December 18 - notes from Thailand and a new phone number

Hello to you all...first we hope that everyone out there has a great holiday season!  It really is hard to believe that we are a week away from Christmas. We just got to Sukhothai today.  It seems like a nice small town.  We checked into a great guesthouse called the Ban Thai guesthouse.  We have a small bungalow with a private bath and fan for $6...not bad.  The people that run it are great too!  What more can we ask for.

 

Oh before I forget we got a new phone number in Thailand....it is 66 for Thailand and then 50481420.  I think we should be able to get international text messages if you ever feel like trying to communicate that way.

 

So I am not sure where I left off so sorry if I repeat myself...I am too lazy to go to the site and look it up as I am on a roll here on Yahoo. 

 

I think I let you know that we had a great time in Cambodia.  It was just the few days in Angkor/Siem Reap but they were great.  It was hot but the sights were amazing.  We hired a tuk tuk driver (Sopir) for the three days that we were there and he was great.  We were on a cart attached to the back of his honda motor scooter.....here in Thailand they seem to attach the carts to the side rather than the back...interesting small changes between countries.  We had thought about renting bikes as suggested by some other folk we had met but we would have never seen all the sights that we did and it was very hot.  Each sight is very different depending on when it was built and which king built it.  Some of the architecture was truly amazing.  One day we went out to a sight that was pretty far out - Banteay Srei - on the way out we passed through many small settlements....it made me a bit glum as the poverty was pretty bad.  No running water or electricity, no sign of any plumbing of any sort, all wood structure on stilts and many small grubby children....There were wells in many places many with signs saying that the Japanese had given the money to sink the well.  It was tough to see.  Siem Reap itself is doing pretty well due to the tourists but as soon as you get out into the countryside things are pretty difficult.  Of the countries we have visited this was probably the worst poverty we have seen.  There were some areas in China that probably rivaled this but somehow it seemed worse as we were closer to it.  Many people seemed to be trying to sell handicrafts to support themselves which was something.  I bought some bracelets from a girl at one of the temples...she was very cute and convincing that I had to have these bracelets.  It is hard to see though.  Still the experiences were great and we really enjoyed our time there.

 

We headed off to Thailand on Sunday Dec 12, flying to Bangkok. During the last afternoon and on the flight to Bangkok we came to the realization that we were not ready for a big city and so when we arrived in Bangkok we got advice on how to get to Kanchanaburi which is about 2 hours east of the city by bus.  We got our bags, hopped in a cab to the Southern bus station and within a few hours were pulling into Kanchanaburi - a great riverside town where the Bridge over the River Kwai is located.  Besides the connection to WWII this place is a great town and was a good place for us to hang out and enjoy some outdoor activities.  The first night we stayed at Bamboo Guesthouse but as we had to kill a billion bugs  in our room before we went to sleep we decided to move the next day.  Luckily the first night we arrived these nice Israeli guys had told us to go to a guesthouse down the road for dinner...we liked it so much that we looked at a room and moved in the next morning.  Here at the Sugar Cane II guesthouse we had a room with a queensize bed, hot water, a/c and a small deck all for $12...the room was on a floating raft on the river - sunset was amazing.  The walls were a bit thin so we could here our neighbors occasionally but it was no big deal.  And to top it off the food at the restaurant (which also looked over the river) had great food as well.  So once settled we did some exploring.  One day we got bikes and did a 20k bike ride into the country, stopping at a Stone Garden, a Wat temple complex and one of the WWII grave yards for commonwealth soldiers.  We also visited one of the war museums.  Another day we decided to sign up for a kayak trip all day.  We were the only two with a guide and they picked us up at our hotel.  Our first stop was one of the elephant camps north of town.  We had seen some elephants in town but had not been to any of the camps....we had our first ever elephant ride for about 45 mins.  Our elephant wasn't that sure she wanted to take us but in the end she gave us a nice wander around the camp.  She was 18 years old.  There was one elephant there that was 72 - he did not work any longer but hung out for photos with tourists.  I felt a bit bad for this group of elephants but our guide assured us that the government keeps close tabs on these camps and ensures the elephants well being and then looked in pretty good shape.  Many of them were tethered under a covered area munching on food and seemed to be pretty content.  They certainly seemed happier than the ones we saw in town in traffic - we asked what they were doing and our guide said that the keepers take them into town and get tourists to buy sugar cane to feed them and take photos of them.  I gather that this happens even in Bangkok as many of the elephants and there keepers were put out of work when much of the logging trade was disbanded....tough work.  At the camp we visited it was interesting to learn that most of the keepers and their families were from Burma although they said that the elephants were from Thailand.  After our elephant ride we got on the river for our kayak trip.  The river is dam controlled but our guide said that they release water every day...when we left it was pretty low and we had to walk in some places as it was too shallow...and guess what...they decided not to do a release that day so things were a bit slow and shallow all the way down but it was still fun and we had a great day, stopping for lunch along the way for a while.  As we had not kayaked in a while, we were both pretty tired and decided that we needed a Thai massage the next day.  We booked that for the next afternoon.  Before going out there I put my life in danger by allowing Tom to rent a motor bike and to tow me on the back...usually in Bermuda it is the other way around but he wanted to try and I said OK.  I kept my eyes closed for the first few hours and just said prayers but he got more used to the bike and in the end did pretty well although I did take over for a while!  It was good fun though and the rental and gas only cost us $3 for the whole day - better rates than in Bermuda that is for sure!  Our massage was at a place out of town and we rode our scooter out there.  The place was run by a couple of Brits that had been in Thailand for 8 years.  They have built a beautiful spot in the country and we really enjoyed our experience there.  Thai massage is very different than sweedish massage but still very enjoyable.  We ended our day with a great fish dinner at a restaurant on the river near our hotel.

 

The next day it was time to say goodbye to Kanchanaburi and come north.  We had a choice of how to come to Sukhothai - through Bangkok or through smaller towns....we decided on the latter and hopped on a local bus going north.  We had to change in Supanburi to a bus for Nakhon Sawan and arrived there about 5 in the afternoon.  We could have kept coming to Sukhothai but decided we had had enough bus by that time and booked into a hotel near the bus station and settled in for the night.  We had a good dinner at a local spot near the hotel and watched a buddhist ceremony going on down the road from our hotel for a while.  We tried to figure out what it was about but could not find anyone that spoke enough english to explain...too bad it was very colorful. 

 

Today we caught the noon-time bus and here we are.

 

So some random thoughts - Thailand seems to be doing pretty well.  People mostly have motor bikes or cars - there are plenty of cars here.  Most houses seem to have electricity and most are concrete although there are still some of the beautiful wooden houses in the country.  There are Wats everywhere and you can see buddha statues just about anywhere - in a field, on a hill, you name it.  People are very nice and pretty calm.  Thais are generally a lot quieter than Chinese folk although you would not guess that from the noise in this internet cafe where lots of kids are playing games on computers and shouting out to each other as they make a killer move or something!  There are monks everywhere too - on motor bike, busses, cars....lots of guys in orange robes.  Evidently most young men are expected to be a monk for some period of time - sometimes as short as one week but others stay for a life time.....some are very young.  Interesting.  The food is great - the beer is pretty good and people in general seem pretty happy.  It is much dryer than we expected in the areas we have visited thus far and not as hot as we expected - both good things.  In general people seem better educated, more abiding of traffic rules, less abussive of their environment (both of these could be because of better education). There are still a lot of farmers here - many rice fields and sugar cane fields but we hope to see some of the national parks (there are many in this area) over the next week or so.  The food is spicy though and they always have chilli sauce on the table...I have killed my mouth a couple of times but somehow my insides are surviving. 

 

So that's it for now.  Again we hope that all of you have a great holiday season.  Thanks for your continued notes, support, prayers, thoughts.  We love them all.  Take care!

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