Thailand 2013

At the end of February, we flew to Bangkok to spend our winter break in Thailand.

This was the view behind our hotel room in the morning. Orchids bloom everywhere in Bangkok.

The view of the canal from the bridge behind the hotel.  There were tons of big fish swimming around in the water!  This family was cooking and enjoying their breakfast on the bridge.

The lobby of our hotel, Lamphu tree house, complete with reclining mats on platforms.

The pool was great. One of our favorite dining areas was the patio behind on the left...

...which also had this spirit house.  These are forms of worship that are placed outside every house and business. They are homes for the spirits of the land, built to please them so they grant wishes.

Entry to our hotel with the fantastic breakfast buffet. The Thai coffee is amazing, the best I've had in Asia so far! 

Our hotel is ahead on the right, down this alley, with the canal on the left.

View across one of Bangkok's canals from the front of our hotel. 

These two kitties were always hanging around the alleyway and cuddling- so cute. 

Spirit houses outside the entrance to our hotel room (Bangkok)

This gentleman was on his way to sell flower garlands to worshippers.

Our rooms at Lampu Treehouse were comfy and had lots of teak woodwork. Prices of rooms and meals were extremely reasonable, as they are everywhere in Thailand. 

Since it was Sunday we headed to the Bangkok weekend market, a place with lots of interesting stuff at typical amazing Thai prices... got a couple of cool shirts and knicknacks...

.. and got a tour of a wat (temple) with this guy, named Tai-lan, who is also a fabric designer during the week.

The wat had these interesting guardians. The Chinese influence is strong in the art and language of Thailand. 

Spires of the wat in the background.

Inside is the largest reclining Buddha in Thailand- about 150 ft. long and covered in gold.
Thais have buddhas for each day of the week.  This one is "mine" because I was born on a Tuesday. ☺

While walking around the Buddha, it is customary to donate coins in buckets. 

Another area of the wat had this Buddha with many snakes (It's the Saturday Buddha).

This wat has also been one of the biggest massage training centers in Bangkok for many years. These are some of the old diagrams showing meridiens that massage therapists use. One of the best things we did in Bangkok was to get a Thai massage.  For $5, you can get a half-hour of expert deep-tissue massage. The massage parlors are everywhere. Heavenly!

Back to the hotel, here's another spirit house in the alley with flower garlands on. It is considered good luck to leave offerings of incense, flowers, and red or orange drinks for the gods.

The next day we toured a floating market.  We got there on this longtail boat. 

It was a fun ride through the canals!

There were also spirit houses facing the canal by each house.

We passed many homes on the way.

...till we got to our destination.  Floating market, where you can just pull up your boat and buy souvenirs from dozens of waterfront shops.

This woman was selling pomelo, a fruit with a grapefruit-like taste.

The boat pulled up to a temple; we took off our shoes and went in...

It was an interesting temple with several buddhas.

It is customary to put gold leaf, available for a small donation, on a buddha and make a wish.

Here I am putting gold on the big Buddha.

Back in the canal and on the boat.  Besides spirit houses like these, we saw lots of images of the King everywhere in Thailand.
The Thai people love their king and queen!

Back to the hotel to get ready to go to Chiang Mai, this cat was getting his supper of fish heads in the alley. I'm sure he felt loved.

After an quick flight to Chiang Mai, we were picked up and brought to our hotel, Secret Garden, where we were greeted by the owner Peter and his family and dove friend.

This was a really unique B & B with many peaceful spots.

The dining cabana was where we had the breakfast and dinner buffets. All of the food was home-cooked by Peter's Thai wife and her staff, and it was fabulous.

View down one of the paths at Secret Garden.

The next day we went for a bike ride.  The hotel staff adjusted our bikes to get them ready..

It was a 15 min. ride to the local village, Bosang.  

On the way, we passed several beautiful wats. I love how the bottom of this one creates the illusion of water.

In the village of Bosang, we went to a paper umbrella factory.  We got to try smashing paper pulp (see the ladies in the back making umbrellas)...

... and dipping a frame to make paper. There was a market with lots of handcrafts here too, some very unique stuff.

Back at Secret Garden, we relaxed in the sitting room of our bungalow.

Our two bedrooms and baths were roomy and comfortable.

The breezes kept everything cool, we didn't even need AC.

We even had a nice little kitchen area.

On Thursday we went to Elephant Camp for a day. Many of the elephants here were rescued from a work camp in Burma ten years ago. Elephants are like a Thai national treasure and the government gives incentives to save and rehabilitate them.  

Baby Lyshee greeted us warmly (esp. since we had bananas). There is nothing cuter than a baby elephant!

At the camp they taught us how to be mahouts (elephant handlers) for a day. We greeted the adult elephants we were to ride, and fed them bananas.  

The real mahouts taught us how to get the elephants to raise their leg with a command so we could climb up and down using the leg. 

We made elephant scrub brushes by pounding bark, and elephant vitamins using mashed tamarind fruit.  We got to sample the tamarind, it has a delicious sour taste. 

We fed the elephants bananas as we got to know them.

Easy there, big fella.

Marly rode her elephant to the starting point.  She was a natural.

We all got on and went for a trek.

The elephants were docile and slow-moving.  They remind me of manatees, and in fact that is their closest relative!

We rode the elephants to the river...

... and got off to bathe them.

Everyone enjoyed this. 

I think the elephants enjoyed the scrubdown part the best.

Marly even got to practice yoga on an elephant.

We got back on the elephants for another ride. The mahouts were always there to help.

We went to the mud pit!  This healthy mud is great for the elephant's skin, we grabbed handfuls and covered her with it. 

Our group was great, there were five friends from England plus us.

Elephants live to  60 to 80 yrs. of age, so taking care of them is an important job.  We'll be back to help again someday.

On our last day in Thailand, we went into the city of Chiang Mai where we saw many markets and temples.

This wat (temple) was built by Chinese ancestors.

Wats are central to Thai culture- there are 400 of them in the city of Chiang Mai alone. They come in all shapes and sizes.

Wat entrance with cool snake heads.

Here is what that same wat looks like inside. Besides Buddha, notice the many photos of the King and Queen of Thailand.

View looking out from the front door of the wat.

This beautiful snake was guarding the entrance to another wat. 

Back at the hotel, I spied a baby praying mantis on an orchid.
Thailand was absolutely lovely, now I know why everyone who goes loves it. We do, too.