Friday, July 16, 2010

Thai One On - Day 15

  • Caught air-conditioned luxury bus to Bangkok for about $9, quite a treat after our last few modes of transportation! Then we grabbed a taxi to the famed Khaosan Road for our final day in Thailand.
  • Found a hostel room analogous to a college dorm, jail cell or NY city apartment in which to store our bags until we left around 1 a.m. that night/the next morning.
  • Stopped at a street vendor for a lunch of an egg roll and two large servings of pad Thai w/ chicken for a mere $3 total. Also sadly purchased our last fruit shakes, a grape and a guava.
  • Spent the afternoon shopping -- purchased souvenirs and gifts, one in particular for which P had a fantastic and hilarious time bartering the price down from 80 baht (only $2.70) to 50 baht ($1.70).
  • Ended our shopping spree with gremlins and happy hour mojitos.

  • Strolled around a bit more before patronizing Lucky Beer for a dinner of pineapple and pork curry, green curry w/ shrimp, and an unknown but delicious appetizer, then played pool in the back room.

  • Roamed the streets, now in full party mode with musicians, street dancers and celebratory tourists.
 

  • Celebrated a great honeymoon w/ our only dessert of the trip: two tasty banana splits. 


  • With only a few hours to spare before needing to leave for the airport for our return flight home, we spoiling ourselves w/ one last massage around 11:30 p.m. -- a perfect ending to a wonderful trip!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Thai One On - Day 14

  • Started day off early with the most humorous breakfast of the trip. Our night stay at Phaiboon hotel (quite a nice place) included breakfast which consisted of dragon fruit and toast. Lots and lots of toast. First, we were served two plates with two pieces on each plate. When we finished that, we were brought another plate with four more pieces. Thank you for all the toast.
  • Along with a Belgian couple, we rode to Khao Yai National Park with tour guide, Jay. We stopped briefly at the visitor museum where we used one of the nicest bathrooms in Thailand, saw a pretty funny sign and watched two monitor lizards laze in the sun and some deer frolic in the parking lot.


  • Then we drove to the jungle trail entrance and trekked for two hours -- easily a highlight of the trip! We saw a green pit viper, two giant spiders, horn bills, millipedes, termites, two gibbons and a plethora of really large and fantastic trees. We also heard a boar tearing through the jungle, and later saw it's wreckage, but we never actually saw it.  




  • While we were enjoying our tasty lunch of chicken and mixed veggies w/ rice, and red curry chicken w/ rice it started absolutely dumping rain. Fortunately, it let up by the time we finished.
  • Visited Haew Suwat Waterfall (as seen in the movie "The Beach").

  • The day trip culminated in viewing animals: barking deer, macaques, a snake, another water monitor and my favorite, a bull elephant, which we saw just before we were about to turn around and head out of the park. It was fantastic watching the gentle giant rip down trees to eat and lope along the road!
  • Back in Pak Chong, we dined at Jay's wife's restaurant on chicken teriyaki, spicy chicken and wontons, all washed down with blueberry and kiwi shakes.  
  • Before walking back to hotel, we stopped at night market and bought fresh mango and grapefruit.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Thai One On - Day 13

  • Set out very early to catch a tuk-tuk to the bus station, but we passed up our first opportunity because we thought the driver wanted too much money. We ended up walking 3/4 of the way there, as there were literally no other tuk-tuks. Ooops. At least we got some good exercise!
  • Rode local bus to Ayutthaya, making a pit stop at Suphanburi about halfway there.
  • Once in the ancient capital, we ditched our bags at a hostel and grabbed a bite of cashew chicken, sweet and sour chicken and banana fruit shakes at Tony's Place.
  • Rented bicycles for the afternoon for $1 each and toured the town, riding to three ancient chedis and two newer wats, walking around the premises as permitted. On the way back, we took a wrong turn and ended up riding on a tiny strip of road abutting a major highway. It was quite exhilarating!

  • Snatched a tuk-tuk to the train station and grabbed some gremlins for the ride to Pak Chong.

  • Picked up by Phaiboon hotel staff and taken to hotel, then walked across street for dinner of snake- head fish curry in coconut milk, and serpenthead fish stir-fry -- one of our favorite meals of the trip.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Thai One On - Day 12

  • Started the beautiful day off with breakfast of muesli, yogurt and fruit at Sam's Guesthouse a few doors down. We enjoyed the food, but what we found more entertaining was the barking/mooing mule/deer/cow and trying to figure out just what kind of animal it was.
  • Our day-long historical tour began with a trip to the seven-step Erawan Falls National Park and a subsequent swim in two of the pools while carp bit our feet.


  • Ate pad Thai, pineapple and watermelon for lunch before heading off to Hellfire Pass and the WWII Memorial Museum. The setting was beautiful, but the torture and death the sites recognized made for a somber and melancholy atmosphere. We would've liked to have had more time there, as we were both interested in listening to the entire informative audio recording while walking the whole trail.

  • Next, we stopped at Kra Sae Cave, which housed a giant Buddha, along part of the Death Railway.

  • Finally, we boarded the train and rode part of the Death Railway to the Bridge on the River Kwai.



  • We dined on delicious fish balls w/ spicy sauce, jungle curry with chicken and green curry w/ chicken while viewing the evening thunder storm, which made for another refreshing and cool(er) night.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Thai One On - Day 11

  • Early morning walk to bus terminal where we grabbed to-go packs of pork, chicken, rice and sauce, and packs of mini pancakes as our breakfast so we could eat on the bus to the airport.
  • The $15 plane ticket from Phuket to Bangkok included food service (mini pizzas), though we had pre-purchased meals of grilled pork and rice, unaware food would be served on the hour-long flight.
  • Once in Bangkok, we took a taxi from the airport to Thonburi train station for our ride to Kanchanaburi on part of the Death Railyway. The historic train ride was ridiculously affordable and a fun way to travel, save for one 15-minute complete stop at just about the hottest time of day (and forget any sort of cooling devices other than open windows and really old fans that barely moved the roasting hot air around the cars). Near our arrival, it started pouring and didn't let up until night. We were very thankful for the rain and subsequent slightly cooler temperatures.

  • Rode our first bike tuk-tuk from the train station to Blue Star Guesthouse, awesome bungalows right on the river. Around 7 p.m. a karaoke boat went by and we had a good laugh at the inanity.

  • Dined near Kanchanaburi Travel Center on pad Thai w/ beef (the only time we tried beef in Thailand b/c it tasted odd) and pad Seiu w/ shrimp. Drank watermelon and mixed berry fruit shakes.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Thai One On - Day 10

  • Enjoyed a final complimentary Bay View breakfast on the beach of scrambled eggs w/ ham, mushrooms, tomatoes and green peppers, as well as yogurt, mixed fruit and fresh pineapple juice.
  • Once sated, we hiked up (for the second time) the short, steep trail to the viewpoint overlooking Tonsai Village and the rest of Ko Phi Phi. Such a beautiful morning and fantastic view! Saw a picture posted on a palm tree showing the devastation caused by the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004.


  • Checked out of hotel, then ate Tom Yam w/ prawns and rice, and seafood in red curry at Cosmic.
  • Stopped at Dr. Fish to have tiny fish bite the dead skin off our feet. To me it just felt weird, but P didn't like it. When he removed his feet after the 15 minutes he said, "What a relief!" We both agreed, however, that the fish did a great job, as our feet were looking much nicer.

  • We reunited with our Canadian friends on the ferry ride back to Phuket, but parted ways at our hotel. 
  • Atypical of us on vacation, we dined for a second time at Natural Restaurant. The atmosphere and food were just so terrific, and it was so close to our hotel, we really couldn't resist. This time we tried the salmon w/ curry, and the roasted duck w/ coconut milk curry, both unsurprisingly fantastic.