2 Canucks in Thailand: April 2015

Monday, April 27, 2015

White Temple and Black House

South of Chiang Rai is the White Temple (Wat Rong Khun) built by a Thai artist replacing the original Wat Rong Khun and is a work in progress. he says it will be finished in another 50 years. It was damaged in the earthquake in May 2014 and some say it was going to be demolished but since it was structurally fine, it is instead being repaired. You can see the damaged spire.

Creepy!!! The details are amazing.

Temples require that knees are covered so they often provide "skirts". Of courses this one is white.

Beautiful work.

This is one of two strange statues marking the washrooms. We are getting used to saying "toilet" here.

We had a scooter for the day so headed out to Singha Park which is a working farm, much like Canada's and had the most incredible view for a cup of tea.

Tea-time.

The Black House (Baan Si Dum)

This was a strange collection of building, animal skulls, alligator skins, giant snakes, snake skin and collections of many items that I am sure you are no longer allowed to collect.

This huge table was beautifully made from one piece of wood.

My favourite.

Sssssssnake!

Giant doors.

Sonkran (Traditional New Year's and Water Festival)

We were in Canada celebrating Kelli and Jeff's wedding last year during Sonkran and although we had heard it can get pretty crazy we didn't quite realize HOW crazy. It's the traditional New Year and the idea is that you pour water on people to wash away their sins. It's basically a nation-wide water fight when no-one is safe. We headed up north to Chaing Rai and then east to Laos for the week thinking that it would be calmer than Bangkok (Khao San Road) and Chaing Mai.

Here are a few pics of the water fight.

Laos: Outside our guesthouse. These guys started off as a quiet team of three.

Eventually, the grew in numbers and gained confidence, stopping scooter drivers and soaking the. They were great in that they respected businesses so we were safe sip our beers across the street.

Further down the street was more entertainment.

Back in Chiang Saeng, we ended up leaving town instead of checking out some of their historic temples and wall. There is no way we would have lasted 5 min.

Pickup trucks full of kids and garbage cans full of water got you when not expected. Glad we rented a car.

Friday, April 24, 2015

Ranong for a Day

Well, since we were in town by 9am and flying out at 7 pm we rented a scooter to get around and see the area.

Waterfalls aren't much in the dry season.

Waterfall number two. Vince trying to open the dam.

Chinese graveyard we think.

Visiting a gorge (a quarry really) and feeding the fish. Not sure why but it seemed like the thing to do.

Oh yeah got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere but 3 km from a tire repair shop which are quite frequent. We wlaked/rode the bike there. Riding costs you the tire but at 35 deg C it's often the best option and tires are cheap here. This is Vince asking directions...charades.

Travelling light.

Easter Break: "The other" Koh Chang and Ranong

Over the 4 day Easter break we took off to the West Coast to Ranong and then on to an island called Koh Chang. This is not to be confused with the more popular Koh Chang in the Gulf of Thailand. Ranaong gets the most rainfall of all of Thailand and the islands are only "open" for 4 months a year because they get hammered by the storms coming off the ocean.

Ranong Aeroport. One flight, one plane. It's not cold, I just still have my sweater on from the AC in the plane.

It's a bird, it's a plane....it's uh...both?

The most amazing things was that we flew at low altitude the whole way and were treated to an incredible view of the mountains, jungles, prawn farms, meandering rivers. Beautiful.

We had a full day in Ranong so we visited the public hotsprings which are in the centre of town. It was fun to see people gathering around them on a Friday evening. This is the course...too hot to touch.

The back of our hotel....glad we saw the front first. Nice little place.

My morning walk along an actual running /bike track. First one I've seen. It felt so good to see mountains.

I didn't chance this one.

The next morning we headed to the pier for the "normal boat" which is the slow ferry. Speed boats started going to the islands in December 2014 cutting the ride from 2hrs to 45 min so likely tourism will increase.

The story is that recently a boat owner got fined a lot for not having enough life jackets on board. The ferries now go through a ritual of hand one to each passenger.

It is also the way goods are transported to the islands.

Cement.

Plastic bottles coming off the islands.

Heading out to the ocean via meandering river.

Fishing boats docked along the way.

Umm.....I think they are burning a bit of oil.

That's Myannmar (Burmar) in the background. Classic longtail boat.

The dock...with nothing at the end of it. We wondered how we would get to our hut for the weekend. Thais have a wonderful way of always having things worked out.

We have figured out how to travel with 2 small packs and before we knew it, two scooters showed up and we were on our way. They were the oldest I think I have ever seen.

That's Vince.

Woohooo....Cashew Resort...we made it!!!

We were the only guests except a man who was staying on for a week or so. The owner actually told us that if we didn't show up he was going back to Bangkok since Easter Monday was his last day before he closes the resort for the rainy season. He also informed us that Monday morning at 8 am we were going to the mainland with him and his staff. So, needless to say, it was a quiet weekend.