25/05/2014 – GMT+7, +34C

Ayutthaya

On my way back from Chiang Rai, I spent one day visiting the old capital of Thailand – Ayutthaya (UNESCO World Heritage Centre).
The Historic City of Ayutthaya, located 60Km north of Bangkok, founded in 1350, was the second capital of the Siamese Kingdom. Ayutthaya was strategically located on an island surrounded by three rivers connecting the city to the sea. This site was chosen because it was located above the Gulf of Siam, thus preventing attack of the city by the sea.
The city was attacked by the Burmese army in 1767 who burned the city to the ground and forced the inhabitants to abandon the city. The city was never rebuilt in the same location and is now an archaeological ruin.
After that, a new city, Bangkok, was built to replace the defunct capital – the new capital was built to preserve much of the original architecture of Ayutthaya, as a result, in Thai, the official name for the new capital of Bangkok retains “Ayutthaya” as part of its formal title.

The Thai are very happy explaining their culture and history but I could feel that they still hold very strong feeling against Burmese and the way the destroyed their country.

Ayutthaya – Ruins

Elephants tour on the ruins

The new city has a lot of ornaments representing the commemorating the old days
Lamppost decorated with elephants

Ayutthaya Temple

When we arrived at the temple, they were changing the buddha’s dress. In Thailand for every season there is a dress for Buddha, in that one they change the dress everyday. It can be a formal ceremony or more often informal, where people sit on the floor through a prayer after having made a donation and being handed a piece of the old outfit, as soon as the prayer is done, one throw the piece of clothing over his shoulder toward the Buddha status in order to be protected for the entire season.

Buddha’s new dress – The long piece of fabric being pulled inside the temple

Buddha’s new dress and Man throwing piece of old dress over his shoulder

While roaming through the floating market, I have noticed this very unusual water powered boat, probably due to the shallow depth of the water.

Koh Samet

The following week we decided to go away from the main cities as most of the places were shut due to the curfew(at the time I left Thailand, the soldiers were still in control of the country and still running the country as I am writting this blog), we headed toward a small island, Koh Samet, mostly known from Thai therefore very quiet and not populated with foreign tourists.

Koh Samet – on the boat

The island is about 5km long, we rented a scooter for 3 days so we could move around easily

Koh Samet – lagoon
Thailand doesn’t have the most blue water when it comes to the colour of the sea, however I have found that Thai are very respectful of their country and places are usually kept clean and free of garbage.

At night, one can observe the green lights at the horizon, they are used for squid fishing as they are attracted by green light.

We went to see a fire show on the beach on our last night on the island. The show, quite famous, was performed by Cambodians and lasted for about 1 hour – very impressive to see what those guys can do

You can watch the (unedited) show on Youtube by clicking the image above

Next:Malaysia

20/05/2014 – GMT+7, +32C

Chiang Rai is located 860 km north of Thailand and about 200 km northeast of Chiang Mai, it was conquered by Burma and remained for several hundred years under Burmese influence, it is not until 1933 that it became part of Thailand (know at the time as Siam). Chiang Rai, by its location, is regularly the theatre of earthquake. While I was there we experienced a small one that didn’t cause any damage, however the week before there was an earthquake with a magnitude 7 that destroyed landmarks and cracked open roads – one of the famous landmark, The White Temple, was badly damaged and declared unsafe for visiting.

The Chiang Rai region has a lot to offer in term of landmarks, from hot springs to temple and beautiful scenery. We went on a tour, where a guide drove us around, the guy was very friendly and even bought us pineapple.

Chiang Rai clock
There is a light show at night (7pm and 8pm) and the clock changes colour accompanied with some music.

Clock daytime	Clock nighttime

Wat Rong Khun (White Temple)

The temple was designed in 1997 and is quite surprising due to its unusual artifacts, mainly skulls

Unfortunately, we couldn’t enter the temple, following the earthquake on the 5th of May 2014, the temple was shut indefinitely, however On May 7 morning after an engineering expert team inspected and confirmed that all building structures in the temple were unharmed by the quake, Chalermchai(the designer) announced that he would rebuild the temple back to its original beauty in two years and promised to devote his life for the work

Wat Rong Khun – hands in the air

Wat Rong Khun – traffic cone mounted with a skull

We then moved to another unique place – Baan Dam museum (The black house).

The museum exposes items that are mainly made from dead animals from furniture to wall decoration – everything is up for sale!

One of the Black house

Table cover made of crocodile skin

Even the toilets are unusual

On the site there is a couple of Boa constrictor freely wandering around, that one looks well fed but still, I am not taking any chances!

Thereafter, our guide drive us up north towards the Golden Triangle – where the 3 countries, Burma, Laos and Thailand have jointed borders, most famously knows for its poppy production transformed into opium and heroin and all the trafficking that goes with it.

Golden Triangle – I am standing Thailand, Burma is on the left and Laos on the right.

City of Tachileik in Burma in my back – I am standing in Mae Sai, Thailand.

Scorpion facing Burma to protect Thailand from Burmese invasions

Opium Pipes in the museum of opium

Weights used to weigh opium

Elephants – unfortunately Thailand has developed a massive tourist attraction around elephants, turning them into slave labourer. Tourists (un)knowingly contributing to their misery, from chain reproduction to physical arm, the Mahout (elephant conductor) uses a hook, planting it into the flesh to command the beast. Since I have started traveling, there is always a question about what is acceptable and detrimental to the local flora.

The only elephant I have mounted was therefore a concrete statue.

Next:Koh Samet and The city of Ayutthaya, old capital of Siam(Thailand)

15/05/2014 – GMT+7, +32C

Chiang Mai is located 700 km north of Thailand and has +300 temples. Moreover, Chiang Mai is famous for its Khao Soi, local egg noodle curry dish, so famous that even the King went there to eat it in the best restaurant.

Chiang Mai view from Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep

Train station

The city used to be surrounded by a wall to prevent from Burmese (Myanmar) invasion and remains are still visible around the city.
Wall

The international Thai boxing tournament was taking place while I was staying there and we went to see a fight.
Thai boxing – Thai Vs Canadian (Thai won by KO)

Ping River

I have noticed that in Asia, people can fix anything, that is what the mechanic who repaired a puncture on my scooter was working on, on his spare time
Tiller (motoculteur) Bike

Chiang Mai is located next to a mountain with a temple overlooking the city
Wat Doi Suthep

Wat Chedi Luang

I have also experienced an overnight train, on my way back to Bangkok – health and safety regulations are quite different from what I am used to and the train was riding with all the doors and windows open
Train ride to Bangkok

Next:Chang Rai

19/04/2014 – GMT+7, +28C

After bribing my way out of Cambodia (I have found out recently that when entering Cambodia, the officers purposely “forget” to stamp your passport so tourists get into trouble when leaving) and spending 12 hours on a bus, I finally arrive in Bangkok.

Bangkok view from the top

It seems that there are way more temples here than in any country I have visited before.

Wat Pho

Lying Buddha Wat Pho

Wee man

Wat Arun

My favourite Thai food – Papaya salad

Grand palace

Grand Palace

During my stay in Bangkok, there were a lot of protests, Yellow shirt Vs Red shirts, the endless argument between royalists and democrats that have so far resulted in the country witnessing 18 coup d’états in the last 60 years. Tourism makes a large contribution to Thailand’s economy (about 6% of GDP) therefore the tourist area were relatively unaffected by the coup, the military imposed a curfew to the locals every night from 10pm to 5am and soldiers could be seen at every corner of the city, tourists weren’t subjected to it.
At the time this happened, I was staying in a Thai family, when they heard the news about the coup, they decided to throw a party to celebrate and that same night we were cheering to a “Happy coup” – quite an experience!

When I arrived in Thailand, I met some locals that nicely welcome me to their house, so I got the chance to experience Thailand in a less touristic way.

PeeMai – the 5 years old niece

Thai names have a meaning, at birth, the parents chose what the name will mean and is not an actual translation of the word, PeeMai (pronounce B-mY) means Happy new year.

Wat Traimit

The golden statue inside the temple was originally housed in Ayutthaya, Thailand’s old capital, is made entirely of gold (5.5 tons) and worth USD 250 millions. The story goes that during Burmese invasion, it was plastered and went unnoticed when the Burmese army was looting the country.
It was then moved after Bangkok became the new capital of Thailand.
Wat Traimit – Golden Buddha

The 5th of May was a public bank holiday as Thailand (Yellow shirts) was celebrating the coronation of the king. Bangkok was the host of many events.
Celebration day of King Rama IX

Bangkok at night

Next destination: Chaing Mai