Hi Everyone!
Mr. P and I just got back from our travels earlier this week and are trying to get readjusted to our local time. Any advice, Gummy? :-) This will be part of a series of travel posts I'll upload over the next few days. There are simply too many pictures!
Before we arrived in Taiwan, we flew to Bangkok, Thailand to pay our respects, homage, and thanks to the Four-Faced Buddha at Erawan Shrine. The total time from leaving our home in Los Angeles to checking into the hotel was over 24 hours. While there, we also booked tours with Angmo and Air.
So, here are a few picture highlights from our Bangkok trip.
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| Ayuttaya, ruins with broken Buddhas |
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| Ayuttaya, coconut sugar delicacy |
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| Floating Market, tom yum pork noodles |
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| Near Ayuttaya, Wat Pa-In Portuguese tower |
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| Shopping at MBK |
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| Bangkok McD's, jetlagged and hungry! Green sauce is a wasabi sauce you can order for 9 baht. |
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| McD's chicken porridge! |
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| McD's tuna pie. It was salty AND sweet! |
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We also went to the Railroad Market. Mr. P was 6 inches from the train as it barreled past. We have the video for it but I can't upload it directly to my blog without going through YouTube, so I think I'll leave it for now.
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| Ayuttaya by way of river cruise |
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| Ayuttaya tuk tuks |
These pictures are only a handful of many that Mr. P and I took. I can't upload them all, but I would highly highly recommend a personal visit to Bangkok for all of you.
Our tour guides:
Yaowarak Saithongpatigul (aka Angmo)
email: yaowarak@thaisabailife.com
Notes: The things that stood out to me about Angmo from last year were her immense knowledge of Thai culture and history, as well as her sense of humor. I knew she would be the perfect guide to start off Mr. P and my tour in Thailand, and I was right! I was struck by how prepared she was for every moment of the tour by having fun and informational handouts on the rides to the actual tour locations, being able to contextualize nearly everything we saw, and retaining her sense of humor through everything. I can honestly say that if you book with Angmo, you will learn new things about Thailand that are not included in traditional tours. Angmo's tours might be a little high, price-wise, but you'd be getting the whole package. She covers admission fees, transportation, food, snacks and beverages. Basically, you don't need to worry about anything, other than souvenirs. One really impressive thing was that she actually remembered who I was from last year! You can't have a better person to be your guide than Angmo. I highly highly recommend your first tour be with Angmo.
Photjaman Reamsan (aka Air)
email: photjaman1978@gmail.com or info@bkktours.com
Notes: We booked Air's tour to the Floating Market and the Railroad Market. She covered all our transportation fees and meals. She's very knowledgeable on practical things, probably what most tourists will ask her about shopping in Bangkok. She spent a great deal of time teaching us that Bangkok's commerce is based on a system of bargaining. Sometimes, you can bargain down 60-75% lower than the actual price of things. Mr. P found his hidden bargaining talent at the Floating Market, so I let him handle all our purchases after that. :) The highlight of the Railroad Market is, of course, standing 6 inches away from a train barreling past you and watching all the vendors move there umbrellas, awnings, and wares off the tracks.
4 comments:
Wow looks like you guys had a fantastic time!!! Not sure how I feel about tuna pie though :-/ was the coconut treat good? I loooove anything coconut!
Ha! Wish I had some secret way to beat jet lag because it's never easy & most people just laugh when I tell them what I do! I stay up for a full 24 hrs (or longer or a little shorter depending on the amount of time change - basically I skip one night's sleep) so that I'm so crazy tired by the next day that it takes no effort to fall asleep at my normal bed time. Puts me right back on track. Lol :-)
Looks like you guys had a great time! I'm glad you made it back safely! =)
That's so weird that McD has chicken porridge & tuna pie in Thailand! haha. That's pretty neat though.
@Gummy The tuna pie was not that bad. I'd have it again. The wasabi paste, in my humble opinion, can be made at home with a mixture of sweet mayo and wasabi. The coconut treat from Ayutthaya was AWESOME! It's a sort of coconut cotton candy (but thicker and coarser strands) wrapped up in a coconut crepe. It's sweet with a hint of coconut and some nutty flavor.
Your method makes theoretical sense. I wish I had the strength to stay up ... but I just can't help these eyes closing this time around... :)
@Linh Thank you! We are glad to be back and have our kids (cats) with us again. We missed them a lot, and I was starting to feel guilty for not working and spending money on everything!
The chicken porridge was actually really good! But yeah, it really was neat to see what they had on the menu! Lol! They gave us little dishes for the ketchup. We didn't know what they were for so we asked them for little paper cups for the ketchup. There was a moment where we all just stared at each other. Then they gave us more little dishes for ketchup. *light bulb on!* LOL!
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