A train passes through a market in Bangkok, Thailand.

Watch this one through to the end… it’s a pop-up market on a train track in Thailand. Amazing.

(touque tip: Boing Boing)

Last summer, I wrote about meeting a couple in Thailand. When we arrived in Bangkok after the drive from the island, I toured the building they owned and were turning into a guesthouse.

I got word that the Asha Guesthouse is open. After spending such a great day with them and touring the building during renovations, I’d just love to go and stay there again.

I remember that they were not far from main tourist attractions, in an interesting neighbourhood with shopping and lots to see, and far enough from major tourist areas so one can adventure around or simply enjoy Bangkok.

This doorway was made famous by Hollywood – as if these temples needed the help. There’s a scene in Tomb Raider where Angelina Jolie races out to save the world. I only wish we could have included the whole tree in the photo – it is as enormous as you can imagine!

Driving from one temple to another we met up with a band of wild monkeys. This one, obviously in charge, expected a banana as a toll.

Here’s some of the other monkeys he was travelling with.

Here’s a bunch of photos showing some of the trees that are growing out of the temple walls. If one ever falls the damage will be severe, but it’s very interesting to see.

This is our view from the boat that toured us around the floating village at Siem Reap, Cambodia. During the dry season, this waterway doesn’t exist, so the houses are moved closer to the huge lake, Tonle Sap.

Tina and I posing in front of Angkor Wat.

Here’s Tina enjoying the sunshine, white sand, and warm water at Koh Samet, Thailand.

This so-called “sleeping Buddha” is not actually sleeping but is supposed to depict Buddha at the moment of attaining enlightenment or “nirvana.” The statue is huge!

The hardest part was fighting to stay awake. We managed to sleep only 2 hours the night before we left Bangkok. We awoke at 3:30 AM to get ready, grab our taxi and get moving to the airport. Our plane left on Sept 4^th at 7 AM (Bangkok time) and we finally touched down in Vancouver, BC on Sept 4^th at 10 PM (Vancouver time). Total time from the first to last airport was about 31 hours. While waiting for our plane to arrive in San Fransisco, the departure time kept being set back a half-hour or hour at a time. We tried our best to stay awake so not to miss our connection. Of course, if we had known we would really have 7 hours to sleep, there was nothing that could have stopped us.

Once we landed, we easily grabbed a public bus from the Airport to the Skytrain. Thankfully, this route is very simple and only cost us $2 CAD each. The Skytrain dropped us off at Tina’s dad’s house and we hit the sack by 12:30 AM. Nothing could possibly wake us again until 1 PM this afternoon. A well deserved sleep, and yet not quite enough. It always takes a few days to shake jet-lag, but I should be okay for my first class the day after tomorrow.

Today, we’ll run a few errands while in Vancouver, and then hit the road. It’ll be another 4 hours of driving to get home and we know our cats our dying to see us. Maybe tonight or tomorrow, I’ll write about our last day in Bangkok.

Instead of walking to the pier, where we catch our boat to the mainland, we took a taxi to attempt to keep out of the rain as much as possible. It cost us 100 Bhat ($2.50 CAD), and we’ve been laughing all day that the ride was only about 5 blocks in distance! (For comparison our 4 hour bus from Bangkok to the beach was only 125 Bhat each) Oh well, it’s just part of the adventure. On the boat, I gave up my dry seat to a Thai lady. We started chatting with her and her British husband and they offered us a ride back to Bangkok. We took them up on their offer and it was a great ride indeed and saved us busfare. Much more than busfare, we did gain a good relationship with a very nice couple. On the way back we stoped at a “service centre.” It’s a strip mall built right off the freeway in a pit-stop style. We grabbed some steamed buns, bbq’d meats on sticks, and some thai sweets. It was a coconut paste wrapped in sugar cane leaves and roasted, which is apparently a very tipical thai sweet. Having knowledgable company also allowed us to know what plants and farms we were driving by. Coconut, banana, pineapple, sugar cane, and rice farms dot the countryside. It reminds us of wheat fields, but with the exotic flair of palm trees.

Back at Khao San Road, we started walking around a bit and wandered into an art gallery. They had a photo exhibit with extraordinary pictures of Thailand, Burma, and Cambodia. Drool…

We’re looking forward to a big day at the Grand Place and then some shopping in the markets tomorrow. Our adventure may be coming to a close, but we’re determined to make every bit count.

One of the interesting things we’ve learned about Thailand, since their language isn’t Latin-based they spell everything phonetically. This opens plenty of opportunity for random acts of Engrish. Here’s what I’ve found today in our menus:

• Es Presso
• Ca Ppuccino
• Fired Egg and Toast Salad-Coffe
• Grilled seemussel
• Gordon Blour
• Macaronee
• Bar, B, Q Fish
• Ovaltine Milk Chake

I think it can be pretty funny, but it’s easier than my trying to read Thai, so don’t think I don’t appreciate their translations. When we were comparing maps in preperation for the trip we noticed streets would line up, but their names would be spelled differently. It’s all interpretation here, but it really does make sense since English letters are foreign. The Thai writing is very beautiful though, and curvasive. It’s looks artistic.

It’s time for dinner now. Hat Sak Hiew Prawns – huge tempura prawns with a tangy mystery sauce – and an authentic chicken coconut curry are calling out to us. We’ll sit only a few feet from the crashing waves, and enjoy the moonlight and atmosphere. Goodnight and talk to you soon!

We enjoyed sampling some local snacks which we can’t really describe, but were very tasty. Then we had lunch at a street-side barbeque that offered various meats on sticks and even a whole squid on a stick. The one we liked the best was the only one the lady couldn’t describe in english for us, but we think she said it contained at least some chicken. From a veggie stand, we picked up a fruit that we’d only been told about. It’s pink on the outside, shaped similar to a mango, but with green leaves partially jutting out the sides. Inside is a white jucy fruit with lots of small edible black seeds; very kiwi like and very tasty! Who knows what they’re called, but that doesn’t really matter. The locals speak English better than we speak Thai (gross understatement), so we can’t complain when we get good food.

Tina treated herself to a pedicure today for only 200 Bhat – roughly $6 CAD. Right on the beach, while lounging in her chair, they setup shop and did a great job. Now she’s got bright red toes and, as a bonus, they painted little black and white flowers neatly on each toe. They tried to woo me with a pedicures, manicures, and massages, but I’m waiting for our last day to go all out. Besides, it’s not like it’s very stressful here.

Today I met a Canadian ex-pat, living in Bangkok and vacationing on the beach. She gave me a good tidbit for shopping in Bangkok. Apparently, many of the Thai merchants buy their goods in Chinatown, so if you want the best deals for t-shirts, souvenirs , or whatever, the word on the street is head to Chinatown. We’ll be back in Bangkok on Sept 3^rd so we’ll learn the hard way, but things are so inexpensive compared to home, that it doesn’t really matter if that’s wrong.

Now we thought we’d respond directly to a comment received yesterday:

I’ll be flying to Tahiland on September 2nd, for 20 days so your experience is really valuable for me. Thanks for sharing, and anything else you can recommend will be welcome.

First, thanks for your comment. This blog has been a fun experiment for us.

The best tip is to talk to other travellers along the way. They have the best information. We’ve met many interesting folks who’ve travelled all over the country many times.

There is lots of clothing for sale and for very inexpensive so you may as well pack lightly and replace clothes as you go. We learned that if you’re staying to main tourist areas, you won’t need a mosquito net. We haven’t seen enough mosquitos anyway, but perhaps we’ll use our on a future camping trip.

You’re free to check out the rooms a guesthouses and hotels before you commit your cash. We found the best deals just by wandering the area and checking everything out. We arrived here in Koh Samet very late and weren’t shopping around, and are now in a place that isn’t the best (although it’s just fine). If we had simply paid daily, we could come and go, but staying 7 nights did save us 150 Bhat per night.

There are ATM’s everywhere it seems, so don’t feel compelled to purchase travellers cheques or carry all your cash. You can easily use a debit card, or get credit card cash advances anywhere.

And one other quick note, if you have a choice between the public bus system (similar to Greyhound buses), and a private mini-bus/VIP bus, we suggest the public bus hands-down. Less hassle, cleaner, more comfortable, in-flight service, and an all-around better experience than the private busses. Cambodia was a special case though, but within Thailand, go public.

I was also pretty worried that my inability to speak a word of Thai would be a problem, especially in places like the bus depot, but so many people speak English that we’ve gotten away much too easy. Even most important signs are written in both languages. Where we’ve encounted a barrier, some smiling and hand gestures are all you need to get the point across.

When you get off the plane in Bangkok, avoid the flock/crowd/throng of people inside the airport trying to sell you rides and taxi’s. Right outside the front door (it’s a small airport, you can’t possibly get lost), look to your immediate right and you’ll see a line forming at a taxi booth. Just tell the person where you want to go, and they will write down the price to get there by taxi. You’ll hand it to one of the drivers who are right there and that’s what you’ll pay. It’s typically a fair price, or so we’re told. We paid 300 Bhat to get to Koh San Road. When we paid with a 500 Bhat bill, the driver insisted he didn’t have more than 100 Bhat in change. You can avoid that by having exact change (if possible), or check to make sure he has change before you leave the airport.

This is getting to be a long post, but I hope this helps you, and anyone else who’s looking for some insight into the unknown. Thailand is a fun, interesting, and somewhat dirty place, but I’m sure you’ll have no problem getting around. Have fun, and let us know about your trip.

There are lots of accomodations here and we went with a small resort that had been suggessted to us by someone we had met in our travels; Ploy Talay. For under $20 per night we’ve got a good room, right behind the restaurant, which is right on the beach. We’ve been roughing it, and living off the land — Mike, you’d be proud. Nothing but fresh crab, huge prawns, flavourful curries, and fresh fruit shakes; is there a merit badge for surviving this?

The beach has very fine white sand. The ocean water is light greenish-blue and always warm. The waves are decent, but not overwhelming. We spent our first day here just sitting on the beach or playing in the water. Life is good. Despite our precautions and effort to avoid such a predicament, we still managed to get sunburned in our first day – what a travesty. So today and yesterday, we’ve donned lots of aloe vera cream, loaded up on better sunscreen, and spent our time in the shade reading books. I managed to read almost a whole book yesterday, The Da Vinci Code, and it was very good.

We wish we could post some pictures, but you’ll all have to just imagine. By day, we have chairs and umbrellas at the beach, where the water comes only a few feet away during high tide. At night, the umbrellas are replaced with lanterns and the sand is covered with straw mats. On the mats are small bamboo tables with cushion chairs that one must sit cross-legged on, or stretch your legs out and use the backing for some support. It’s very romantic with the sound of the ocean.

We’ll be here a total of 7 nights, so we leave this paradise on Sept 2^nd (but not a moment sooner). Our last day will be in Bangkok, so we’ll have a chance to see the Grand Palace, before we wake up early to fly home.

Anyway, it’s good to keep everyone informed of our progress so you know we’re okay, but it’s much to nice to stay inside on a computer. So back to the beach we go!