Camerowska traveling :)

a little update: yesterday night we went to the shows in Sukhothai Historical Park (haha, went biking - and no, there ARE NO street lamps there.... - was pitch black at times).
We asked some ppl what the occasion was and apparebtly it was an event organized by the Thai Government to promote tourism.

It was a sound/light show - together with some theatre. The performers (hundreds of teenagers) were all dressed in traditional Thai outfits. We quickly got sitting places within a reserved area - as one of the 3 non-locals that were there

it started to rain - only a bit at first. It was beautiful - the temples/buddga images from the historical park were all lit up

The performance was beautiful but soon it started to rain A LOT (and there were thunderstorms) we hid under rthe tent of the actors - everyone welcomed the rare torists
Was so cool

now we r in Bangkok - have an interlanding before Chiang Mai
will post some pics later

In the morning we went to the Historical Park - on our bikes we got from our hotel

The park was beautiful. Sukhothai was an old capital of the first Thai kingdom - which lasted through the 11th-12th century. The park comprised mostly of ruins - of old temples, Buddha images etc. It was gorgeous. Full of green trees and old brick ruins, all reflected in many ponds.
amazing

we took many pictures
unfortunately, at the computer in our hotel I can only connect my little camera - so only the pictures Olga took today will be uploaded (haha, and as a consequence: they are mostly pictures of ME). I was taking pics with the big camera - but I guess you will have to wait for them... Also on the ones with Olga in them I'm afraid....

Today it also rained during the day - for the 1st time that we r here in Thailand (and it was supposed to be monsoon season ?!) - it had rained before, but that was always either in the early morning when we were still sleeping, and once when we were at an internet cafe. In short: this was the 1st rain that actually caught us outside. But it was fun as well. It started in a second. And before we knew it, it was a REAL heavy rain. Luckily there were plenty of those little roofed places in the park so we could find shelter

It was also beautiful to see

and 30 min after the rain began, the sun started shining again (very strongly actually) - haha, so we began changing color

oh yes. we have (yet again...) overdosed on food for lunch. and spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool.

in the evening will go back to the park - to see some special light show that they will b holding tonight (we were lucky, as it's supposedly special and only this weekend).

by the way. our hotel serves THE best dishes we have tried in Thailand so far. Our favorite: fried young coconut with shrimps & another one: prawns in black pepper sauce, mmmm

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OLGA's PART
Zgodnie z zapowiedzia dzisiaj zwiedzalysmy park historyczny w Sukhothai, co zajelo nam ok. 4 - 5 godzin. Park sklada sie z ruin swiatyn i posagow Buddy pochodzacych z XI - XII w. Bardzo to wszystko malownicze - ruiny z czerwonej cegly, na tle licznych stawow, palm i kwitnacych drzew oraz blekitnego nieba. Mamy to oczywiscie uwiecznione na zdjeciach, bo trudno bylo dzisiaj przestac fotografowac. Przyjemnosc zwiedzania byla tym wieksza, ze miedzy kolejnymi zabytkami podrozowalysmy rowerem Ok. godz. 11:00 zlapal nas deszcz (dopieropo raz pierwszy podczas naszego pobytu "stanal nam na drodze", a przeciez jest pora deszczowa!), wiec mialysmy przymusowa, aczkolwiek bardzo przyjemna przerwe na ok. 45 minut. Zaczelo padac doslownie w ciagu sekundy i od razu bardzo intensywnie, a gdy przestalo - zaraz pojawilo sie slonce. Czy mozecie wyobrazic sobie to wilgotne upalne powietrze?....

Ok. 14:00 glodne i spalone sloncem dotarlysmy do hotelu, zjadlysmy przepyszny lunch (kawalki smazonego mlodego kokosa oraz krewetki w sosie pieprzowym z ryzem jasminowym) i poszlysmy na sjeste na basen.

Niebawem wyruszamy ponownie do parku historycznego, gdyz ma tam byc jakis pokaz swiatel i muzyki na tle ruin. Moze byc pieknie. ALe o szczegolach napiszemy juz jutro

PS
Jutro rano lecimy do CHiang Mai (z przesiadka w Bangkoku)

so we're now in PARADISE!!!

as mentioned, yesterday was a strange day - and we were glad to get out of Phitsanulok. we did that by bus - haha. my first bus of such a kind... looked like form the 60s . the ride was a lot of fun (and again, we drew lots of attention in Phitsanulok where they apparently never get o see tourists ). We were also the only non-Thai on that bus . Of course there was no AC - only the 'natural one' form the windows - but it was not at all hot. Was great actually - to see the locals & the countryside. And it only took 1h

It is our hotel that is an absolutel paradise - its GORGEOUS. Built in a Thai style mixed with clearly designer items (gorgeous bathroom with bubble bath and lifted sink etc etc). Each of the rooms of the hotel was separately designed by the owner. Our room is in white and dark brown. its gorgeous. And the hotel is really modern at the same time - with all the amenities one might wish. There's also a pond with lotus flowers and a great pool where we enjoyed pinapple juice drinks in the afternoon
THE best soup I've had here so far:

after lunch we went by bikes on a ride round the Sukhothai Historical Park - which we will properly visit tomorrow.

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OLGA'S PART

Po trudnym pobycie w Phitsanulok z radoscia powitalysmy nowy dzien (pozwolilysmy sobie na leniwy poranek i wyspanie sie do woli), bowiem oznaczal wyjazd do historycznego miejsca - Sukhothai. Van z hotelu zawiozl nas na dworzec autobusowy, na ktorym znowu bylysmy atrakcja dla lokalnej ludnosci, ale to nic w porownaniu z tym, jaka dla NAS atrakcja byl autobus, ktorym podrozowalysmy do Sukhothai. Znowu bylysmy jedymi nie-Azjatkami :-) Droga 50 km zajela nam 1h10min, ale znowu byla to dobra okazja na podziwianie urokow miejscowych wsi i pol.

Gdy dotarlysmy do hotelu calkowicie rozplynelysmy sie z zachwytu. Miejsce zostalo stworzone z pasja, a kazdy szczegol jest przemyslany i zaplanowany. Wnetrza hotelu zostaly zaprojektowane przez architekta z rodziny wlasciciela; kazdy pokoj jest inny, ale kazdy jest piekny. Wystroj przypomina styl sklepow Almi Decor. Wszystko bardzo wysokiej jakosci. W naszej lazience jest wanna z masazem i kabina prysznicowa, a na scianach tak piekne kafle, ze moglabym tylko marzyc o takiej lazience we wlasnym domu w przyszlosci.

Jest tez basem otoczony piekna roslinnoscia. Oczywiscie na dzien dobry skorzystalysmy z tego dobytku i przez dobre poltorej godziny zazywalysmy kapieli w wodzie i sloncu. A zeby jeszcze dodac do tego obarazka "wisienke" powiem, ze zamowilysmy sobie koktajle owocowe. Oj, jestesmy zepsute ;-)

A gdy juz uznalysmy, ze czas cos zjesc, przenioslysmy sie do czesci restauracyjnej (tez na siwezym powietrzu) i zamowilysmy takie pysznosci, ze mialysmy ochote krzyczec ze szczescia!

Ale zeby nie bylo, ze tylko sie obijamy i robimy nic, postanowilysmy udac sie na rekonesans..... Na rowerach! To dopiero byla zabawa. Oczywiscie tylko dla mnie, bo Marta, od 3 lat mieszkajaca w Amsterdamie nie widzi w tym nic niecodziennego ;-) Jechalysmy wiec, starajac sie trzymac odpowiedniej strony ulicy i usilujac nie wpasc do rowu odmachujac miejscowym dzieciom (tu mowie za siebie). Dojechalysmy do parku historycznego, ktory nas tutaj przywiodl. Pocalowalysmy klamke, a wlasciwie szlaban, ale tak i tak nie planowalysmy dzisiaj zwiedzania. To zrobimy jutro. Pojezdzilysmy jeszcze na rowerach, wpadlysmy do mnichow buddyjskich - chlopcy sie ucieszyli na nasz widok, ale ja sie zawstydzilam, bo bylam w szortach, a nasza tajska przewodniczka mowila, ze trzeba sie odpowiednio (zakryte nogi i ramiona) ubierac do miejsc buddyjskich, zeby mnichow nie kusic i nie sprowadzac ich mysli na manowce.... Wiec wskoczylam na rower i pognalam dalej ;-) Jutro pojde juz dobrze owinieta :-)

Poniewaz nie jadlysmy juz nic od kilku godzin, czas najwyzszy udac sie na uczte.

Dobrego weekendu :-)

hmhm... so i guess it's official... Phitsanulok is probably NOT the best traved lestination in Thailand . there were only 2 sighs in Phitsanulok (a beatuful Buddha image, and a great etnographic museum).
it was a bit of a test for our nerves - although we actually ended up laughing at the circumstances all the time

in SHORT:

• the hotel looked like its best days were a long time ago (by the way: it was one of the BEST ones in town!) - haha, and considering the fact that we have not seen ANY white people that whole day, it probably explains why they didnt speak english or be very service-mided either
• the laundry we handed in was not ready on time
• despite the fact we double checked a few times with them!
• - haha, not only was it not ready yesterday evening
• ''laundri no'' - as we heard
• , but not even this morning - when we FINALLY received it - after Olga explained it to them again and again - but it was still wet...
• we kept on wandering for miles and miles loking for (safe) food in the morning - with no luck
• they tried to cheat us at the hotel - the waiter was writing the bill by hand and increased all the prices/calculated more dishes than we ate/added it all up using a VERY creative accounting... haha, but he chose wrong guests to try this with
• we risked our lives - at all crossings
• itr's left-hand traffic here - and all the cars/motorbikes come from unexpected directions - and seemed to were all trying to kill us
• later a cut ending of an electrical (WET!) cable fell on me from a mast... how handy!
  

that whole day was strange and we were MORE THAN HAPPY to leave this silly town today... haha, but it was still a funny day yesterday . Haha and im SURE we will enjoy the rest of Thailand more now

anyways... in the evening we had to cheer ourselves up with coctails at the hotel bar

FYI
haha. we actually started speaking an adjusted version of English just for the Thai people . haha: as litle vocabulary use as possible, clearly non-English sounding RRRR, repeating everything loud and clear.
today i actually said: "my frrrriend orrrrderrrr 2 juice forrrr us''....
And in the morning Olga was convincing the receptionist at he hotel: "i want my laundri in my rrrroom, now, please''

some more pics of yesterday:

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OLGA'S PART
Nie sposob nie dopisac komentarza do tego, co dzialo sie w Phitsanulok po naszym wyjsciu z kafejki internetowej. Musze na wstepie powiedziec, ze z radoscia opuszczalysmy to miasto, bo zmeczylo nas psychicznie. Okazalo sie, ze z wyjatkiem jednej swiatyni i pieknego posagu Buddy nie ma tam nic, kompletnie nic. Najpierw polowalysmy na lunch dobre dwie godziny, bo oprocz smierdzacych i odpychajacych barow ulicznych, nie bylo restauracji. Ostatecznie trafilysmy do "food court" w centrum handlowym. Potem bladzilysmy, zeby trafic do hotelu. Spacer w upale, zaraz po godzinnej ulewie, kiedy powietrze jest bardzo wilgotne, nie jest najprzyjemniejsza forma wysilku fizycznego. Jesli jeszcze dodamy do tego lewostronny ruch uliczny, powodujacy absolutna dezorientacje przy przechodzeniu przez jezdnie i brak przejsc dla pieszych, szczekajacego psa, ktory zmusza do wyboru czy zostac zagryzionym czy przejechanym przez motocykliste, bedziemy miec jasny obraz spaceru, ktory jest walka o przetrwanie.... Mialysmy wiec nadzieje, ze wieczor bedzie relaksujacy i niezwykle przyjemny. Marta znalazla opis restauracji polecanej przez przewodnik Lonely Planet, ktory przyprawil nas o marsz kiszek, wiec mimo zmeczenia (poranna pobudka o 3:30) wyruszylysmy na kolejny spacer po jedzenie ;-) I o dziwo, pomimo mylacej mapy, znalazlysmy upragniona restauracje, ktora byla...... zamknieta. Cholera jasna! Wiec wrocilysmy do hotelu, zrezygnowane i zle. Na pocieszenie zafundowalysmy sobie pyszne drinki Mai - Tai i tak jakos zrobilysmy sie juz spokojniejsze i szczesliwsze. I udalo sie nam takze zamowic jedzenie (Marcie udalo sie zamowic nawet tone jedzenia ;-) ) i spozyc je przy akompaniamencie zespolu tajow spiewajacych przeboje The Beatles. I juz wydawalo sie, ze wszystko jest na dobrej drodze, by Phitsanulok zdobyl od nas punkty, ale kelner pozbawil nas nadziei przy wystawieniu rachunku... Pan liczyl tak na oko; dodal kilka dan do listy zamowien, dodal kilkadziesiat pieniazkow na kazdym daniu i jeszcze rabnal sie przy dodawaniu (nie jestem pewna czy w ogole opanowal te umiejetnosc z zakresu matematyki). Ale Marta ma kalkulator w oczach i spokojnie aczkolwiek stanowczo powiedziala Panu jaki ma byc rachunek. Oj, Pan Kelner byla bardzo zawiedziony....
Hitem hotelu w Phitsanulok byla usluga prania. Napis na karcie zlecenia prania widniala informacja: jesli oddasz pranie do godziny 11:00 czyste rzeczy otrzymasz jeszcze tego samego dnia. Potwierdzila to takze Pani w recepcji. Niestety wieczorem okazalo sie, ze pranie nie jest jeszcze gotowe (powtarzajac za recepcjonistka "landri no") i ze bedzie nastepnego dnia. I bylo. Jeszcze wilgotne. No ale skoro gosc sie upiera, ze chce juz odzyskac swoje pranie, to prosze. Dostaje takie jakie jest w danej chwili.

I to chyba byloby na tyle na tej scianie placzu. Cieszymy sie, ze Phitsanulok juz za nami. Aby dostrzegac zawsze "szklanke do polowy pelna", uznalysmy, ze wizyta w tym miescie byla nam potrezbna, aby: a) poznac inne oblicze tajlandii; b) docenic to co widzialysmy i zobaczymy, a takze cieszyc sie z wygodnych hoteli, w ktorych mozemy bywac.

herewith we would like to inform that we have survived our first domestic flight in Thailand. We flew out of Bangkok at 6am (which entailed getting up at 3.30am :-S) and are now in Phitsanulok.
We visited it's most important temple (Wat Yai) - together with the most sacred Buddha image after the Emerald Buddha from the Bangkok's Wat Phra Kheaw. The Buddha was beautifully casted in bronze & covered in gold. 5m tall

after that temple we got hungry (haha, what else is new )) and went looking for some sort of restaurant... hmhm... in VAIN for about 2h (!!!). That is because Phitsanulok is a provincial town (for the ones who have joined me in India: I think it will be enough if I tell you it was like Jaipur... - if less crowded, and with WAY nicer people). People are indeed nice and everyone is constantly smiling at you. We even passed by a local market - where they were selling ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING-looking food... totalyl different from the food we've been eating so far (often from the street stalls as well - but never as bad!!!). haha, we've also seen some meat hanging outside in the 40 degrees... how handy...

haha... actually... today it is clearly the two of US who are THE most important tourist attraction of this town... haha. everywhere we go we're drawing a lot of attention, women, men, and children stop whetever they've been doing just to look at us . haha, there's been greeting us, clapping for applause, waving, bending in front of us, etc etc
that is because there seem to be very few tourists here.. ACTUALLY: I have only seen 3 (THREE) non-locals today - including all the people we've seen the domestic airport in Bangkok.

hmhm... one of those 3 foreigners was this old/fat/ugly American guy at the airport who was calling his wife from the airport, from a public phone. He was accompanied by a VERY young Thai girl (haha, and I do NOT think it was his guide )). He phoned his wife to tell her he loved her, and that he was calling from a mobile phone of someone who was nice enough to let him use it.... RIIIIGHT...

anyway: even on our flight we were THE only 2 tourists on the plane

now we're content - after having (accidentally) found a shopping mall where there was a food court

seems that one REALLY needs a lonely plant to find ANY restaurant over here...

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OLGA'S PART

Jestesmy w Phitsanulok, miescie oddalonym od Bangkoku o blisko 400 km. Wstalysmy o 3:30 nad ranem, zeby zdazyc na samolot o 6:00. Od rana jest niewatpliwie bardzo egztycznie - na lotnisku oprocz nas byly tylko 3 inne biale osoby, w samolocie tylko my - pozostali pasazerowie to lokalna ludnosc. W Phitsanulok sa dwie atrakcje - swiatynia Wat Yai oraz my. Budzimy entuzjazm wsrod miejscowych - pozdrawiaja nas, klaszcza, nawet salutuja! Ewidentnie odwracaja glowy na nasz widok. To, co nas tutaj przywiodlo to posag Buddy w swiatyni Wat Yai - jest to drugi co do waznosci posag Buddy w Tajlandii, zaraz po Szmaragdowym Buddzie z Bangkoku. Faktycznie robi wrazenie - ma 5 m wysokosci, jest wykonany z brazu i pokryty zlotem. Pieknie wyeksponowany na tle czarnych murow w zlote ornamenty i podobnie zdobionego sufitu w kolorze bordo.

Samo miasto nie poraza, jest bardzo prowincjonalne i specyficzne. Nieco brudne i niechlujne. Ale niezmiennie ludzie sa uroczy.

Idziemy zwiedzac dalej, przed nami muzeum poswiecone codziennemu zyciu Tajow. Zobaczymy takze miejsce, gdzie odlewa sie posagi Buddy.

Milego dnia :-)

dzis dodalysmy wreszcie zdjecia - takze przy postach dni poprzednich - przewincie na dol

BY THE WAY
yesterday we wrote that we had a very relaxing Thai massage the day before... well... that was a LIE. it WAS amassage, and it WAS a Thai person who gave it... but apparently that was NOT the traditional Thai massage... As we got THAT yesterday after writing the posts - this time given by 2 women from the most famous in the country school of massage - one from the Wat Pho in BGK. And it was anything BUT relaxing...
actually... after the massage, we both started laughing histerically - since we were happy 2 have survived
haha. i NEVER knew my body could bend in so many unnatural places... and also: that such a tiny creature as a Thai woman can cause a person so much pain.... as apparently the whole idea behind the massage is to push the muscles to the bone - really stronly - using their fingers/elbosw/legs/whatever... ahha. and obviously they felt where we had the sore muscles after the jungle treck - since they kept on coming back to THESE muscles and giving them an especially painfull treatment :-S

we r both alive though !!!

but back to what we did today... it was all about the WW2 and the allied prisoners of war who had to work on the construction of the thailand-burma railway. we went to the war museum and a cemetary where they burried the ones who died. We also went to see the before-mentioned (in)famous Bridge on River Kwai in Kanchanaburi

after lunch (yes, we continue on eating CONSTANTLY!!!!!) we went to Nakhom Pathom - where there was the highest buddhist monument in the world - namely a 130m high sacred building where the ashes of Buddha were kept

this is when we said goodbye to our Dutch tour group & our great guide

we're back in Bangkok now - where we got upgraded at our hotel which is nice

we're now heading for some nice dinner [haha, since we havent been eating for the whole 2h )]

BY THE WAY
it's supposed to be monsoon season.... hmhm... maybe they havent informed the SEASON itself about it, because so far it has not been raining, YAY [knock on wood!]

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OLGA'S PART

Dzien dobry:-)

Jesli wczoraj napisalam,ze masaz tajski to prawdziwy relaks i przyjemnosc, spiesze doniesc, ze to nieprawda!!!! Po wczorajszej sesji internetowej wybralysmy sie na tradycyhny masaz tajski wedlug szkoly Wat Po. I mozna nazwac cudem fakt, ze przezylysmy. Okazalo sie, ze kazda z nas moze byc kobieta-guma i ze jestesmy w stanie wygiac sie we wszelkich mozliwych kierunkach naraz. Masaz trwal poltorej godziny, co oznaczalo blaganie w myslach o przetrwanie przez prawie 90 minut (bo pierwsze 2-3 minuty byly przyjemne). No ale to juz za nami i chyba przez najblizsze dni na ten rodzaj masazu juz sie nie zdecydujemy....

W tej chwili jestesmy ponownie w Bangkoku, doktorego dotarlysmy ok. godziny temu. Za nami wizyta w muzeum JEATHposiwconemu wiezniom wojennym, ktorzy budowalimost na rzeceKwai i kolej smierci, nastepnie spacer po samym moscie, pyszny lunch w lokalnej "restauracji", po czym wizyta w Nakhom Pathon-miejscu gdzie znajduje sie najwyzsza budowla buddyjska w Tajlandii oraz 67 posagow Buddy w roznych pozycjach (wszystkich jakie moga wystepowac w swietych pismach).

Przed nami kolacja, pewnie jakis spacer i marsz do lozka, bo musimy wstac o 3:30, aby na godz.5:00 dotrzec na lotnisko, skad mamy samolot do Phitsanoulok.

Pogoda piekna-pelne slonce, chociaz dzisiaj jest duza wilgotnosc co momentami daje sie we znaki.

Jestesmy zachwycone, zwiedzamy, probujemy jak najwiecej lokalnej kuchni iprzy tym wszystkim jeszcze odpoczywamy. Zyc, nie umierac!

Usciski dla wszystkich!

we're back, alive and still kicking

then we went to the Khao Bin cave - with lots of stalagmites/stalactites. Which WAS fun 2 c, bu the fact that it was probably 38 degrees inside combioned with lack of oxygen and having 2 bend all the time was a bit tough

after the cave we went to the JUNGLE on a long tail boat . yay

we've been travelling with a group of 9 ppl (all Dutch) + guide for the last 2 days. we all took a long-tail boat (very fast) to our hotel - Jungle Rafts.

We got our own little bungalow (all made of banboo) on a raft on theriver Kwai. All the rafts with houses are bound together and connected with a wooden deck. There was no electricity - with oil lamps all over the place. The room was beautiful - everything made of bamboo, we had our own little bathroom/toilet and there were mosquito nets above our beds. Really pretty

It was SO much fun to swim in the river. Or should i say float - since the whole fun was to go to one enfd of the rafts,jump into the water and go down with the current (REALLY FAST!) along the hotel. For about 300m or so. And then climb up the lastraft, and run back to the other end , yay

we also visited the Mon tribe village - saw their houses on poles, took some pickies with their elephants

then, to add up to the relazing atmosphere, we had a Thai masage - with the sound of the river, beetles & birds in the background

afterwards we had delicious dinner and drinks and layed in the hammocks to relax

it was a great day

today we started the day off by feeding an elephant which was bathing in the river . sooo coool

later on, after the long-tail boat ride back to the jetty, we drive to the Erawan National park. where we had to climb for 2h to see a whole sequence of waterfalls. There were 7 tiers of them.

We could choose by ourselves to which one we want to go, but we decided to go all the way to the top- to see & bathe in the best one of them, the 7th . it was abit of climb - sometimes we had to take the shoes off to walk through th water of the other waterfalls. but when we got to the top it was amazing... The crystal clear blue waters where we swam together with little fishies - which would pinch us a bit (no, not bite, they wer eno piranhas )

walking down was a bit tough too - as there was no clear path - we had to walk between the roots and stones

after the waterfalls we went on the (in)famous Thailand-Burma railway which was buildby the prisoners of war during WW2. The ride took 1h and we went through the (in)famous bridge on the river Kwai (form the movie)

it was great to see the countryside as well

we're now in Kanchanaburi, at a resort on an island in the middle of the river Kwai. our hotel room opens straight ionto the river - and the views are amazing

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OLGA'S PART

Dzien dobry, to znowu my :-) Zniknelysmy na chwile, zeby odkryc uroki dzungli. Jestesmy na 3-dniowej wycieczce z grupa 7 Holendrow i tajska przewodniczka
Spedzilysmy wieczor i noc w niezwyklym miejscu - hotelu na tratwach na rzecze Kwai, gdzie nie ma elektrycznosci, gdzie slychac szum rzeki, a po zapadnieciu zmroki odglosy ptakow. Za prysznic sluzy kapiel w rzece - wskakuje sie na jednym koncu hotelu, plynie z wartkim nurtem rzeki i wychodzi z wody na drugim koncu hotelu. I tak w kolko. Oprocz tego odwiedzilysmy prymitywna wioske plemienia Mon, w ktotej oprocz ludzi mieszkaja 3 slonie. Wieczorem oddalysmy sie przyjemnosci masazu tajskiego - absolutnie fantastyczny relaks. Na koniec, czas spedzony w hamaku na werandzie....... Dzisiaj rano, po przebudzeniu, znowu wskoczylam do rzeki (poranny prysznic). A potem nakarmilysmy slonia, ktory wpadl na poranna kapiel na brzeg "naszej" rzeki.

Dzisiejszy dzien byl pelen niezapomnianych wrazen - widzialysmy cudy tego swiata - wodospady w Narodowym Parku przyrody Erawan. Jest "zespol" 7 wodospadow. spacer do najwyzszego zabiera ok. 2 godziny, kosztuje troche wysilku, ale kapiel pod wodospadem,w sloncu, w otoczeniu dzikiej roslinnosci jest tego warta. Obrazek jak z filmu przedstawiajacego raj!!!! Kolejna "atrakcja" to przejazd koleja smierci (slynny most na rzecze Kwai). Na szczescie bylo to cos wiecej niz podroz pociagiem z jednego konca mostu na drugi, trwala ponad godzine i moglysmy podziwiac uroki tajskiej wsi ;-)

Teraz jestesmy w Kanchanaburi, w kolejnym hotelu przy rzece. Okna naszego pokoju wychodza na rzeke Kwai. Tutaj juz biore regularny prysznic i nie bawie sie dziewczynke z buszu ;-) Przed nami kolejny masaz. Acha, czy wspomnialam o licznych posilkach kazdego dnia? Oj, nie odmawiamy sobie tej (najwiekszej) przyjemnosci jedzenia i probowania kolejnych dan kuchni tajskiej.

Pogoda jak dzwon, pelne slonce, deszczu na razie nie bylo.

Jest cudnie. Koniec kropka.

A kto czytal, ten (nie)traba, ha ha ha.

so today was a day of great weather and even better sights. we took a skytrain (sort of really modern metro - but above the street - on a viaduct) and went all the way 2 the river Chao Phraya, from where we took a boat = Chao Phraya Express. It was a VERY fast ferry/boat that had lots of stops along the river - sort of a Bangkok bus. It's way faster to use it in the center than 2 take taxis

we first went 2 the Wat Phra Keo - the temple with the most important buddga imagie in Thailand - the Emerald Buddha (which was in fact made of Jade ). The temple complex was HUGE and took us a while to explore. In the ??? 37 degree hear and full SUN. it was amazing, full of decoration everywhere. There was a golden Chedi = which is sort of a huge spire witha piece of Buddha's bone in it

at the Wat Phra Keo

Then we wento to the king's palaces. And form there to the Wat Pho = temple of the reclining buddha. It was a 49m long figure of a lying Buddha just before he died (& achieved nirvana). it was HUUUUGE, all covered in gold, with Buddha's feet covered with mother of pearl and full of symbols etc

We later took another ferry to the other side of the river and visited Wat Arun - with a huge 30-something m phrang (spire) - which was VERY difficult to climb and even harder to crawl down along

it was all marvelous and we didn't even know where to LOOK even - SO many details, everything in gold etc

haha, of course we iound enough time 2 munch on all the goodies - had a great breakast at the hotel - with lots of dishes (no, no bread or stuff like that!!!) and fruit, later on some soup, more fruit, many small street-dishes.

unfortunately no time for uploading pickies yet

and tomorrow we're going to the jungle - and will b sleeping in a resort on rafts - with no electricity => and thus: no INTERNET - so there will b no posts

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OLGA'S PART:

To dopiero drugi dzien w Bangkoku, a my wycin\snelysmy z tego pobytu mozliwie najwiecej. Zobaczylysmy 3 najwazniejsze kompleksy swiatynne robiace niezapomniane wrazenie - pelne kolorow, ornamentow, zlota. Trudno to wszystko ogarnac. Pogoda nam dopisuje, dzisiaj przez kilka godzin bylo pelne slonce i temp. ok. 37 st. Deszczu brak, na szczescie. Oczywiscie oprocz zwiedzania "punktow obowiazkowych", nie odmowilysmy sobie dalszej eksploracji smakow tajskich. Mleko kokosowe i swieze ananasy to juz punkty stale naszego menu.

Jutro o swicie - chwile po godz. 6:00, wyruszamy na trzydniowa wycieczke- m.in. na rzeke Kwai, gdzie spedzimy noc w hotelu na tratwach.... Odezwiemy sie po powrocie, bo przez ten czas bedziemy zapewne bez dostepu do internetu. A poza tym.... damy troche za soba zatesknic :-) :-) :-)

Usciski,

O.

so... we're alive... and salefly arrived in Bangkok.

Bangkok was great, so is our hotel. NOTHING to compare with India. A 4-star hotel actually IS a 4-star one. really nice, great pool, all perfect

haha and yes, Chrissie, we have already eaten 7 meals today - despite the fact it was only half a day here!!! YAY
among others:glass noodles salad, papaya salad with crab, some noodles with seafod, different kinds of fruit, sundried marinated pork, chicken in some funny leaves etc

all is great and under control

we went to China town by tuk-tuk - which was a blast. So many people selling all kinds o ffunny stuff
took some pickies but wont have time 2 upload 2nite
we're tired after the long flight and will b going 2 sleep soon - we've just swam in the pool and got even more tired so...

some soup (?) & green papaya salad

that's all 4 day

M.

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OLGA'S PART:

po pewnych przygodach na lotnisku w Bangkoku dotyczacej (nie)wydania mi wizy 15-dniowej na pobyt 16-dniowy, wynegocjowaniu z KLM wystawienia mi fikcyjnego biletu na wczesniejszy powrot do Polski (uwaga: wracam tak jak zaplanowano: wylot z Bgk 7.10), udalo mi sie otrzymac legalne pozwolenie na pobyt w Tajlandii. Przy wylocie bedzie mnie to kosztowalo dodatkowe 10 EURO, ale najwazniejsze, ze jest juz wszystko pod kontrola.

Chcac nadrobic stracony na lotnisku czas, udalysmy sie tuk tukiem do Chinatown gdzie panowal absolutny zgielk, szal kolorow, zapachow i smakow. Robi wrazenie. Udalo sie nam takze sprobowac juz 7 roznych miejscowych specjalow, w tym cos potwornie ostrego, co pozwolilo przeczyscic skutecznie gorne drogi oddechowe.

Zrobilysmy duzy spacer po miescie, wdychajac powietrze, w ktorym mozna zawiesic siekiere i w sklad ktorego wchodza m.in.: rozne metale ciezkie, wilgoc, wszelakie zapachy spozywcze itp.

Na koniec przyjeny akcent - relaksujaca kapile w hotelowym basenem pod pachnacymi oleandrami.

Poniewaz zmeczenie daje o sobie znac, niebawem idziemy spac, by jutro od rana odkrywac uroki miasta. Mam nadzieje, ze juz bez przygod....

Zdjecia pewnie od jutra...

Usciski,

O.

So... have been home for good 3 months... it's highest time for the next trippie!
This time I'm off to Thailand - together with my friend from high school, Olga

The planned route is:

• Bangkok with it's important sights of course

  
  

• WESTERN THAILAND:
  
• salt pans Samut Sakhon, Khao Bin caves
  
• floating market Damnoen Saduak
  
• the jungle - we'll stay on the rafts on the river (with hammocks and no electricity) & visit a Mon tribe
  
• Kanchanaburi - together with the (in)famous bridge on the River Kwai (from the movie) - built by the allied prisoners of war - together with the so-called Death-Railway
  
• Erawan waterfalls and the national park
  
• Nakhom Pathon

  
  

• CENTRAL PLAINS:
  
• Phitsanulok
  
• Sukhothai - together with the Historical Park
  
• Ayutthaya

• NORTHERN THAILAND:
  
• Chiang Mai with its hundreds of temples

  
  

• SOUTHERN GULF OF THAILAND:
  
• Ko Samui (Samui Island) - a bounty island with coconut palms and white sandy beaches - to rest for a few days before getting back to Europe