Just found a very cool picture of the restaurant that I ate at in Bangkok "Vertigo".
It was pretty crazy eating 61 floors above ground.
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| VERTIGO ~ Bangkok, Thailand |
P.S. Flips Flops are not allowed.
Showing posts with label Thailand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thailand. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Thailand Truck Ride...
I forgot to share a photo from my recent Thailand adventure...
The one where we had to ride in the bed of a ragged tiny truck driven by scary looking men who could not speak English. We didn't know what they were saying, but knew from the tone they were not being nice. We took the word of the rude ladies from the scamming ferry ride ticket place that this is how we were to get to to the pier where the ferry boat was that would then to us to Phi Phi Pier to then get on a longtail boat to get to our resort on Koh Phi Phi.
We reluctantly piled in the back of this thing. I was waiting for a machete to come out at any second with drastic decisions to then be made, but after 15 or so painfully long minutes we arrived exactly where we needed to be.
I know what you are thinking... It was just a ragged truck that you had to ride in for a mere 15 minutes in a place far far away from home with men you don't know and understand, why worry? No, I say. This was just not a short ride in a truck.
THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME IN 24 YEARS THAT I HAD RIDDEN ON THE BACK OF TRUCK. You see... when I was around 11 years old my brother made me ride on the back of his truck instead of inside the cab with him, his stupid girlfriend, and stupid cousin. The truck bed had a dry rotted floor and wasn't "safe" so I had to sit on the just waxed metal toolbox. You would of thought that they would know better since they were older or that my grandparents would of said NO WAY when they saw me drive off sitting like that... Nope... Instead, a few minutes later while doing 45 mph around a curve I the barefoot 11 year old slid off that tool box, screamed my brothers name, passed out, hit the pavement chin first and woke a bit later a complete mess. Had a guy not been sitting on his porch to pull me out of the rode when he did the on coming car would of hit me. A double whammy you could say... I'm also very lucky that a very skilled plastic surgeon was in the ER that night.
Soooo... Needless to say this 15 minute ride was torture. Reliving that day, that moment in my head the minute my skin touched the truck, the minute it drove off, every time we hit a bump... It was awful.
So kids... the moral of the story hereis my brother is a jerk Don't ride in the back of a truck.
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| In the back of the truck. Not happy. |
The one where we had to ride in the bed of a ragged tiny truck driven by scary looking men who could not speak English. We didn't know what they were saying, but knew from the tone they were not being nice. We took the word of the rude ladies from the scamming ferry ride ticket place that this is how we were to get to to the pier where the ferry boat was that would then to us to Phi Phi Pier to then get on a longtail boat to get to our resort on Koh Phi Phi.
We reluctantly piled in the back of this thing. I was waiting for a machete to come out at any second with drastic decisions to then be made, but after 15 or so painfully long minutes we arrived exactly where we needed to be.
I know what you are thinking... It was just a ragged truck that you had to ride in for a mere 15 minutes in a place far far away from home with men you don't know and understand, why worry? No, I say. This was just not a short ride in a truck.
THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME IN 24 YEARS THAT I HAD RIDDEN ON THE BACK OF TRUCK. You see... when I was around 11 years old my brother made me ride on the back of his truck instead of inside the cab with him, his stupid girlfriend, and stupid cousin. The truck bed had a dry rotted floor and wasn't "safe" so I had to sit on the just waxed metal toolbox. You would of thought that they would know better since they were older or that my grandparents would of said NO WAY when they saw me drive off sitting like that... Nope... Instead, a few minutes later while doing 45 mph around a curve I the barefoot 11 year old slid off that tool box, screamed my brothers name, passed out, hit the pavement chin first and woke a bit later a complete mess. Had a guy not been sitting on his porch to pull me out of the rode when he did the on coming car would of hit me. A double whammy you could say... I'm also very lucky that a very skilled plastic surgeon was in the ER that night.
Soooo... Needless to say this 15 minute ride was torture. Reliving that day, that moment in my head the minute my skin touched the truck, the minute it drove off, every time we hit a bump... It was awful.
So kids... the moral of the story here
Friday, March 4, 2011
Koh Phi Phi Island, Thailand
3 nights in Koh Phi Phi Island....
What were some of the high lights?
What were some of the low lights?
Would I go back? No, not unless I knew the language.
The End of Thailand...
Cheers,
WMMc
What were some of the high lights?
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| me on the long tail boat on my way to our resort which is in the distance on the left... the villas built into the hillside... |
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| The beginning of our hike through the jungle to get to Ton Sai |
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| The View Point! |
- The amazing view almost everywhere you looked.
- The infinity pool at Villa 360 where we stayed and took nightly swims
- The long tail boat ride around all of Phi Phi Islands
- Seeing the beaches where they filmed a lot of the scenes from the movie "The Beach" were filmed (Leonardo Dicaprio)
- Surviving the most daring walk/hike of my life through the jungle in flip flops and a sundress ~ the hike involved a narrow path, an even more narrow ledge on a cliff (think death here) that involved a rope and later one of the most amazing view points that I have ever seen and even a guardian angel that eventually help guide us to backpackers heaven known as "Ton Sai"
- I also really liked the resort next door "Phi Phi Island Village Resort"
- My $6 elephant sundress
- The free happy hour from 5-6pm at our resort, Villa 360!! Bartenders were very nice and spoke fairly decent English.
- Seeing the sun rise and the commercial fishermen working on the boats on my boat ride back to the airport was a really pretty scene
What were some of the low lights?
- The 3 inch cockroach I killed with a pink complimentary croc shoe in our bathroom (fyi we stayed in Villa E2 at Villa 360) Granted were in living on a hillside in the middle of a jungle... but still... no matter where you are no one wants that in their bathroom.
- That we hardly knew how to say Thank You in Thai
- That hardly anyone spoke English at our resort
- The adult frog that we found clinging to our shower wall on night 2
- The free hotel breakfast... minus the fruit... had no covers.... so flies were all over it. I can do that many flies on my food. Just can't.
- Our boat guy spoke no English. So we think at one point he was asking us for more money even though we had already paid through the hotel... but because he couldn't speak English and we couldn't speak Thai... we have no idea why he was saying "200 Baht each" when we got to Maya Beach
- At Monkey Beach there were only 3 scared monkeys in the tree and a ton of rude obnoxious tourists trying to feed them when there were signs ALL OVER THAT SAID DO NO NEED THE MONKEYS. We stayed there about 5 minutes and left.
- That we didn't know before we booked our flight that there was not a ferry at that time to take us back to the airport. We found out once we got there that we would need to hire a private speed boat to take us to the airport. That private speed boat cost us $300 each. Totally ridiculous. Good for the island people with boats and bad for the tourists that did not know a head of time...
- Getting into that boat by myself at 6am with 3 men who spoke little English was also a scary. The choppy waters didn't help much either.
Would I go back? No, not unless I knew the language.
Here a some pictures of my time on Koh Phi Phi Island:
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| Viking Cave ~ I believe they hunt Bird Nests here for bird nest soup...Seriously. |
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| View from our balcony |
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| Location: Where they filmed the movie "THE BEACH" |
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| Our pool. I loved it so. |
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| Taking the long tail boat out for a little spin |
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| this kind of looks like a snail to me... |
The End of Thailand...
Cheers,
WMMc
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Life in Bangkok & The Grand Palace
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| Never ending traffic |
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| Street food by Chinatown~ Quail Eggs |
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| Pad Thai Street Food |
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| Praying to Buddha ~ tons of street stands to buy those yellow flower things |
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| Sewing on the street. This one happens to be about 8 feet from nonstop traffic~ Thats a mannequin hanging on a pole to her left. |
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| Foot Massage at Chang Foot Massage across from our hotel. At one point I had to figure out how to express "THAT HURTS PLEASE STOP". I dont think using my hand and waving it across my throat was good. She looked afraid... I think she thought I was saying "off with your head"... which I wasn't... |
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| parts of the Grand Palace |
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| location: Grand Palace |
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| Location: In front of the Emerald Buddha (which is only 2 feet tall and really old)... Dipping lotus buds in water for luck |
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| It was so hot when this picture was taken... Location: Grand Palace |
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
The Reclining Buddha
Wat Pho (วัดโพธิ์), or Wat Phra Chetuphon (วัดพระเชตุพน) as it is generally known to the Thais, is mainly famous for the huge Reclining Buddha statue it houses. At 20 acres large, it is the largest Wat in Bangkok, and is technically the oldest too, as it was built around 200 years before Bangkok became Thailand's capital. However, today the Wat today bears virtually no resemblance to that originally constructed, as it was almost entirely rebuilt by Rama I when the capital was moved to Bangkok. It holds the dual honors of having both Thailand's largest reclining Buddha image and the most number of Buddha images in Thailand.
Wat Pho is also famous as Thailand's first university, and is center for traditional Thai masage - the rich, famous and powerful have all been known to come here. Inscribed on stone in the walls of Wat Pho are all that was known about Thai massage dating from the reign of King Rama III (most previous texts were lost when the Burmese destroyed Ayuthaya)
To get a traditional massage here costs 150B for 30 mins, 250B for an hour and herbal massages are available at 350B an hour. If you want to experience traditional Thai massage, this is probably the best place available and is highly recommended, though be aware that it's not exactly a gentle experience. A foot reflexology massage is also available at 250B for 45 minutes.
The entrance to Wat Pho is on Chetuphon road. Entrance is 20B. It's open every day, opening hours are from 08.00am to 5.00pm, with a break from 12.00pm to 1.00pm.
Don't listen to anyone on the street as you try to enter telling you it's closed for a 'Buddhist holiday', 'cleaning' etc, or asking if you want to see the 'Lucky Buddha' instead - it's all part of a sophisticated gem scam.
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| Mother of Pearl feet... |
The highly impressive gold plated reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high, and is designed to illustrate the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. The feet and the eyes are engraved with mother-of-pearl decoration, and the feet also show the 108 auspicious characteristics of the true Buddha.
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| The Non-Thai pickpocket gang sign cracked me up. |
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| We got a massage (a mere $6) at the Wat Pho. I thought I was going to die. If not die I would surely come out so bruised that I would resemble a cheetah. It hurt!! They cracked my knuckles and even my toes without telling me they were going to do this. I am not one that pops/cracks my knuckles so I was a bit surprised. |
To get a traditional massage here costs 150B for 30 mins, 250B for an hour and herbal massages are available at 350B an hour. If you want to experience traditional Thai massage, this is probably the best place available and is highly recommended, though be aware that it's not exactly a gentle experience. A foot reflexology massage is also available at 250B for 45 minutes.
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| Wat Pho |
The entrance to Wat Pho is on Chetuphon road. Entrance is 20B. It's open every day, opening hours are from 08.00am to 5.00pm, with a break from 12.00pm to 1.00pm.
Don't listen to anyone on the street as you try to enter telling you it's closed for a 'Buddhist holiday', 'cleaning' etc, or asking if you want to see the 'Lucky Buddha' instead - it's all part of a sophisticated gem scam.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Bangkok Markets and More
There is SOOOO much to share that I'm going to do my best to give you a decent overview using pictures...Besides who doesn't love pictures?? I'd be lost without my camera.
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| daily set up ritual for Patpong Market |
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| set up complete and Patpong night market is ready for business |
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| Chinatown ~ BEST MARKET EVER!!! LOVED IT!! |
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| About to enter the hottest and most awful market ever ~ Pratunam Market...located in "shady-ville" or a "colorful area" as I read on the internet... It's Bangkok's largest clothing market... |
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| yep! thats real hair people! So if you ever need some or wonder where that long lost pony tail ended up... you will find it at Pratunam Market |
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| one of the alley ways inside this hot and crowded market we found a lady praying and that included needing to burn special pieces of paper in a bucket located in a place with no ventilation. We saw a lot of people doing this... |
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| Year of the Bunny... location... Siam Paragon (it's a fancy mall) It's one of the biggest shopping mall's in Asia |
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| No toilet paper... just that kitchen sprayer... To all my friends who have made fun of my constant runny nose over the years which has required me to always have Kleenex on my person... don't you wish you had my kleenex now! I did not need to use that community sprayer I merely reached in my purse and pulled out my pack of Kleenex. Thank you runny nose! |
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| Tuk Tuk rides... I constantly had Mike's voice in my head saying "Safety First"... so I never dared ride one. I probably should have, but we saw so many people with bandages that I decided that Safety First probably wasn't a bad idea... besides the Skytrain was sooo much faster and way less pollution in my lungs... |
Until then...
Cheers,
WMMc
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Vertigo
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| Bangkok at night 61 floors above ground |
One night we ate on the rooftop of the Banyan Tree Hotel at their "Vertigo" restaurant by rooftop I mean 61st floor and absolutely no roof. Tables started a mere 2 feet from the edge of the building. I don't think this would fly in the States but whatevs... we were of course seated at one of the tables by the edge, but not before I was told that shorts and flip flops were not allowed. My shorts went to my knees so it wasnt like I was trying to be a "hoochie" at Vertigo... Nonetheless, I was handed polyester grandma pants that were a few sizes to small for me (like 6 inches from buttoning, were they kids??) and what looked like 1960's garden shoes that have been worn by many... Seriously???!!! It was out of control. I LOOKED LIKE A FOOL!!
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| Putting on my complimentary clothes - GROSS! |
The view of Bangkok was amazing. One of the coolest views of a city that I have ever seen. It never ended. Simply Breathtaking. The sunset occurred during dinner which was pretty cool.
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| Vertigo Restaurant at Banyan Tree Hotel |
Here are some pictures of our Vertigo Adventure (Ena has the picture of me about to throw up while putting on my complimentary clothes)
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| see how close my chair is to the edge... |
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| The menus were huge! |
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| The food was cute! |
Saturday, February 26, 2011
3 nights in Bangkok
On the 11.5+ hour nonstop flight to Bangkok we realized that not only do a lot of people walk around bare foot, but they even go into the plane bathroom bare foot. That's gross people! Please know you are stepping in pee and who knows what else. I now ask you to please stop it!
We flew Thai Airways and they were fantastic! One of the best I have flown. Beautiful uniforms, very nice attendants, a TON OF FREE BOOZE, and constantly feeding you. You also have a bit more room than the average flight.
We landed, get in the airport taxi and head to Le Meridien Bangkok located just across the street from Patpong Market (a racy area that has a night market) this is where we learned what all the "sexy show" menu items were. We were silly enough to ask, but not interested enough to go in and see.
The above picture is the landmark across the street that we used for knowing we were on the right street or not to go to the Skytrain (public transportation) We LOVE the Skytrain. It is clean, has air conditioning, even tv's inside showing commercials, they use arrows on the platform for people to stand on to keep things orderly when loading and unloading each car. It was amazing. It was also REALLY cheap.
When we checked into the hotel our room wasnt ready yet...we needed to wait around for 4+ hours... This meant we would go sight seeing in jeans, long sleeve shirts, etc... in 90+ degree humid sunshine. I didn't even have a pony tail holder for my hair or sunglasses!
I had to use Ena's scarf which made me look ridiculous. Speaking of ridiculous look at our outfits below... we did not blend in well...
More about Bangkok in a bit... I need to get ready for a brunch date... Chat soon!
Cheers,
WMMc
We flew Thai Airways and they were fantastic! One of the best I have flown. Beautiful uniforms, very nice attendants, a TON OF FREE BOOZE, and constantly feeding you. You also have a bit more room than the average flight.
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| Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel (stayed in room 1022) |
We landed, get in the airport taxi and head to Le Meridien Bangkok located just across the street from Patpong Market (a racy area that has a night market) this is where we learned what all the "sexy show" menu items were. We were silly enough to ask, but not interested enough to go in and see.
The above picture is the landmark across the street that we used for knowing we were on the right street or not to go to the Skytrain (public transportation) We LOVE the Skytrain. It is clean, has air conditioning, even tv's inside showing commercials, they use arrows on the platform for people to stand on to keep things orderly when loading and unloading each car. It was amazing. It was also REALLY cheap.
When we checked into the hotel our room wasnt ready yet...we needed to wait around for 4+ hours... This meant we would go sight seeing in jeans, long sleeve shirts, etc... in 90+ degree humid sunshine. I didn't even have a pony tail holder for my hair or sunglasses!
I had to use Ena's scarf which made me look ridiculous. Speaking of ridiculous look at our outfits below... we did not blend in well...
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| Ena decided to roll her jeans up |
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| heat or not the camera is coming with me |
Cheers,
WMMc
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Insert Thailand Here
Sorry for the delay... I am currently roaming around Thailand... I'll be back on February 22 with juicer stories than a fresh Dole pineapple so stay tuned!
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