Bangkok

DAY 1

Visiting the palaces of the kings, one can see Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr dancing and twirling in elaborate costumes in the King and I.  Since 1939, Siam is now called Thailand, signifying “Land of Free Men.”  Siam sounds so mysterious and foreign, but Thailand is anything but. 

Thailand has a robust economy and a highly developed freeway system plus road construction everywhere.  Making car parts and assembling cars is a big part of the economy.  They also have an electronics industry, and 49% of the Thai population works in the agricultural industry (rice, rubber, tapioca, sugar, and fruit).  They even have their version of strip malls and the largest billboards I have ever seen along the highways.  Bangkok is a modern city and is called the Venice of the East for the many canals and rivers that run through it.  Since Bangkok is one of the world’s least walkable cities due to distances and heat, they have a new air-conditioned overhead Skytrain which makes it easy to get around the city. 

There are three seasons here:  November thru February is winter and is the high season.  March thru October is the rainy season and April is the most hot and humid month.  I am sooo glad we are not here in April since it is so hot and humid.  We are here in March so I am saved from it being so hot and humid (see the eye roll) – it is frigging hot and humid!

There are 65 million people in Thailand and 10 million of those live in Bangkok.  Ninety percent of the population is Buddhist, and they are very observant; there are over 40,000 temples in this country, and 450 temples in Bangkok.  This is a democratic country and is headed by a King (like England).  The current political situation is shakey as the people do not like their president and there have been bloody riots in the city resulting in at least 22 deaths. We did not see any protests or rioting today. 

The country is 700 years old. The people eat rice three times a day and they love spicy food.  They use lemon grass, garlic, curry and coconut milk in their cooking.  Bangkok has some of the worst traffic you can get stuck in as the infrastructure is no match for the amount of cars and people.  There was no horn honking like in Vietnam and the drivers were pretty courteous.  There were relatively few motorbikes in or near the city, but we did see more of them out in the country and village areas.  They were not kamikaze drivers like in Vietnam.  Tuk tuks are a common mode of public transportation.

Our guides are obsessed with the physical traits of the Thai people. Apparently there is a pecking order of status, not unlike the caste system in India.  True Thai people are easily distinguished from those of Chinese heritage by skin color (dark), size of eyes (large) and height of the cheek bones (high). Thai people are friendly and like to smile. They cover most of their body for sun protection -- the lighter your skin, the more status you have. They admire the larger Western nose and plastic surgery has been on the increase here to give a more Western look. Nobody is ever satisfied with what they have.  

There are incredible beaches in Thailand, all with wall-to-wall blue umbrellas on the sand. The Thai people do not sunbathe (see paragraph above) and do not wear swim suits. They wear short pants and t-shirts for swimming. 

Children start school at the age of 6 and parents have to pay for books. If there is no money for school, the child can quit school at age 12. If they want to continue their education and have the money, children from the nearby villages must go to Bangkok for school. 

So the greater Bangkok area is modern yet backward. There are KFC and McDonalds restaurants everywhere we went, but villagers do not have the disposable income to make these a regular part of their diet. 

So now you know all about the Thai people. We were here last year and saw the summer palace, but never saw the city. The city of Bangkok is was fascinating.  Narrow streets from a bygone era were crowded with vehicles ranging from bicycles to big tour buses. The Chinatown section was an area that deserved exploration on foot. 

Michael was the escort and I was a paying passenger on a 10-1/2 hour excursion into the city. Unfortunately, the harbor where the ship docked (Laem Chabang) is two hours away from central Bangkok, making for a long drive.  Our first stop was to the Grand Palace.  On the way, anyone whose knees were not covered had to "rent" pants or a sarong. Doesn't Michael look cute?  

It was crowded, hot and humid. This is the former residence of the Kings of Thailand, and is now reserved for royal ceremonies and state occasions. The most sacred Emerald Buddha is here; to see it, you must remove you shoes. Well, I didn't remove the shoes and I didn't see it. I was too damn hot and exhausted from wandering around this huge place. It is quite incredible and I will let the pictures do the talking.

After visiting the palace, we had a buffet lunch at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.  The air conditioning was really nice to have, and the food looked wonderful but I wasn't sure what some of it was.  Knowing how they prepare raw food, it gave me pause when selecting something to eat.  I did not want to get what Michael had the previous week.

From the hotel, we picked up a boat for a trip along the Chao Phrya River and canals to enjoyed picturesque scenes of typical Thai canal life.  We were very fortunate in that there was a breeze blowing and a top over us giving us some shade. Again, I will let the pictures do the talking.  

It was a very long and busy day of sightseeing, and we had a two hour ride back to the ship. We arrived back at the ship around 7:30 PM, went to the room, showered and ordered room service.  We then collapsed in bed. 

DAY 2

Well lucky me, I had another excursion to escort today.  We drove to a seaside fishing village, which looked more like a city, known for its granite products. We were supposed to see a demonstration of how they make them, but what we got was a tour of a roadside market. Our guide showed us some famous delicacies such as sweet sticky rice in bamboo and sweet coconut wrapped in palm leaves. There were huge plastic bags filled with dried fish pieces, and they stunk to high heaven, especially in the heat with no refrigeration.  Fish not sold that day gets dried.  Nothing goes to waste. They take a basket filled with salt, add the fish, and let it sit in the sun for two days. Voila, dried fish -- THAT STINKS!  Raw oysters sat in water and one wonders how long they sat there in the heat without refrigeration, and what kind of cooties they might harbor.  This was probably the most interesting part of the tour today.

    Sticky rice in bamboo

    Raw oysters

    Bags of dried fish

We then went to a golf resort for a refreshment stop. I have no idea why anybody would put this on a tour. Boring!  We then drove to Khao Khiew Open Zoo, a drive through animal park.  We left the bus and got on a tram that drove us through the park to look at various animals.  The temperature was about 20° cooler than yesterday and there was a nice breeze blowing so it was quite pleasant riding around in the opening tram.  The highlight was seeing the white tigers.  This was a very picturesque site, and I have to say this is probably the most relaxing excursion I have ever been on.

MICHAEL

Well, while Beverly was off on her countryside excursion, I took myself on the ship shuttle bus to Pattaya.  It took one hour and 15 minutes to get there, as the traffic this morning was terrible. Pronounced pata-ya, this was a sleepy little seaside village until the time of the Vietnam war.  As it became a favored destination for US servicemen on R&R, it began to grow.  Following the war, and the end of R&R, the "town fathers" turned Pattaya into an extremely disreputable place.  It became a mecca for drugs and prostitution, of the very, very worst kind.  Fortunately, the Thai authorities working with their American counterparts have pretty much put an end to this.

About 20 years ago, Pattaya again began to grow rapidly, but this time much more benignly.  Now that everyone in Thailand has a car, and being only 100 miles from Bangkok, Pattaya has become an extremely popular, and overcrowded seaside destination.  It's basically Australia's Gold Coast, or Florida's South Beach, done Thai style.  Many dozens of high-rise condominiums now define the skyline in between the countless restaurants, bars and massage parlors.  As you probably know, massages are an industry in Thailand,  and here in Pattaya, they can be had for as little as $10 for 30 minutes.

Massage not being my thing, I went shopping.  The shuttle bus dropped us off at the aptly named Mike's Mall, which is a modern, five story shopping mall containing mostly clothing.  Any brand-name you ever heard of is here and most of it seemed to be real, unlike the knockoffs available from the typical Thai market.  I bought a few, really nice Polo shirts for myself, and a cute little outfit for Isabelle.  Because of the traffic, the return bus was 45 minutes late arriving at Mike's Mall, but it eventually got us back to the ship in time for lunch.