Friday, November 8: Waterfall

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Natural colors, made from plants and roots, November 2019

Another day, another tour. Oudune picked us up at 9:00 for a drive in the country. Where the cruise yesterday took us north, today we drove south to the Kuang Si National Park. But not without making a stop where you can buy stuff (of course).

Weavers, and a tourist taking a class, November 2019

Our stop was at the Ock Pop Tock Weaving Centre, where we got to watch six or so woman weaving on hand looms, making intricate patterns. A guide showed us around, and we saw the different plants that make up the all-natural colors that they use in their yarn.

We continued on to the Kuang Si Waterfall, located in a national park. The park also houses a bear sanctuary, where bears are housed after somehow being “rescued”. I have no idea what that means, and we only saw one bear sleeping.

The waterfalls, however, were quite cool (1).

Cold cold water(falls), November 2019

You walk uphill along a path, passing waterfalls of increasing size. There are pools below each set of falls where bathing is allowed, and hardy souls were going in. There were also areas with lots of “No swimming – Danger!” signs, where stupid souls were going in.

Quiet little table for two, November 2019

The over-the-top piece of this day was when we saw that they had set up a lunch table for the two of us – just Sally & me – by a quiet little pond, away from all the other tourists. We had our staff of four – guide, driver, waiter and busboy/cook – taking care of us. Pure decadence.

In the afternoon, hung around the room house for a while, and then we took an afternoon walk through town. Dinner was at the Amantaka again. Food here in Laos is extremely reasonably priced – the hotel meal was under $50. Of course, it’s still cheaper outside the hotel: my lunch in a real restaurant with a drink was about $12, and street food is far cheaper.

(1) Actually, very cool. The water was freezing.

Thursday, November 7: Cruise to the caves

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Thursday started early. Really early. While we’ve had to set alarm clocks any number of times on this trip to ensure that we got our included-in-the-price breakfast before a morning tour, today we were to see the monks walk asking for alms. And provide them with said alms. This is an 800 year old tradition whereby devotees and now tourists place sticky rice in bowls carried by the monks. This provides food for the monks (although they have other food as well) and, at least for the devotees, shows respect for the monks.

A young monk collects sticky rice from Sally, November 2019

So we arose at 5:00, met our host at the front of the hotel at 5:30, and sat on cushions he had placed along the street in front of the hotel with bowls of sticky rice. We had to don sashes properly wrapped around us. About 40 monks passed us in four or five groups (1). While I got the picture above, I was mostly busy digging handfuls of rice out of my baskets to drop into the bowls carried by the monks. Also, it was still before sunrise, and pretty dark (2). Most of the images I shot didn’t come out.

By 6:15 we were back in our room house. Sally went back to sleep, while I caught up on the blog.

Taking the kids to school, November 2019

We had a late breakfast and then I walked into town to see what it looks like during the day, with no guide, and no night market. It’s a pretty sleepy town. There are extremely few regular cars here. Traffic in town and the surrounding area is dominated by motorbikes and tuk tuks. The tuks here are different than those we saw in Thailand. At least in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, they are used for short trips and mostly by tourists. Here they’re a major form of transportation, and so they are bigger and more robust.

Our Captain & crew, November 2019

Our main activity for the day was a river cruise on the Mekong. We really had no idea what to expect other than sitting in a boat all afternoon with our guide and having some snacks while we looked at the scenery and made of couple of stops. I think we were both a bit afraid that we would be uncomfortable in the hot sun and bored. It turns out we were anything but uncomfortable, and we weren’t bored either.

The Mekong Queen, November 2019 (3)

The boat was a big surprise. It was extremely long and narrow for its length, and setup up to accommodate maybe six guests. We, of course, were only two. There were two king-sized day beds separated by a bar and serving station. We were outnumbered by the waiter, the captain and our guide.

Dove Mountain, November 2019

The scenery was beautiful. We’re just at the end of the rainy season, so everything is still lush and green. And with the boat moving and creating a breeze, and being shaded from the sun by the roof and some clouds, the temperature was about perfect.

Whiskeytown, November 2019

We made two stops. The first was a little village where they distill whiskey, which was cute. The second, our endpoint, was a cave where 2,000 Buddhas sit looking down (4).

River life: even monks have to work sometimes, November 2019

Along the way we saw that the Mekong is still a river where some people have not moved into the 21st century.

Stairway to wisdom, November 2019

The last stop was a pair of caves which rise above the river which house hundreds (5) of Buddhas, reportedly placed there by local villagers over hundreds of years. The lower cave is a couple of steep flights up, and the upper cave is a couple of hundred steep steps up.

Billions of Buddhas, November 2019

We just visited the lower, which contains most of the Buddhas (6).

Afternoon catering, November 2019

The cruise home was peaceful. In fact, the current was strong enough that the captain slowed down so we wouldn’t get home too early – this was supposed to be a sunset cruise. But we enjoyed our afternoon snacks (7). Unfortunately, the sky clouded over before sunset so it just got dark.

(1) There are more than 1,000 monks in Luang Prabang.

(2) 1/13s, f/1.8, ISO 3200 dark.

(3) Not really it’s name, which was written in Lao script. Which I can’t read.

(4) Buddha’s eyes are almost always shown looking down as he meditates.

(5) Our guide said there are thousands. I’m not sure that’s true, nor am I sure about the provenance of the statues. The information I can find all seems pretty sketchy.

(6) Apparently the local villagers are no more energetic than we are.

(7) There was enough food that Sally didn’t need dinner.

Wednesday, November 6: More temples, more markets, more food

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Breakfast room at the Amantaka, November 2019

So I’m beginning to develop a sense of how this vacation is going to look. After breakfast Wednesday morning our guide, Oudone, met us at 8:30 for a “Temples of Luang Prabang” tour. Luang Prabang is much smaller than Chiang Mai, and also much poorer, so there are fewer temples of note.

Which Buddha is this?, November 2019

But the drill is the same: out of the van (1), walk around the grounds a bit, guide buys tickets, shoes off, wonder at the Buddha, shoes on, off to the next stop. The temples are nice, and the statuary and decorative arts are often beautiful, but it’s kind of like the 58th church you’ve seen while touring Italy.

Which is scarier, King or monk?, November 2019

We also saw the former Presidential palace. Before the communist Pathet Lao took over the country in 1975, two successive Kings lived in this large building, which is quite simple by Western standards. We had to do the shoes-off thing here as well, even though it is neither a temple nor a home (it’s now a museum). There are lots of era-appropriate artifacts in the palace, per our guide, but I’m skeptical that they were originally from there (2).

Either 300 steps uphill, or a telephoto lens, November 2019

 

Another activity that was part of this tour was climbing a hill to a temple at the summit. But it was pretty warm, and the climb was more than 300 steps, so we decided to bail. I could do it any time on my own, anyway.

Around 11:00 Oudone asked if we wanted to see more temples, and we declined. So the four hour tour was over in 2 1/2. The way I look at it, we already paid, and we would be happier back in our room house than taking our shoes off and on again.

Lunch at the Amantaka: inside or out?, December 2019

We decided that we would try lunch at the hotel, giving them another chance, and then go out for dinner. Since we had so much fun at the Thai cooking class a couple of days ago, we had Lao-style food for lunch and booked a reservation at a Lao restaurant (3) for dinner. Turns out that this restaurant, Tamarind, also runs cooking classes. One of the people serving us had a name tag saying “Trainee”.

Luxury tuk tuk, November 2019

The Amantaka has a pair of luxury tuk tuks, so they drove us over to the restaurant, probably saving us $3. The restaurant manger was very attentive; the hotel had given him the garlic speech and he spent a lot of time working with us on ensuring our selections were safe. Which they were.

Preparing for the night market. November 2019

After dinner we walked over to the night market. It’s obviously much smaller than the ones in Chiang Mai or Bangkok, stretching over 4-6 long blocks. From there is was a 10 minute walk back to the hotel.

(1) The four of us – Sally & me, guide, driver – are covering basically no distance in a 13 person van.

(2) No pictures were allowed inside the palace.

(3) There is plenty of Western-style food in town, but I suspect it is as tasty as what the hotel served us.

Tuesday, November 5: Toodles to Thailand

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It’s hard to believe that we’ve finished a week already, and it’s time to leave Thailand. We spent the morning relaxing, packing, reading. And then we rushed through lunch because we misjudged how long our order would take.

Mug shots, November 2019

Anyway, we made it to the airport in about 15 minutes (1) and were, as expected, met by our escorts who expedited our passage through passport control and got us to a lounge. The same process repeated itself in reverse when we arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos. While Thailand does not require a visa for US citizens, Laos does, and you typically get it when you arrive at your port of entry. They take a picture of you with their camera, and they also want a hard copy passport photo which goes somewhere in their files. And US$25 per person in cash, clean unmarked and un-torn bills. So Sally & the Bassman are forever on file here.

Our backyard, November 2019

Our accommodations (2) here at the Amantaka are pretty amazing. The place only has 24 rooms, and we apparently got an upgrade for some reason. We have a bedroom, an office, a large dressing room, a room just with a tub, a bedroom of course, and a giant pool.

Bed’n’Bath, November 2019

Office and living room, November 2019

While we were checking in, Tom, the GM, came by and we chatted. Turns out he was either the GM or a manager at two of the camps and the two city hotels we stayed at on our trip to South Africa and Botswana.

The dinner setting was much better than the food, November 2019

Because we had no better idea, we had dinner at the hotel. I had a mediocre piece of salmon, while Sally had mediocre gnocchi. Perhaps it will improve as we go along.



(1) Take that, any big city in the US.

(2) Sally refers to this as our “house”.

Monday, November 4: More (Chiang) Mai

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Editor’s note: I started writing this on Wednesday, November 6, and looked back on my calendar to remind me what we did two days ago. Turns out that the umbrella factory visit was actually not Sunday, but was Monday. So you’re not imagining you already read about the umbrellas.

They come in colors everywhere, November 2019

Monday was a light day until late afternoon, when we were scheduled to be picked up and taken to a Thai cooking class outside of town. After talking with June last night, we decided to leave a bit early and stop along the way in an area that has a number of craft businesses. But not the tourist-focused things you see on sidewalks; rather, commercial-grade enterprises that sell to other businesses as well as to consumers.

Tangled up in blue, November 2019

The most interesting was an umbrella factory. The public space had a dozen or so workers making umbrellas of different sizes and shapes, along with a retail shop. Sally was very tempted, as they were very pretty, but the difficulty of carrying them for the next three weeks and getting them home ultimately dissuade her.

Sally’s silver, November 2019

The next stop was a building that housed a silver jewelry and decorative items store, and a fabric and clothing business. The salesman in the fabric place was pretty pushy, which is a sure-fire way to get us to not buy anything at all. The silver place was much more pleasant, and Sally ultimately bought a necklace.

Pea teaching Bassman (lol) & Sally to cook Thai, November 2019

The cooking class was just for the two of us in a large teaching kitchen at the home of Pea, our teacher. Her English was excellent, she was very animated and she had a very nice way about her as she tried to get us to pound our ingredients properly with a mortar and pestle.

We each made five dishes and ate more food than we needed to. I’m not a Thai food fan (1), but I ate all of my creations and finished a couple of them. After dinner, Pea collected our email addresses and by the time we got home we had all the recipes. I’m sure I’ll never use them, but perhaps Sally will. In any event, it was fun.

Night Market, Chiang Mai, November 2019

After driving back to the city we went to one of the night markets. Much like Walking Street, this is a huge expanse of small booths occupied by vendors selling all kinds of stuff. Much like craft fairs in the US, a fair portion of the merchandise is not really local; much is imported from China. But it’s still fun.

Sally bought some elephant pants. But she overpaid, spending 120 baht vs. the 100 baht they cost in Bangkok (2).

(1) But you knew that.

(2) 120 baht = ~$4; 100 baht = ~ $3.30.

Sunday, November 3: Chiang Mai

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We settled into our hotel yesterday and I gave you the early read on what we think about it. To be fair and balanced, the staff here is great: friendly, accommodating and efficient. We have a butler here (Ray) as well, although we only saw him at check in. Since then, he’s been texting me to get updates on whether we need anything, but certainly has not reached the level of Bright from Bangkok.

Today’s office, November 2019

And as I said, the place is quite attractive. I’m writing this sitting on our expansive veranda, all done in teak and tile, with a daybed and a rocking chair.

Chiang Mai flower market, November 2019

Sunday started early: June (our guide) picked us up at the hotel at 8:30 for a four hour city tour. We drove a short way to the flower market, where we walked for a while. Then we got in bicycle rickshaws for a ride around the perimeter of the old city. The moat which once provided part of the defense against invaders is still there, and a tiny piece of the wall stands as well.

Rickshaws, November 2019

Chiang Mai temples, November 2019

From there we did the temple thing in the city, and then drove up Doi Suthep mountain to a famous temple at 1,055m (3,461′). Wat (1) Phra That Doi Suthep is traditionally thought to be located where a white elephant died. It contains both Buddhist and Hindu aspects, and June explained some of the relationship between the two great Eastern religions (2).

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, November 2019

Hand-made jade, November 2019

On the way down we stopped at a jade factory. Not just a tourist shop, this place actually makes lots of jade items from small pieces of jewelry and figurines to very large sculptures. Sally bought a bracelet, which they were happy to resize for her on the spot.

Let a smile be your umbrella, November 2019

Next door was an umbrella factory. They make all kind of umbrellas, from very small ones for fancy drinks to very large one to be used for decorative purposes. Sally decided to have the appliqué they were using on the umbrellas applied to her bag.

By the time we got back to our hotel, it was mid-afternoon and we were starving. The hotel restaurant offered to make a special garlic-free sauce for Sally, so we had pizza for lunch.

Chiang Mai Walking Street: Crowds & music, November 2019

Many Asian cities have a walking street(s) and night markets. The walking street is pedestrian-only either some or all the time; the night markets are bazaars that set up late in the day and run till the wee hours. They mostly sell merchandise of all sorts, but also have music and food. I decided to go to the walking street here to see the crowds and find some dinner, while Sally stayed behind and relaxed in the room. After a quick discussion with the hotel staff, I installed the Grab (3) app on my phone and ordered a car to drive me over. The 10 minute ride cost me $2.75.

Chiang Mai Walking Street: goods & services, November 2019

The place was packed, and huge. It was many blocks long along a wide avenue, and extended into the side streets as well. It’s hard for me to estimate how long it was because it was so crowded I couldn’t walk very quickly, or indeed at any sustained pace.

I spent a couple of hours walking around not just the walking street, but also passing the night market and eventually walking back to our hotel.

(1) “Wat” means temple

(2) He also explained Buddhism is not actually a religion; there is no god.

(3)Very similar to Uber, but offers a cash payment option as well.

Saturday, November 2: Dinner Addendum

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Good music after good food, November 2019

I forgot to mention that our butler gave us a bunch of recommendations for dinner, and one of them turned out to be great. We drove over in a Grab (1) car that the hotel ordered for us, and had a great meal. To our surprise, they had a trio singing western-style music with a great singer. They started after we finished dinner, but we stayed and listened for almost another hour.

We went back to the hotel by tuk tuk.

(1) Grab is similar to Uber, but offers a cash payment option.

Saturday, November 2: Bye bye Bangkok

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We are making eight stops on this trip, and we completed the first one Saturday. We left Bangkok to fly north to Chiang Mai (1).

We were concerned about packing for this flight, as Bangkok Air has a reputation for good service and strict baggage limits. According to their website, you are allowed 20 kg (44 lbs) checked and 5 kg (11 lbs) hand luggage. I wasn’t worried about the checked limit, but 11 lbs. carry-on is really tight. Sally’s rolling carry-on case is 6 lbs. empty; my cameras, critical meds, batteries, iPad and iPhone are around 9 lbs. without a bag.

So Sally packed into a soft bag for this flight, and we carried everything “lightly”.

Turns out no one ever looked at the hand luggage. They weighed our checked bags, which came in at about 38 kg in total (2). But I’ll take it. We have another flight with them to get back to Bangkok on our way home; now we can relax a bit more for that one.

The flight itself was short (1:10) and uneventful. We were met at the gate by our escorts, who collected our luggage and handed us over to June, our guide for our stay in Chiang Mai.

Pretty grounds, November 2019

We’re staying at another boutique hotel, 137 Pillars. They have less than 20 rooms. The public spaces and building are beautiful: teak structures, a lot of open areas. Our room has a huge balcony. But the room itself is weird.

Attractive, but dysfunctional, November 2019

First: no drawers to unpack in. As in, none. I mean, this is a comfortably sized room. It has a good sized dressing area with plenty of hangers and two little drawers full of the hair dryer and laundry bags. They found room for a full sized rocking chair. There is no dresser. There are no drawers in either night table – one is just a small table, the other is full of the minibar and coffee maker. But it does have room for a bar cart with lots of glasses and drinks for sale. So our stuff is spread out all over the room on any flat service: under the bathroom sinks, in suitcases lying open, etc.

Second: the bathroom is lovely, all glass and chrome. A huge free-standing tub in the middle, shower and toilet on either side. Both with clear glass doors. Yes, the water closet has a clear glass door. Not that I’m overly modest, but I don’t get the point of a door that offers no privacy. There are both indoor and outdoor showers. The vanity also has no drawers, and the counter is filled by the two sinks.

There are other random items in the room taking space that could be better served by storage: a large tv standing on the floor (not wall mounted), a Bionaire air filter, a Lucite magazine rack with advertising stuff, the bar table.

The balcony is beautiful, but the mosquitos are everywhere. We’re both wearing DEET now.

Anyway, we scattered our stuff around and went for dinner.

(1) “Chiang” = city; “Mai” = new; we’re going to New City LoL.

(2) Amazingly they allow a family to pool their luggage allowances.

Friday, November 1: Transportation Travails

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Friday was our last full day in Bangkok. As we had deliberately limited our pre-booked tours here to only one on Thursday, we had to find something to do. We had extensive conversations with our butler, Bright (1).

Bright the Butler, November 2019

A butler at the Siam Hotel is unlike anything I’ve experienced before. He is a combination personal concierge and personal customer service representative to the hotel. He will make dining reservations at the hotel or elsewhere, make suggestions for tours and arrange transportation, get housekeeping to bring towels, etc. Bright was an engaging and friendly young man who seemed to unobtrusively follow us around. In fact, he always seemed to appear whenever we were somewhere in the hotel. Late each day, he would talk to us about our plans for the following day, making suggestions and discussing alternatives.

Long-tail boat, November 2019

After deep discussions, we agreed that a long-tail boat ride down a canal to an artists’ area would be just the ticket, and so he booked a boat. Long-tail boats are long, narrow boats with an eight cylinder car engine mounted above the stern driving a propeller at the end of a long exposed driveshaft. They are loud – very loud – and go fast. Unfortunately when we came down to the dock to meet our boat, the wind was making the river too choppy for us, so we cancelled the boat ride (2).

Jim Thompson House, November 2019

We developed a backup plan, which was to take a taxi (3) to the Jim Thompson house. Thompson was an American OSS (4) operative during World War II who worked in Thailand, and who decided to stay after the war, and developed the Thai silk industry. After he disappeared while vacationing in Malaysia in 1967, the home he had created was turned into a museum. It’s quite nice, with a number of buildings he relocated to the site, reconstructed and furnished with Asian antiques. Unfortunately pictures are not allowed in the main building, so you’ll have to look elsewhere (5).

From there we walked over to an the Bangkok Art & Culture Center, but first went to find some lunch. We found that unique Thai restaurant, Jamie Oliver’s Italian Bistro. Pizza and pasta! After lunch we went back to look at the art, which was okay, but not great. A bunch of the pieces looked like parent visiting day for second grade.

How do I find the Siam Hotel?, November 2019

Getting home was an adventure. I stupidly decided to try a tuk tuk (6), although a 25 minute ride in one is probably not a good idea. But the driver I chose not only had no idea where the hotel was, but couldn’t understand the printed direction card I gave him, use Google Maps, or get directions from his friend – another tuk tuk driver he flagged down. So after 10 minutes of driving aimlessly, we bailed out (without paying) and found real taxi.

Street food in Chinatown, November 2019

We had dinner (for the second time) in the hotel restaurant, then afterwards I went down to see Chinatown. Chinatown in Bangkok is several blocks of street food. I mostly wanted to see the crowd and the action, as I had already eaten and wasn’t really interested in trying the boiled squid with egg and other delicacies on offer. And crowded it was.

Posing, November 2019

The main part of the area runs along both sides of a wide boulevard. The crowds significantly overflow the sidewalks onto the street.

Food for sale, November 2019

Some of the vendors apparently are renowned, as the lines to buy their take-away food, or sit at tiny plastic tables on plastic stools, was very long.

Crowded streets, November 2019

Getting home was again an adventure. The first two taxis I tried (no tuk tuk for me this time) wanted double what I paid to get there. After futilely bargaining with each, I finally found a driver who (a) was willing to run the meter, and (b) could find the hotel. Twenty minutes and $3 later I was home.

—-

(1) I’m pretty sure “Bright” is not what his mother named him. Yet that’s what his name tag said. All of the butlers (there were several) had western names on their tags.

(2) Bright negotiated a big discount on the cancellation fee with the driver.

(3) I didn’t know what to expect, as there are three levels of taxis: cars, tuk tuks, and motor bikes. The 25 minute car taxi ride cost about $3 on the meter.

(4) OSS: Office of Strategic Services, the WWII predecessor to the CIA. Yes, he was a spy.

(5) You can look here: http://www.jimthompsonhouse.com/

(6) Tuk tuks are motorized tricycles. The front looks like a motorcycle with a windscreen, while the back is a canopied seat for two that occasionally holds up to four. They don’t appear to be equipped with mufflers.

Thursday, October 31: All that glitters

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Our guide, Moo (1), picked us up at 8:00 this morning for our half day Temple & Palace tour. Meeting at 8:00 means getting up before 7, which seems very un-vacation like, but we’re 11 hours ahead of EDT and still jet lagged anyway. We were a bit late, but light traffic enabled us to recover the time and we got to the first stop before it even opened at 8:30.

I can’t even tell you what we actually saw, at least not without doing a lot of research from guide books. It felt to me like we ran for three hours straight, visiting temples and palaces built by various kings over the last hundreds of years. Between Moo’s accent, my unfamiliarity with anything to do with Thai history, and the seemingly endless number of Kings named Rama (2), I quickly lost track of who built what.

Not that it mattered.

Can you say “glitz”, children?, October 2019

Everything was covered in gold and jewels. I don’t mean swords, crowns and furniture, I mean entire buildings. And statues of angles, Buddhas, devils, and monkeys.

Monks, a guard and us, October 2019

By shear luck, we came to a temple built by someone or other where a group of monks were chanting and blessing people. We got sprinkled with holy water, were given string bracelets and apparently were blessed. He didn’t say much (that I could understand).

More glitz. And us. October, 2019

There were an endless number of statues of angles, devils and monkeys. And lots of gold leaf, except for the stuff that was solid gold. And Buddhas.

After three hours of this, we were ready to retreat.

Siam Hotel, October 2019

We came back to the hotel around noon, where we had lunch. We spent the rest of the day at the hotel, getting massages, lounging around, using our private pool, and just generally relaxing.

The spa at Siam, October 2019

(1) She told us Moo is the nickname her mother gave her as a baby. Confusingly, it means “pig” in Thai. Which is not considered an insult.

(2) Rama IV was immortalized by Yul Brenner in The King and I