Days 3 and 4

On Sunday we were picked up in the afternoon to visit a local elephant and crockodile park. Here we were able to learn about the history of elephants in Thailand, watch a crocodile show and ride the elephants. It was a fun afternoon but I'm not sure I would take guests back again...a bit corny!


That night we had a fun time wandering around the Suan Luam Night Bazaar up the street from us. Emily and Jodie put their bargaining skills to work and picked up some great presents to take back home. After shopping around the stands we headed over to the beer garden to catch the end of a concert-pretty entertaining! Then it was a tuk tuk ride home. It is a pretty crazy thing to get four people on a three-wheeled, motorized tuk tuk which zooms in and out of traffic.

Monday morning we were picked up around 6:30am to do a canal or klong tour as well as visit to the Temple of Dawn (Wat Arun) and Grand Palace. The Temple of Dawn has to be one of my favorite temples because of its amazing design and structure. The temple is decorated with broken pieces of china. It is also a fun one to walk up! It's a steep walk up the stairs but once you get up there you have an amazing view of the city. (took some coaching to help Emmy and Jodie down!)

The Grand Palace

Video of a ride through the klongs

Day 2

This was a very long, but fun day. We began our tour by first stopping by a local food market to see the various foods sold at very cheap prices. Can't say we were very hungry after seeing dead frogs, pigs heads, bugs, or dried fish in the market. But, it was a great way to learn about all the types of foods sold. After the market there were a few stops along the way before we were able to cook our own Thai meals.

Rice Field-
We stopped at a rice field along the road since none of us knew how rice was grown or harvested. Plus, Thailand is the number one exporter in the world rice market. Here are some pictures...

The rice is found on the husk of the plant.

Coconut Farm

Next we when to a cocunut farm to learn about the many uses of a cocunut tree. The farmers sell whole coconuts, milk from the coconuts, sap from the flower and sugar made from the sap. The cocunut milk is used in many dishes here in Thailand. The hard sugar from the sap is used some soups as well as deserts. The the bamboo pole you see leaning against the tree is the ladder the farmer uses to climb up to gather coconuts. The round, tin pales below are hung in the trees to collect the sap.

The sap is boiled and left to cool to make the coconut sugar.

Thai Cooking

After visiting a local floating market we headed over to a small Thai house where we prepared 4 Thai dishes; pad Thai, tom yum gong (soup with prawns), morning glories and green currie chicken. These were all delicious but I had a brief moment of panic and impatience when I realized I had about 15 mosquito bites.

Video of Jodie Cooking...

Orchid Farm

Before heading back into the city we made one more stop at an orchid farm to see how this beautiful flower is grown. Thailand has more than 350 types of orchids and is the number exporter of this flower. 40 small seeds are placed in old Johnny Walker Whiskey bottles and after 2 years plucked out one by one and placed in a coconut shell filled with soil.

seedlings in Johnny Walker bottles
Thai women removing seedlings

plant growing inside coconut shell

Emily and Jodie Visit-Day 1

Jodie and Emily made it here early Friday morning and we have been on the go ever since. Friday we spent the day walking around my neighborhood and visiting the Jim Thompson Museum. Jim Thompson was an American, from New York, who moved to Thailand after the Second World War. He was fascinated with raw silk and traveled all over Thailand and Asia to learn about the silk industry. After years of researching, buying, trading and traveling he established the Thai Silk Company in 1948. Jim Thompson went missing in while visiting Cambodia in 1967 and there were no clues as to what happened to him. His silk items are very popular today and his shops can be found all over Thailand.

After the museum we walked over to MBK, which is an indoor market. The girls were able to see the many things for sale in local markets and begin to get ideas of what they would like to take home with them. That night we had a traditional Thai dinner at a great restaurant up the street from us. Everyone was pretty tired from a late night the night before but we were eager to begin a week of touring.

Valentine's Day

We celebrated our first "married" Valentine's Day together in Pattaya. If you have read our earlier posts you are probably wondering why we went back to Pattaya. Well, there was an great deal available so, John thought it would be nice Valentine's get-away. It was a great time with an incredible sunset!

The Movies!

So, when it's way too hot outside to walk around and you don't feel like watching reruns of The Nanny, Murder She Wrote or Entertainment Tonight from December 2008, you can enjoy an afternoon at the movies. John and I decided one Saturday afternoon that we would head over Siam Paragon to see the new underwater 3-D movie that was playing. Going to the movies here is a much different experience than going to one back home. When you enter the theater you first go to the ticket counter to purchase your tickets. There are various types of tickets a moviegoer can purchase. There are VIP tickets where you are offered two lazyboy chairs in their own personal section with a buzzer to ring for food service during the movie. This may cost you only around 300-400 baht (about $8-$10). If you don't feel like getting VIP seats you can purchase regular seats (which are still pretty comfy)for about 100-140 baht. Once you have decided what kind of seats you want you then have to choose which seat numbers you want to purchase. The computer screen will show you all the seats in the theater and you are asked to choose the seats you want to sit in. After you enter the theater you shouldn't get too cozy because before all movies begin in Thailand everyone in the theater must stand to pay tribute to the king while a 2 minute video showing his many great accomplishments is played.

Needless to say, we purchased tickets to a great movie about ocean life off the southern coasts of Africa. There were some amazing shots throughout the film and it was even more fun seeing it all in 3-D. I have included a photo below of John in his 3-D glasses before the movie began.

Ko Samet

We returned from a great weekend a the beach.! We were both very happy with our location, the beaches, and crystal blue waters. Yai dropped us off at the pier where we took a half hour ferry ride to Ko Sumet. Once we arrived to the island we were put in the back of a truck (taxi) and driven through the bumpy, dusty roads to our hotel. Not a very comfy ride with about 15 people crammed in the back...but we made it.

Our first night we walked down the beach a bit to a restaurant called Ploy BBQ. The restaurant, which was directly on the beach, had very low tables with cushions for backrests. We ordered dinner and stayed to watch their famous fire show. (A short video is below) Following dinner and the fire show we checked out a few other places on the beach but were amazed to find how quiet everything was.

On Saturday we spent the day relaxing on the beach. It was pretty entertaining to watch all the various vendors walk up and down the beach with long pants and long shirts selling things like; beach wraps, fruit, coconut drinks, and Thai food. Later in the afternoon John rented a four wheeler and ventured around the island while I read by the beach. That night we took a taxi to the Seaside restaurant for dinner and were very disappointed with the service and over cooked food.

On Sunday we spent the entire day driving around the island on the four wheeler. It was great to explore the other beaches and see the sights. One thing we were very bothered by was the amount of trash laying around on the beautiful beaches. We found a very small and private beach and John spent some time cleaning up plastic bottles, bags, old goggles, cans, etc. Such a shame that people could litter such a perfect place.

All in all this was a great vacation and we would definitely go back again!

Flower Market

Today I went to the flower market with some girls that I have met here. This is the market where flowers are purchased early in the morning for local hotels. We didn't go as early as most people, but we were still able to see some unbelievable flowers for unbeatable prices. After the market we treated ourselves to lunch at the Oriental Hotel on the river.

Sarah, Meredith and Sarah

The bundle of orchids were 120 baht or about $3.50

and the 3 dozen roses were 50 baht or $1.50.