Chang Mai by rickshaw.

 Waiting on the train station at Ayutthaya my instincts told me that my guide had misinformed me as to which platform I was on, then we both forgot about even waiting for a train as she ordered a drink, but then suddenly we realised the train was coming in and everyone ran. I chased the person I thought carrying my bag and then realised my guide was still behind.  So in the end in the dark it was all a bit of a mess, but luckily for some reason the staff in the railway cafe did not mind helping out and getting everyone on board and then there was time to give my guide a hug and a genuine thank you for our time in Ayutthaya and off the train went.  I had been so carefully sent from one place to the next that being on the train on my own was a bit of an adventure, but it was all so easy. People chatted, next door a Newcastle supporter was chatting to a Dutch person travelling around the region with his father and I shared a few words with the Australian of Chinese descent girl opposite me.  At a certain time someone came around to change our seats into beds.  There were places to wash and everything was nice and clean and then everyone went to bed. The only odd thing was that the lights in the corridor did not go out.  I was also pleased that I had been warned to bring something warm as the air conditioning was so fierce that I was cold.    Then come 6 am we all woke up, the same person dismantled our beds, a friendly if somewhat chaotic cafe staff member delivered my Cafe Americano and I chatted further to to the young girl opposite who had enjoyed the shopping experience in Bangkok, which she assured me was better than in her native Australia. As shopping was the last thing I wanted to do in Bangkok it was nice to hear of such a different experience. She also said how much she liked being able to explore different parts of Asia from Australia, but people kept thinking she was Thai.   

                                                                                   

Lotus buds on sale in the market ready to take to temple. 

At the station everything was easy I was taken to my lovely hotel and whisked off in a rickshaw.  Again I had been unsure about this part of the tour,  both for the person cycling and for me, but in the end it was fine for me. It was not the whole day, it was quite gentle, but hard work for the  elderly pair who drove me and my new guide around the town, before having an early lunch in a restaurant created to help Thai prisoners go on the straight and narrow!   

                                                                                 

Chang Mai consisted of earlier temples than those seen in Bangkok, and with a slightly different focus to those in Bangkok, but to an outsider like me not significantly different, but still lovely and as there was a festival just finishing lots of monks were getting fed.   However, the most important part of the trip to Chang Mai was the trip to the Elephant Sanctuary, and the hotel as the hotel in Chang Mai was definitely the best one I stayed in.   Not only were the staff lovely, but the breakfasts much better than elsewhere - I even tried some of the Thai breakfasts and there was a free afternoon tea, but I also just enjoyed relaxing by the pool. The hotel was very quiet only a few people staying and it was not till the second day that they began speaking ,but it was very pleasant and the English woman and her husband very helpfully left two Richard Osman books which I devoured over the next part of the journey. 

Ayutthaya

 Attutthaya was the capital of Siam until it was destroyed by the Burmese in 1767.  Now it is hauntingly beautiful as the many temples live on in a skeletal way.   I only saw a handful of the temples, they are all slightly different in their focus, and some have had small repairs done to them. In the heat, they are just nice to waft around and at times just to sit and look at.  Then when the sun is almost set, I also saw them from the river, which did not really work as well as it should have, as the river was low, low enough to see the rubbish all around the city rather than its former glories. 

Also near Ayutthaya is the summer palace, and here the attempts by the king of Siam, to make links with Europe are clear.  The story of the King and I as seen in the film is only slightly true, but the characters of the King Mongkut and Prince  Chulalongkorn were real and in Bang Pa we see hints of them in this Victorian "horror". 

A tasteless trip or a way to honour the past?

 When I booked my trip one aspect of the trip I was slightly unsure about was the trip to the River Kwai, both because of the history of the area, but also because I was not sure about sleeping next to the river in the dark.  However, in some ways the trip turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. First I was not totally alone, second, the museums in Kwai were really informative and in the end the river element was really lovely.

I was picked up early for the trip and soon joined by a couple.  In the hour or two that it took us to drive to one of the cemeteries in Kanchanaburi, we discovered that all three of us were from Hertfordshire.  They had bought a four day version as a separate package, I was on the three day one,  we were together for a day and a half.  So first a visit to the cemetery which was very moving, then to the museum which was very informative.  Obviously much of the information was familiar to someone of my age, but not to the others on the trip.  What was less familiar was both the sheer number of Asian people who had also died in addition to the many Dutch, Australian and English soldiers and the heart-rending accounts of what happened to those who survived yet did not get home for years or at all as the war raged on.   In the afternoon, after a fabulous meal at a way side restaurant where guides seem to swap their charges, we moved onto Hinktok Camp. Apart from a nod to the style of what the prisoners of war went through in WW2, the glamping site seemed a happy beautiful place, but of course it had a dark history, which the small museum on site reflected.  Above the site there was a third museum which we visited the following day which focused on the Hellfire Pass the bit of the railway where many Aussie soldiers lost their lives.  The camp was joyful and I had a really wonderful massage there, but it was also very thought provoking and sad, so it was nice to head down the river and then just rest there for a night.   I also learned on these two trips a lot about Mon culture.  The language is slightly different to that in Thailand and the dance style slightly different too.   The Mons mostly fare from Burma, but have moved across over many years. Our first guide came over when he was only 14 but my second one was a third generation Thai Mon.  

Elephant video really from later on in the holiday but right now just happy if the video appears. 

If I can get my camera to work a few more pictures of Bangkok.

 Once the official tour of Bangkok started I moved to a "posher" hotel. Actually it just turned out to be moderately tall tower block, down a side street in the heart of modern Bangkok,  so luckily quite quiet but near to what feels like mayhem in the heat.  I decided to walk through a relatively local park to it from the nearest tube from my hotel and it almost killed me and the slight shabbiness of the park (despite being opened in honour of the previous Queen) and the slight shiftiness of the pubs and massage bars in the area,  did not fill me with joy.    In the old town there are quite a lot of street hawkers, but more people seemed to be living in the heat of the new town and there were more people roasting foods by the side of the road, despite the intense and roasting heat of the sun, so a complex mix or rich visitors and poorer Thais, criss crossing much like the fume filled streets.  The room was nice enough, but the place a little souless compared to the hotel and the hostel I had also stayed at in the Old Town and it was really anonymous, groups of loud men in the pool and just me, not an entirely nice feeling.  Anyway the one saving grace of being in that part of town - it was a sky train journey away from the Jim Thompson museum, which I had researched when it looked like continuous rain was on the cards for Bangkok and wanted an indoor activity to enjoy.  As it happened a lot of the museum is actually out of doors but in a lovely sheltered garden so it was a good activity for a hot morning. The sky train if like me you have a slight phobia of not so much heights but some structures is not great but it is doable and convenient, but I would not want to have to use it again.   

Saturday in my 9th floor hotel room, curtains closed to avoid the dizziness. 

Jim Thomson's story is interesting as he was in the war in the area, but stayed on and according to the museum helped resurrect the Thai silk industry. He was into the arts and apparently helped source silk for the film The King and I.  He also bought up the houses that form the heart of the museum and lots of antiquities, but then mysteriously disappeared whilst holidaying in Malaysia.   

Still having problems so cannot upload images I want to. 

Take it to the mountain and a chance to learn more about Thailand.

 I was very lucky, in Xian I had a wonderful trip to the Terracotta Warriors. It was an organised day trip from the youth hostel there and five of us went on it, a man from Australia who knew a lot about Chinese history and who could afford to travel to China regularly on his pension, two young female travellers, one from Sweden, and one from Thailand and of course me.  I did not keep in touch with any of them except for the woman in Thailand and because I did not really know her or expert to visit Thailand I did not follow up on the limited contact we had. Despite this when I let her know I was coming into Bangkok she kindly arranged to meet up with her and had a lovely late afternoon with her.  She said that since the pandemic she hasn't been anywhere - not even into the centre of Bangkok, so my visit had motivated her.  We mostly pottered but found the local temple had a food festival and film stars visiting, sat in the park and talked about the Monarchy - we stood when the time came for the National Anthem - and about the upcoming election and about her new work teaching Chinese online to Thais.  It was very kind of her to help me learn more about her country.   

The following day I took it easy, knowing that in the evening I would be heading for the mountain.  Bangkok is very very flat, expect for a mound with of course a temple on the top.  There was a ceremony made even more atmospheric by the wind whipping round the site and the chanting of the followers and on the way down the heavens opened. As I sheltered a kindly monk gave me a cheap coverall poncho which was also invaluable at the of the holiday.  Rain was often forecast and when it came it was very very heavy, but luckily it eased off and encased in pink plastic I made it back to the hotel. 

Wat Pho early morning. 

Buddhas of Bangkok.

 I have been very remise, as have not written anything, but the weather has been so glorious here in the UK that gardens have come first alongside some work. 

Bangkok glistens in the sun, everywhere there are temples dotted with mosaics and gold leaf, dazzling the eye.  My second morning I set out for the flower garden, but instead found myself at 8 am the first into Wat Pho, for the first hour I almost had the place to myself, but it is is such a big complex that it was towards the end that I found myself peering between two pillars at a huge face.  The reclining Buddha.  He turns out to be my Buddha as I was born on Tuesday, but I did not know that at the time.  

By the time, I had stopped being gobsmacked,  it was time to finally fall out the calm of the Wat back into the heat of Bangkok and grab a breakfast. I did not care that I was in the most touristy part of time I was just hungry to tuck into a breakfast British/American rather than Thai.  After I tried to follow the river to the flower market, but lots of buildings were getting in the way, which is when I got seduced instead by the idea of a boat trip.  I know I paid way to much for the trip, especially as it did not take me to the floating market, which it promised to take me to, but in that heat it was a great way to see Thonaburi and a few more mega Buddhas.   If I had not watched Michael Portillo on his train journeys, I would have never known about this alternative former capital and the water ways of Bangkok, so whilst it was a stupid price it was worth doing.  And I gained merit by feeding the fish. :)

Welcome to Bustling Bangkok.

 I emerged from the 12 hour flight (two long films, two meals, and a couple of hours sleep) at 6.15. By the time I had navigated my way to the end of the first underground line, it was very hot.  The heat hit and the huge buildings engulfed me, it would have been very easy to be overwhelmed, but luckily a Thai woman, about my age, spotted me trying to navigate using my phone and poor Booking.com map, and encouraged me in a certain direction.  No sooner than she had left me a man about my age, but with less English than the first person, also checked I was okay.  Luckily they had sent me in the right direction and when I came across a bus stop and really clear information about which bus to catch to my hotel, I was doing fine.    The 20 minute wait went easily whilst chatting to a South American German, on his second trip to Thailand and he was also able to reassure me that I could pay for the bus once on board. I often walk rather than try and use public transport so in this heat that was very helpful and it was nice to find a conductor on board who ensured that I got of at the right point near to democracy square.   Initially I could not find my hotel and I was worried that things had gone wrong again, but another Thai helped me and even though I did not expect to be able to check in nice and early, I was in my room and resting very quickly. But sleep would not come so I went exploring. It was so hot that I kept to green areas, but this way I got to see Sanan Luang, near the Royal Palace, then Saranrom Park and finally Rommaninat Park, which eventually became my favourite as I could head down there after the heat of the day and enjoy watching the locals doing exercises.    And in the evening I walked down to Mahakan Fort, the relatively new Wat Ratchanatdaram and another park.    I even found a nice little place, by one of the little canalways that crisscross bits of the Old Town to have coffee. It was very modern. As well as coffee and cake it supplied Thai Wedding Costumes.  

Bodhi tree in the park

It was very hot. 

Electioneering. 

Trip to Thailand, underpinning concerns.

 The other night I dreamed I was talking to Joy, my late father's late wife.  I put my arm around her shoulder, something I never did in real life and explained to her why I had just been to Thailand.   Joy's death at 90 was unexpected, despite her good age. Only about 5 years ago she went on a massive trip through Thailand and Cambodia and Laos.  She did find it tiring, but did it.  And when she was about my age, she went to Australia, but ordinarily I do not think I would think of her as a traveller. Although I travel a lot I too am not a traveller.  Usually I am "funny" the first night,  feeling very dubious of where I have fetched up as if determined not to like it, but this does not always happen and it always dispels the minute I actually start properly holidaying. The fun and excitement just overrides it.   But my trip to Thailand went against this normal situation, I do not know if it was guilt about Joy (whose unexpected gift of the money paid for this and the trip to Norway)  or my father or what but  almost every evening I was odd, like I just could not settle and relax into being away.  I felt scared at times by my mental state.   Luckily I actually really enjoyed my days in Thailand, but this battle over my mental state, did detract from the trip, so much so that by the time I got onto the formal tour bit of it ( I went out a couple of days early) I was really keen to join in with the other people on the tour.  So when I met my guide and was told I was the only person on the tour I was near to tears.  That was not what I wanted.   I wrote to the company I had booked with to express my dissatisfaction and they told me I was on an individual tour -something I had completely missed in my excitement at booking.   It is not their fault I misunderstood what I had bought, but I am disappointed that they did not thank me for the feedback and think about it.  Almost everything else that the tour covered was done really well.  But their lack of politeness at the end, is a disappointment.  

Anyway luckily for them the Thai guides and drivers did a very good job and because I went on a tour I saw much more and learned much more than if I had gone on my own and in fact it was so hot whilst I was out there I think I would have really struggled on my own. So I know I should be raving about the holiday but I am not, however, I do know that I am very fortunate to have been there and to have seen all I have seen.  From the old town of Bangkok,  to the horrors on the beautiful River Kwai, to the former capital at Ayutthaya, up to Chang Mai, the Lanna capital and finally onto Phuket, I really I got the chance to know the country physically and historically very well.    So thank you Joy for both the inspiration and the finances. 

                                                     The flat landscape near to Bangkok. 

Coming into Phuket.