THAILAND: THE WONDERLAND

(22nd July 2008)

Sa-wa dee kah (Hello)

We are at the Thailand airport with flowers in our neck ... After this warm welcome, our guide Peter is taking us right to our hotel.

Bangkok is the capital of Thailand. Thailand means "Freedom City". The capital city of “Bangkok” means "City of Angels". There is a 4-hour time difference between Turkey and Thailand. Her currency is” baht”.

Tuktuk

Immediately after we settle in our hotel, we start our temple tour in Bangkok. The first stop is Wat Pho Temple. Certain clothing rules must be obeyed when entering the temples. We start our journey immediately by removing our shoes. We see the Statue of the Reclining Buddha. Then we enter Wat Traimit, the Temple of the Golden Buddha.

Wat Pho Temple

Reclining Buddha

Temple of the Golden Buddha

We continue our journey with Chao Phraya River. While we are traveling in the river by our boat on the one hand, we are feeding the big fish in the river with bread on the other hand.

We meet vendors along the river. However, we don’t understand that Thai sellers are talking or shouting because their speech seems somehow different. :)

We often encounter snake figures on the roofs here. According to the legend, the snake says to the monk: "I want to be a monk like you." However monk says "no, you can not be a monk. You will protect the roofs." Thus the roofs are being protected by these snakes.

In the evening, we taste Tom Yum, famous soup of Thailand. It's a soup mix of seafood, such as shrimp, herb, lemon juice. But it doesn’t not really fit our palatal delight.

The next day we are turning our tour route to the Floating Market. On the banks of the river there are all kinds of tropical fruits. We taste these delicious fruits in order: mangosteen, durian, pomelo, dragon, mango, rambutan, finger banana... etc.

After lunch we go to the tika tree workshop. Furnishings are made of tika trees here and they are shipped to whole world by ships. Even individual orders can be given.

After the workshop we are visiting sopping centers called Siam Paragon and MBK Center in the city center. They have very nice ice creams.

We go to Siam Naramit to see local life in the evening.

The next day we are on the road to Pattaya. It rains from time to time because it is time of Monsoon rains...

We often come across motorcycles along the way.

We find the opportunity to make an “elephant safari” in the park on the road. We are sitting on the elephant trunk here and being taken photographs. We even try shooting with a pistol aimed at having fun. We give milk bottle nursing and feed with bananas the baby elephants Monica and Bence we saw in the park. We fondle tigers: but of course the kids :) We feel as if we were in a Wonderland. We are like children here.

We go through the beautiful botanical gardens to watch the crocodile show. We are watching people displaying dangerous shows here with crocodiles. They put their heads in the mouths of the crocodiles, play with their tongues, sit on their backs, pull their tails. We're gawping at the show. When they have finished the show without accident, we breathe a sigh of relief.

After a pleasant trip we are now in Pattaya. In the evening we are walking around on the Walking Street, which is burst at the seams. We can see that people from every countries of the world flock here because of the free viewpoint in the entertainment sector :)

In the meantime, we realize that we have forgotten our camera. They bring it right after us. We get surprised. Theft and crime rate is comparatively low here.

Then we go to the “giant aquarium”. We are watching various kinds of fish. We see and stroke a chimpanzee at the exit. We've never been so mingled with animals!

From here we go to the Tropical Garden. We visit different gardens with magnificent landscapes including orchid horticulture. These gardens, which are like a piece of paradise, are almost fascinating.

Then we watch traditional Thai shows. Dancing, Thai Boxing... Then we are watching elephants playing football, bowling, drawing pictures.

In the evening we watch the famous Alcazar Show. Here we enjoy watching the dances of the transsexual (ladyboy) Thai dancers with their brilliant costumes.

We finish the day with famous Thai massage. We relieve our all tiredness.

Throughout our trip in Thailand, we feel like we are in a big fairground. We finish the fast-flowing time with sweet memories.

In the meantime, we thank Peter again describing him as the most patient, most understanding and most pleasant guide we have ever seen :)