Travell Thailand - Bangkok and Koh Samui

Travels - Thailand Bangkok and Koh Samui (Dec 08 - Jan 09)

When I first traveled to Thailand for business in the summer of 2007 my plan was to get the family back as quickly as possible. Thailand seemed to have it all: warm weather, great beaches, happy people and terrific food. Unfortunately, we waited too long to book our trip and the 2007 Christmas trip to Thailand fell through. So for Christmas 2008 we booked early and by July everything was set.

Then, on November 26th the Peoples Alliance for Democracy (PAD) tried hard to stop our holiday plans by seizing the airport and holding it for over a week. Rumors of bombs, a government coup (or I should say ANOTHER government coup), and a potential military intervention threatened along with Bangkok street protests. Time magazine even published an article declaring Bangkok among the 10 most dangerous places on earth. Then on December 3rd, as we were starting to try to get our flights refunded and make other plans, the Thailand Prime Minister resigned, an interim government was put in place and the airport siege was lifted. After a week of consulting with my work friends in Bangkok (who still claim there was never a danger to anyone with the common sense to stay away from the protestors) the trip was back on.

Even Santa seemed be on board with the plan, helping out with a surprise early Christmas delivery on the morning of Christmas Eve so we wouldn't feel to rushed with our Christmas day departure. What a nice guy.

We arrived late on Christmas day to bustling Bangkok where we spent two days touring the city before heading off to the island of Koh Samui on the east coast of the Thai peninsula. Our Bangkok touring started off with a visit to the Grand Palace. The Grand Palace is an 18th century construction which was the former home to the King of Siam (now modern day Thailand, Cambodia, Burma and the western portions of Vietnam). The palace also includes the royal temple of Wat Phra Kaew and is probably the most visually striking of any palace we have seen. Each king who occupied the palace expanded the complex and there are multiple styles of buildings within the site. The effect is eclectic and beautiful with gold leaf covered spires and ceramic mosaic encrusted walls of multiple colors - even the kids liked the visit and they are getting pretty jaded about Asian palaces by now.

Wat Phra Kaew, inside the palace, was also interesting. Being the royal temple, it has the honor of housing The Emerald Buddha or as the Thai's call him "Phra Phuttha Maha Mani Rattana Patimakon" - for reasons of sanity and "can't pronounce it-ness" we'll stick to "The Emerald Buddha". The Emerald Buddha is only about 17" high but is one of the most important Buddha statues in the world. He is made of Jade (not emerald - go figure) and, being a small dude, he sits in the royal temple on a tall tiered throne so people can see him and pray to him. No speaking is allowed inside the temple and no pictures can be taken inside either (although you are free to stand just outside one of the many doors and take as many photos as you want). The Buddha wears gold clothing which is changed for each of the 4 seasons. The clothing changes are done by the King or Prince of Thailand as only the royal family is allowed to touch the Emerald Buddha.

The Emerald Buddha has been around the block as it were. Created in India in 45 BC, he was smuggled to Sri Lanka to save him from an Indian civil war and eventually ended up in Angkor Wat (Cambodia) sometime around 450 AD when the ship taking it to Burma got lost in bad weather. How the statue ended up so far inland (over 150 miles) is a subject of great controversy with some saying the Cambodians stole the statue from the lost ship and moved it far inland to prevent it's retrieval. The Thai's (then known as the Siamese) captured Cambodia in the early 1400's and in the sacking of Angkor Wat took the statue to Ayutthaya (then the Thai/Siam capital), then to Laos, then to Chaing Rai (another former Thai/Siam capital). In Chaing Rai, legend states that the then king hid the statue because of the Persian wars and the statue was thought lost for sometime. Then one stormy evening, lighting struck a pagoda in Chaing Rai and while clearing the debris a green object was seen sticking out of a stucco wall. This turned out to be the Emerald Buddha. Once cleaned up of it's stucco encasement, the then emperor of Thailand requested that the statue be brought to Chang Mai (then capital of Thailand)....but the elephant carrying the statue insisted (3 times) on instead walking to Lampang. Seen as a sign from divinity (and because, hey, who's going to argue with a 5 ton animal with a brain the size of a pea), the statue was taken to Lampang. It would remain in Lampang for about 30 years when apparently a more reasonable elephant was finally found and the statue went to Chang Mai. It would stay there for about 100 years before going to several capital cities in Laos before again being captured by invading Thais and taken in the late 1700's, ta da, to Bangkok where the four of us saw it and thought "wow, that's a small statue to put in such a big building". Anyway, this all may in fact just be legend as many art historians believe the statue to be of 15th century craftsmanship - coincidentally, none of these historians are any longer allowed into Thailand where they don't really appreciate people contradicting the official history.

After seeing the palace and the wee Emerald Buddha we took a long tail boat cruise of Bangkok's Khlongs (canals). Bangkok was once know as the Venice of the East - although I shudder to think of the smells then as the canals of that time served as transport, floating markets, and sewage drains. The most interesting part of our canal journey was traveling through the residential areas along the canals. All of the homes in these areas have low docks to access the canals and many of these docks were inhabited by wild 6-7 ft long monitor lizards which have recently begun to move back into the Bangkok area in abundance. Many Thai people superstitiously believe the lizards are very bad luck if they come to your house and they believe the lizards are attracted to the Bangkok due to the corrupt politicians there. Interestingly, the largest population of monitor lizards in the city are in the Government house and Parliament districts. Hmm....coincidence?

Our long tail boat deposited us at Wat Arun or "The Temple of Dawn". The Temple of Dawn is so named because it is covered with small white pieces of glazed tile and when the morning light hits it the temple glows brightly. The temple is a multi-tiered Khemer Prang tower and it's lower levels are decorated with tile and china shards arranged in mosaics of flowers and other patterns. The tower is beautiful but the stairs are extremely steep. Josh and Nancy only made it up the 1st level of stairs and Sarah joined me for one more. At that point the stairs have at least 10 inches of rise with only about a 6 inch run and the railing is more like a climbing assist rope. I made it up 1 more level to the top but it was nerve wracking to come back down. The climb provided great views of the city and it was funny to watch all the Buddhist monks trying to do this climb with one hand on a railing and the other holding their robes which were pulled up between their legs so nobody would look up their skirts..er, robes.

After some shopping in the great Thai malls (Josh bought a remote control submarine - how cool is that?) we were off the next day to the island of Koh Samui for some beach relaxation. So we flew from Bangkok to Surat Thani and then took a ferry over to the island. Note to self and anyone planning to do a similar trip: Don't do the ferry. The more expensive direct flights to Koh Samui are worth the extra cost. The ferry's are "rustic" and the food on board is terrible. I think the food vendors are the only restaurants in Thailand to sell bad food. I think my back still hurts from the seats on the ferry - in fact I'm pretty sure they got these seats from the old Detroit Metro Airport Terminal. The low point of our trip.

Thankfully, our bungalow in Koh Samui turned out to be a bunch of fun. Over the next several days (which were more rainy than one would prefer) we played on the beach, walked the local markets, ate GREAT food at the beach restaurants, and swam in the pool. We also rode elephants and learned how to make rubber, and we took a sea kayaking trip to some other nearby Thai islands.

New Year's Eve was fabulous as the resort we stayed at (a Mom and Pop place called Samui World Resort) held a terrific gala dinner including a traditional and contemporary Thai dance show (the contemporary bit shocked us - it was a family affair but they did a faux strip act which nobody knew was faux until the end). After we counted down to midnight and tooted our noise makers, the party moved to the beach where the resort staff helped us light giant 5 foot tall rice paper lanterns which filled with hot air and then floated off above the island glowing as they went. It was magical to look up and down the beach and see 1000's of the lanterns flying away on the night breezes. This was probably the single best local culture experience we have ever had. Then the night got even better as the formal gala broke into a casual party which the staff joined in and we all danced on the beach together til the wee hours. Thailand is known as "The Land of Smiles" and if there was any doubt to that this night laid them to rest.

A fantastic time was had by all and we hope to do it all again soon - sans the rain and ferry.

Koh Samui, Thailand Sea Kayaking Trip - December 2008

Spires of the Grand Palace, Bangkok. The gold structure (called a Chedi) is covered in real gold leaf. The other buildings are covered in small pieces of glazed ceramic.

A giant demon guardian called a "Yak" stands watch over one of the temple buildings. Grand Palace, Bangkok.

A couple of Yak guard a doorway in the Grand Palace. The 2 people in front of them give an idea of the size of the statues.

The four of us at the base of a monument held up by demon guardians in the Grand Palace.

Guardian - Grand Palace.

Kids in the Grand Palace near some of the palace wall mosaics.

More guardians to the vaults of the Grand Palace

The varied roof lines of the Grand Palace.

Our guide showing us a photo of the jade Buddha in it's other seasonal outfits.

The Grand Palace from the long tail boat ride we took of the Bangkok canals.

Sarah and I in the long tail boat.

A monitor lizard suns himself along the docks of the Bangkok canals. In Thai they are called "Hai" which is also one of the worse slang names you can call someone. To have one at your house is considered bad luck. To encounter one unexpectedly is good luck. Since it wasn't our house and we hadn't expected to see this one, he was our good luck lizard. This one was about 6 feet long and I can certainly see why having a 6 foot lizard on your porch would be bad luck. I'd much rather find, say, a black cat on my porch.

The entry level of Wat Arun "Temple of Dawn".

Wat Arun temple complex. Note the change in the stairs angle as they go up the tower.

Looking down from the 2nd level of Wat Arun's 3 tiers. Nancy, Sarah and Josh sit just to the right of the lower stair base.

Looking up at the stair climb to the 2nd ad 3rd levels of Wat Arun.

Our "tuk-tuk" taxi from the hotel to the mega-shopping malls of Bangkok. They are called tuk-tuks because of the noise they make with their little stroke engines..."tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk"

Nancy and kids outside of Siam Paragon department store in Bangkok's shopping district

The ferry we took from Surat Thani to Koh Samui. Much cheaper to go this way but not worth a penny of the savings.Neither pleasant nor comfortable and the people that run the operations keep trying to scam you. Blah!

The boat run by Blue Stars that took us sea kayaking around some of Koh Samui's sister islands. The only day we spent on the island with out any rain. One of the best day trips we have ever taken.