Friday 8 March 2013

Bangkok - last day

Our last day was uneventful. Leaving our (packed) backpack at the hotel, we visited the National Museum, which maybe we should have done first, since it explains about everything on Thai history, has a nice grip on culture and art, and displays countless artefacts, from statues of Buddha to palanquins and puppets to clothes.

The museum itself is composed of different buildings, some to expose those artefacts, other as places to visit: a temple, a (royal) house or two...

We started with a historic recollection of Thailand from the neolithic to today, with the intricacies of the foundation of today's dynasty, subsequent fights, foreign influences, and so on. Sculptures, in another building, were divided by period and style; palanquins, howdahs (elephant chairs), in gold and ivory, puppets, weapons, royal regalia, gold artefacts...

We wanted to try the Royal Barge National Museum, but we got lost following the directions (follow that side street so narrow that it is just a way between two buildings, although scooters still try to pass, and then get kindly redirected away by passing Thai. Hum. Helpful.)

We also failed in our attempts to take the riverbus (which was, anyway, too full to be enjoyable), so we ended up looking down at the street from a Starbucks':



Taking the bus

You might think that taking the bus could be a simple adventure in Bangkok. You would be wrong.

As there are more then 400 lines in Bangkok, there are no comprehensive map (ok, there is the 1-inch thick one that we decided not to buy). We had a few lines in our guide, we had scouted out the but stop the evening before, so we thought ourselves ready.

(A bus stop may or may not have a sign with the number of lines stopping there ; people, of course, are waiting 50m before the sign, not around it.)

There are buses with air-conditioning and buses without; we were taking one of the former.

So we waited with the other passengers, we went up in our bus, and started wanting to pay our tickets. There is a person with a box of money and tickets who is there for the purpose.

Ok, all was well.

Then, at the end of the day, we decided to go back with the same bus... ah!

Innocents that we were, we went to the other side of the street from where we stopped in the morning. No bus stop sign, but, well... it doesn't mean a thing. And we waited. We saw a number of buses passing by and stopping, but never ours -although we did see several going in the opposite direction. We still to this day don't know why it goes in one direction and not in the other; we took a taxi home.

In Thailand, motorbikes and scooters are everywhere, available for rent, and even as taxi. From the walkways (try to cross a busy thai street!), here it goes: there is a swarm in the front of every traffic light, waiting for it to turn green.

Siam Square

Thursday 7 March 2013

Bangkok - Siam Ocean World

So, a few burgers later, we headed to Siam Ocean World for the promise of fishes, sharks, turtles, and other otters.

The aquarium is under a mall (where else?), the entrance price is obviously geared towards rich western tourists, but it is (mostly) worth it.

We started with giant crabs, followed by seahorses, the promised axolotl was absent -in his place, a salamander-, and then we arrived nearby the water rats and the otters, the pinguins and the tunnel underneath the sharks' tank. There was also a giant 20-meter-high aquarium, which can be seen from 2 different levels -and on the bottom, a mermaid-throne-like chair to take pictures in front of the fishes. Oh, and no kraken. The whole story and legend of the kraken, and none to see. Very disappointing.

One of the main attraction was seeing some of the animals being fed: we got to see the otters performing tricks to get pieces of fish, with a running commentary from a different handler; and them, divers got into the shark tank with baskets of food -and pointy sticks to discourage those not welcome in the show.

After these adventures, we tried to buy some beer (of the brand Chang, which means "Elephant"). It wasn't possible before 5 pm, we were told. Oh. Well. Then, the only thing to do is take the bus back to the hotel... which is another kind of adventure all in itself!

Bangkok - Jim Thompson's House

As Solène said, we spent the morning visiting the palace and the neighbouring temples.

Back at the hotel to rest, we were kindly disturbed by the maid, which prompted our decision to go an hour at the swimming pool -hour which turned into the whole afternoon. Most of our suntan come from that day!

And once again, we procured our diner in Khao San Roa: a drink here, a plate of rice there...

We had decided to spend the next day pursuing more modern entertainments: Jim Thompson's House, the Hard Rock Café, and Siam Ocean World.

So we left in the early morning for Jim Thompson's House. James H.W. Thompson, an American spy, but more importantly the person who revived the Thai silk industry. he bought traditional Thai houses and had them dismantled, moved, modernized and rebuilt in Bangkok in the 60's. The result is a charming western dream of a Thai home, in the middle of a lush garden complete with pond, carps, and palm trees.



Having the possibility to have a French tour, we availed ourself of the opportunity, and with two other visitors we had a complete tour of the house given by a charming woman who spoke French. Actually, we understood quickly that it isn't possible to visit the house without a guide!



We learnt that all the small altars seen besides buildings or on the roofs where altars to the spirit of the ground on which a house is built, to ask for their blessing. All the threshold of the doors are elevated and one has to step carefully above it to enter a building or a room because the evil spirits can only move horizontally: it stops them entering the room... and keeps young children from leaving it if it is high enough!

A closed doll house built for domesticated mice was presented as the ancient version of television... for the entertainment of young children.



The house is shaped as a trapeze: walls, doors and windows have a wider base and a narrower top. It is to reinforce the building, since only wood is used: no nails, no metallic ties. We have found the same shape in older buildings.

We concluded our visit by a smoothie on the veranda by the pond, looking at carps, writing a few postcards, and relaxing in the quiet and shady environment before tackling the heat again... to find the Hard Rock Café.

Wednesday 6 March 2013

Bangkok : farniente, temples et sunblock

(On m'excusera pour le titre, mais la rime était difficile). Voici déjà notre deuxième jour a Bangkok. Hier, le train de nuit ayant enfin eu un retard faisant honneur a son pays, nous sommes arrivées en milieu de matinée à notre hôtel. Ayant eu une nuit plutôt agitée (nos couchettes étaient sur l'essieu, effet shaker garanti), nous avons abandonne nos grands projets et nous sommes contentées d'explorer le pâté de maison et la piscine de l’hôtel.

Nous logeons a Khao San Road : au cours de la journée, la rue se remplit de stands (le soir, même les motos ne passent plus). On y vend tout ce qui peut attirer le touriste : sacs, vêtements, bijoux, tatouages au henné... Ma préférence va aux stands de fruits : pour 20 baths (60 centimes d'euro), on peut avoir un quart d'ananas, une mangue, une portion de pastèque, toujours juteux et délicieux.

Aujourd'hui, nous avons commence les visites, et avons réalise l'exploit de nous y rendre a pied. Pour ça, nous avons surmonte de nombreux obstacles : la chaleur, d'abord, mais aussi les passages piétons rares et peu respectes. Plus difficile, ce sont les conducteurs de tuk-tuk, qui ne comprennent pas qu'on puisse vouloir marcher, et enfin les "gentils" passants qui essaient de nous convaincre que les temples sont fermes pour nous emmener autre part.

Malgré tout ça, nous avons pu voir deux temples magnifiques, et un bout du palais. Le tout valait bien le détour, même au milieu des hordes de touristes et sous un soleil de plomb.

Le Wat Pho :

Wat Pho - Le Bouddha protégé de la pluie par le Naga a 7 têtes

Wat Pho
 
Wat Pho


Wat Pho


Wat Pho


Au Wat Phra Kaeo (temple du Bouddha d'Emeraude):

Kinnon - Wat Phra Kaeo


Thotsakhirithon - Wat Phra Kaeo
 
Nok Tantina - Wat Phra Kaeo


Monday 4 March 2013

Jour de marché : bateau, dépenses et poulpe grillé

Hier (dimanche, donc), c'était jour de marché à Chiang Mai : le Sunday Market, un marché énorme qui investit plusieurs rues pendant toute la soirée. Ayant tout de même un bout de journée devant nous, nous avons choisi de faire une petite excursion en bateau sur la rivière Mae Ping, qui fait le tour de la ville. Nous avons donc pu admirer toutes les villas et résidences privées surplombant la rivière, notamment l'hotel luxuosissime pour rois du pétrole en vacances !

Notre bateau nous a mené dans une sorte de petite ferme, où nous avons pu visiter un jardin d'herbes (médicinales et aromatiques), manger quelques fruits frais (la base de l'hospitalité thailandaise) et voir des cochons domestiques (à ma grande joie, bien entendu).





De retour, nous avions remarqué que le ciel se couvrait, et à peine sommes nous rentrées près de notre guesthouse qu'a commencé une belle pluie tropicale : nous avons regardé passer le plus gros de l'orage assises dans un café, puis sommes parties au marché. C'était la première fois que nous avions de la pluie depuis que nous sommes arrivées, et ça a bien allegé l'atmosphère. Enfin, on va éviter de s'y habituer, vu que ce n'est surement pas ce qui nous attend à Bangkok (qui est bien plus chaude).

Il pleut !


Pour le marché, nous nous sommes perdues dans un océan de tissus, petits objets en bois, attrapes-touristes, bijoux, et autres, sans oublier les nombreux stands de nourriture, dont beaucoup se trouvaient dans les cours des temples. Nous avons fait des folies (surtout Elisabeth), nous en sommes revenues les bras chargés comme deux shop-addicts sortant des galeries lafayette, et bien repues. Néanmoins, je me suis contentée de prendre en photo les brochettes de poulpe grillé, sans les gouter (j'ai surement tort d'ailleurs).

Poulpe en attendant d'être grillé


Au final, nous y sommes facilement restées quatre heures et demie !

Des tongs pour geek

6 pm...

... is the time to pay our respects to the king.

In every public place (train station, open-air market...), loudspeakers are on and, after a short speech, sometimes a cuntdown or a short English announcement exhorting us tourist to stand up and pay our respects to the kind, they play what we guess is the national anthem. Everything stops. The whole Sunday market was at a standstill. And then, life picks up as if nothing had happened.

(By the way, there are flags everywhere.)

Train ticket

The tickets here are an adventure. Following the difficulties we had to buy tickets from Ayutthaya to Chiang Mai, we had decided to buy the return ticketsupon our arrival in Chiang Mai... which we promptly forgot in our rush to find the guesthouse.

So we went to one of the numerous "tourist information centers", where everything from tickets to tours can be bought. Of course the train was full, but as we already had learned, waiting and asking again could yield us better results. So since Sunday morning, we have been checking several times daily with our favorite center to see if any tickets were available... which they were.

Solene credits her prayers to Ganesh for our  luck.

(When leaving the center, our charming saleswoman ran after us because the train station had called her back and there was a slight change in the availabilities of our tickets; her (land)phone in hand, more than 100m from the agency, she confirmed our booking on the spot. That's service...)

So we are leaving tonight for Bangkok!

To come, our tales of the Sunday Market and of our cruise on the river!

(It is again 10am here, so it is 4am for you folks!)

Saturday 2 March 2013

Elephants!

They said 8am, and there were there at 8am sharp. Which would have been a lot lovelier if we hadn't thus missed breakfast. But, well, elephants.

Our driver was probably a tuk-tuk driver in another life -he did make the tires of the mini-van squeal more than once. But after about an hour's drive, we arrived at the Thai Elephant Farm. We were welcomed with fresh water, pants and tunics for riding the beasties, and a nice speech on how they treated elephants (nicely) and respected the environment.

Af ter paying our respects to Ganesh, the god of elephants, we were armed with simple commands words and bananas to get acquainted with our new friends. (Basically, we learned to make the elephant kneel to get up and down on it, stand up, go forward, turn, and stop. Command words are accompanied with traction on the ear, or movements of the legs behind the ears.)

Solene had a lady whose unpronouncable Thai name means "Long Life", while I was paired with Loulou, a lovely brunette, and one of the tallest -which might be a reflection of my height.

After some awkward manoeuvers, we were up, and starting on our ride.



Elephants are not a smooth ride. Too forward, and you risk falling down the front of the animal (we sat on the neck), too far back and you sit on the shoulders, which move too much to be a right seat. There is a middle way, in which previously unused muscles make themselves know.

We rode thus to the "natural spa", a spot where black clay can be found, where we had lunch, were kissed by various elephants when fed banana leaves, and scrubbed the back of most of the ladies. The guide also generously covered our exposed skin with mud, all for a better skin.



(Our lunch was a dish of rice, vegetables and chicken, wrapped in banana leaves: lambas.)



After a break, we rode our elephants back down the river, where we bathed (or where bathed by) them (the version depends on who tells the story, the human or the elephant).

And back to the farm, where we brought bananas to the seven-and-a-half-month-old calf, had fresh ananas, shower, a spa of natural Thai herbs, and a CD with the pictures taken along the way. We were also each given a framed picture of us in a frame reputedly made of elephant poop!



And we are finally back and dreading sore muscles tomorrow!

Coconut

What is more tempting than a coconut, cooled on a bed of ice, its top opened in front of you with a machete, a straw slipped inside...?

And of course, one should eat the fresh meat of the fruit before disposing of the rind.

Available in almost every street-stall.

Of cats and dogs

Actually, I should say of dogs and cats, since there are more of the former than of the later in my story.

Bangkok and Chiang Mai are both full of errant animals. Stray dogs are the majority in Bangkok -they are EVERYWHERE. And they seem peaceful, not starved and menacing. They were sleeping everywhere in Ayutthaya also, curled up in the sunshine in the ruins of the ancient temples.





Cats are the animal of choice here in the north. Most probably are attached to an household, though, since we saw collars on some of them.

And speaking of animals... we are back from riding elephants!

Friday 1 March 2013

Taking the night train (after)

Though we didn't know what to expect from our night, we were relieved to find that our travel would be relatively uneventful. We had separate berths, our neighbours were German or Austrian, and the main events were going up on our berths and sleeping through the light, the noise, and the jarring.

We were served diner -which we ordered- on a table added between the seats, and other attendants came to unfold the sleeping arrangements and make the bed.

We arrived almost on time,  with the attendants announcing the station well in advance. And unboarding with us was a majority of European tourists.

Chiang Mai : guesthouse, temples et papaye

Nous voici donc arrivées,  après une nuit secouée, à Chiang Mai. Nous avions oublié de prendre l'adresse de notre guesthouse, et heureusement, parmi tous les chauffeurs qui nous ont assaillies, le plus persistant a reconnu le nom.

Notre guesthouse a tout ce qu'on lui demande : nous avons une petite chambre, avec un accès internet et à l'extérieur, quelques tables et des hamacs. Tout est dans un style mignon, et c'est surtout très calme, alors que nous sommes en plein dans le centre historique.

Le patio de la guesthouse

Après avoir profité des réconforts de la civilisation (une douche), nous avons fait un petit tour de la vieille ville, à pied (ce qui est un certain challenge : les trottoirs sont défoncés, inexistants par endroits puis larges à d'autres, comme un circuit d'accrobranche : d'autre part il y a encore plus de tuk-tuk que ce qu'on avait vu jusque là, si c'est possible).

Chiang Mai: un temple


En tout cas, nous en avons profité pour faire des achats de touriste, et trouver des timbres : nous sommes en train de nous attaquer aux cartes postales.



De mon point de vue, Chiang Mai correspond plus a l'image que je me faisais de nos projets : c'est reposant d'avoir un point de chute accessible, et de pouvoir se rendre a quelques endroits a pied, et donc de trouver des petites boutiques sympa a tous les coins de rue. En ce qui concerne la température, elle est peut-être légèrement plus fraiche qu'au sud, mais on sent à peine la différence.

Thursday 28 February 2013

Ayutthaya : taxi, chaleur, tuk-tuk et bouddha

Pour notre premier jour de visites, nous sommes donc parties à Ayutthaya, une ville classée patrimoine mondial par l'Unesco : au programme, des temples. Beaucoup de temples.

Après un voyage en train sans histoire (pas de retard, troisième classe relativement confortable), nous avons négocié un tour des visites en taxi à un prix raisonnable : 6 temples en un matin, ça fait beaucoup de bouddhas (surtout quand on commence par le temple aux 120 statues...). Qu'ils soient allongés, assis ou debout, il y en a pour tous les goûts : ceux qu'on dore soi-même, ceux qui portent chance, ceux qui protègent, repoussent la peur...

Une partie des fameuses 120 statues

Nous non plus, on ne sait pas comment il a atterri là

Style typique de la région, temple complètement en ruine...

Un Bouddha allongé

Le chedi aux coqs

Et le dernier temple de la matinée...


Mais surtout, toutes les visites sont dehors, la température est donc passée de chaude (7h du mat), à très chaude (8h), supportable quand il y a du vent (10h), puis relativement insupportable (vers midi). Le bilan, c'est qu'on commence à bronzer

(soyez jaloux)


(encore un peu)


et surtout qu'on a mal à la tête (déshydratation mais on pense avoir évité l'insolation), que je fais une petite allergie au soleil, avec un petit combo spécial pour le rhume (merci la clim du taxi), et oh les belles piqures de moustique ! (deux à ce jour, le répulsif fait son boulot). Résultat on a passé l'après-midi au musée et on prévoit de passer un peu de temps à la piscine demain (enfin, si rien ne vient perturber nos projets, ce qui est peu probable).

En conclusion, nous commençons à être à l'aise ici, avec les marchands de rue (presque), le tuk-tuk, les repas à moins d'un euro... Nos yeux s'habituent relativement aux couleurs vives partout (voir le chapitre sur les taxis) et aux scènes de la vie quotidienne (depuis le train on passe plein d'habitations en bord de rail). Il reste le problème de la spontanéité, jusqu'à maintenant on a inventé beaucoup de plans B pour remplacer nos projets initiaux (mais au final, quand on se remet des coups de stress, c'est plutôt sympa).

Une rangée de tuk-tuks à Ayutthaya

Taking the night train (before)

So we had planned on taking the night train tonight for Chiang Mai. Accordingly, we tried to get our tickets from Bangkok's train station before leaving for Ayutthaya this morning. To be told that the train was full.

Panicked, we jumped in the train for Ayutthaya and started for;uling alternative plans. To take a day train the next day, and thus spending the night in Ayutthaya, to take the plane, which meant travelling back to Bangkok and finding a new place to sleep... But first things first, we would start by asking at the ticket office in Ayutthaya what choices we had.

The answer was that they had two sleeping berth for us, separate but in the same coach... exactly what we needed! Well, and if the ticket says "man" and probably means that we are in sleeping coach for men... well, we shall see. Which is why there will be a "taking the night train (after)" coming-up!

Sending a thought home

We had a thought for you people, back in the cold. It was 10 AM,which is 4 AM for Paris, and we were already sweltering. Cheers!

Bangkok

We made it!

With some delay, though, since fog in Dubai made us late in landing... and in taking off for the second leg of our trip. And since we arrived to the guesthouse one hour and a half later than what we indicated, they didn't keep our room.

So, there we were, 9:30PM in a foreign city, with too few hours' sleep, jetlagged, our backpacks heavy on our back,and nowhere to sleep.

I could try to give you tales of warm welcom from local habitants, or make a grim account of a night on the streets -but the truth is that we went straight to the nearest hotel, which we had just passed by, and we booked a (confortable) room at an outrageous price (for Thailand).

What shall I say about these first glimpses of Thailand?

It is true that the people are welcoming, polite, and helpful.

It is hot. Not warm, hot. And humid. We go from air conditionned places to hot, moist air, and we expect Solene at any time to get a combo cold, dehydratation, insolation, and sunburns. I will just get the dehydratation.

The "rapid" train is slow (when it is slow enough, people get down without waiting for it to stop completely).

Taxis are in loud colors, prefereably bright pink, orange, neon green, or just yellow and green.

Palaces rub elbows with shacks.

So, we still haven't slept enough, but we are having a good time. Solene is preparing our tale of our day in Ayutthaya.

Thursday 21 February 2013

Back on the wandering path

Let's shake the dust!

My next holidays start in a few days, and this time, I'm going 'bout half-way around the world, setting foot for the first time in Asia. And I'm dragging Solène with me, so she may be contributing to my stories!

So come back in a few days for news about my stay in Thailand!