Songkran in a canal

Today, with my former Chulalongkorn University English Club members a.k.a. EC-gangs, I had a plan to set out on a journey to fulfill the travel destination stated on the so-called Bangkok Fest Mileage Card under the Bangkok Fest & Fun Project of Tourism Authority of Thailand. we called it a "passport" as there are numerous places of interest depicted in the card with numbers for you to collect a "stamp" once you visit the place – it’s like a kind of game to collect at least 15 stamps and send the card in for the lucky-draw. The route and places of interest in the passport are recommended as an interesting and fun way to travel around a hectic city of Bangkok. According to the plan, we decided to explore the small canal on the western side of the Chao-Phraya river starting from Wat Rakangkhosittaram (literally translated as Temple of the bells.) As we followed the route guided in the "passport," we headed next to the National Museum of Royal Barges. Unfortunately, it was closed due to Songkran holiday. So, we went to the next destination – the Bangkoknoi train station where there is virtually nothing of interest except a few trains running to the western part of Thailand including Kanchanaburi where the Japanese used to transport their army during the second World War. I started to doubt the credibility of the "passport" that it is not designed to fit for the tourists as it’s very difficult to follow the route. However, we had to stick to the plan and headed next to Taling-Chan Floating Market which marked the highlight of the trip today. We bought a ticket for a 2-hour boat trip in Bangkoknoi canal and beyond to the orchid garden. Unexpectedly, as it’s the last day of the Songkran festival, the trip turned out to be a uniquely enjoyable Songkran experience. We are told to be prepared to get wet, soaking wet, as the people who lives beside the canal and other tourist boats like us were all having fun creating a small war of throwing and splashing water. This is totally different from Songkran on the land as you had unlimited supply of water from the canal and you couldn’t run and hide anywhere. This is one of the Songkran day I would never forget as I was soaking wet with water from the canal, well at least I was told that the water was clean enough for people to use it in everyday life. We’ll see if I develop any kind of skin rash afterwards. In the afternoon, after having a late lunch and chatting in the pier by the canal, we headed to Wat Suthatthepwararam (Suthat Temple) and Sao Chingcha (the Giant Swing) near Bangkok City Hall. In fact, we decided to enjoy some snacks at the popular Mon’s Fresh Milk parlor. Unfortunately, it was closed on holiday. So, my journey today ended up as we walked to Sanam-Luang to collect some more stamps but almost all places of interest were closed after 5 to 6 PM.

All in all, I was having a very good and unexpectedly enjoyable time in Bangkok for Songkran holiday this year. Although the "passport" thing was a little bit disappointed, it opened an opportunity for me to experience Bangkok and Songkran in the way I never imagine before. Thanks P’Art for a free 9-baht worth of this "passport." You may check out some of the pictures I took today below or at my photo album. Enjoy Bangkok!

A Trip to Phuket

Friday, March 23rd, 2007

The plane took off from Suvanaphumi Airport at 8 o’clock in the morning and that started our journey to Phuket, an island province in the southern part of Thailand whose nick name is "the pearl of Andaman sea." It took approximately an hour on board and we arrived safe and sound at Phuket International Airport. In this trip, we traveled in a group of 5 people – 2 adults and 3 youngsters, thus it’s advisable to rent a car and drive freely around the island by ourselves. We ended up getting a compact black Honda Jazz for our trip and I was a driver. Even though I didn’t know the way around, I could easily take everyone to the hotel with the help of a map and good navigator. We stayed at Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa on Karon Beach in the west-southern part of the island in the Suit with a fantastic panoramic view of a sea and the area around the resort. After taking some rest, we decided to have a lunch around Patong area which was 20 minutes by a car. As it seemed that all parking spaces by the sea were always occupied, we ended up getting ourselves to the newly open department store called "Jungceylon" and ironically having "Burger King" as our late afternoon meal with Starbuck coffee. We did some shopping for snacks and drinks as the hotel’s minibar price-list was usually crazily high. As the night fell, we headed out to see friend of our trip organizer at his restaurant by the sea called "Kan Eang 2." The sea-food here was freshly delicious with excellent quality. We went back to the hotel not too late as tomorrow would be a big day for full-day excursion to Phi Phi island area

Saturday, March 24th, 2007

We woke up and prepared ourselves for a day-trip to Phi Phi island. We got on the van that took us to Chalong Bay on the south-eastern side of Phuket to board a speed-boat with some other 50 passengers – mostly foreigners. Just an hour off shore, we got to our first and most beautiful destinations of the day – Maya Beach. This is the place where Leonardo DiCaprio could get a hold of himself in the controversial movie "the Beach." Even though it was said that the movie set destroyed all natural beauties of the place, after Tsunami two years ago, the mother nature had cleaned the beach and Maya was getting more beautiful. The grains of sand is smooth like a baby-powder and the sea water is crystal clear. After admired the beauty of the beach, we went snorkeling nearly and then had our lunch on Phi Phi island. In the afternoon, we went to Kai island. Some took a nap, some played beach valley-ball while I swam and walked around this small island. This ended up our day-trip under the clear blue sky. At night after relaxing in the hotel for some times, we went back to Patong for dinner at Savouy restaurant. The night was young but it’s impossible to take a detour to one of those pubs and bars in Patong because we traveled with teen-agers. In the end, we came back to our hotel and watched the movie from the cable inside our room instead.

Sunday, March 25th, 2007

It’s raining all day long and we decided to stay inside the hotel. There were plenty of activities to do including visiting the Game room where you could relax and enjoy variety of classical board games or even played the PS2 console. Those who prefers in-door sports would be pleased to be able to play table-tennis and squash or even go to the fitness-center for working out. In the afternoon, we visited the hotel’s pool equipped with a spring-board. The rain stopped in the evening so we decided to have our dinner at the restaurant by the sea called "Danung" – no, it’s not Vietnamese Danung. This restaurant is in the same league as the place where we had our dinner on the first day when arriving Phuket. We should go to bed early as our plane would leave early on Monday morning.

Monday, March 26th, 2007

We woke up around 5 o’clock in the mooring and packed everything ready to go back home. The check out process of the hotel caused a tiny problem but we couldn’t  lose any minutes as we might miss the plane. Finally, I drove without looking at the speedometer and arrived at the airport just in time for boarding. With more hate, a youngster in our group forgot a PSP hand-held game-console in the rent car. Fortunately, the plane was delayed so I could retrieve what is lost thanks to the kindness of the stewards and ground-officers as well as security officers at Phuket International airport. The plane arrived at Suvanaphumi Airport around 9 o’clock in the morning and suddenly the members of our team (of 5) realized that one of big bag was missing. Fortunately, the bag was at Lost & Found counter in the Phuket airport  which could be retrieved by someone in Phuket. Hopefully, the bag was in the same condition.

This summarized the trip to Phuket. It’s exhausting yet enjoyable week-end trip. See you again, Phuket!

A Trip to Marrakech, Morocco

I have just been back home from a week trip to Marrakech, an ancient city in Morocco. To tell the truth, a country in Africa has never been my choice for overseas vacation. However, it was not a holiday trip. I followed a team of Thai movie "Dek Hor" – including the director Songyos "Yong" Sugmakanan and his protege actor Sirachuch "Michael" Chienthawron – participating in the general competition at the 6th annual International Film Festival of Marrakech (IFFM) with other 14 movies from different countries around the world. Although the movie didn’t win any award, the director felt grateful that Thai movie had been chosen by the festival organizer and had a chance to be screened to audiences in this region of the world where some local people don’t even know where Thailand is on the world map.

The trip was exhausted but extremely wonderful and enjoyable. Putting the festival aside, we had a chance to visit Marrakech inside out – literally from the prestigious dinner after the awarding ceremony at the city convention center (Palais des Congres) through the famous Djemaa el Fna square, the busiest square in the entire continent of Africa, and the damped street in Jewish neighbourhood where few tourist would set their feet inside. I’ve got a number of interesting stories to tell. Stay tune for an update!

Journey to Saraburi

Phew, I just got back from a short 2-days trip with my friend to Saraburi province. With only 2 hours drive from Bangkok, we arrived at our destination within shorter time than being struck in a normal Bangkok traffic jam on our way back. I think it is good to travel upcountry once in a while to rejuvenate myself. This time, we stayed a night at Supalai Pasak Resort hotel situated on 2km-long curve besides Pasak river. The bungalow we had was quiet, cozy and comfortable. It was sunny in the morning and raining at night, so the weather was nice. I felt great and relaxing just to breath some fresh air without any pollution far away from the chaotic city life.

On our trip, we visited "Pasak Jolasid Dam," one of the royal initiate projects to reserve water for agriculture and prevent flood in the surrounding area. The dam is gigantic and the view of vast volume of water from the ridge of the dam up to the horizon is just marvelous and eye-popping. We also stopped by at "Chet Sao Noi Waterfall" (literally translated as "the waterfall of seven little maidens.") In fact, the waterfall got its cute name from the name of the place where it was discovered (Chet Sao Noi Village,) which in turns coherent with the number of levels (7 levels) the waterfall actually has. The waterfall was so beautiful at the time we got there, which was just after the rain. Thus, we were able to see tones of water falling down from each level of the waterfall. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get into the water because it was running so fast that you might get drifted away and drowned. On our way back, we wouldn’t forget to pay respect to "Phra Phutthabat" Temple. The word "Phra Phutthabat" is literally translated as Lord Buddha’s Footprints. The temple is the beautiful shrine of the pavilion built (and rebuilt many times) as a homage upon the actual site where the Footprints were discovered back in Ayutthaya period (more than 300 years ago.) As for the souvenir, we got some well-known snacks called "curry-puff" for our friends and families. This "curry-puff" is a fried dumpling-like snack with various kinds of filling inside, such as chicken curry, which is the first and the most well-known filling of this snack and, hence, contributes the "curry" part in its name. Other fillings include nuts, taro, chocolate, pineapple, strawberry, grape, raisin, etc.

All in all, the trip was enjoyable and impressive. We were back in Bangkok tiring all over our bodies due to excess walking and long hours of driving but our hearts are cheerful and lively. We are now ready for another round of hard work. We also plan on our next upcountry journey but still have no idea where to go. Any suggestion?

[Click on the Photo Album to see more pictures, below are the samples.]