Travel in Southeast Asia

We have arrived home ~ safe and sound......well a little jetlagged maybe. We left Bangkok at 7am Tuesday March 10th and arrived in SeaTac Tuesday March 10th at 10:30 am ~ Whaaaaat? you say? 3 1/2 hours from Bangkok to Seattle?? .....(oh yea plus the 15 hour time difference) made for an almost 40 hour March 10th ~ pretty cool ~ because it was my birthday.

In any case - we had a fantastic last couple of weeks on our 2 month southeast Asia trip! Let me catch you up........

Sunrise at our condo in Hua Hin, Thailand

We left Cbang Mai in northern Thailand with Stuart and Sara for our last week together and spent a week on the beach at Hua Hin about 3 hours south of Bangkok. Hua Hin is a popular beach resort on the Sea of Thailand and has been a Royal summer retreat for the King of Thailand starting with King Rama VI, http://www.tourismhuahin.com/history-huahin.php

We stayed south of the main town in the Khao Takiab area at a beautiful place called Baan San Suk. Beautiful pool, white sandy beach and lots of restaurants and massage parlors made it a great place to just relax and enjoy Thailand's sunny side. an initial thought on exploring the larger general area turned into poolside and beach relaxation.

view from our balcony

the pool

lots of beach ~ very few people

monkeys at Khao Takiab Point

Night Market at Hua Hin

It wasn't easy leaving Hua Hin but we were looking forward to going to Bangkok to spend the evening with Brian & Lindsey Bean and their 2 daughters Mirabelle and Calliope. Brian is the son of my first cousin ~ Mary Helen and her husband Ken who live in Maryland. Brian and his family have been living in Bangkok for almost 2 years - Brian heads a program called Leaf ~ that deals with environmental issues - primarily concerning deforestation practices around Southeast Asia. It was also the last night before Stuart and Sara flew home so it was great to have us all together and we had a fantastic dinner at one of Brian and Lindsey's favorite restaurants and the food was top notch Thai inspired food with local and sustainable foodstuffs. Yummmmm!

instant bond with the girls

Dinner with Brian and Lindsey

Stuart and Sara had an early start the next morning and we got them off for their taxi ride by 6am and then Carol and I had one more adventure before we were due to leave on Tuesday March 10th

We had heard some great things about Ayutthaya - the old capital of Thailand for over 400 years from the 1300s to the 1700s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayutthaya_Kingdom

We were not disappointed.

We had a wonderful 2 night stay at I U Dia (a play on the cities name) and it was an incredible location right on the river that surrounds the city and right across from us ~ a beautiful temple complex. We road bikes and explored other temples, we took a 2 hour city boat tour, and spent time in the pool. The last night stayed up until 2 am with a nice Danish couple who were travelling with their 3 daughters (age 4 - 7) and the next day returned to Bangkok and had a wonderful farewell dinner with Brian and Lindsey - prepared by their Burmese cook "Sheila" complete with fresh roti flatbread and an assortment of Burmese specialties. What a treat!

the old city is surrounded by the Chao Pharaya River

Our hotel in Ayutthaya

Breakfast at the hotel

Bike ride to the temples

Epilogue:

We loved Southeast Asia. We will return. There is a serenity and joy of spirit here that was different from any place we had visited before. Buddhism plays more than a major role across the area. It is integrated into their lives on a deeper level than one experiences with Christianity in western cultures.

The people, the food, the history, the traffic, the flora and fauna, all will draw us back ~ probably in the near future. There were so many little things as well.....

the curiosity of children towards "farangs" when we were in small towns, the crazy combinations of smells (many wonderful ~ some not so much); seeing a family of 5 on 1 motorcycle or a moto just being used as a truck to haul a cage of chickens or 10 cases of Heineken beer; exotic flowers and other flora of all sizes and colors; tuktuks and other odd vehicles; trying to learn a few key words in Thai or Vietnamese, getting used to the money; long tail boats, the central and night markets filled with an amazing array of foodstuffs and goods, and so much more.

No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path

~ Buddha

Well, after a great 3 weeks in Vietnam (and 5 total) we took off from Hanoi to Bangkok where we left 3 hours later on a flight to the city of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. Chiang Mai is Thailand's second largest city and one of the countries most popular tourist areas - for a variety of reasons.
it has a more temperate year around climate, it is surrounded by mountains and 2 national parks and is a popular for treks into the back country. The old city is surrounded on all 4 sides by a moat and the remnants of a brick wall and is filled with winding streets with restaurants, shops, massage parlors, etc. Pad Thai? $1. Hour Massage? $5. Birkenstocks $8. You get the picture..... deals on every corner and lots of fun just cruising around.
Lots of options for food ~ Thai, Indian, Western, French, Italian, etc. One of Chiang Mai's most popular to do's is a variety of night markets located around the city and which feature hundreds of stalls selling an amazing variety of Thai food to all sorts of crafts, art, and other goodies.

Night Market Scenes:

The Cowboy Lady is one of the more popular street stalls after being featured on

Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown" for her stewed pork leg with egg

the scene

Grilled Quail

So anyway ~ we met up with Stuart and Sara in Chiang Mai and explored the night market area and then took a bus the next day to a Pai ~ a smaller town about 3 hours north which has a lively backpacker/tourist scene with another great night market. We stayed just outside of town at the Pai Water House which had a great pool in a rural setting and it was a great place to relax and just hangout.

Our Bungalow at Pai Water House

Pai Market ~ some of the options ~ Quail and Spare Ribs

Sates, Squid, Insects

Temples ~ All over Southeast Asia there are Amazing Buddhist Temples. You also see some that are Hindu in origin but pretty much Buddha Rules! Chiang Mai itself has over 300 in and around the city. We probably visited a dozen or so in the city and one outside on a mountain top reached by a pretty arduous hike, especially in the heat of the afternoon, but well worth the effort. Some of the temples date back to the 8th century but others are from more recent times. In all there often dozens if not hundreds of Buddha statues in a temple complex ~ some fat, some thin, some smiling, some serious, some standing while others are sitting or even reclining, some carved from teak, or jade, or rock, or other materials. Animal statuary is also prevalent ~ often realistic, but often dragon headed snakes or 5 headed elephants or other species.