Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand
January 24 - February 8, 2024
Mike and Judy Henderson
In this installment, we have one more day in Chiang Mai, then fly to Bangkok where we'll finish the tour.
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2/4/2024 (Sunday) We visit the Buddhist temple Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. The temple is located on the mountain side at about 3,500 feet altitude.
The big bus could only take us part way up the hill because of the winding road and lack of parking. We transferred to small buses which took us to the entrance area of the Wat at about 2,750 feet. There are 309 stairs to take you the remaining distance, or you can take a horizontal elevator (something like a funicular).
Here's one of the small buses - I caught Machiko in an awkward position but didn't have any other pictures of the buses.
The steps to get into the ticket office were steep. They don't look bad in this picture, but they were steep.
Jeff offered us the opportunity to walk the 309 steps up to the Wat, but no one accepted. Some did walk the steps coming down.
We went to the elevator area and loaded into a car. A car is about the size of a medium-sized elevator.
Here's one of the cars coming down a track - you can see the size. They call this a funicular, but it really isn't. A funicular is a system of two cars operating on a steep slope. The two cars are hooked together on the same cable, so that when one goes up, the other goes down. They meet in the middle and the track splits into two tracks to allow then to pass.
The weight of the two funicular cars are similar, varying only in the difference in the number of passengers between the two cars, so not a lot of energy is required to operate the system.
This system is more like an elevator - there is no counterbalancing second car. The car is just hauled up and down the same way an elevator is lifted or descends.
A view up the track, with another car coming down.
Some scenes at the Wat. I don't know anything about Buddhism so I don't know the symbolism of displays at the Wat. I did try to learn about Buddhism during the trip, but I just couldn't quite figure it out.
It is a rich temple, well maintained and with a lot of gold and precious stone decorations.
Here's the first building we encountered. The steps at the right side of the picture are the entrance to the main part of the Wat. Visitors have to remove their shoes before entering, and there was a shoe storage site just to the side of the stairs.
A closer view of the area in the left side of the above picture.
Two monks were posing with a group visiting the Wat.
An altar display.
This monk had a bamboo whisk, which he dipped into the water in the pot in front of him, and then sprinkled it on the people sitting or kneeling in front of him. No idea of the meaning, maybe something like "holy water" in Christian services.
Some representations of Buddha.
A reclining Buddha.
The position of Buddha's hand and fingers (called Mudras) has meaning. Follow the link for more information. Here's another link.
A wooden Buddha.
I have lots more pictures of Buddha statues, but I won't subject you to them.
Ending our visit, Jeff led some of our group down the 309 steps, but the rest of us rode the elevator.
We took the small buses back to the big bus, and then back to the hotel. On the way, Judy took some pictures of the wiring mess in Chiang Mai. We saw the same thing in Vietnam cities.
Some of that wiring is electrical power, but much of it is cable for TV and Internet. They make this work, but it's a mess. Trying to figure out which cable goes to which house must be really frustrating for the technicians.
We had lunch at the Thai restaurant on the hotel's back deck. In the afternoon Judy had a massage at the hotel and I worked on this blog.
For dinner, we went to the grill at the hotel. Sunset from the back of the hotel.
That was the end of our day.
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2/5/2024 (Monday) We fly to Bangkok, our last city, today. Leaving the beautiful Four Seasons Hotel at 8am, it was fairly cool - cool enough that I put on a jacket.
The bus took us to the Chiang Mai airport, which was modestly crowded.
Since we were flying domestic, we only had to go through security - no passport or customs.
We arrived at the gate in lots of time. Eventually, our plane arrived, an Airbus A-320.
The flight to Bangkok was a bit over an hour. When we were coming in for a landing, I thought I heard the pilot say that the temperature was 37°C (98.6°F). That's body temperature. And February is the middle of winter here.
Our local guides were waiting for us. Here's Suda.
And Anne.
We boarded the bus for our ride to the Rosewood Hotel, a nice, very modern, 30-floor high rise hotel in downtown Bangkok. We began by having lunch on the seventh floor restaurant.
After lunch we checked into our room on the 15th floor. The lighting is all controlled by buttons instead of switches. It's a very nice, comfortable room. One wall is entirely glass, both bedroom and bathroom.
The view from our room. Bangkok is a modern city of high rise buildings. It reminds me of the city in the movie "Blade Runner".
The track you see in the middle of this picture is the "SkyTrain" public transportation.
At 3pm, we met on the 7th floor to go to the Jim Thompson house. We're going to take the SkyTrain to get there.
The hotel is connected to the SkyTrain so that we could walk out on the third floor directly to the local station. Here's the train coming in.
We had to make one transfer and then walk a relatively short distance from the station to Jim Thompson's place. Here's the group waiting to enter the house. Thompson lived an interesting life - see the link - and helped establish the Thai silk business. He had this house built and furnished it with his collection of Asian art.
Our guide for the house tour.
The problem was that the house is not air conditioned, and the heat began to affect me. I took some pictures before leaving the tour early. The air conditioned gift shop was a refuge. I'll include a few pictures, but I didn't find any of it really interesting, and the heat made the visit unpleasant.
One of the rooms in the house.
Some art.
Asian pottery, perhaps Chinese.
A carved table and chairs.
His office desk.
Then it was back to the hotel.
We had dinner in the Chinese restaurant on the 19th floor of the hotel. From there, we had a good view of Bangkok. There are lots of tall buildings in Bangkok, more than in LA.
That was the end of our day.
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2/6/2024 (Tuesday)
Today features a boat ride on some of the Bangkok canals. When I was in Vietnam in 70-71, I took an R&R to Bangkok. I don't remember much about that visit, but I do remember taking a boat through the canals back then. They had a floating market in some of the canals, vendors offering mostly fruit and vegetables in boats and buyers also in boats. Purchases were made boat-to-boat - no one got onto the vendor boats. I was told that the floating market is no longer allowed.
We gathered on the 7th floor before going down to the first floor to board the bus.
Our bus arrived at the River City dock on the Chao Phraya River to board a sightseeing boat. This will be our canal boat.
Some of the boats, called long-tail boats, are smaller than the one we're on. They have a big engine at the rear, and a long propeller shaft extending into the water. Here's a picture.
Here's a closer view. The entire engine is mounted on a pivoting platform. To steer the boat, the operator uses a long rod at the front of the engine to move the whole engine (and propeller) up or down and side-to-side. This gives them great maneuverability.
Here's a boatman cleaning the propeller at the end of the shaft of one of those boats, just to show what that looks like.
The engines are big. They all appear to be four cylinder diesel engines with turbochargers. The thing on the front of the engine that looks like a radiator is not for cooling water - they use river water for cooling and discharge it back into the river. That's an intercooler to cool the air from the turbo. You can see the pipe from the intercooler to the intake manifold.
Here's a close-up of one of the engines (taken while we were next to it in a lock). You can clearly see the turbo and the intercooler. I don't know why they use a turbo, but all of the similar boats seemed to use the same setup - diesel with turbo. I suspect they use diesel because gas is a more dangerous fire risk. Note that there's no muffler - I suppose they depend on the turbo to do some muffling.
I was told that the engines are truck engines, which makes it easy to get parts and service. That would account for why they all look alike.
When I was here in 70-71, they used the same setup with the long propeller shaft, but the engines may have been different (maybe gas).
We went along the river until we came to Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan, a very large pagoda. It's also known as the Temple of Dawn, and is one of the national symbols of Thailand. This is our next stop.
We docked and entered the temple.
It's so huge that you can't get a picture of the whole when you're on the grounds, just parts of the structure.
Here's some detail.
There were stairs up the structure but they were STEEP, especially to the third level. Not the kind of stairs for old people like us. We stayed on the first level.
A closer look at some of the tower.
And the figures.
A very wide angle shot. Look at how steep those stairs are.
Here we are in front of the temple.
A young girl in traditional dress. She was participating in a photo shoot at the temple. A costume rental service was available, and many visitors were posing, all dressed up.
A man in traditional dress, part of the same photo shoot.
We were free to explore the grounds and meet back at the dock. There were shops at the temple and I bought a small glazed elephant as a souvenir.
Our canal boat then went to the lock leading to Khlong Bangkok Yai canal (meaning: Big Bangkok canal). The locks are important to protect the city from flooding when river is at flood stage.
The boatmen pack their boats into the lock. It can take a while to get as many boats in as possible.
The houses along the Khlong were a mix - some really nice homes and some shacks.
Here's a yellow-headed water monitor sunning itself along the khlong.
And an Asian water monitor.
We passed close to the Great Buddha of Thailand, the tallest statue in Thailand. It is located at Wat Muang.
Suda gave us each some bread to feed to the fish. It's supposed to be good luck to do that.
A door-to-door salesman.
Sometime during the cruise, we turned from Khlong Yai to Khlong Mon, and we went to the lock between Khlong Mon and the river.
Eventually, the lock opened and the boats in the lock came out and we were able to go in.
The lock was not as crowded as the previous one. We entered the river and then disembarked at the Tha Chang Wang Na pier, were we met the bus.
Just before we boarded, we saw this portable wash and dry station. It looks like you drop off your laundry and they do it for you. The sides of the trailer fold up at night so it can be locked up.
We went to Methavalai Sorndaeng, a famous Thai restaurant.
The food was good, but the best dish was the chicken with cashew nuts.
After lunch, some of the group went shopping but Judy and I (and many other people) went back to the hotel. We just enjoyed having an afternoon free - it's been go, go, go.
For dinner, Judy, Jean and I want to a food court across the street from the hotel and ate at a Japanese restaurant.
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2/7/2024 (Wednesday) This is the last day of the tour. This morning we will visit the Grand Palace, the Emerald Buddha, and Wat Pho (the reclining Buddha). A number of people, including Judy, decided not to go on the tour because of the heat. There were 14 people (out of 22) on the tour this morning. We left the hotel about 8am and it was already over 80 degrees.
Here's a view of the Grand Palace as we arrived.
I don't know what a lot of the structures are, but I'll include a few of the pictures I took.
Each figure had a different "face", or expression.
To enter this building, we had to take off our shoes.
Jean at the entrance to the temple.
The interior of this temple.
It had been getting hotter as the day went along and I was suffering. My shirt was wet with sweat and I was starting to feel nauseous from the heat. It was about 11am but the excursion was scheduled to go until 1:00pm or 1:30pm. I knew I couldn't make it until then. I checked my weather app and it indicated about 94°F.
Jean was also suffering from the heat. Her face was red and she didn't look well at all. I suggested we leave the tour and take a taxi back to the hotel. She readily agreed. I informed our tour guide that we were leaving and she helped us get a taxi.
We were some distance from the hotel but the taxi fare was only 115 baht (about $3.20). I gave him 140 baht.
The other people on the tour soldiered on and were not as affected as I was. I don't know why I reacted that way to the heat - I certainly experienced hot days in New Orleans and in Vietnam when I served there. I suppose it's old age and living in a cooler climate.
A cool shower felt really good back in the hotel. And this was February 7th - the middle of winter in Bangkok. It's hard to imagine what the heat is like here in the middle of summer.
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The tour ends today and we had the traditional Farewell dinner at 6:00pm. Here's Jeff greeting Judy with a hug.
Jeff addressing the group just before dinner.
We three were the first to leave after dinner. Our flight is late tonight.
The hotel picked up our bags at 10:15pm and we met the Tauck person who would take us to the airport at 10:30pm. Here she's helping Judy get us checked in.
Then, she took us to the fast track lane for security. Tauck takes excellent care of us in so many ways. We probably would not have found it on our own. We got through security and passport control without any problems. We had lounge access at a lounge called "Miracle Lounge". It was a really basic lounge, small and with a minimum of food and drink. But at this time of night it was almost empty, so we were able to get three seats together.
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2/8/2024 (Thursday) The date changed while we were in the lounge.
We went to the gate about 1:00am and boarded an Airbus A330-300. It was an old plane and the seats in business class were not true "lie-flat" seats. They would recline, but not all the way. They were not comfortable for sleeping, and we were tired. The flight didn't leave until 3:00am.
It was four and a half hours to Incheon. With the two hour time change between Incheon and Bangkok, we arrived 9:30am. Since we were transferring to another international flight, we didn't have to go through passport control, but did have another security check.
We were able to wait in the Asiana lounge, a nice lounge, and the same lounge we used on the way over. Our flight didn't leave until 2:40pm so we had some time to kill.
We went to the gate about 2:00pm and boarded an Airbus A380-800, a very nice aircraft with good lie-flat seats. We've flown the A380 several times before and find it very comfortable in business class. It's a shame it's not made any more.
The flight was ten and a half hours, and as comfortable as that can be. We managed to get some sleep and Asiana took good care of us.
We departed Incheon about 3:00pm on February 8 and arrived at LAX at 8:40am on February 8 through the magic of crossing the International Date Line going east (where you lose a day). We flew through passport control thanks to Global Entry and Jean got through passport control for US citizens quickly because most of the people on the flight were South Korean and went through a different passport line.
Our luggage made it safely and we met the limo driver.
The drive home was not bad at that time of day - we were going against traffic. The girls were happy to see us but I forgot to take pictures. We all went to bed early.
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2/9/2024 (Friday) Jean had an 6:45am flight out of John Wayne airport, but that was not a problem because we were all up early with the time change. Here are Jean and Judy at the airport. They look good for 5:30am.
And that was the end of another adventure.
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