Hello Chinatown!

There couldn’t be more of a contrast in environments than moving from Koh Tao to Bangkok Chinatown in 8 hours!  From chill to literally hundreds of thousands of Chinese conducting business at a break-neck pace.  I’ve never experienced the sounds and sights (but then, I’ve never been to China).    We are staying at the Shanghai Mansion, a clean, quiet and spacious hotel in the center of Chinatown.  We spent the day walking, first looking for the Phahurat Market here, hoping for some leads on some interesting silk or handwovens.  I was disappointed, probably because I didn’t know what to ask for.  Cambodia and Viet Nam will find this fiber lover asking the hotel for a local tour.

But we were quite successful in our hunt for the famous Chinatown street food!  John located Khun Thot’s kun chiang, a famous sausage maker, who still makes his sausages by hand, using an old family recipe.  Delicious and we are taking some on the road to Cambodia tomorrow.  Another find on the same street (an alley, really), was Khanom Jeep Wat Yuan. The vendor has been there for 50 years and sells Chinese steamed dumplings from his cart–to die for!  We bought a bunch to eat on the bus tomorrow!  Finally, we did take some more photos of the ubiquitous temples.  But I think we we can skirt the flooding and get to Angor Wat in Siet Riep, Cambodia, you’ll like the results.  Stay safe at home.  We miss you!

Twin peaks

We made a pact that we will only dive warm water from here on out!  Talk about a gorgeous re-entry to the sport.  Warm water, visibility 20 meters at least, and VERY helpful dive masters.  We’d recommend the Crystal Dive Shop on Kho Tao to anyone from beginning to expert; best instruction we’ve ever had!

Anyhow, we are enjoying our last full day on Koh Tao, exploring another beach tomorrow before flying back to Bangkok to stay in Chinatown for 2 nights before mosying over to Cambodia.  We are on the weather watch though, because all the travelers coming this way are saying there is terrible flooding in the north, possibly moving as far as Bangkok later this week.  One gal said she’d just come from Siem Reip, our Cambodian first stop, and they were up to their hips in water.

But we agreed, Koh Tao is like Cozumel was when we first started diving there in the early 80’s; spot on the map that no one (yet) seems to know about.

Koh Tao

Greetings from the Gulf of Thailand!  We flew from Bangkok to Koh Samui this morning, happy to have a respite from a very busy city. We toured the Jim Thompson House yesterday.  He was a soldier in WWII who ended up stationed in SE Asia and spent the rest of his life helping the indigenous people of Thailand to revitalize the silk industry that had been languishing here.   His big breakthrough was the design of costumes for “The King and I”.  He built quite a home for himself and his community!  I’m posting a picture of one of his silk looms.

After arriving in Koh Samui, we hopped a transit ferry for a 2 hour ride to Koh Tao, often called “The Rock” by the intrepid divers who frequent this island.  The ferry was full of 20 and 30 somethings who were headed for the first stop: Koh Pha-Ngan, for the Full Moon Party!  Most sporting tattoos that would set our bank accounts back a bit, they looked ready for the occasion!

I’m posting a photo of Koh Tao as our ferry arrived.  It is quite low key, our room is gorgeous for $50/night, and we’re getting our refresher course to go diving tomorrow.  More to come!

Bird Lady

Day 2 Bangkok.  We visited the Standing Buddha and the Grand Palace yesterday with an energetic tuk tuk driver as our escort.  We survived the snarls of traffic and take no prisoners approach to road navigation.  Alive to tell about it, John took this foto of this woman selling cages of 4-5 birds for $3 (90 baht).  It is said that releasing these birds to Buddha will bring you good luck!

We’ve arrived!

We’re editing photos to post, but thought you should all know we are safely tucked into the Bangkok Loft Hotel!  We have managed to adjust to our new time zone with the assistance of many Starbucks and the wonderful local beer!  Yesterday was consumed with acquiring a Viet Nam visa and visiting a Buddhist ceremony.  Today we are off to the Chao Phraya River to visit Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) and try to get into China town before coming back to the hotel to relax before meeting friends for dinner.  Photos to follow!

 

Google Map

Friends, Thanks for staying the course as I learn how to use this blog site!  We leave at 3:10 today out of Bellingham, and arrive in Bangkok in the evening of Oct. 3 (Thailand time).  I am hoping you can scope out a map of our planned journey by cutting this url and pasting it in your browser.

http://g.co/maps/55tks

Chao!