MAHAPRASAT HALL (FUNERAL HALL) AT THE GRAND PALACE IN BANGKOK

We visited Thailand for 2 weeks in January, 2007 with 2 friends, Yosi and Naomi. We did what's known as the "classic" Thailand tour – 5 days in the north, 4 days in Phuket and 4 days in Bangkok.

Here's our itinerary below:

Before I describe the trip in detail, here are a few general impressions and recommendations for fellow travelers.

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THE FOOD
If you really like spicy hot food, you'll love Thailand. On the other hand, If you're not used to spicy hot food, be careful. I like hot food, but I was surprised by the level of the really spicy food. It was like liquid fire. Also,  there are spices in the food which the western palate isn't used to, and to which some people may be sensitive. After 10 days, Alisa's lips and tongue were burned and she swore off the local food. On the other hand, if you are on a guided tour, the restaurants which cater to tourists know how to make the food less spicy. The most important phrase you will want to know in Thai is "My Pet". This means "not hot" and is pronounced exactly as it is spelled and any restaurant will understand this as a request to serve food which is "not too hot". Unfortunately, "not too hot" may still be hot, so be careful.
Our favorite food quickly became Tom Yam Goong, delicious Thai soup with shrimp and lemon grass. If you want chicken instead of shrimp, have Tom Yam Gai. Both are delicious, but are subject to the same warning about spiciness that I wrote above.

One of the most novel modes of eating is in a food court in an outdoor market or in a shopping center where they use the "coupon" method. You buy coupons at the coupon booth, and buy the food from one of the food vendors using the coupons as payment. They can't take money and they don't give change. After eating, you can redeem leftover coupons for their full value. This is by far the cheapest way to eat and is the method on the 7th floor of the MBK shopping center in Bangkok.
To the right and left are 2 pictures of the food possibilities in the Chiang Rai night market - one of the restaurant we ate at to the left, and to the right, the food stalls.

SHOPPING
Thailand is like one big market. There are outdoor markets everywhere, there are night markets, there are floating markets, and there are also modern shopping centers. In Bangkok, there is the famous MBK shopping center which is like a giant market in a 7 story air conditioned building, where bargaining is the general practice, and right nearby are very upscale and expensive shopping centers with the most exclusive and expensive stores in the world, such as the Siam discovery Center, or the Paragon shopping center. The markets have a vast array of goods at very cheap prices but much of the merchandise is cheaply priced because it's just cheap. You have to be careful what you buy. Also, the "knockoff" industry is incredible, and every brand name is available in a very good copy, from watches to purses to T-shirts. In short, let the buyer beware.

BUDDHIST TEMPLES
The vast majority of the Thai people are Bhuddists, and the country has thousands of temples with millions of statues of Bhudda. These temples are among the major tourist attractions around the country. It is customary to remove your shoes when entering a temple. If you are concerned about losing your shoes, you can put them in a bag (not a clear bag, but an opaque one) and carry them with you. Modest dress is also required, although the only place we visited that required long pants was the Grand Palace in Bangkok. To the left is a picture of one of the Buddhas in Wat Pho in Bangkok, the home of the reclining Buddha. Alisa and the reclining Buddha are to the right.

RECLINING BUDDHA

WHEN TO VISIT
The locals say that there are 3 seasons in Thailand – hot, very hot, and damn hot. It's pretty much hot and humid (or raining) all the time,  so the the best time for visiting Thailand is the driest part of the year which is the period from November to February. In the north, the weather was very pleasant, even cool in the morning and evening. A light top was enough.

THE PEOPLE
The Thai people are one of the best reasons to visit Thailand. They are so friendly, so helpful, so upbeat, and they are always smiling. in their daily lives, they live the teachings of Buddha (which is more a philosophy than a religion) and they are always placid and cheerful. In our 2 weeks there, we didn't see anybody get angry. I don’t know if there's any connection, but we also didn't see any traffic accidents.

Below is a detailed description of where we went and what we did.

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IN THE NORTH

We spent 5 full days in the north, with the time split between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. We spent that time with a Thai guide named Cherry,  who, with her husband, Gal runs a private touring company called Magical Routes. Cherry met us at the airport on our arrival in Chiang Rai, and accompanied us in a roomy air conditioned van with a driver for the next 5 days and also took us back to the airport. Cherry is a very agreeable guide,  very knowledgeable and personable, and her English is excellent and clear, which is very important in Thailand. Many Thai people (including guides) understand and speak English, but because of a very heavy accent are almost unintelligible. As for Gal, he was a great help during the planning process when I was in touch with him frequently via email. To the right is a picture of Cherry with Alisa and Naomi at one of the restaurants where we ate lunch.

CHERRY, NAOMI, & ALISA

In Chiang Rai, we stayed at the Wiang Inn, a nice hotel perfectly located in the center of town right near the night market. In Chiang Mai, we stayed at the Pornping Tower, which was also a nice hotel and well located like the Wiang Inn. Both hotels cost less than $50 per night for a double room, including all taxes and a decent breakfast.

The northern countryside is beautiful, with lush green mountains and many rivers. On the other hand, the points of interest for tourists are extremely commercialized. Below is a description of the places we visited in the north.

The Northern tribes: There is a market area set up where you can see several different tribes selling their handicraft. It's not really a village, but a commercialized market. The main attraction is the long necked women of the Karen tribe, although there are representatives of at least 2 more tribes, the Acha, and the Hmong. To the left is a picture of Alisa with Karen tribe members and their handicrafts and to the right is one of the Karen women weaving cloth.

ETHNIC CHINESE VILLAGE (Doi Mae Salong): This is a village founded by former Kuomintang soldiers and their families who fled China to Burma after the fall of China to the communists, and who fled to Thailand after being expelled from Burma in the 60's. The village is totally inhabited by Chinese and here we saw some interesting things. One was a tea tasting at a tea shop and the other was a snack Alisa was given by one of the market vendors. This was not a snack she was selling, but rather a personal snack prepared for herself and her daughter. It was a cone of sweetened sticky rice with coconut in it and wrapped in a banana leaf. Here's a picture to the right. There is definitely a different atmosphere in this village than any other we visited in Thailand.

STICKY RICE SNACK

The Golden triangle:  The famous drug smuggling area at the intersection of Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, and Laos. There's an interesting opium museum and a lookout site which requires a walk up a modest hill.

MAE SAI: This is the nearest town to the Golden triangle and features a vast open air market. To the left is a picture of a smiling vendor selling chestnuts in the market and to the right is a picture of Alisa in front of a temple located right in the middle of the market. If you want, you can cross the border and say you visited Burma.

THE MONKEY'S CAVE: This is a temple and park compound where the monkeys roam freely and aggressively accept food from the tourists who come to visit.

THE LIFE OF THE QUEEN MOTHER

THE CELEBRATION OF THE QUEENS CENTENARY

THE QUEEN MOTHER'S HOME (Doi Tung): The late Mother of the present King spent several years in her youth outside of Thailand developed a love for the mountains of Switzerland. She looked for a spot in Thailand which reminded her of Switzerland, and thereby discovered Doi Tung. She had a villa built there and surrounded it with beautiful gardens, and used it as a base from which to pursue her many development and environmental projects. It's one of the most beautiful spots in Thailand. Here's a picture of the gardens to the right.
 

Sail on the Mekok River:  We rode a long tailed boat down the river for 2-3 hours to the village of Tha Ton. On the way we stopped at an elephant village. To the right is a picture of a Thai version of a floating drive through concession. The girls in the picture are selling cold drinks. To the left is a picture of the boat we rode in.

THE WHITE TEMPLE (Wat Rong Khun): Check out the picture on the left. This is a temple built by Thai artist Chalermchai Kositpipat, and reminded us of works by Gaudi in Barcelona. This project began in 1998 and the artist expects it to take 90 years to complete. It's not yet too well known to foreign tourists, but it's become a very popular place for Thais.

THE ELEPHANT VILLAGE: This was certainly one of our more interesting days. It included a ride on an elephant, a ride in a water buffalo pulled cart, a show put on by the elephants and a raft sail along the river. The elephants are very intelligent and it's pretty amazing what they can do, particularly the agility they have using their trunks. The most amazing thing they do is painting. To the right is a picture painted by an elephant.

DOI INTHANON: Doi Inthanon is a national park and includes the  highest point in Thailand at 2400 meters. This park has lots of outdoor activities, hiking, great views, waterfalls, but the main attraction is the two temples, one dedicated to the King and the other dedicated to the Queen.  It's a beautiful view and the temples are also very beautiful. Here (at 2400 meters) it was windy and very very cold!!! To the left is a picture of one of the temples (I think it's the King's) and a small part of the surrounding gardens. To the right is a view of the gardens.

DOI SUTHEP: This temple is one of the most revered temples in all of Thailand and is located about 15 KM from the city of  Chiang Mai. It's on  a hill top at an elevation of 1676 meters and affords a beautiful view of the city.  We took the elevator up and the 300 stairs down.  Here's a picture on the left of one of the buildings of Doi Suthep which includes a picture of the royal family which should give an indication of the reverence in whIch they are held. To the right are 2 more links about Doi Suthep.

PICTURES OF DOI SUTHEP

THE LEGEND OF HOW DOI SUTHEP WAS FOUNDED AND BUILT

KHANTOKE DINNER SHOW: One evening, we went to a dinner show featuring a traditional northern style dinner and a show which included 9 or 10 traditional different tribal dances. Here's a picture of Naomi, Yosi and Alisa at the table enjoying their sticky rice. We went to the "Khantoke Palace" which is located right in Chiang Mai, and was pretty much what you would expect from a presentation like this which is designed for tourists - interesting if not inspiring.

BO-SANG UMBRELLA VILLAGE: This is an village filled with handicraft shops and the centerpiece is the Bo-Sang umbrella factory. It's an interesting village and there are plenty of unusual items on sale. We bought some of the very special stationary products.

Our main activity in the evening in both Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai was visiting the night markets. The market in Chiang Mai was the larger and better organized of the two.  As in all the markets in Thailand, there's a vast array of all kinds of products from food to imitation designer bags and watches, clothing, more clothing and more clothing. We really didn't buy that much because most of the cheap stuff is exactly that - cheap. There are also plenty of stores carrying higher quality goods with prices less than back home, but not that much less. On the other hand, there are plenty of bargains if you know what you are looking for.
 

The night market in Chiang Mai was about a 2 minute walk from our hotel, so we spent a lot of time there. At this market, we had a bonus and that was live entertainment every night. Of all the night markets in Thailand, I think we enjoyed this market more than any other.  To the left is a picture of the Kalare Night Bazaar stage where beautiful Thai dancers appeared every evening.

In Chiang Mai, we had our only street massage. The market was about 100 meters from our hotel and right on the way were several massage parlors. We had our feet done for 100 BHT ($3 including tip) for 30 minutes. It felt great after a tough day at the market.  On the other hand, don't expect conditions like your spa back home at one of these places. Although they washed my feet with alcohol, I'm pretty sure they were using the same towels all day. Here's a picture to the right of me waiting for my massage. Actually, there are plenty of high quality spas in Thailand and many of our friends have had great treatments.  On the other hand, the prices at these spas are not far below the prices you would pay at home at a good spa.

P H U K E T

From Chiang Mai we flew directly to Phuket Island. It's about a 2 hour flight and we flew on Thai Air. While we were in Thailand, we had 3 flights on Thai Air and the service was fine, but each flight had some sort of delay. The worst was the flight from Phuket to Bangkok. We were delayed an hour on takeoff and then almost another hour when we arrived at Souvanbang airport, the brand new airport in Bangkok which has been beset by so many problems.  The passenger sleeve wouldn't work, and we had to back off from the landing gate, and disembark down stairs and walk to the terminal.

After arriving at Phuket airport,  we took the hotel shuttle to our hotel, The Club Andaman Beach Resort at Patong Beach. It cost 300 BHT per person. Later I checked the price with a taxi driver and the price was exactly the same (600 BHT for 2 people). The Club Andaman is a beautiful hotel. It is one of the older hotels at Patong Beach and because of this it is right in the middle of things but still has beautiful grounds which are totally isolated from  the craziness of Patong Beach. To the right is a picture of the hotel gardens.

ABOUT PHUKET ISLAND:  Phuket is the most popular tourist destination in the south of Thailand. There are many other islands, but Phuket is the liveliest and the most varied. There are a variety of different beaches to visit on Phuket as well as quite a few interesting attractions. The most popular beaches are Patong, Karon, Kata, Kamala, and Nai Harn, but there are others as well. Patong is by far the liveliest and that's where we decided to stay - to experience Phuket at its best and its worst. Patong is very lively, noisy, dirty, smelly, hot, and full of every conceivable activity. There is a nice beach, lots of restaurants, and plenty of hotels for every budget. The other beaches are quieter, and there is a beach on Phuket to suit every taste. Some links about Phuket to the right. Below are some things we did while in Phuket.

PHUKET DELIGHTS

JAMIE'S PHUKET

MAP OF PHUKET BY THAI-AIR

JOHN GRAY'S SEA CANOES: Without any question, this was the most memorable thing we did while in Thailand. One of the most popular activities in Phuket is to sail to Phang Gna Bay and explore the beautiful islands via kayaks. There are many companies who run a tour similar to this one, but not exactly like this one. The tour is run by John Gray, a well known environmentalist in eastern Asia and the western Pacific and his motto is that John Gray goes out when the others are coming in. The premium tour is the "Hongs by Starlight" tour, which explores the hongs (water caves on the various islands) including a sail after dark which also includes building a "kratong", and enjoying the hong by the natural light of the kratongs. The kratong is a ceremonial offering made by the Thais for a festival once a year. John Gray's tour uses them every night and does it in an environmentally conscious manner. To the left above is a picture of me and our kratong and below to the left is a picture of us in our kayak with Saman (accent on the second syllable), our guide exploring a hong. This tour also included 2 meals, and even the meals were great. I must add that the John Gray tour costs considerably more than the other tours, but I think it was worth every cent. For more information about Phuket activities, here are a few links to the right.

BENJARONG MAGAZINE DESCRIPTION OF JOHN GRAY'S SEACANOES

OTHER AVAILABLE BOAT TRIPS ON PHUKET

PHUKET PHANGNGA KRABI
TOURISM CLUB

PHUKET FANTASEA: I still can't figure out where the Phuket Fantasea fits into my scheme of things. It's a grandiose spectacle which starts from the moment you arrive and lasts until the end of the performance. Phuket Fantasea is a total experience located about 20 minutes north of Patong Beach. It's a park, tourist trap, circus, and the centerpiece is an incredible show inside a giant theatre with a capacity of 4000 specifically built for the purpose. The show includes elephants, various other animals, dramatizes Thai legends, and in the middle for some inexplicable reason includes a hokey comedy magic routine. The performance is more for the kids than the adults, but the entire experience is overwhelming. It includes dinner if you wish, although dinner is a standard buffet. What's unusual about it is the setting - a giant dining hall and the food gets served to just about everybody at once and were talking about at least a thousand people. We skipped dinner,  but the hotel transportation (we bought our tickets at the hotel) still brought us to "exposition" at 7:30 PM even though the show starts at 9 PM.  That gives you time to wander through what is essentially an amusement theme park with loads of shopping stalls and games of chance. It's very well organized.
The night we went to the show it was raining heavily but things still  worked out smoothly. They had workers with large umbrellas escorting people from their transportation into the market area.
The highlight of the evening for us was the security. Cameras (and even binoculars) are not allowed and there is a very thorough security check on the way in. We were actually frisked. The entire experience is incredible. Check out their site (linked above). Note that it has no pictures whatsoever. The show is top secret!!  Here's a site describing the show and its elements, including information about ordering tickets. (No pictures here either!)
As I said above, it's mainly a tourist trap, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

PHUKET ISLAND TOUR: We found a driver named Chai who took us around the island the entire day. He speaks pretty good English and knows exactly where to go, although he was ready to take us anywhere we wanted to go. He charged us 1000 BHT (about $30) for the two of us. Had we been 4 people, the price would have been 1500 BHT. We toured Phuket City, the city market, and the Chinese part of town. We visited a butterfly park, a pearl factory, Wat Chalong (the biggest temple on Phuket) and Chalong pier. To the left are 2 pictures from the market - the upper one of Alisa with a young girl in the market who was peeling and packaging a fruit whose name we can't recall and below it a picture of Alisa in her favorite place - surrounded by green vegetables.

We ate at a restaurant called Tunk-ka on the Rang Hill above Phuket. This was one of the best restaurants of the trip. It has a beautiful view and it has a wide selection of tasty Thai food.  The waiters know enough English to understand "not too hot".  Here's an online review from "Phuket magazine".

We also visited the Sea Gypsy Village. This village is on an island connected to Phuket City by a bridge and is inhabited by a poor population which apparently lives off fishing and selling trinkets to the tourists who visit. All the houses are on stilts and the place is picturesque as well as depressing. The picture to the left shows the local inhabitants unloading wood for building sheds and other structures.
 

The highlight of the day was the visit to Prom Thep , the southernmost point on the island where hordes of locals and tourists alike go to view the beautiful sunset. We were treated to an unexpected surprise when everybody there lined up along the approach to the lighthouse and stooped on their knees.  We were surrounded by hundreds of Thai high school students who haltingly explained to us that the number one daughter of the King was coming to visit to see the sunset for herself. This would be the Crown princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, who is well liked and very busy traveling about the country. She even has a blog with she just opened on the internet.
We stooped with everyone else. After a while 3 busses filled with the Princess's entourage arrived and they  made their way to the lighthouse, where the prime viewpoint is.  We took a few pictures and left. To the right above is a picture of the stooping crowd (note the security guard who is standing) and below it  is a picture of the an elephant shrine and a view of the beautiful bay at Prom Thep in the background .

Without question, this was one of our most enjoyable days of the entire trip.

While at Patong beach, we ate at a couple of notable restaurants. One was the "Sea Hag". This fish and seafood restaurant was one of the best restaurants we ate at while in Thailand. The food was very good, the service was excellent, and price was appropriately expensive.
The other restaurant worth mentioning was an Italian restaurant on the main street. Alisa and Naomi had gotten tired of the hot Thai food, so they were happy when they saw an Italian restaurant (which I think was called "La Casa") and which advertised "home made pasta". Surprisingly enough, the pasta really was home made. So was the sauce - home made in somebody's Thai kitchen and it was as hot as anything else we'd eaten. We later told this story to an Italian chef at a 5 star Italian restaurant in Bangkok, and he jokingly explained that this cooking style is called "Thai fusion" !

B A N G K O K

Next stop was Bangkok, the capital and largest city of Thailand. We stayed at the Phatumwan Princess Hotel which is physically attached to the MBK shopping center. Although not on the river, it's excellently located right in the heart of the shopping district and close to 2 skytrain stops. It's priced at 4 stars but the service and facilities were 5 stars and we enjoyed it very much.

We spent one full day with a guide to see the major sites of Bangkok and one day with a driver who took us to visit Ayutthaya, the ancient capital.  For the Bangkok day, we were in touch with Tan, a licensed guide, who was a great help during the planning stage. On the particular day we did the tour of Bangkok, she wasn't available, but she arranged for a replacement guide, named Buay who was very capable. I have to add that from the start, Tan explained that she might not be available on the day we wanted,  was open and honest the whole way. She even came to visit us at the hotel when she returned to Bangkok. We had a very nice chat.  Tan has a very cute web site which is full of useful information.

On the guided tour of Bangkok, we visited the main attractions - China town and the Chinese market, the flower market, the Grand Palace, the Emerald Buddha Temple, boat tour of the klongs (canals), Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn), and Wat Pho (the reclining Buddha). To the right are a few links about visiting Bangkok. The top picture on the left is a picture of one of the "guards" at the grand palace.

While we were on our own, we visited the Jim Thompson House. Jim Thompson was an American who settled in Bangkok and created a very successful worldwide silk company. The site includes his house which has been turned into a museum, a very nice store selling a wide variety of quality goods, and a very good restaurant which serves both Thai and western food. We had one lunch there and it was very good. The Jim Thompson House is not well visited by the tour groups because of the narrow alley it's located on, but if you're on your own, it's well worth a visit.

We visited Ayutthaya with a driver. Cherry (our guide in the north) recommended the driver, called Vinah. He didn't speak much English but he knew exactly where to take us. We visited the summer palace on the way to Ayutthaya and once there, visited several  sites of impressive ruins.  The picture on the left is a shot of one of the beautiful buildings at the summer palace and the picture above it is Alisa standing next to an elephant bush in the exquisite garden.  The picture on the right is one of the ruins at Ayutthaya.

We didn't eat at many memorable restaurants in Bangkok, but we did eat at a variety of different places. We ate at one really good Italian restaurant at the Paragon Center. It's called Delguardo and is run by a real Italian lady who has lived in Bangkok for 20 years and a real Italian chef who was imported from Italy. The food was very good, if not exceptional. We ate several times at the food court in the Paragon, and also had soup at the "Gourmet Supermarket" located there. We also ate on the seventh floor of the MBK where you pay with coupons for Thai food. Typical portions cost between 20 and 60 BHT, and the vendors do not know the meaning of the words "not too hot."  By far, the hottest food I tasted anywhere in Thailand was here.

We also ate at the "FISH MARKET RESTAURANT". This is both a restaurant and a tourist attraction. Check out the picture to the right - their motto is: "If it swims, we have it." The restaurant is a huge dining hall with supermarket coolers along one wall where you pick out your fish, seafood or vegetables. You pay for what you've selected, return to your table and then have a discussion with a "cooking consultant".  You decide how you want them to prepare each element of your market purchase, for which there is a separate menu and cooking charge depending on what and how it is cooked. The cooking charges are reasonable, but the net effect of the whole process is to order more than you really wanted. All the fish is so nice and fresh, and it's just like a supermarket -  "let's take one of those, and three of those, and look at that beautiful whatever over there...." The food was super fresh and well prepared, but it cost more than expected. The picture to the right is of the main market display area.

THE FISH MARKET
RESTAURANT

I forgot to mention that the traffic and pollution in Bangkok is as bad as advertised. The heat is also oppressive but we were lucky, after the first day of oppressive heat,  it rained and stayed cooler than usual for the rest of our stay. I guess we spent a lot of time in air conditioned shopping malls. We spent a lot of time in the MBK and the Paragon - opposites of one another. As I noted above, our hotel was very convenient. If we needed anything, we just ran into the MBK for 5 minutes to find it. If we wanted something more upscale, a 10 minute walk (most of it in air conditioning) brought us to the Paragon.

How can I sum up this trip? We enjoyed it, but Thailand wasn't nearly as exotic as we had expected. The food was too hot for Naomi and Alisa, and the tourist sites were very commercialized (where aren't they today?)  The north has lots of interesting attractions, the islands in the south are beautiful, and Bangkok is...well, Bangkok.

Below are some more links  & phone numbers which may help you if
you are planning a visit to Thailand.