Category: Travel tips

A Trip to Glacier NP-1.Ely

They say it is not safe to write about your trip while you are on it, so here we go – we managed to get out of our home , garden, irrigation, cats and fish two weeks ago – and travel for 6.5 days North. To cool off. So we headed towards St. George in order to start the cooling process – to dip into the emerald Quail Creek lake as it is shown in my previous Blog. Then we drove towards Nevada border, towards Enterprice. And on the way – here was the Mountain Meadows Massacre site…A very sad place. Though the valley is beautiful:

Here in 1857 a group of some 150 people from Arkansas stopped for a rest on their tiresome way to California, at that time – a land of opportunity. They met the Mormons who lived close by and asked for their permission to rest for a couple of weeks. Even gave them a good horse for that. There are several books written about the case but they all have the same conclusion – the Mormons killed those innocent people, except for several kids who were not of 8 years or up. There is something in their religion that forbids killing young kids…I wish there was something that forbid killing, period…Why? I guess even the nowadays Mormons are not quite sure, they explain it in fear, but isn’t fear the main cause of all the killing in the world ? Not to expand on the subject – this is the darkest spot in Mormon history. they built a monument on the grave sites, but…On that monument they as if praise themselves – the Church built and dedicated the monument, preserves it…but the fact that they killed and even the number of people killed – is not reflected on it. Also – a note: the killings were very brutal, happened at night and the killers pretended they are Indians. dressed like them and painted their faces like them…

It sais that it happened on September 11, 1857! Another 9/11… And like Alcaida – the Mormon Church never said: “Sorry”…

Then we drove and drove for some 4 hours over a mountain range, then through Nevada and reached Ely, the first city on the Loneliest Highway in America, that goes through Nevada West-East. It is an interesting city as all of the very few on that road. It has a grandeur in its past, the grandeur of a mining town. But the mining is almost gone, the gambling is also not very big there, far from metropolitan areas, it is depressed. We stayed in its biggest hotel – wow – 6 story high!, called Hotel Nevada. The hotel was the first such a tall building built in Nevada in 1929. Before all the hotels were built in Las Vegas. In its time it had prominent visitors such as Lyndon Johnson, the president of the USA, Ingrid Bergman, the actress and many more celebrities from the entertainment business. Including Stephen King who came here in search of the three ghosts who live in the hotel. I wonder if he met them, we didn’t.

A view from our window and our room:

Rooms are not big, but cozy, furnished in old style, but the facilities are modern and clean. It was funny to see this flat screen TV in our room. The lobby and corridors have a lot of character created by Wild West artifacts:

Though I am very much against killing animals those chandeliers looked very impressive:

I hope they are made from shed horns…

There used to be a bigger collection of miniature scenes of various activities people were doing here, but at least there are still some 4 left:

I guess this is a jail guard working hard.

A farmer.

A bar.

I am not sure if we went to this or another bar for beer…But here is the Woman’s bathroom door in that bar:

I specifically checked the door on men’s bathroom – there was nobody peeking…:-)

And in the morning I walked the meditation labyrinth with all those abstract statues or constructions around:

While two crows were kissing endlessly on the opposite roof:

From there we drove up towards Idaho, Twin Falls.

Thailand 2010 – its old capital Sukhothai

Sukhothai means “the dawn of happiness” and holds a unique place in Thailand’s history. Until the 13th century most of Thailand consisted of many small vassal states under the thumb of the Khmer Empire based in Angkor Wat. But the princes of two Thai states combined forces and in 1238 marched on Sukhothai where one of them defeated the Khmer garrison commander in an elephant duel. Installed as the new king of the region he founded a dynasty that ruled Sukhotai for nearly 150 years. Through military and diplomatic victories they expanded their kingdom to include most of the present-day Thailand and the Malay peninsula.

By the mid -14th century Sukhotai’s power and influence had waned, and Ayutthaya, once a vasal state, became the capital of Thai kingdom. Sukhotai was gradually abandoned to the jungle. If it wasn’t for a 10-year restoration project, started in 1978 and costing more than $10 mln., there wouldn’t have been the Sukhothai Historical Park:

We took a regular bus from Chang Mai city Arcade Bus station and it took us about 6 h to reach destination. If Bangkok is 700 km from Chang Mai, Sukhotai is 427 km north of Bangkok, almost in the middle of our return way to BKK. Which means that it takes 6h in a bus to cover 270 km…Pretty slow drive…Though the roads are not bad but sitting there on the second floor of that double bus you feel like you are hardly moving. The tickets cost around 300bt each. It is two times more than the price of the tickets you buy in Khao-San road. But in that case you can buy only for certain destinations and keep contact with them in order to know where are their buses leaving from. The prices for transportation there don’t bite at all, wherever you buy them. And you get better rides for more expensive tickets. lets say – the trip from BKK to Chang Mai was in a bus without shocks…12 hours of bumping…

This particular bus entered the area just through the Old town Sukhothai – where the history was. Once of a sudden the old stupas appeared here and there close to the road side. That was it, we left the bus and went to look for the hotel tat our Canadian friend recommended: Old City Guest house. It was worth staying there. The guest house rooms were built around a cozy square:

with the little altar in the middle – in case someone wants to please the Gods, the room was big, clean, comfortable bathroom and shower. After spending a week with a shower poring directly onto you toilet and having the floors wet for a while there – it was wonderful to have a spacious bathroom with a separate shower place. It was like a little center – with several hotels, restaurants, shops and bike rental places (the main city is 9 mi away):

Bicycles are especially popular there while trying to see all parts of the Historical capital. It is a pity we didn’t experience them and left it for the next time. It was a very pleasant stay, very good meals in the nearby restaurant Coffee Cup, nice people, good atmosphere. The park entrance was close by that little town center. Although the sun was setting I still eagerly went to see the ruins that were spread wide in the vast parks – I wouldn’t call them jungle, would you?:

Maybe that is what the restoration effort turned the jungle into -a spacious park.

The weather there was clearly more humid than in Chang Mai and it was hard to breathe or move fast even in the very late evening. But there were almost no people, one miserable pregnant and very hungry cat – she had only one eye…, lots of hungry but peaceful dogs and the darkness setting onto the trees and temple ruins:

It is hard to imagine the grandeur of the city in its golden age…Harder to understand why people abandon so many already built buildings and go somewhere else to strive for survival and build again…Still they don’t quite abandon those temples here – there are fresh candles and offerings.

A new temple surrounding an old stupa in the town center – there is a Buddha’s foot print under glass in it:

The hardest part in Sukhothai was to find a bus stop to go to BKK…Funny, isn’t it? I asked everyone, then checked a little map of the town on a building that looked like a bus station -we waited there because the map said that this is the bus stop. it never stopped. It was evidently a block down – by some shop – no logical reason to understand – why was it in such a place ? So we missed our bus, had to take their songthaew – that crazy “animal wagon” to get to the New City Sukhothai to a real and big bus station and from there we tried to reach Ayutthaya, but the bus stopped some 6 km from the city and it was our last evening, so we decided to stay on the bus and reach BKK, our belloved Khao San road and feel a little more of its atmosphere. Actually it is not the Khao San Road that we liked, but other roads in that area, that I even don’t remember their names. There is like a cirkle of them behind a temple, that faces Khao San road, towards Phra Artit road – a very lively, cozy, backpackers’ area:

You don’t have the big city feel there. So the next morning I walked a little towards the Kings palace in the streets I already know buying still some presents and nice things and off we left to the BKK airport which is very modern:

but also has Thai decors:

beautiful modern spaces:

And flew back home via Taipey in Taiwan:

Los Angeles, and believe it or not – Salt Lake city…:

Once we reached LA – the plane was late by half hour, then we had to take our bags. check through customs and run like crazy to another terminal. So we ran…like crazy…Over there after going through their security we found out that our seats to Las Vegas were sold…Big disappointment after 3 hours flight to Taipey and 12 hours to LA…Luckily they gave a a hotel room, so we rested and early morning rushed for a flight to SLC, then another flight to Las Vegas. which was also delayed…A very long and not easy trip home…But in a week I recovered and already wanted to go back :-).

Thailand 2010 – Chang Mai – Doi Suthep

The last trip we did while in Chang Mai was up the only mountain close to the city to the temple there- Doi Suthep. it is not on top of the mountain, just on the way to the top. Somewhere in between. The road was winding up for a while in the jungle and here it was a usual market place where we got out of songthaew – their transportation that I call “animal wagons”…But in reality they are converted pick-up trucks with two benches in the back and a metal roof. The ones that take you to Doi Suthep are parked on a street by the North Gate of Chang Mai Old town walls.

It was Saturday. As I noticed the most celebrated day by Thailand Buddhists though they all say that in their religion all days are the same, they don’t have a special day for temple and rest – like Christians have Sunday. But somehow Saturdays were always crowded with people in temples. Once you get off the transport in that market area – you have to carefully look around to figure out where the gate to the temple is. There are Buddhas everywhere and you can get confused. Here is how the stairs up that place on the mountain slope where the temple is look like:

And when you reach it – there are two terraces around the temple on lower levels with activities going on – trade, as usual, dancing, selling tickets for non natives, monastery with rooms for discussions, toilets, etc. Yes, toilets have a very important part in their temple grounds – they always are there, always clean, so it makes the visit more pleasant and comfortable. So before you go through the third gate and stairs to the highest level – there is an enclosed yard where lots of dancing is going on. And that part was the most impressive to me:

I think those girls were close to 15 or even 16, very gracious, tiny and slim with beautiful clothes – they were like temple princesses:

The other kids were also dressed up and singing. Usually there was one star -the really talented dancer, whose poses, movements of fingers and eyes were standing out. But at least those older girls had breaks in between each dance, they would go away. get a drink, sit somewhere. This next little girl – to me she looked like a toddler – she danced non stop all the time we were there. So beautiful so graceful so well acting, that I couldn’t be interested more in anything else. Those girls to me are the top of Thai culture – to be so strong, composed, coordinated, while still a child, I couldn’t believe in such a spirit…

For some dances she had other girls dancing with her but none of them came even close to the main girl’s movements. poses, facial expressions, none:

I wish this little “ballerina” has a future better than her country can provide her with…In moments like this I wish i worked in movie industry. Maybe I could find a way of getting her into staring in some movie, or getting into some good dance group.

There were other types of performances – like drumming:

and as usual – lots and lots of sculptures:

while on the very top level of the grounds where the golden stupa was in the center – supposedly with some ashes of Buddha himself – the crowds were walking and walking around the stupa with a lotus flower, some candles and some incense sticks in their hands.:

After going back down to the city, it takes around half hour to go back – I still walked around bearing the heat. Noticed an old stupa by some temple on the other side of the mound – so I managed to cross the busy street, which is not so easy, no traffic lights, the cars are driving like in a stream. And here I heard a strange music , saw an interesting and beautiful temple complex:

with some creative artsfrom local branches on the walls:

But the main point was a strange structure by the corner of the yard on dusty grounds, with cars parked close by-which I distinguished as a wake. The coffin was with that same roof that their temples have and all surrounded with color matched chrysanthemums, other flowers, with a little table in front which had a picture of a deceased young man and some food on plates for his spirit:

Nobody was close to tat coffin, except for the loud speakers set up on a car broadcasting their national music which had joy and sadness all together:

Deeper under the trees, in the shade, fro the heat in sun is unbearable, there were tables set up and a group of people eating, who I assumed were the participants of the funeral. I saw the caterers gathering their stuff and closing up the eating part but was not sure how long will other ceremonies last so i didn’t wait for the funeral to start. It was really very hot. Like my friend said – you are a prisoner of heat there during the daytime.

And here is my last picture of Chang Mai:

Poor huts, fancy temples and a lot of electrical lines…

(to be continued)

Our Trip to Valley of Fire and Las Vegas

Last Tuesday before the big storm (04/20) we headed to the Valley of Fire – Nevada’s oldest state park, dedicated in 1935. But the sandstone formations from sea dunes over there formed during the age of dinosaurs, some 150 million years ago… There is a complex uplifting, faulting of the region with extensive erosions that made the place special and worth of not one visit:

Several kinds of sand stone – maybe I should say several colors of sand stone there competed well with the spring flowers:

The first canyon we went in was called Mouse’s Tank – it was very red, too red for my eyes :-). Thanks God there were some yellow flowers here and there and some prehistoric petroglyphs:

In fact, there was a lot of them along the canyon walls, which witnesses the times when the Basket Maker People and later the Anasazi Pueblo farmers visited the Valley from 300 B.C. to 1150 A.D. There is little probability they could live there because of the scarcity of water. The Mouse’s Tank was the only little basin of naturally collecting water there:

It was nice to see water after going in that very sandy very windy trail.

Evidently lots of airplanes fly over the valley of Fire – it is only 40 mi from Las Vegas.

The peculiar thing is that this rock looks like letter “F” from the other side…

Then we drove to another stop of interest – it was through Rainbow Vista to White Domes:

There is a pink layer seen on the sides of the Domes. Beautiful colors…can’t get them right in pictures…

I am a fan of roads winding in landscape. It was my “thing” !

Driving back towards the visitor’s center we admired this balancing rock – keeping sturdy at thins angle…

Bye bye Valley of Fire, hello Las Vegas! it is a convenient place for us to sleep in order to do some shopping at Trader Joes next morning. This time we found a really good hotel – i wonder where my eyes were earlier, why didn’t I notice it… Tuscany Suites – on Flamingo Blvd., less than a mile from the Strip. The hotel is only 3 story high, no crowds or stops while you get in your elevator to the third floor, very quiet, no slot machine sin sight – they were in a separate wing. the buildings surrounded with trees and blooming bushes, lots of pink bougainvilleas by the swimming pool which is enclosed from harsh L.V. winds in between buildings. Also – live jazz in the main bar where people were dancing happily. A very intimate atmosphere. For $30/ night – we couldn’t wish for more:

The room was huge – well, it was the suite:

And where did we go in Vegas after taking a dip into the hot tub by the pool (BTW- the pool is open from 7 am to 10 pm – find a hotel with such long pool hours, and i promise – you won’t) and eating? To Bellagio, of course… The fountains were not showing – due to high winds. But the flowers were, as usual. It was a spring theme, and this time i got a little anoyed:

Too many flowers, who needs so many? Too big mixture – is a a good taste to mix spring, summer and autumn flowers all together that you get a chaotic chaos, a “noise in the field of beauty…

I liked the big ants here and there and luscious succulents planted on their mounds,

But the total composition was a disaster (excluding my dress from Thailand :-)). This big shovel – does it have any aesthetic value? the enormity of gerbera daisy plants pouring from a dull pot – where was their sense of “enough” or was there a goal to use as many plants as possible to get a better commission. See – there are chrysanthemums, together with tulips, hyacinths, poppies, lilies, etc…When seasons are so ignored – it is going against nature…

The snail’s “house” is made of roses, and the bees’ and frog’s bodies are decorated with chrysantemums:

And, of course, there are artificial decors, as usual. But this was the first time I was disappointed in their design. The economy is still not strong. but they are demonstrating this strange excess…What is the point?

Some words about the Thai restaurant we ate at. My guest Daniel Pyne advised to go to the Lotus of Siam – close to Sachara ave. We found it in a Business plaza – lots of Korean and Japaneese restaurants around there and there was “it” , looking very unappealing from outside. The inside didn’t look modern, either. But there was a crowd and we were amazed how do they find it there – only by word-of-mouth. I looked into their menu – it seemed good, had some fancy fishes, a good selection of wines insa special wine cupboard by the wall. But so crowdy. we had to wait in line and waiting is not our thing 🙂 So we left and found another Thai restaurant very close by in the same plaza called Komol – it even had “…and vegetarian” in their name. And it was good, it had organic engredients if to believe their menu, they had good coconut soup, non-dairy ice cream and they also had meat choices. It was good enough for us. Was it better than food in Thailand – some was, some wasn’t. So thanks Daniel for directing us there. Next time maybe we will try the Lotus of Siam.

Thailand 2010 – A trip to Hill Tribes in N. Thailand

While in Chang Mai I decided to buy another trip – to hill tribes. We visited one Hmong tribe on our way from Golden triangle and it was too short for me. The villages are very poor, but they had some good atmosphere that I liked to experience more. So this trip was as if to visit 5 hill tribes, the Chiang Dao cave and the Orchid farm. It was a short trip in comparison with the previous one (only 7h), the cost being the same -900bt. As always – the mini bus came to pick me from our guest house. So here we were taken to a back road, not far from Chang Mai, with a view of some separate hills or mountains that reminded me our Zion NP:

Except that those rocks or mountains were all covered with greens, unlike our dry desert Zion. By the way -during our 24 day stay – there was not a single rain…not a single overcast day, though there were occasional clouds and the skies are not very blue there because of pollution and humidity in the air.

So here we were driven to the end of that dirt road to the very last village of three. It was a White Karen tribe. The women traders from all those three villages saw our bus and just ran to the end stop, or asked their fellows to drive them on motorbikes- so that they could literally “attack” us with their goodies. Which were mostly hand made and embroidered purses, jewelry, hats. I was “the weakest link” in our group, so I couldn’t even follow the guide and group – they surrounded me like hens, little decorated women and were doing a pushy sale of their beautiful stuff:

Shortly I could catch a glimpse of their houses:

and their kitchen with some soup boiling:

The guide said that hill tribe people eat only black pigs, never the white ones…

Their fresh crop of beans:

More houses:

And they had monkeys, poor creatures, attached to chains for good luck…:

They were ready to put anything they had on me, just to make a sale…:

and when I ran out of money, they directed their attention towards the others from our group:

So we walked down that main street that was a home to three tribes: White Karen, Lisu and Akha. There is a big difference in their cloths, decorations, customs and even their houses. But we couldn’t notice much – those same women were all over begging for a sale. At the very end – I don’t even know which tribe they belong to – with their very distinct bells on their head boxes. There were some quiet ones sitting on their porches with their crafts, but they were almost unnoticeable because of the aggressive ones. But to be completely honest – they were selling rather nice crafts in those villages, except that the silver was not silver at all.

The next stop was at Chiang Dao cave, here is the entrance:

and once you enter – the cave itself is nothing special. I have seen several more impressive caves as for the stalactites. but this cave is sacred to natives and as usual – is full of Buddhas in different poses:

As usual sacred places there are surrounded with old and new temples:

We had a group lunch in one of the restaurants by the cave, it wasn’t as good as the previous buffet lunch but it was still good. Thais have a good taste for cooking.

The surrounding “jungle” where even tigers live – I wouldn’t call it a jungle… :-), looks more like a park:

The next stop was at a Long Neck – Karen village. The Long necks and Big ears are not Thailanders. They come from Burma (Myanmar) as refuges and are not legal in Thailand, have almost no rights, are even more poor than other tribes. This is how their village looks:

it is mostly stalls with scarfs and my guess is they live their simple lives in the back:

The little girls already have their rings on necks based on how old they are, poor babies…The rings press very hard on their collar bones and also on chins. I guess they loose their appetites so they are all slim:

Big Ears have rings only on their knees – to make it hard for them to run from their husbands, but they have things in their ear lobes:

And they sti there and weave. The things they weave didn’t impress me at all in comparison with what the other tribes had…Maybe their creativity is bounded by those terrible rings…

As you can see – I had no money in my pockets left. So I could spend my time admiring their beauty and taking pictures:

They are so soft and pleasant, that my heart was very saddened by their situation in this world:

The oldest one sang a song with her guitar:

So those were Long Neck Karens. By the side of their stalls another tribe had their stalls -a Palong tribe, a very colorful one:

So that was it, as if we saw 5 tribes, just very superficially. And it is enough, for they are people with their own traditions,own styles, what is the point of getting to a closer encounter – it makes you feel more weird about how unfair life is for their women…or at least it seems to us, westerners.

We finished the trip in an Orchid Farm:

Orchids everywhere in Thailand, not only in farms, grow hanging in the air. The little pots just hold the root bundles. So they are sprayed often with water and fertilizers constantly. Not so very healthy to walk around that farm…And for the last note – Ginger flowers:

(there will be more)

How I celebrated April 15th!

I have to make a break in Thailand blogs and describe the events here and now, in Utah. it was almost a historical event – at last we managed to find the right day, the right weather and only light winds and go to Brian Head – to ski. The first and last time in two years. The fact is that either we have to wait for guests when the weather forecast for the ski resort is good, so we can’t go, or the weather is really bad, which happened there most often. I can’t imagine how they make money, so many bad days they even have to close the lifts, the winds there are usually unbearably high. So here we managed at last to get there on April 14th! Almost no cars…they extended their operation for a week because of the amount of snow we all got in this spring. And the student holidays are now over – maybe that was the reason there were almost no people. Rather strange but I should say -comfortable. Like the mountain belongs only to you and all those guys on both ends of the chair lift are here to help only you:

Andrei couldn’t ski, his knee is still not very strong after he twisted it in Thailand, but he took me there and took also his PC so that he would not waste his time, in a cafeteria in this building:

And I also tried not to waste my time, up and down almost non stop. I land from the mountain and just “swish” into the chair again, getting the rest while going up.

To tell the truth it was funny after two years break to get on skis. I felt as if preparing to go into cosmos. Digging out my ski suit, putting on those heavy boots, gloves, cap glasses – here we are almost in summer clothes and over there it is still winter:

One can see how desolate the slopes are – but how nice! The trails are well prepared with that special car, some of them had still their virginity. So comfortable, I never remember such a good skiing there…

The temperature was around 12C and in the sun some parts of snow were a little wet, but didn’t cause problems because there are still frosts at nights over there. And here is the view from the top of the lift – and of that mountain:

You can’t put a price on it!..

And here is the view from Toquerville -the town that we have to pass on our way from Rockville to Rt. 15, toBrian Head:

And yesterday, which was April 15th, we went on a trail from the town Virgin. It took us 8 years of living here to figure out such a nice trail only 10 min drive from home…

We crossed the river on a bridge there and walked along the rather steep and high edge that Virgin river has created during many years:

And there are also inlets with scarce water, some slim waterfalls, but you can’t cross them, too steep, just follow the mountain bike road:

Then we drove to the La Verkin overlook – it has even a sign on highway but we never had a chance to drive those couple of miles and see for ourselves how amazing the view is:

You don’t need to hike up or down – you are here on top of a mountain -where can you find such a comfort?

To the right is Toquerville, to the left – Hurricane and St. George.

And here is our pear tree two weeks ago:

and the peach blossoms…

Thailand 2010 – Chang Mai – more temples…

I have to admit – I didn’t walk enough in Chang Mai. It was hot, though not as hot as in Bangkok. But maybe the inconvenient streets for walking were the main reason. The sidewalks are not always there, but if they are- they are crowded with either stuff for sale, or motorcycles, or restaurant tables, in other words – none of Thai cities are walker friendly. And it is a hazard to cross the street – sometimes I would stand for a long time until I dare to just go straight into the stream of cars and expect them to slow down or stop to let me through. Those who live longer there- they get used to it and sometimes don’t even bother walking on the sidewalk – they pretend they are a car or a tuk -tuk 🙂 and walk on the street. It is at least more even than side walks -which have steps, holes, slush, whatever that can make you fall badly if you decide to look around instead of looking down while walking.

As I mentioned earlier – I would walk for 20 min almost every day we were there to the other side of the river to do Chi -gong with Chinese people. But on this side of the river very close to the pedestrian bridge there was a different temple – built in a very crowded with buildings and a dirty corner among several streets. Too beautiful to be stuck over there…

It seemed to be a Chinese temple, only the papers that I got there were telling me a strange story. Yes, it is adorned mostly by Chinese people, but the saint they are worshiping there was an Indian and he had a bad temper and character:

To tell the truth – in that heat my brain didn’t accept information so I mostly forgot what I read in those papers…Evidently Buddha story is not enough for people to worship, they need a variety.

As usual with Chinese – they had a beautiful tiger image on one of the walls:

The mountains or rocks that Chinese paint in their watercolors or in this panel – they are usually very specific, and I thought it is a creation of their imaginations. But no, we saw some 3 rocks that looked exactly the same sticking out of the plains of Thailand while crossing the country on a bus. But I didn’t take my camera in time to take a picture – in awe…

(to be continued…)

Thailand 2010 – Chang Mai

I think I have to show something else besides temples in Chang Mai. But it is not easy – we still get to them :-), on every step. But here how one of the main streets looked where the flower market is located on one evening supposed to be that street’s celebration evening (they have those celebrations or fairs on every bigger street in a sequence on every day of a week):

And here we come to the main point -bugs! It is commonly known that Thais eat bugs and they don’t deny it. But as a big walker as I am and as curious as I am -I saw a fried selection of bugs only twice: I could recognize grasshoppers, worms and cockroaches of different calibers…the travel book said you have to take off the wings of cockroaches before eating…As you can see – they are spiced with herbs, I bet they are tasty, but somehow – there were so many other things to eat…and also – I never saw anyone buying them.

Beside the Flower market, which is very crowded with counters with very scarce place for walkers to walk – there is the Ping river :

The shores don’t look anything but boring and full of trash, so you must be very bored and have no sensitivity in your nose to take a river boat trip…

And this canal is a disaster -but you have to see, for the full picture. It is in the middle of downtown and you have to clip your nostrils while passing one of the numerous bridges, decorated with lions of elephants on both sides of the canal:

But in between there are very modern buildings, much nicer that the ones I saw in BKK. Most of them are businesses, dental or just medical clinics, for obvious reasons. I didn’t check myself, but the Canadian girls said a regular filling costs 500bt. Next time I will save one for a trial. The price seems to be better than in Lithuania already.

And here we come back to temples. This chedi is the one you bump into once you enter a tempple garden just immediately on the other side of the river:

the Temple garden is very cozy, the meeting halls are elaborate, lots of flowers in pots, but one little thing was kind of different – there was a sign on the steps of this chedi, it said No women allowed further. Women there are considered too dirty to climb certain steps…

But luckily – women were allowed to enter the temple garden with freshly painted tiles and do chi-gong together with a bunch of Chinese people with such temple views around us:

The Chinese people had music and their movements were rather easy. So I could join them, no problem. If someone want to do chi-gong with them -it starts at 5 pm every day, in Wat gate temple immediately after you cross the pedestrian bridge across the Ping River.

(to be continued)

Thailand 2010 – Chang Mai – the city of temples

Here we are – in the city of temples! You come out of the hotel or guesthouse – and any street you walk in several yards there is a temple. Usually with an old chedi in its garden. And new elaborate ornamental several temples:

Temples have big territories with viharns – or monasteries, surrounded by nice gardens or ponds:

They always have several stray dogs who are brought there or came there from being unwanted:

and definitely roosters with some hens – to bring good luck:

Here is one of the most prominent temples of Old Town – Wat Chedi Luang:

The tower was built by the order of a king in 1411 – “as high as a dove can fly” and then knocked by an earthquake long ago…the big nagas – mythical snakes by the stairs are supposed to control the irrigation waters in rice fields:

Very often temple grounds have a big tree which is considered sacred and wrapped in colorful fabrics with lots of offering under it.

there are lots of shoes by the steps – everyone is supposed to take them off. I never heard of someone not finding his shoes after coming back.

Very often temples have a row of bells – you ring them for good luck, or a row of pots to throw penies into – for good luck , or a row of stone balls to glue golden foil onto – for good luck…

And their Buddhas are usually not starving:

(to be continued)

Thailand 2010 – traveling from A to B

We had to come back from Koh Chang, the island, to Bangkok. I think it is worth describing the trip so that anyone who decides to travel in a similar way will have some idea how it works. First of all when we bought the tickets from BKK to Koh chang – we bought them round trip. Which mean that we picked the date for a return trip and they told us to not be late for the ferry which leaves the island at 10:30 am. So around 9 am we are ready by our hotel trying to catch a taxi -” the animal wagon” – there is usually many of them zooming back and forth on that main island’s road. And yes, there is a lot of them standing there, for I guess – several drivers live in Lonely Beach. So they got up not very early and seemed to be willing to take us to the ferry landing. But no – their “mafia” rules didn’t let them do so. None of them agreed to take us where we needed, only some two-three beaches down, but not to the ferry – why? No logic at all – for the ferry landing is only no more than some 5 miles past the last beach. The more sensitive travelers had to take real taxis and agree to pay whatever they asked, which was a lot. Then at last we managed to stop a wagon which was going to the ferry. Guess how many of us the driver packed into the wagon…many. Two guys were standing on the step completely outside, in a danger to fall off on one of the sharp turns…we all sat like herrings in a box and one girl sat on us…The backpacks were on the top of the roof. And have in mind that not all passengers were simple tourists like us. There was “an old white guy and a young Thai girl couple” in this crowd and being so clean, well dressed with crispy white pressed shirts looked completely inappropriate there, though they didn’t complain at all and kept their smiles. And that trip lasted for 40 min…

I have to make a brief explanation at this point – we were warned that it is a practice for older white men to go there and get a younger beautiful Thai woman as a companion or a guide – depends on the agreement. So those couples didn’t slip my eyes – usually those women were rather beautiful and well dressed and with lots of jewelry – you notice them in the crowd at once. And they look professional – one was even talking about the web site she had and the price list for her services there. In fact, lots of foreigners are afraid to go to Asia just like that “in a wild way” – without a guide or a tourist group. So they hire a guide who sometimes even speaks their language. We met a Thai lad speaking perfect Russian leading two Russian girls from Vladivostok from temple to temple. So Thailand is full of different kinds of tourist services. And everything would look pretty nice if only those older men who had Thai women companions behaved normally…But no way. Most of them were looking at those women with such hungry eyes, that even trying not to pay attention at those odd couples didn’t work…And they were not controlling their hands either. When young people behave like that – it is not as irritating, sorry older men…I know I am too judgmental…But I saw pain in the Thai women eyes and therefore I have to mention this phenomenon. I guess there is a lot of Cho-Cho Sans there, sad… But – of all the weird things that our friends prepared us to see -this was the only one and I was happy about it. Thailand is not as creepy as some people describe it – if you don’t stick your nose purposefully into certain bars or streets.

So here we got to the ferry landing almost half hour late. And thought our ferry left. But we were not worried – already learned not to be. So we all waited and as it came out – there was no ferry for 2 hours straight…So we all were late to the buses, which were waiting on the shore. How do we find which bus -just go and have our ticket in our hands – and the responsible people for gathering us see them and call us to go to that or another bus. Our bus was full this time. Hard to guess how – did those other people wait for 2 hours in it to be filled with the last person in its last seat from our ferry? No answers, but we were seated to a mini bus and off we went -much faster than the regular big bus, hurray! But then again – after a while the mini bus stopped – again – no explanations. for the driver doesn’t speak English :-). But he parked at a nice store full of tasty snacks and a swing. We had enough entertainment while waiting for another mini bus to pick us and it did. It was just a confusion that they took us not to Khao-San road where we were supposed to be taken, but to the main Railway station. But it is not hard find your way if you have a map.

A good feature about the hotels in Thailand is that you can leave your spare bags in it for safe keeping until you get from one trip and then another for a very low fee. In that way they get you back as a guest for a night or two. Smart move. So we stayed that night in the same New Merry V, this time got a better room, and the next evening left for Chang Mai. Again – bought tickets in the same agency by the hotel – as I call -the hippie agency. At times nobody was speaking English in that agency. But they had two aquariums with parrot fish which brought them luck and so they had lots of tourists using their buses. The main luck came, of course, not from fishes, poor things. trapped in those small aquariums, but from their twice cheaper prices than the regular buses from bus stations. There was another major advantage – you just have to walk a very short distance and get into your bus, whereas to get to a major bus station is a whole ordeal – taking a taxi is fine, they are there for you, but to get irritated by their traffic jams is another thing…That evening we got into our bus at 6, left at 7 pm and reached Chang Mai at 7 am. The trip wasn’t pleasant at all – I guess the shocks on the bus were too worn out. Sadly, they charge you only $10 dol for such a long trip and here you go – you have to suffer because you didn’t know…it is hard to advice at this point – but I just mention other options of traveling those 700 km – there are overnight trains with sleeping coaches and there are also flights. But then again -you have to get to the airport, from the airport…And yes, tickets are more expensive. This particular bus stopped in the middle of the night at some special place they have for buses – there is a cafeteria, toilets, space to do some exercise – for one hour…it had two drivers – one could sleep while the other one was driving, he had a bed downstairs, so why to waste time on that uncomfortable trip, must be our cultural differences…Interesting that in that middle of the night almost nobody ate there except lots of us bought pineapples – they skin them and cut them and cut nicely into peaces just in front of you, good and fresh. And that part worked well. Then the drivers switched the AC I guess – in order to freeze us, maybe again – because of our cultural differences…Have in mind that the weather was very very warm if not hot not only during the day but also during the nights. So we forgot that we have brought sweaters. They were hidden in the backpacks in the baggage compartment. We had to ask the drivers to lower the cold and closed the ducts and somehow managed to reach the destination still alive. My advice – always have a warm cover while you travel in a bus there.

And here we reached Chang Mai in the morning. It had some morning freshness in the air, this bus had at least a good feature – to take us to the center of the city, not to leave us in some bus station on the outskirts. Of course, they wanted us to stay in the hotel where they dropped us, but we walked joyfully towards the Tha Pae gate and through it into the 1 square mile Old Town all surrounded by a moat and remnants of city walls. Once you enter the gate – it is entire different atmosphere, not a big city any more, lots of tall walls and very many temples behind them. There were some houses, too, and lots of hotels and restaurants. The houses also had tall walls but hotels didn’t. So we went here and there to the side streets looking for a place to stay and were amazed to find so many guesthouses…So many. that you can be not worried at all – you will always find a room. Especially when you start looking from the early morning as we did. Luckily we walked with a Canadian girl Deanna who was already living in Thailand for over a year:

We all went to the Kavil House that she was planning to stay at – and we also ended up staying there:

It had good vibes, a very pretty doggy, a Siamese cat and a rather sad bird en caged for good luck , I guess…A bird who can’t hide anywhere from the sun and heat, while his friends are chirping around in trees, it is sad:

The dog is a female and her name is Kapun, its a girl’s name…cultural differences :-). She always had those little shirts or even dresses in the mornings for the owners thought that it is cold for her…in 27C…

(to be continued)