Mother’s visit – 3

My mother is coming over to Thailand for a couple of weeks so we are heading down to meet her at the airport in Bangkok.

It’s only a couple of weeks since my previous blog ended, so not much to report. The days drift by if you don’t do much except enjoy the food and sun and potter around. I do a few odd jobs including a regular visit to a relative to switch her electricity on, once I’ve dodged the two large water buffalo strolling around her garden. She has a cable strung on a pole from one building to another about 30 metres away. It’s not a very thick cable, (looks like 1.5mm at best) and is only plugged in via a two pin plug and an aged socket. It works fine when she just has her fridge plugged in, but the large rice milling machine is a big no no, as I have told her more than once. When it trips she is too scared to flip up the switch at the consumer unit to turn it on again. I said I would wire it properly for her with a bigger cable, proper connections and sockets etc. I’ll happily do all the work for free if she buys the wire etc, but I suspect she can’t afford it at the moment.

I also put a ceiling in the bathroom. Up until now it has been partly open to the elements, but I bought some green plasterboard, paint, metal supports and plaster and in a couple of days it was transformed 🙂 The only down side is it can get steamed up now after a shower. On the up side you no longer find a toad sitting on your shower gel!

It has been very cold this January, more so than last winter or the winter before. It’s still 30+ degrees centigrade during the day, but the evening and mornings can be chilly, I even took to wearing a fleece in the evening, mostly when out on the motorbike. Sasipa decided that her old dog needed a T-shirt in the evening, so it wears a Simpson’s T-shirt.

My mum’s flight arrives on time, but the wait is long as the baggage takes an age to arrive. We decided to bring the car to the airport rather than bus it there and taxi back. There are actually plenty of car parks at the airport and they are not at all expensive. Even when the car park is full it’s not problem as you can double park. There are even signs saying that you can double park, you just need to leave you car in neutral with the handbrake off so it can be pushed out of the way if necessary!

We are staying in the usual area in near Soi Rambuttri and the Khao san Road for a couple of nights before heading off elsewhere.

My mother has never been to Thailand before or Asia for that matter, so it is a big culture shock for her. There are a lot of new and different foods for her to try. Many of them are off limits including my favourite dishes as she is a vegetarian, but there are also several new fruits, tamarind, pomelo and others that are new to her. Pad Thai goes down well from a street vendor as does mango sticky rice, one of Danika’s favourites.

I fired up my Muvmi app, which allows you to book a Tuk Tuk, similar to the grab app, but again it takes a long time to arrive. We head for the Grand palace and the temple of the Emerald Buddha. Last time we tried to get in, we were refused as I had shorts on. This time I was prepared and wore jeans, luckily its the middle of winter and was ‘only’ 32 degrees centigrade, so it wasn’t too hot.

Now clearly embedded in Thailand, the dual pricing rip off is in full swing at the grand palace, but as we are here for my mum, I gritted my teeth and paid up.

The complex is very interesting with numerous statues, ornate buildings and temples, but the number of tourists is shocking. Sasipa as usual made an offering and asked for blessings for my new business and my health. Let’s hope someone upstairs was listening!

From the Grand Palace we walked to Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram Rajwaramahawihan, also know as Wat Pho. I know which name I’ll be using going forwards 🙂 We stopped at a fruit vendor on the way for some pineapple and mango. The fruit sellers here with their little trolleys are great. The fruit is fresh and very cheap. Once you’ve chosen, they chop it into bite size pieces, pop in in a clear bag with a wooden skewer and off you go on your merry way.

This temple houses one of the largest reclining buddha’s in the world at 46m long. From here we hopped in another Tuk Tuk, which I think my mum liked, but seemed a bit nervous. Bangkok is chaotic I guess, but I don’t generally notice it much anymore.

We got off again at the flower market, which runs 24 hours a day. It is here that you can see people weaving all the little flowers on a ribbon that many people hang from their rear view mirrors here in Thailand. It’s a bit classier than furry dice 🙂 There are also many larger arrangement or tables just piled high with flowers sitting in ice. You can see the ice sellers pushing their carts down the numerous aisles, stopping to fill a tray here and there or a container. I guess the flower sellers all have contracts with them.

We stopped to eat some street food, and then hopped in yet another tuk tuk to Panfa Leela pier, which is where I always catch the canal boat. I was disappointed to see that one of my favourite thin lek nam tok noodle sellers has gone. It used to make a great meal after or before catching the boat, but now the little alcove next to the 7/11 is sadly empty. The canal boat however was not empty and we had to cram ourselves on to it. Luckily it set off almost immediately, roaring down the canal towards Siam, the shopping heart of Bangkok. We wandered around the MBK centre and bought some clothes and a bit of tech from my usual guy. After a couple of days in Bangkok it was time to move on to our next stop. By the way did you know that Thai people do not call it Bangkok. In Thai it is called Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, or Krung Thep for short, which means city of angels.

Before heading to our hotel, the Thai guesthouse, in Kanchanaburi, We went to Erawan Falls where there are 7 levels of waterfall (called Nam Tok in Thai) Each level is higher than the last and more difficult to reach.

Sasipa and my mum decided to stop at level 5 and I went on ahead on my own, determined to reach level 7 before the park rangers started closing the upper levels. I made it just in time, partly because on the final staircase there was a girl on crutches with her boyfriend and the ranger was waiting for them to reach the top.

That she had made it all the way there at all was impressive, but to think she had to go all the way back, over 1.5km, as well. I expect it would have been dark by the time they made it out.

There is an excellent night market in Kanchanaburi, right next to the railway station and we wandered around browsing. The food section has a filter system where you have to go up and down past all the food stalls to get to the exit. A bit like a visit to Ikea! We went to a vegan restaurant for my mum’s benefit, it was ok, but overly salty and spicy and also no beer available. Why is this ? What is it about vegans that say they can’t have beer or wine in their restaurants. I’ve come across this nonsense more than once, even many years ago in the centre of Lille, a major city in France. As it happened several Thai’s and westerners eating there, just went out and bought some from a street vendor over the road. I just stuck with water as I’ve seen an Aussie bar down the road that looks good for later 🙂

Today we are taking what is known as the ‘death railway’ from Kanchanaburi to Nam Tok. It’s a two hour journey on the train that crosses the bridge over the river Kwai, before heading in the direction of Burma. It costs a very reasonable 100 baht per person and we got on at the main Kanchanaburi station. For a moment it looked dicey as the train was quite full and there were at least two large groups of Chinese children waiting to get on as well as us and all the other westerners. Fortunately as the train has come from Bangkok, a lot of the people got off, so we had no problem securing the seats we wanted.

The train stopped briefly (at a halt) just before the bridge and lots more westerners got on. They were less lucky with the seats. Then we chugged very slowly over the bridge as there are lots of people standing on it in little alcoves, watching the train go by. Once over the bridge we sped up, the scenery is beautiful with mountains, lakes and fields spread out before us. We sat on the left hand side facing the direction of travel as the view is better. One famous part is the Tham Krasae wooden viaduct, which runs alongside a cliff above the Khwae Noi River, it is an impressive sight. Arriving in Nam Tok, we hopped on to a Songthaew for the 20 km drive to the Hellfire pass, my mother holding on like grim death to the bars behind the seats. This was the most difficult bit of the railway to construct. A 180m of solid rock cleared by the prisoners of war, as they were beaten and starved by their Japanese guards. In total over 6000 British soldiers died in the building of the railway, with around 3500 Australians and then other nations including Dutch and Americans. The contrast of the peacefulness of the journey and the scenery of today compared to the brutality of the past is very thought provoking.

There is a free museum as well, which makes a nice change. We walked through Hellfire pass and at the end there is a glade with a memorial area where, amongst others, they hold a ceremony every ANZAC day (Australian). We didn’t have time to explore further, but we saw the main event, so to speak. We headed back on the songthaew to Nam Tok, where we plan to travel back by bus, despite our driver insisting we’d have to wait ages. He took us to what he said was the bus stop and hung around, I assume hoping we’d give up and ask him to drive us all the way to Kanchanburi. There were some Thai’s sitting there as well in what seemed bus stop’ish, but it didn’t feel quite right to me. Ever suspicious, I investigated and found the bus stop was about 50m further along. Clearly he hoped the bus would sail past us without stopping.

Soon ensconced at the real bus stop, we saw the driver roar past us in his songthaew, his plan thwarted. We did have to wait a while and then a big air conditioned coach arrived. We hopped on and were back in town in half the time, job done 🙂

There is a museum just by the bridge called the Jeath war museum. It is a bit of a weird place and apart from all the things to do with the bridge and its construction there are numerous bits of pottery that are thousands of years old as well as coins, notes, jewellery and many other artefacts. I have been there before and was sad to see that it is closing this year. The owners are closing down after 40 years and selling off the stock or even the whole thing if you’re interested!

Next up is Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand. It was mostly destroyed by the Burmese a few hundred years ago, but there are many ruins in various states of disrepair. It’s a little like a mini Angkor Wat in places. Since my last visit two years ago, they have more than doubled the prices for foreigners and also now charge at nearly every ruin.

Before most were free, except for the odd one that had a fee. None the less we had a good look around a few and went to a modern temple as well as it is one of the most famous in Thailand. The river nearby is teeming with catfish and if you nipped down here with your fishing rod, you couldn’t fail to land a few.

Our guesthouse, Baan Rhomkham, is lovely, as was the Thai guesthouse in Kanchanaburi. I highly recommend both of them for their comfort and friendliness.

There is another fabulous night market here, this time it’s all in one long line and has a superb variety of food. One man was making a huge dish of food, throwing the eggs in from a distance and making a real performance out of it. Apparently his antics are famous on Tik Tok, but unfortunately it was full of mussels, so I didn’t try it.

Despite the added hundreds of kilometers of driving, we headed to Sasipa’s for a few days. There is a new motorway that runs up to Nakhon Ratchasima. It’s only about 80km long at the moment and mostly elevated with beautiful views of lakes and forests. It’s not really finished yet, the gantries are there, but blank, the service station is just a few portaloo’s and the toll booths are empty, so it is free for the moment. My mother stayed at my friend John’s house in a chalet he has built. It is a perfect spot, comfortable and well equipped. We headed towards Surin, a city in Surin province which is next to Buriram province where Sasipa’s house is. We are visiting an Elephant Sanctuary not far away. One of the elephants my mum fed was 80 years old! The poster boy for Chang beer a few decades ago was in his usual place, but was in musth, so you had to keep your distance.

They had an elephant show when we were there, with them playing games and doing tricks. At one point they asked for volunteers to be massaged by and then stepped over by elephants. I, of course, volunteered 🙂 It’s supposed to be good luck in Thailand to have an elephant step over you. One of them could even paint and afterwards someone purchased it for 300 baht.

After a few days at Sasipa’s we headed south again towards Bang Saen, a town on the coast in Chonburi province, about 45km north of Pattaya. We thought about going to Koh Chang, but it was several hours more driving down towards Trat, which is almost at the end of Thailand on the Cambodian border. In hindsight I wish we had made the extra effort as it is supposed to be a really beautiful place to go, but I’m a bit tired of driving having already clocked up about 2000km.

The beach at Bang Saen is impressive, but very busy and the traffic is awful. There is a superb night market, again with an amazing selection of food, clothes and leather goods. We ate there both nights and on one day went to the Khao Kheow open zoo. The zoo is supposed to be the largest open zoo in the world, but it didn’t really feel like it. Some animals were still in fairly small enclosures, like the tigers for example.

The first section you could walk around or hire a golf cart or take the hop on hop off open bus. As the golf carts were sold out, we took the bus. There were giraffes, hippo’s, crocodiles, elephants, monkeys and many others. The second section you could drive around in your own car, which was nice as it was hot and the car aircon was working overtime.

Our final stop before heading back to Bangkok was Pattaya, My favourite hotel, the Quba, was full so we stayed at the Srinn, a new hotel nearby that we watched being built the last few times we were here. The rooms are a good size with all mod cons, but poorly finished with quite cheap materials. They would have been better increasing the size of the bathroom and with a better design and finish. I can see that before long the rooms will be very shabby, although they are ok at the moment as it has only been open 6 weeks.

A visit to the Sanctuary of truth was a must and my mum loved it. The carvings are incredible and really beautiful. Unfortunately it was hellishly busy.

Last time I was here the English guided tour had about 15 people. This time it was close to 100 people. Fortunately it is not obligatory and as I know a fair bit about the place, having been here twice before, we were able to go off on our own and explore.

Apart from a visit to the big golden buddha and viewpoint above Pattaya, we just enjoyed the food and live music for the rest of the day. I took my mum for a walk along walking street, just to see it, before heading to Wonderful 1 for some music. The photo I took of the walking street entrance a couple of years back was put on Pinterest by my dad and apparently went viral! If you type in walking street in Pattaya up comes my photo first! I don’t know if it still does, but hopefully it gave our travel business some extra exposure. On that note, do check out our travel business Outstanding Holidays at outstandingholidays.com or see us on facebook.

Our last excursion was to Koh Larn, a small island about 35 minutes from Pattaya by ferry. The crossing only costs 30 baht one way and there are numerous beaches and a small town to walk around. We didn’t have any transport of our own as we couldn’t hire a motorbike with my mother, so it was pot luck on taking a song thaew to a couple of beaches.

The island is, I’m sure, very pretty, but we weren’t able to do it justice at all. We had a nice lunch at a beach side restaurant and watched the world go by for a while before heading back to Pattaya.

It’s Chinese new year today and the firecrackers are going off everywhere. Walking down soi buakhao we came across a Chinese dragon running around doing various acrobatics. Lots of people were watching and filming and stopped to watch as well.

A final couple of hours was spent in the car back to Bangkok. On the way I stopped a couple of times near the port in the hope of seeing the US carrier strike group one with USS Carl Vinson, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, various destroyers and F35’s etc, which has moored up north of Pattaya. We saw the top of the masts, but nothing more unfortunately. Soi Buakhao, Soi 6 and Walking Street will be buzzing tonight with up to 5000 US navy troops out on the town.

All went smoothly in Bangkok and my mum arrived at the airport in good time for her flight and as I write made it home safely with no problems.

Another 6 hour drive back to Buriram province tomorrow and then I am going to put my feet up and go nowhere for a while!