Thailand Tour Day 1

Wow - so many photos to upload and so little time to work on the blog! Here are the photos from our first day on tour. We started in Bangkok in the morning early and visited many temples and more. Not sure if I'll have time to update fully with text, but I have been keeping a good diary so I'll try to update some time, just not sure when! There are many stories to go with the photos, sorry you'll have to wait.

Okay - on our way home with a bit of time in the Hong Kong airport - let's see how far I can get...

First I should mention our lead up prior to the tour on our own in Bangkok. Leaving Auckland was an adventure as we rose early (despite the power draining on our alarm) and had to leave our hotel at 6am. Problem was, we weren't quite sure how to get to the airport. So on Kyles advise, we followed the taxi which picked up the oriental couple in front of our hotel as we were leaving. After a tour of the backstreets of Auckland, we emerged on the correct highway heading to the airport - so we certainly lucked out on what was certainly a shorter route! After passports left on counter tops and repacks of overweight suitcases, we also found out that our plan to leave baggage in Hong Kong for pickup on our return was not possible - all checked baggage must have the same destination. Our marathon day finally ended when we hit the pillow at 10pm in Thailand after being awake for about 24 hours.

Our first day in Bangkok we were out before the shops opened so walked through the local park - we spotted turtles and large monitor lizards along with many locals doing their Tai Chi and other activities. While walking and viewing our map, a kindly gentleman stopped to assist us and gave us much helpful advise. He suggested a reputable tailor, where to shop for tech stuff and sport clothing, and even arranged a Tuk Tuk driver for us at an excellent rate and told him where to take us. Our first stop was to the tailors where we had several outfits custom measured and ordered. We returned to the tailor in the evening for our fitting and found our clothes well on there way to complete! And of course we had a couple of Thai meals - although Kyle thinks he has yet to find his ultimate Pad Thai :-)

Our first day of the tour had us rise early and pick our tour members. We had a big tour bus (held about 40 if full), but only 9 customers with 2 guides (one English speaking and the other English and French speaking) and a driver. There was a girl from New York and her mother from Miami - they spoke English, but they were actually Guatemalan, so they often spoke in Spanish, a couple from Switzerland who were French speaking (the wife also spoke English and German, the husband also spoke German) and a couple from Netherlands (who also spoke German). So there was lots of cross language interpretation going on through the trip and we all managed to communicate quite effectively, and I was able to practice a bit of French (despite Kyle's embarrassment at my lack of skill).

We started the tour with a boat trip to our first temple. It was fast and bumpy and wet - so not much luck with photos of the houses built on stilts to protect from floods, reptiles and to help keep them cool. There was a fair bit of traffic on the river - such as the barges being hauled full of construction sand and gravel. And at landing there were these fish being fed which was pretty wild.

Our first temple had a lot of Chinese influence as it was built by a king who had loved a Chinese princess, but they were not allowed to marry. The Buddha here is 'happy Buddha' - the classic Chinese style which is not that common here in Thailand.

Next we travelled to the 3 pagoda ancient temple built in the 1300's by the 2nd King of Thailand. The grounds were covered in pagodas - each one containing the ashes a member of royalty. The central 3 contained the ashes of the King (at right), his father the 1st King (in centre) and the brother (on left).

Our next stop was to the footprint of Buddha in the mountains. The story is that a monk was going to make a journey to Sri Lanka to see the footprint of Buddha, but he was told that he did not need to go that far - there were footprints here in Thailand. So a search was on and they found the footprint. Apparently it was left by Buddha after visiting a hermit who was meditating in the mountain. When asked by the hermit to leave something, Buddha left his footprint.

Then off to another temple where we saw lots of variety in the architecture. The pagodas here had Cambodian, Burmese and Thai styles.

We had lunch (buffet style as most meals since this works best for tour groups) with Monkey Beer! Then of course, off to see the Monkey Temple. As in Bali, the monkeys are very used to humans - and these ones can even drink Coca Cola out of a straw!!!!

Also here are some temple photos (but I'm not certain which ones :-). They give the general feel for what the temples are like. There is usually a Buddha in a central elaborate temple where people pray. You should never put your feet towards the Buddha - women sit on their feet or with their feet to the side. Men sit on their heels (poor Mike and Kyle found this quite difficult given their lack of flexibility and bad joints).

The doors to the temple (not to mention the temple itself) are elaborately decorated, usually with inlaid mother of pearl on laquerware doors. A typical Thai roof line is 3 tiered, with the 'corn' top buildings showing the Cambodian style.

Break 3 - Ubud Monkeys and Markets

I'm splitting our Ubud experience by topic rather than days. We visited the markets and the monkeys on several occasions, but I'm grouping them all together to give a more concise review.

Surrounded by all the skilled and talented people of Ubud, the Monkey Forest is a beautiful rainforest sanctuary. There are several temples on the property and as you can see, hundreds of monkeys. They are very well fed by both the visitors (you can buy bananas on the way in), and by the staff in addition to their scavenging. The offerings put out at the temples are quickly enjoyed by the monkeys. There are so many bananas that many of the monkeys don't even bother with them. Even the ones who like bananas do not accost you to get one - they are happy to just approach and take from your open hand.

Mike watched this one mother and baby (at left) at length. She found a whole coconut, and then as he watched she proceeded to crack it open, drink the milk inside, and then peel it open and eat the meat. It was fascinating.

Although they will take food from you, they are definitely wild animals. There are staff walking the grounds 'keeping an eye' to make sure none of them get unruly. It is amazing to walk among them and watch their behaviours - and it is very noisy. They are so used to humans that it is like we aren't there. They groom, eat, nurse, mate, play, bathe, fight, and socialize all around you. Every now and then they will hear a call or fuss and they will all run off to check out what's going on - often a dispute between two or more others. But just don't get them mad - I saw several occasions of aggressive teeth baring at visitors if you anger them.

The temples in the Monkey Forest were varied - there was a funeral temple and a graveyard along side. The graves were interesting as they only bury their dead for a short time until they hold the cremation ceremony. So the headstones merely marked the date of death (not birth), and the oldest was just a couple of years ago.

While we were here, it was a full moon, and in addition to the full moon ceremony, it was a 6 month celebration at the local temple. Each temple has it's own cycle of special celebration dates - but they occur every 6 months (the Balinese calendar has 35 day months and is very complex). On these dates, there are 3 days of larger ceremonies and family members return to celebrate. There are 3 days of special offerings including animal sacrifices - which are eaten after the ceremony. Since there were ceremonies ongoing, we could not enter the temples. But as you can see from a couple of shots, they were very nature oriented and rustic. It felt like we were walking in an Indiana Jones movie!

Back out on the streets, Ubud is the cultural capital of Bali. You can take courses of many kinds, and the stores and markets are full of wonderful handiwork. Just prior to our arrival the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival was held, so we missed out on that one. There are many shops, just as there were in Legian, but here they are much more upscale and the quality of the wares is much better (and less harassing to buy).

And at the top of the main street, is the market. Both tourists and locals shop here. There was everything from food to furniture, clothing to crafts. And everywhere the women (and some men) carried their loads on their heads.

The market opens around 5am with the food sections, and while they close up by about 3pm, the rest of the market stays open till at least 6pm or later for the tourist booths. We spent both time and money in market!


Kyle and I took a Balinese cooking course on Friday (Mike went photo shooting of course). Our lesson started with a trip to the market to discover the local ingredients and spices. They use many of the same foods we use, but their varieties are quite different and unique. For example, their eggplants are about the size and shape of a plum, their cucumber much smaller, and their beans much longer (about 3 feet!!). So despite having the recipes and learning the techniques, we will never be able to totally replicate the dishes since we don't have the right stuff :-(

Hopefully we'll still be able to whip up some decent dishes though. We learned how to make the base gede (spice), and several dishes, all of which we enjoyed. And Kyle has become quite the pro at origami napkin folding. Any restaurant we visit where the napkin folding is unique, Kyle deciphers it and learns to create it. He now has 3 or 4 decent designs under his belt. Can you tell he is getting bored of his parents company?

Break 3 Days 6-10 Amed - the Real Bali

Our drive to Amed took about 3 1/2 hours - again taking us past
spectacular scenery - including roadside monkeys! By now we had learned why the name Wayan - our driver's name this day - was so common. First born (male or female) are named Wayan, second born are Made (pronounced maudeh), third is Nyoman, fourth is Ketut and then if necessary, the fifth name cycles back to Wayan. Families are not overly large, but obviously Wayan would be the most common!

Our second place of rest in Bali was on the east coast in Amed. Here we were away from the tourist chaos of the south, and were surrounded by the sites and sounds of the 'real' Bali.

Our rooms were idyllic. Kyle had his own room with twin beds and Mike & I had our own room (photo). Each room had it's own bathroom - Kyles complete with a family of geckos who lived high up on the walls. They were nice 'pets' except for their noisy nightly chorus of throaty 'ohhh ohhhh' which woke Kyle (and us) up at times! Between the rooms was an outdoor sitting area where we spent much time lounging, reading and playing cards.

The restaurant at Anda Amed was very good and the menu while not excessively long, had great variety. We ate several meals there, although we did venture out to try a few other hotel restaurants also. Meals were accompanied by Punkie and Holly (the ducks in the photo). They loved the popcorn given as a pre-dinner snack! There was also Daisy and Creamball the two dogs who were often around. Although they did not beg as such, they sat under your table waiting patiently for any handouts.

Kyle spent endless hours in the pool which had an infinity edge overlooking the ocean. The gardens were again spectacular - with orchids, frangiapani, huge hibiscus trees and many others which I can't even name.

Amed is a fishing village. On a couple of the mornings, Mike rose early to venture to the beach to see the fishermen. The fishermen went out twice a day - morning and evening. When they returned with their catch, the women would meet them on the beach and carry the fish up the steep hill in baskets on their head. Needless to say, there aren't a lot of overweight people here!

During the day the locals would work on fixing their nets, maintain their boats, act as chauffeurs to the tourists, or otherwise occupy themselves. On Friday evening we joined several of the locals and other tourists at a bar to see a live band - quite impressive rock ballads (although we suspect that the lead singer learned his English by copying Bon Jovi), some Jimi Hendrix and even they even entertained us with their own creation.

In addition to fishing, there was also lots of local farming, and many of the rice paddies had been 'upgraded' by adding a well - this allows them to farm sweet potatoes, corn or other crops which require more routine watering rather than flooding.

School runs in two shifts - morning (7 am to 12:30) or afternoon (12:30 to 6:00). So you often see kids coming or going to school around the noon hour as they shift change. The older kids often share a motorcycle - the younger ones walk or get picked up by motorbike. Rush hour at the school consists of many motorbikes!

The area where we stayed was also a great diving and snorkeling spot. Having a more laid back holiday, we didn't spend as much time snorkeling this time around. We did get down to the water twice however - once off the beach in front of the hotel, and once we took a drive down to a Japanese ship wreck where there was good snorkeling. The fish were quite good and there was a lot of coral, but after the Ningaloo reef, we found this one to be quite bleached out. But it was still fantastic swimming amongst the schools of fish and seeing the brilliant colours of the fish. It really is a whole other world which you don't appreciate until you are under the water.

In Amed, Mike and I again visited the local spa - I had a pedicure and Mike a reflexology session. We even returned for another massage, scrub, moisturize, facial, floral / herbal bath treatment. It's hard to resist since it is so affordable - and there is nothing like having a spa outdoors surrounded by the wonderful aromas of the flowers and the sounds of free roaming chickens, cows and pigs :-)

With each sunset, we became more relaxed. Bali really is paradise!