Thailand 2009 Sawadee Kha from Malini and Sawadee Khrap from Venkatesh ! That just means "Hello" ! Thai is probably one of few languages where a sentence ends differently depending on the gender of the speaker rather than the person being addressed. Thailand was not very high on our "must visit" list but a trip to India was on the cards and Thailand was a convenient detour on the way in. Having settled on the destination, we decided to stay clear of the beaches and split our time between Chiang Mai in the north and Bangkok and its environs. The Photos takes you directly to the Thailand photo album Thailand, December 2009 Northern Thailand Arrive in Chiang Mai , Wat Rong Khun, Golden Triangle, Myanmar Border Crossing, Ayutthaya Ayutthaya Unesco World Heritage Sites, Bangkok Bangkok Around Bangkok Floating Market, Kanchanaburi - The Bridge on the River Kwai

Chiang Mai

Night market, Chiang Mai

We arrived in Bangkok on a Sunday and we immediately transferred to a domestic flight to Chiang Mai. More than 700 kms northwest of Bangkok, Chiang Mai is Thailand's historic northern capital. It is a quaint, moated and walled city that is surrounded by mountains that has over 300 temples within the city limits. Chiang Mai has a unique pedestrian market on Sundays and the road and side roads are blocked off from vehicle traffic at 4 PM until 11 PM. Craft persons sell they wares, musicians play instruments, dancers perform and street food vendors do brisk business along the sidewalks and on temple grounds. Despite having just arrived after over 20 hours either on a plane or in an airport, we wandered around for a couple of hours taking in all the hustle and bustle.

Wat Rong Khun

Wat Rong Khun, Chiang Rai

Located near the city of Chiang Rai in the north, we visited the beautiful Wat Rong Khun, also known as the White Temple. Whereas most temples visited by tourists have a history going back many centuries, this magnificent wat was built only recently. It is the realization of a dream for Thailand's noted artist, Mr Chalermchai Kositpipat, who designed it and is supervising it's construction. Construction started in 1998 and is expcted to be in progress for a few more years to come. The final plan comprises nine buildings including the ubosot (chapel), pagoda, hermitage, crematorium, monastery hall, preaching hall, museum, pavilion, and rest room facilities. The artist was busy completing the mural inside the main hall of the edifice when we visited. There is a gallery nearby exhibiting his paintings.

Golden Triangle

Mekong River, Golden Triangle

Golden Triangle also designates the confluence of the Ruak River and the Mekong river and the term has been appropriated by the Thai tourist industry to describe the nearby junction of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar. The Mekong is one of the world's major rivers and the world's 12th longest. From the Tibetan Plateau, it runs through China's Yunnan province, Burma, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia before emptying into the sea in Vietnam. Long-tail boats ply on the Mekong river. We took a ride on a high-speed boat first in the direction of Thailand's border with Burma. The boat then swung around and skimmed along the banks of Laos for a little distance. We disembarked on the island of Don Xao, a duty free shopping destination in Loas. Visiting this island is hardly an authentic Laos experience, but the fact remains that this small Mekong river island is Laos territory. There is a small fee to step foot on the island, but there are no immigration procedures to go through. Instead, many shops on the island offer to stamp your passport with a souvenier stamp of the Golden triangle or a whimsical elephant representing Laos. Of course we got our passports stamped !

Border Crossing into Myanmar

Myanmar Border at Mae Sai, Thailand

For non-Burmese nationals crossing into Myanmar, one-day passes are issued at Myanmar customs in Tachileik. Passports are confiscated and a temporary travel permit is issued; the permit is exchanged for the traveler's passport upon crossing back into Thailand. As we crossed the border from Mae Sai, our passport was stamped by Thai immigration and we walked over a bridge towards Tachilek, the town on the Myanmar side. We headed to the clearly marked Immigration Office, handed over our passports and had our pictures taken with a small logitech webcam. We paid the US $10 visa fees and collected temporary permits which allowed us to enter Tachileik. As we had very limited time, we barely walked a few yards and after taking some quick photos we turned back and headed in the opposite direction. On the return, you go back to the Myanmar Office on the opposite side of the road from where you entered and swap your travel permit for your passport. Since we returned in barely a few minutes, our passports had not made their way to the entry side and the official had scoot across the road to go and fetch it for us. The passport had been stamped clearly indicating we had walked across the border. We then simply walked back over the bridge to the Thai Immigration. Here the Thai customs Officials stamped our passport again allowing us to reenter Thailand!

Doi Suthep

Novice monks at Doi Sutep

On our final day in Chiang Mai, we visited the mountain top temple, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, one of northern Thailand's most sacred temples. It was first establised in 1383 and is located on the top of a 1676m peak about 16 kms northwest of Chiang Mai. Aspects of the wat draw from both Buddhism and Hinduism. The road to Doi Suthep is extremely scenic but also steep and winding. We took one of the sawngthaews (a shared taxi), that run regularly from a designated spot in Chiang Mai to Doi Sutep. We spent the rest of the day exploring Chiang Mai, visiting some of the important wats including Chedi Luang and Phra Singh. After a day of 'Wat'ting, we were pretty exhausted and found the perfect antidote, a traditional Thai massage.

Train to Ayutthaya

Dinner on train from Chiang Mai to Ayutthaya

The seats were spacious and the train was clean and comfortable. Berths are arranged along the coach wall either side of a central aisle. During the evening and morning part of the journey, pairs of seats face each other on each side of the aisle. At night, each pair of seats pulls together to form the bottom bunk, and an upper bunk folds out from the wall. An attendant takes care of making your bunk with a proper mattress and fresh clean bedding, and will hook up the curtains which are provided for each bunk for privacy. The attendant also takes your drinks and dinner order. (There were good vegetarian options available as well). At the time of your choosing, a table is assembed in a matter of seconds and dinner served at your seat. We were very impressed !

Ayutthaya

Wat Chai Watthanaram, Ayutthaya

The train from Chiang Mai reached Ayutthaya pre-dawn and with the train not pulling in completely into the station we had to walk along the tracks for a bit before we were on the station platform. After haggling with a few tuk-tuk drivers we finally settled on one who offered to take us to Tony's Place (an LP recommendation) for 50B. We did not have reservations but were hoping to get a day room to dump our bags in while we explored the town. The staff had to be literally roused from their slumber and we were shown a spartan 8 X 10 room that was a little depressing but passable. It had a fan and a bed to stretch on for a couple of hours, so it would have to do. After breakfast we set out to explore the town. The ancient ruins of Ayutthaya are part of an Unesco World Heritage site and are scattered over a wide area of the present day city. We visited Wat Ratchaburana, Wat Phro Mahthat, Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Wat Phra Mongkhon Bophit and Wat Lokaya Sutharam on foot. At Lokaya Sutharam, we ran into the same tuk-tuk driver we had engaged in the morning at the station and he help oraganize a tuk-tuk for the next three hours to take us to the more distant wats ouside the island perimeter. It was a hot and sultry day and we were releived to not have to walk long distances. we first stopped for lunch at a restaurant by the river Chao Phraya facing St. Josephs Church. After some delicious pad-thai and warm sodas we continued our sightseeing sojourn in the comfort of a tuk-tuk. The friendly driver even bought us some juicy and refreshing pineapple on the way. We visited Wat Phutthai Sawan, Wat Chai Watthanaram ,Wat Phu Khao Thong, Wat Phanan Choeng and Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon before returning back to collect our belongings and proceed to Bangkok.

Bangkok

Ornate pillar at Grand Palace, Bangkok

A tuk-tuk driver approached us offering assistance. He starts chatting and making an interesting offer to arrange a special tuk tuk sightseeing tour to see the Big Buddha, Lucky Buddha and a few other places only for 10B! Why, you ask? He has a perfectly good explanation. It was a special day and the government was handing out free petrol coupons and other free coupons for drivers. At some point during the tour, he said he would stop at a gem export factory and all we need to do is to spend a few minutes in there and look interested. And this was enough to earn him some 'valuable' coupons! We were skeptical from the very beginning and our natural defenses were up, but we did go with it. If nothing else, it would be a tuk-tuk ride through the city for 10B. The first stop was at what the driver called the "Lucky Buddha Temple". It was small and quite unimpressive but there was a 'plant' waiting for us, who corroborated the tuk-tuk driver's story of that temple being a little known 'Lucky Buddha' temple. The driver then headed to the Export factory. Even before we got off, we made it completely clear that we were not interested in buying anything and were not going to waste too much time there. We walked in and out in a few seconds making our displeasure plainly known. The scam was predicated on our making a large purchase and paying way more than something was worth but we were not going to 'cooperate'. We wanted to go nowhere else but to our original destination, the Grand Palace. The previously friendly tuk-tuk driver now realized that his scam was not going to succeed and his demeanor changed. Eventually he took us straight back to where we started, at the corner of Soi Rambutri cursing all the way! Needless to say we did not pay him a single baht. We started our sightseeing for the second time on the same day, this time on foot. We spent the morning wandering around the very impressive Grand Palace and later relied heavily on the boat transport system on the Chao Phraya to get to all subsequent destinations - the Royal Barges museum, Wat Pho and Wat Arun.

Floating Market

Damnoen Saduak, Ratchaburi Province

A quintessential picture of Thailand from a few decades ago typically include wooden canoes laden with multicoloured fruites and vegetables, paddled by Thai women wearing wide-brimmed straw hat. While this is more a piece of history than a current snapshot, an updated version shows rows and rows of souvenir stands lining the canals, and boatloads of tourists with cameras. The floating fruit vendors are still there but they are now selling their wares mostly to tourists. We visited Damnoen Saduak in Ratchburi Province where such a floating market is still in operation. The canal was quite busy early in the morning and we spent a few hours just walking along the canals and taking in the scene. Beyond the market, there are residential canals that are more peaceful and we explored these outer canals on a boat.

Kanchanaburi and The Bridge on the River Kwai

The Bridge on the River Kwai

After entering the Second World War in Dec 1941, Japanese forces quickly overran most of South East Asia. In 1942, in order to find a shorter and more secure supply route for the conquest of Myanmar and other Asian countries to the west, they decided to build a raiway between Burma (now Myanmar) and Siam (now Thailand). Construction of the railway began at existing stations in Tanbyuzayat, Myanmar, and Nong Pladuk, Thailand. Japanese engineers at the time estimated that it would take five years to complete the rail link, but the Japanese army decided to use POWs and forced civilian labour to complete the 415km, 1m-gauge railway (of which roughly two-thirds ran through Thailand) in 16 months. Two forces worked from opposite ends of the line. It is estimated that 16,000 prisoners of war died while building the Death Railway to Myanmar, of which the bridge was only a small part. Many died as a result of sickness, malnutrition, exhaustion and mistreatment. Much of the railway was built in difficult terrain that required high bridges and deep mountain cuttings. The rails were finally joined 37km south of the Three Pagodas Pass; a Japanese brothel train inaugurated the line. The Death Railway Bridge was in use for 20 months before the Allies bombed it in 1945.

Google Map with Markers of places visited on this trip

 
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The Photos

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