilian labourers and 12,000 prisoners-of-war died in the the construction of the Death Railway. The bridge and river were made famous to North Americans when David Lean's 1957 film 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' came out which centres around one of the line's main engineering feats, the bridge across the Kwae Yai (River Kwai), and tourists starting flocking to Kanchanaburi searching for the bridge. There are memorials, museums, and cemeteries in and around Kanchanaburi related or dedicated to the bridge and the Death Railway.

    We took this train from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi but not so much to visit any of the aforementioned "attractions" related to the bridge or the railway but to go to an elephant sanctuary and visit Erawan National Park, famous for its tiered waterfalls, scenic hiking trails, nature viewing & swimming. I posted about the elephant sanctuary last time, this post will be about Kanchanaburi, the next about Erawan National Park.

    We just had to stay in one of the floating raft hotels/guest houses on the river we had read about. We found a simple place called the Nita Raft House near the old part of town, so pretty much no foreigners as they all seemed to be staying in the newer part of town. Apart from great views it had a beautiful garden, 3 dogs and a cat. Super chilled.

    The main street was nice and even had a few historic buildings. At the end of the street was a Wat with a lovely cafe where all the servers were monks and pretty roosters roamed. On the road to the cafe we saw a rooster high up in a tree...strange.

    The sunsets from our funky little place was the best part of staying at Nita though, along with all the bats that came out at dusk looking to feed on whatever they were feeding on. It was our home base for a few days as we went out exploring. We found good food and coffee nearby, a pretty cool skywalk, cheap beers, and a really good night market on the Saturday night that seemed to attract many locals. It had great food stalls and not so great local bands playing. We had a blast!    Read more

  • It's not unusual...Thailand with Gi - 2024Traveler

    elephants

    April 7, 2024 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    To elephant or not to elephant, that is a question many ask themselves when visiting Thailand. In 2024, it's not a question of riding or not riding an elephant as a consensus seems to have been arrived at that that this is a bad thing for the elephants, https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2023/03/2… . So just hanging with, feeding, and maybe cleaning them is OK, right? Well, that depends on what expert you read or talk to, and of course, what environment the elephants live in. Some experts believe that humans should not be interacting in any way with Elephants and should only observe them. Other experts believe the type of elephants in sanctuaries (rescued, abused, sick, etc.) are already used to humans and it would be detrimental to them to not have any contact with humans.

    We found an elephant sanctuary called Elephants World near Kanchanaburi that  was established in 2008 as a secure haven for sick, disabled, elderly, abused, and rescued elephants that have nowhere else to turn. https://www.elephantsworld.org/

    Assuming what we have heard and read about them is true, they provide these "majestic creatures with a chance to rest and recover, allowing them to live out their days in a secure environment filled with the happiness and joy they deserve."

    So we decided to go and we are glad we did. It's kind of funny, and our guide at Elephants World, who was responsible for a group of about 15 of us, even joked about it, that we were paying to work. We carried big containers of sweet potatoes to feed the elephants and then fed them. We then took jeeps to another area for more feeding then bathing, of the elephants, not us. On the way, we stopped next to a field with stalks of cane (* check the correct plant) where we were instructed to chop a bunch up and load them into one of the jeeps. We continued on and finally stopped to feed the stalks to the elephants, and enjoyed some extremely close interactions with a few of them. Then into the muddy (and sometimes poopy) give the elephants a mud bath, mud scrub and finally a rinse.

    They are beautiful, majestic beasts and I feel very fortunate to have had this close encounter with them, and that they didn't stomp us into dust.    Read more

  • It's not unusual...Thailand with Gi - 2024Traveler

    Monkey Madness in Lopburi

    Apr 9–11, 2024 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 36 °C

    Oh sure, the Khmer ruins are cool, but the main draw for many who visit Lopburi, a laid back town about 3 hours north of Bangkok, are the macaques. They are plentiful, sometimes playful, sometimes agressive, and always looking to steal your food or maybe even something shiny that's not firmly attached to you. Thankfully, they mostly stick to the area around the train station, the Khmer shrine - San Phra Kan - and the Khmer temple - Phra Prang Sam Yot, which is where they climbed onto Gi.
    https://apnews.com/article/thailand-lopburi-mon…

    Apart from monkeying around, we also ventured out to the...interesting Cat Cafe & Hotel where one can enjoy a tasty beverage in the company of about a dozen cats running around. I imagine some cat non-likers are shaking their head in disbelief right now. It was weird for sure, even for a cat lover like myself but it was fun. The owner just likes cats and has built a very swanky place for the cats to live and play. The other activity we engaged in, and the one that got us stranded about 8km from our accommodations, was the pretty cool Z-1 night market. We left at about 8pm which was apparently late enough for there to be no buses, no taxis, no tuktuks, no way to get home. Fortunately, I had a Thai SIM card and was able to call Pee, the owner of Pee Homestay & Massage, where we were staying, who got her cousin to come pick us up. And that was how we ended up being three people on a scooter, at night, zipping along at decent clip, wind blowing through our helmet-less hair.

    On to Sukhothai next!    Read more

  • It's not unusual...Thailand with Gi - 2024Traveler

    Songkran festival!

    Apr 13–16, 2024 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    After monkey madness, it was time for a little water madness. The Thais, like other South and Southeast Asian countries, celebrate Songkran. In Thailand, it is also known as the Thai New Year and is celebrated on April 13. It is a national holiday that the government nicely extended for a week (April 9 to the 16th), but the fun, for most youngins' and foreigners anyways, is that Songkran is also celebrated by splashing water on people, usually starting on the 13th, and lasting until the 16th.

    As a symbol of renewal in Buddhism, water is splashed on statues of Buddha for good luck. For most of the younger people though - kids to young adults - it's all about the water fights - fun, celebratory mutual splashing. There is a lot more to Songkran, and a deeper history but I'll leave it up to you the reader to do a deeper dive if you so choose.

    Groups and families gather on the sides of roads in cities, towns, and all places in between. They fill up buckets, barrells, small pools, whatever can hold lots of water, and arm themselves with small buckets they use to throw water at people, and all manor of water guns. People who walk, ride or drive by are all targets so you better be ready to get splashed! Those who drive by are often in trucks and they too have all sorts of water containers, buckets, and water guns...and the mayhem begins! Another cool part of the festival is Thais applying powder or a powdery paste to people's faces as they go by. This appears to be a symbol of friendship and good wishes and we happily accepted when approached and asked if they could apply it to us.

    Timing being what it was, we were fortunate - because trust me, being splashed with water when 40+ degrees outside is amazing - to be in one town, Sukhothai, at the beginning of the festival, and another town, Chiangkhan, for the last days of it. In Sukhothai we hung out with the kids of the wonderful manager or owner of the guesthouse we were staying at (Smilingface Guesthouse) on a busy corner of the old town and got right into it. The kids seemed to take particular pleasure in dunking Gi and I over and over again with pails of water. I loved seeing the pure pleasure on the faces of the young kids, and the mischievous grins of the older ones as they doused each other, and us, over and over. Great fun!    Read more

  • It's not unusual...Thailand with Gi - 2024Traveler

    Charming Mekong town

    Apr 15–18, 2024 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    Chiang Khan, once a sleepy, little-known Mekong-side town in the Northeast of Thailand. The main street, Th Chai Khong, that runs parallel to the Mekong river, short streets that run off Th Chai Khong, and the waterfront walking and biking path are all full of traditional timber houses and shophouses. This place couldn't stay a secret forever, at least not to Thais, and it's became a trendy destination for well to do Thais and is now full of gift shops, cute cafes and places for taking selfies. We encountered very few westerners here, and spent a few lazy days walking Th Chai Khong, the small streets, and the waterfront, where everything was very quiet and peaceful in the daytime before the evening shopping and eating begins. Every evening Th Chai Khong turns into a busy Walking Street market with buskers, artists and street-food vendors. We saw a lot less than there might normally be as we arrived towards the end of the Songkran festival and most vendors and Thais in general seemed to have stayed home.

    So we strolled, we drank, we ate, we chilled, we took pictures...    Read more

  • It's not unusual...Thailand with Gi - 2024Traveler

    Trip or Adventure?

    April 17, 2024 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 37 °C

    A trip or an adventure? Same same or different? What are we on? Let me see...walking dozens of kilometres on city streets in 40+ celsius (up to 47 with humidity) temperatures, sometimes taking third class trains and buses with no a/c still in those crazy temperatures, hiking up 7 levels in Erawan National Park for waterfalls, avoid getting mugged by monkeys on streets and temple of Lopburi, riding 3 up on a scooter at night with no helmets (wasn't our choice but we got stranded after visiting a night market and there was no other way to get back to our hotel), crashing on bus station seats overnight to catch 5 am bus to get to Phu Kradueng National Park, then same day hiking three hours up a steep rocky mountain path to sleep in rustic cabin on mountain top to see a sunrise then tough hike back down the mountain, taking a bike ride and a songthaew through water-throwing/splashing locals during Songkran - the water-splashing festival celebration of the traditional new year that is widely celebrated across South and Southeast Asia from April 13-15 or 16, adventures and misadventures trying to communicate with locals for transportation and food where there are very few foreigners so very few locals speak English (Google Translate with camera and microphone has been a huge help!), ripping up toe, etc. I think I'll go with adventure.Read more

  • It's not unusual...Thailand with Gi - 2024Traveler

    almost done...Khao Yai National Park

    Apr 18–20, 2024 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    Our trip is winding down...we are actually on an island a little Southeast of Bangkok, our last stop before going back to Bangkok for our flight home. On our way here from Chiangkhan we stopped in Pak Chong for a couple of days where we rented a scooter to get to the nearby Khao Yai National Park for some hiking, went back to Bangkok for a couple of days to experience a floating market, onwards to Trat which is a couple of hours South of Bangkok and serves as the main jumping off point for ferry rides to a few islands.

    The hikes were OK but not spectacular since it is the hot season and without rain, the waterfalls in the park are mostly dry. Also, of the 9 available hikes, 6 have to be done with a park ranger for an additional, rather substantial fee, so only 3 hikes were available to us. We saw birds, butterflies, monkeys, a lizard or two, cool flora, and lots of elephant poo, some of it pretty fresh which had us a bit nervous, but we never saw any of the great beasts.     Read more

  • It's not unusual...Thailand with Gi - 2024Traveler

    and here we are...

    Apr 23–29, 2024 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    After an overnight in Trat, we took a songthaew taxi to the pier to catch the Boonsiri Ferry to the very chilled island of Koh Kood also known as Koh Kut, in the Gulf of Thailand. The ferry ticket includes transportation to your hotel which is good because the beach we chose, Ao Phrao Beach is the most southern beach on the island but it's also supposed to be the most beautiful. We've been excelling at extreme laziness here and have not ventured off this beach, so I can neither confirm nor deny this.

    Beach life is the best! This beach in particular is almost perfect. Fine, soft sand, in appearance and touch. Calm, crystal-clear, blue-like waters with the gentlest of waves courtesy of a constant and welcome breeze that almost makes one forget the low to mid 30s' temperature. Apart from the usual coconut and almond trees one often sees beachside, there are also many coastal sheoak trees (Casuarina equisetifolia). They look like pine trees and even have needles and cones! https://pfaf.org/User/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Casu…

    Jellyfish are also in the hood (see attached pic of a poor swimmer being swarmed by said j-fish). Apparently they make the occasional appearance in the Gulf of Thailand - https://iamkohchang.com/blog/box-jellyfish-in-t… - but not, thankfully, in April as it's too hot, especially this year. We swam freely and without incidence...phew because I've been stung by a jellyfish, not a box jellyfish thankfully, but it still hurt like fuck! It happened in Sayulita, Mexico a few years ago and I thought I was having a heart attack until I saw all the red welts across my chest.

    More pics in the next post along with the less than perfect side of beaches in Thailand.    Read more

    Trip end
    April 30, 2024
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