THAILAND 2001 - TRIP REPORT
In 2001 we went to Thailand. First we stayed in Bangkok for a couple of days, after that we spent some days at the River Kwai and Pattaya.
BANGKOK
After a flight (11 hours with Eva-Air) we landed in Bangkok. We took a taxi to our hotel (Amari Atrium). In the taxi we see a little bit of Bangkok; busy, hot and dusty. When we arrived at the hotel we went to sleep. The next day we wanted to see some sights of Bangkok. People at our hotel offer us a taxi, but we friendly refuse. We take a 'illegal' taxi, just around the corner. Our taxi driver, Andrew, speaks a little bit english, so that can be handy. The things we want to see are: Floating Market, The Kings Palace and The Golden Boedha. With Andrew we arrange a good price and we take place in his taxi.
First he takes us to the Floating Market. After a drive for about 15 minutes het stops his taxi and we go further by boat. The boat looks like a canoe with a turbomotor. The boat goes very fast and makes a lot of noise. On the way we take pictures from different temples. When we arrive at the market we are thursty and Andrew takes us to a bar. Andrew is gone for a few minutes, but when he comes back he has bought us something to drink and eat. The cola is o.k., but the other thing he's holding in his hand, we friendly refuse. It is a little bag with yellow and brown 'things' and if looks terrible. After a while we go to the Kings Palace.
PALACE OF KING BOEMIBOL.
In the garden are a lot of images of boedha's and trees. You can amuse yourself here for a long time. Every thing we do, we do it slow, the temperature is high and you see a lot of people walking with 'umbrellas' to protect themselves agains the hot sun.
The same night we asked Andrew to take us to a tailor. At the tailors a whole team is serving us. One person is showing you the fabrics, another offers some drinks, another is taking everyone's sizes. After an hour we drive back to our hotel, suddenly Andrew stops his taxi. It appears that someone on the back of an elephant wants to cross the street. An elephant (with a light on his backside) in chaotic and busy Bangkok. It's a strange thing to see. After a short drive and a dinner in the hotel we take a dive in the swimming pool.
The next day we visit The Golden Boedha. When we arrive we have to take off your shoes before we enter the temple. (If you go there don't be afraid that your shoes are gone when you come back; nobody in Thailand has a shoe-size above 36). The Golden Boedha is ,I think, +- 20 meters long. (see the picture, on the other page). We also visit some more temples and soon the day is over.
Here in Bangkok everything goes slow, except the traffic. I don't think that the Thai-people know the word: 'driver's license'. The next day a new trip starts. We go to the River Kwai. We tell Andrew we will visit him as soon we get back. In the meanwhile Andrew tries to persuade our men to take 'a thai-massage'. He offers the men only, and smiles friendly at the women.
KANCHANABURI WAR CEMETERY
Early next morning we are driving by bus to Kanchanaburi War Cementry. Many young men were burried here, during the war. On the grave-stones you see that the men were very young when they died. (mostly 17/18/19). When we walk back to the bus we see an old man with tears in his eyes. We assume that he experienced the war because he is so sad.
JEATH WAR MUSEUM
Jeath War Museum is next on our list. J.E.A.T.H. stands for Japan, England, America, Australia, Thailand and Holland, these are the countries who fought during the war(1939 - 1945). The museum is a little cabin with pictures, paintings and photographs on the walls, made during and after the war. When we were inside we got a strange feeling, all these terrible pictures you see of people who were dying and who were ill... I was relieved when the visit was over.
RIVER KWAI BRIDGE
The famous bridge. Carefully we start walking over the bridge. The area here is beautiful, so we take some pictures. After a while waiting for the train, we take a train-trip to see the area. The area is beautiful. The train is loaded with people, we can only sit next to the toilet and it STINKS! Yakk.
RIVER KWAI
Finally we arrived at our hotel.(RIVER KWAI RESOTEL). You only can get here by boat. We stayed in a little Thai cottage. It's very simple cotage, but it's clean and the people here are very friendly. The view is fantastic!!! Some people stayed at the Mon tribal village. Those people want to be 'one with nature'. At the Mon village there's no electricity and no hot water. So after a few days the people who stayed at the Mon Village came to our hotel 'to charge the battery of their cameras', so they could take a fresh dive in OUR pool. To be one with nature ... yup yup!
After dinner, we had a typical Thai-massage. A few woman from the Mon Village came, and they gave us a massage. (It wasn't a massage what our friend Andrew had in mind!!!) After the massage we went to sleep. Next day we had a tour at the Mon Village. It's very interesting to see that the people here do everything by and for themselves. We also had a tour with Jumbo, the elephant.
After a few days relaxing we went back to Bangkok. We called Andrew, and he took us to the tailor. Our suits were ready and after a while driving Andrew took us to our hotel. We said Andrew goodbye and the next day we went to Pattaya. Pattaya . . . , what can I say about Pattaya. O.K. here it comes . . . Dragqueen, prostitution, young girls old, old men . . . When you see a beautiful girl/women, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . trust me, it's a MAN! At night we visited a dragqueenshow, called Alcazar. It's a must! A lot of singing, dancing and funny things.
PATTAYA CROCODILE FARM
A big zoo, with a lot of crocs. You can also 'be' like Crocodile Dundee and go fishing for the crocs. This is also a must!
PATTAYA SNAKE SHOW
In someone's backyard, we visited a snake show. At that time we were the only visitors, so we got a privatshow. I thought it was nice, but my friend got a little bit scared.
MEALS
If you don't like Thai-food, you can always go to: Mac Donalds, Kentucky Friet Chicken or the Pizza Hut. We tried all of them and I can tell you; YUMMY! That doesn't mean that I don't like Thai-food!!
There's something else you should do when you visit Pattaya. Don't go the the beach, it isn't beautiful. You should take a boat and go to one of the little islands. The beach there, is like a Bounty beach, white sands, cristal blue water . . . but watch out for the jellyfishes. I can still feel my arm itching!
THAILAND; A BEAUTIFUL HOLIDAY EXPERIENCE.