His View 

Thailand - Feliks' perspective

 

Chiang Mai 

Even though we landed in Bangkok, this was our first official city in Thailand. We took the bus from Bangkok because the train was sold out and I have to say that everyone at the train station was extremely nice. Most of them worked for a travel agency but they really didn't appear that way, and there was no pushing us into a sale which we really liked. The ride to Chiang Mai was nothing exciting; it was night time so we couldn't see much. We did stop for a snack halfway through and I had the best fried rice ever. It had fish in it, need I say more?

 

We got to the hostel about an hour before they opened so we waited outside, which was nice since the temperature was well in the 70s already. We checked in and went on our way to explore the city. First, when you look at a map of the city, it’s a giant square. I mean that the main road is a square around the city center. It was pretty easy to navigate because of this.

After about a 10 minute walk we came up to our first temple. We both had open mouths once the whole thing came into view. I can’t remember the name of the temple since we saw so many that day. It wasn't very big but it had so much color. There was gold on almost everything, and then the walls were white. There were squares of blue, red, green, and mirrors in patterns along every edge. It was so clean and perfect looking, I really felt like I was in a National Geographic magazine. The architecture was so simple but the detail was extraordinary. This was the first of many temples that we visited that day and they all had something about them that was just simply amazing. 

 

Some of the temples had massive golden buddhas inside, some had really exotic statues, and every single one was just beautiful. Every temple we went to was free and it seemed that anyone could come in and roam around. At a couple different temples we were able to see the monk living area, where they slept, ate, and washed their clothes. It was a very natural experience as in there was only two signs in English, “take of your shoes” before entering the temple, and “toilet” with an arrow below it. 

 

I felt like the rest of the city was pretty tourist-based. Most restaurants had menus in English or a picture book of generic photos. We were able to find the special local dish Khao soi because of these pictures. It was a soup-like dish with chicken, veggies, egg, and noodles. One of my favorite Thai dishes that we tried. We also found a festival of some kind which we were told was for the children. There was food, craft stations, and a live band of teens. Most of the music they were playing were American songs but we did hear a little 6 year old sing a native song. 

 

That night we went to check out the night market. Honestly, it was everything you could expect from a market, but it was massive. So big. At least 10 blocks longs and a couple blocks deep. They had everything there: all the souvenirs you could want, street food, fresh food, massive outdoor food courts. I found a delicious Beef Lok Lak, which is beef with veggies served with white rice and a fried egg on top. Amazing! We also found one hour foot massages for $5. We were out late but it was worth it. Every step after that massage felt like my feet were walking on clouds.

 

Our first day was really good and I can’t count how many times I said “I really like this place. Our second day was going to be the most exciting, because we made plans to ride elephants. After some calculating, it was much cheaper for us to rent a scooter and make the drive ourselves. I was pretty excited. 

 

The locals on scooters are crazy. They lane split like nobody’s business. If you’re in a car in Chiang Mai and it’s rush hour, I feel sorry for you. Scooters just zip right past you in the middle of the lane, sometimes even in the oncoming traffic lane, right to the front. I mastered this technique fairly quickly, even though it scared the crap out of Caywood. It was an extremely long ride to the Elephant Training Center, mostly because we had a hard time finding it, so we spent about an hour going up and down the road. As luck would have it, we made it just in time for the last ride of the day. 

 

I’m usually the one that gets “excited” about stuff, not this time. I was super pumped to ride an elephant, but Caywood was so excited she pretty much made us run to the ticket booth. They were already starting to load and we got the last elephant in line. First, they are way bigger when you’re sitting on them. Second, they are so big! We did the hour and a half ride, which was about 40 minutes of riding, 10 minutes of stopping at a village with a few people selling souvenirs, and another 40 minutes of riding. 

 

The first 40 minutes we went through a very jungle-like forest, up a creek the entire time. The elephants were awesome. They had a little path that they followed, which got really narrow a couple times. I was really amazed how they maneuvered themselves through some of the really tight spots. The driver, who sat literally on the head of the elephant, was just more or less there for authenticity. He said some stuff to the elephant but I think they knew the way on their own.

 

The way back from the 10 minute stop was the best, because they took the elephants up the river. This wasn’t the Mississippi but there was a good current on it. The water was up to the elephant’s knee and again they just walked right through it. They are so big! Beside the look of a kid in a candy store on Caywood’s face the entire time, this was my favorite part of the ride. The coolest part came next. We got to feed the elephants some bananas. They are so big that we had to give them two or three at the same time to satisfy them. Caywood got goop all over her hand when the elephant almost inhaled it. Her excitement had reached at a new level. That was awesome. 

 

On our way back to Chiang Mai, we had to go pet some tigers. Yes, tigers. With our hands. Tiger Kingdom is a place where you can go and pet tigers. I thought it sounded safe, plus if people had been getting hurt no one would go and this place was packed. Due to getting lost earlier, we didn't have a lot of time for the tigers. There were four different sizes that you could pet: smallest, small, medium, and large. They had waits for each one and the medium was the shortest wait. In size, they were barely smaller than the large and just as cool. 

 

There were four tigers in the cage we went into and I must admit that it was a little scary at first. I mean one wrong move and this giant cat turns you into a scratching pole. All the tigers were so relaxed though, they were just laying there. Some were pretty much sleeping, others were in and out, half paying attention. We got to pet them, take pictures with them, I even got one to roll over on his back because he liked my belly scratching so much. It was pretty cool and something I will never forget. This was pretty much the end of our trip to Chiang Mai and we both deeply regretted not staying longer. There was so much more that we wanted to do but didn't realize it until we got there. 

 

Overall, I really really enjoyed Chiang Mai. The city had that small town big city amenities feel. The temples were just magnificent. The streets were so clean. The people were so nice. The food was amazing. The mountains surrounding the city were awesome. The elephants, tigers, and the scooter ride were unforgettable. I would really love to come back to Chiang Mai for a week and go exploring in the nearby mountains or national forest. I really liked that most of the temples had free bathrooms. WiFi was a little more difficult to find for free, but most restaurants had signs outside to tell you they had it. Love this city! 

 

 

Ayutthaya 

We took the night train from Chiang Mai to Ayutthaya and it was one of the most comfortable second class sleepers experiences that we’ve had. When we first got there, we had two seats facing each other on one side of the train. Around 7pm, the train worker came by and made our beds for us. He dropped the top bunk, put sheets on, and set up the pillow and blankets. The bottom bunk was easily big enough for two, as the couple next to us shared it. The top bunk was a little smaller but still incredibly comfortable. We were not expecting it to be that nice and was just what we needed after a long day. 

 

We arrived around 5 in the morning and most things were not even open yet so we hung out at the train station for a while. Around 7 we started our walk into the city. It wasn’t a very big city but it was longer than I initially thought. We had a couple of ruins on our list that we wanted to see and the first was Wat Mahathat. It was a giant park area with a massive temple ruin. There were little lakes and streams all around, cool looking trees, and little temples. The ruins were pretty cheap to see and we got the self guided audio tour which was really nice. We learned a lot about the ruins and the down fall of the city.

 

Our next stop was the Ayutthaya Historic Park. This was actually much cooler than Wat Mahathat in my opinion. The ruins here were still very much intact. The temples were really cool and had some very steep stairs. We also saw some workers shaking a tree for the weird nuts that grew on it. We saw one of the locals open one up and eat it so we grabbed a handful and tried them. To me they tasted like pumpkin seeds. Nearby was a much newer temple that had a giant buddha inside that had a lot of locals praying. Very similar to the temples we saw in Chiang Mai. Our last stop was Wat Lokayasutharam. Another ruin that had a giant buddha laying on its side. By far the biggest buddha we’d seen so far. 

 

Overall, the city was okay. The ruins were cool and the short self-guided history lesson made it that much easier to appreciate. Don’t think the city had much more to offer. 

 

 

Bangkok

We arrived in Bangkok late in the evening and met up with our couchsurfer host. He lived in a studio apartment that was about 15ft by 15ft with a bathroom. Pretty small space by our standards but he was a young professional it was definitely livable. We crashed pretty early since we had a really long day that started at 5 am; it was about 10 at night when we got to his place. We hadn't seen much of the city so I was pretty excited for the following day's activities.

 

We started off with a short ride on the metro to the Siam area. It was a giant shopping area that spanned over a number of buildings. We stopped by the Central World Plaza, a massive indoor shopping mall. This place was huge and very well-organized. Unlike the malls in America where the stores are scattered all over the place based on who can pay more rent for the best spot, this mall was organized by category. Each level had specific types of stores. It was so much easier to shop around. We were looking for a FitBit since ours got misplaced somewhere. All the electronic stores were on the same level and within a few short steps we found one. 

 

Right next to the Central World Plaza was the Siam Center, again a giant shopping mall. More specific stores but very similar to Central World Plaza. We accidentally walked through the food court area and found a place that did hibachi for very reasonable prices. We’ll get to that later. 

 

We continued on to our first official stop, the Royal Palace. On the way there we were interrupted by a man on the street who warned us about a protest up ahead and gave us directions to avoid it. As we continue to converse, he informed us about the “tourist special” the Thai government was having. Basically, we could hire a Tuk Tuk driver to show us around the city and take us to all the temples for only a couple dollars. I was naturally skeptical and had to clarify the deal a couple of times, but it was legit. The very nice gentleman even flagged down a driver and sent us on our way. 

 

This was a sweet deal for us but the temples that he took us to were not really on our list. They were still cool to see. After the first temple the driver took us to a custom suit maker. He got a gas coupon for bringing us in whether we bought anything or not, and we got to see what a custom suit was all about. We did not buy one, more on this in a bit, and so we went to the next temple. I honestly don’t remember the names of the ones he took us to but they were not the normal tourist stops as we met another gentleman who asked us how we heard about the temple we were at. Our next stop was another suit maker and this time we got sold. 

 

The initial price they started with was 12,000 baht, roughly $360. After some no’s and not sure's, the manager came over and gave us his lowest price, $230 shipped to the states. I was measured more than I have ever been in my life. Caywood got a complimentary Coke and I chose the beer. Pretty good experience but the sales people are a little pushy. Even when we came back the next day for the final fitting our salesman tried to sell me another suit. I can’t wait to try it on when we get back to the states. 

 

After a couple more temples and stops at some jewelry wholesalers, the driver dropped us off at a river tour on a long boat. Again, the worker started off at a ridiculous price and by the end we basically got over half off normal admission. The boat tour went to the other side of the Chao Phraya River and through some neighborhoods of Bangkok. These were houses that were pretty much built on the river. Some of them were falling apart while others looked like million dollar mansions. Mostly the falling apart type though. There were a lot that we saw that it was a mystery on how they were still standing. The wooden columns that went into the water were so degraded on some of them that they literally were being supported by a piece of wood the width of a toothpick. 

 

We also stopped briefly at the floating market, which was not a market per say but a bunch of guys selling stuff from their boats. Our boat stopped on the side of the channel and one guy paddled over and started throwing stuff in Caywood’s lap. Drinks, key chains, souvenir stuff. He got us a elephant statue that we hadn't seen before and we think we got a pretty good deal. The tour ended near the Royal Palace but by this time it was closed so we headed back to the studio for a good night's rest. 

 

Our awesome host was gracious enough to let us use his scooter to roll around town the next day, so Caywood and I headed out on two wheels again. The driving was a little bit crazier than Chiang Mai but we managed to get everywhere without any major problems. We did get stopped by the police right outside the Royal Palace but I just played dumb tourist and they told us to move along. 

 

Since we missed it the day before, we started at the Royal Palace. We parked the scooter and started walking toward the entrance. About halfway there we were stopped again by what seemed to be a very nice man. He talked to us for a bit, asked where we were from and all that jazz. Then he informed us about the Tuk Tuk deal the city had and followed up with the dress code that was needed to get into the Royal Palace, which neither of us had on. He then tried to get us into a Tuk Tuk, even flagged one down to come over. We kindly refused and left to go find proper clothes to get into the palace. As we were walking back to the scooter we heard something very interesting over the palace's loud speakers. “Free clothes are available at the front gate for proper attire,” promptly followed by “don’t trust anyone who tries to interfere or deter your visit to the palace.” Well, we thought he was a nice guy. 

 

The Royal Palace was everything “royal” means and more. The first part of the palace was the temple which blew away any other temple we had visited thus far. It was magnificant. We spent more time here than in the rest of the palace. The details of the buildings, the statues, and the little buildings surrounding the temple were awesome. There was so much to look at that it was almost overwhelming. After about 100 photos not including selfies, we made it to the “royal” stuff. A couple of rooms that we were not allowed to take pictures in had some royal furnishings; there was a weapons rooms, and a museum of random stuff. I liked the temple better. We chose to skip Wat Pho which was across the street and headed to Chinatown to see the Golden Buddha. 

 

So apparently they found this giant gold buddha statue when they were doing some remodeling. It's the worlds largest golden statue weighing in at 5.5 tons. Solid gold, that means it's worth roughly around 233 million dollars. That makes this the most valuable thing we have ever seen. Other than that it was not very big compared to the other buddha’s, it was a duller gold color, and it sat on the third level of this temple. Not much else to say about it. Across the street was a Chinese temple that was a little cooler in my opinion, there was just so much more to the temple here. 

 

Our last tourist stop was Wat Prasri Maha Umathewee, or Wat Khaek. This Hindu temple was unlike anything we had seen before. I talk about the detail that some of these temples have, and how much work had to go into building them. This temple makes those look like concrete squares. The carvings on the outside gate set the expectations and inside was even more beautiful. We couldn't take pictures of anything inside but you can see some of the shots of the gate. Multiply that by a couple thousand and that's what was inside. By far my favorite temple on the trip. 

 

It was dinner time by now and we headed to an earlier find in Siam Center: hibachi. This wasn't the type of hibachi that we have in America. From start to finish it took about 4 minutes for the chef to make our food. There were no fancy tricks or onion volcanos, he just brought out the rice, veggies, and meat, cooked it decently fast, and it was on our plates. For the price, it was awesome but I think the locals would consider this “fast food.”

 

Our night ended with meeting a friend that we met in Ireland. It was a small bar in the neighborhood we were staying in. I must admit, this bar made me feel like we were back in the states. There was live band playing some American songs and the outside area was very eclectic. Overall, Bangkok really surprised me. I was expecting it to be busy, and it was, but I was not expecting it to be so “New York.” Especially around the Central World Plaza, everything was lit up with lights. Neon and L.E.D. everywhere. Advertisements over all the buildings. The malls were almost futuristic in atmosphere. The metro system was so easy to use and functioned flawlessly. The food was awesome, yet it still had everything you would expect from a city in Thailand. I really liked Chiang Mai, Bangkok just made me love the whole country. I would really love to come back to Thailand and see what the other cities have to offer. Bangkok was a great visit but I don’t have an itch to specifically go back, but I would. Public bathrooms were pretty much everywhere and really, really clean. WiFi was a little challenging but it was out there.