Shown here: Phitsanulok to Sukhothai
Tommy mentioned wanting a map on his last post. I tried to figure out how to embed a Google Map here using Tumblr, but couldn’t get it to work, so here’s a screencap of a gMap linking through to the full version.
1 year ago[ Tommy typing ]
While I thouroughly enjoyed the hustle of Bangkok, after five days in the chaos I was definitely ready to head North for some fresh mountain air.
I set off from my guesthouse in Phitsanulok for the ancient ruins of Sukhothai, the one time-capital of the Siam Kingdom from the mid-1200s until 1438 when the city was consumed by the Ayuttthaya empire, the same force which eventually took the Khmer grand capital of Ankgor in present-day Cambodia. Sukhothai is one of best preserved archaeological sites in Southeast Asia, because it was not looted as extensively as Ankgor and Ayutthaya after it’s demise. For being one of the primier hitorical sites of Thailand I was surprised to find the historical park almost empty of visitors with only a couple of farang tourists wandering about. I guess most of the foreign touristas are more interested to waste their time in the go-go bars of Paptong District than to visit ancient ruins of a historical capital, but I was happy to have the place mostly to myself.
The ruined city was once surrounded by a wall and moat which covered quite an expansive area, and there were lots of bicycles for tourist to rent and explore the ruins. I showed up on my own ride however and spent the afternoon cruising around and snapping plenty of photos. Before reaching the ruins, I had rented a room in the town of New Sukhothai about 12 Km from the historical site and left my heavy bags at the guesthouse. What a joy it is to sprint on the road bike without my 50 lb burden of luggage. In leaving my bags at the guesthouse, I also forgot my sunscreen and returned back to my room a little pink.
The next morning I set out for the highway back to Phitsanulok to catch the overnight train to Chiang Mai (i wish I could download some kind of an interactive map feature for the blog). Some of you may know that my friend Aoy just recieved her PhD from Chiang Mai University and is now a lecturer at the university here in Phitsanulok. She came to the train station to take me out to dinner with four other lecturers in her department. We went out for Thai style hot pot, similar to the Northern Chinese/Mongolian version or Japanese shabu-shabu, but with a distinctly Thai flavor of basil, lime and chili. After filling up on hot pot and plenty of beer Singha, they took me for a walk around the busy open-air night market for some Thai ice cream, made from coconut cream, and back to the station just in time for the train.
Here is a photo my friend Pop took from our dinner cruise on the river in Bangkok when she and Aoy took us all out for dinner.
1 year ago[ Tommy typing ]
I bungeed my bike in the back of a tuk-tuk this morning and we traversed the congested Bangkok streets to Hua Lumphong Train Station, the main train terminal in town. After checking the bike with the cargo office, I could not resist hopping in a taxi for a little bit of last minute sightseening. The first taxi I grabbed quoted me a price of 200 baht (too much). I asked him to go by the meter and he said “tour for 200 baht,” not running the meter for a taxi fare is illegal in Bangkok, but many unscupulous drivers try to play this scam on newbie foreigners. Unknown to me, there had been a cop standing behind me watching the whole exchange and taps me on the shoulder to motion me toward another taxi cab. Then the cop opens the driver door of the first cab for a chat with the driver… busted. The taxi took forever to navigate the jammed streets through lunchtime traffic, and I’m finally dropped off at Wat Pho, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. The giant reclining Buddha is a must see in Bangkok and I was excited to see this spectacular icon (photos soon). By the time I exited the temple, I knew that I would be cutting it close to make the northbound train, and the traffic jams were still as bad as earlier. The solution to getting accross Bangkok in a hurry: motorbike taxis! There ar plenty of motorbike taxis in the city, they are identifiable by the driver wearing bright orange vests. Unlike the taxi cabs, there are no fare meters and you must haggle the fare with the driver before getting on. Being in a hurry, I did not drive a hard bargain, but I did manage to talk him down to 150 baht (about five bucks). After I explained that I was in a rush to catch the train, the motorbike driver set out to EARN his fare. I hopped on for a white-knuckle speed fest through the congested city with the driver raging between lanes of clogged cars, cutting the oncomming lanes, down the wrong way for a block of one-way street and even up on the sidewalk for a block whrere auto traffic was too crowded to sneak between. The guy got me to the station in record time with an elevated heart rate and a couple new gray hairs, I’m sure. Traveling by rail in Thailand is a great experience. The trains are fast, cheap and on relatively on time, (especially compared to American Scamtrak), and there are vendors that walk through the traincars at every station selling everything from food, snacks, drinks, beer, booze, newspapers, little toys for the kids and all kinds of other stuff. A couple hours into the train ride, a tired mom with her two little boys take the seat next to me. The mom smiles and begins chatting with me in Thai. I get another chance to use a new phrase I’ve just learned: “mai chai khon thai” which translates to “not Thai people,” as I’m pointing to myself. The mom gives me an embarassed laugh and says “sorry, sorry” in English. As we pass the town of Lopburi she excitedly motions her kids over to our open window. I know why they are so excited to look out the window, Lopburi is overrun with bands of roving mischevious monkeys, soon we start seeng gangs of the little furry creatures on rooftops, and the mom says “monkey” in English. The kids start counting the monkeys, I lose count after thirtysome. The monkeys of Lopburi are totally fun and I wish I had more time to spend in town checking out the ferral monkeys roaming the rooftops, jumping on cars and stealing trash from the food stalls. After Lopburi, the tired mom builds a footrest out of her bags and reclines her seat to try and sleep, but the two little boys are still full of beans jumping in their seats and wrestling. Every so often mom raises an eye to shush the kids, reminds me of my brother and I as little kids. Finally the sun sets, and everyone falls asleep. I get off the train at Phitsanulok to find a cheap guesthouse get a good night’s sleep for the next day’s ride to the ancient ruins of Sukhothai.
1 year agoWait — I mean, it’s like there’s a little bit of you within me.
Nope, still sounding sentimental. Hmm.
I mean, there’s literally like some tiny Thai microbe inside me, in my intestines, right now at this moment.
There it is!
1 year ago[ Tommy typing ]
Dear Friends and Family, Thank you all for your concern about my making it to Bangkok on time. Like Sally posted we made it ok, and despite a little lack of sleep the International Conference was a great success. I met mushroom and fungus nerds from all over the world, a fungal crop pathologist from Iran, a medical mycologist from Guangzhou, Cordyceps experts from Thailand and Japan. Had plenty of beer and intellectual conversation with Dr. Moncalvo and Dr Howel-Jones. Saw a great lectures by Dr. Mueller and Dr. Hosaka (Oregon State alumnus, yeah). And I got to talk with several folks about future research opportunities. Blah-blah, enough fungus geek out talk.
I also met up with my former Thai classmates Aoy and Pop who came to San Franciso to study abroad in our laboratory. They went WAY out of their way to take us around Bangkok, incuding a wonderful dinner cruise through the central river in downtown Bangkok. I also met Dirk, a PhD student from Ghent university in Belgium. As most of you know, Sally had to head back to San Francisco to return to work as President and CEO of her design firm, and I - the absent minded academic with free summers - will continue my wanderings through Thailand for another week and a half.
On my last night in Bangkok, Dirk suggested that we head to the staduim for some Muay Thai (Thai boxing). For those of you unfamiliar with Muay Thai, basically two tough, skinny Tahi guys punch, elbow and kick the crap out of each other for five rounds a match. Muay Tahi comes with a long traditiopn of custom and ritual (including charging forigners way more than native Thais to watch the matches). The staduim seats are split into three classes: first-class is ringside and the white-upholstered chairs are mostly occupied by white people being waited on by ushers fetching food and drink. There is also a heavy police presece in the first class section and I learnmed later that gambling is forbidded down in first-class. Dirk and I opted for the second-class section which was far rowdier and full of characters. At 1500 baht per ticket for foriegners (about 40 bucks), it was still a bit expensive and foreigners were instructed to sit in a special section near the back. Dirk and I both having some Asian blood in our genetics ignore the “Foreigner Section” placards and nobody seemed to care or notice. Unlike first-class, the second class section is all about betting and the ruckuss resembles the floor of the stock exchange to some degree. In between rounds, old Thai dudes with gold rings and big dirty wads of cash holler over each other placing bets. After the entire night Dirk and I still had not figured out how the betting worked, but in between each round the entire secion errupted in guys yelling, holding up fingers to indicate the ammount wagered, writing down numbers on little note pads and at the end of each match A LOT of cash exchanged hands.
we exit the stadum at about 11 PM and catch a cab back to the hotel, the fights and betting are still going on inside.
I get in the backseat and Dirk takes shotgun.
Cab Driver: You go Thai boxing?
Dirk: Yes, Thai boxing
Cab Driver: After Thai boxing, get lady-massage.
Dirk: No, that’s ok
Cab Driver: Why… You go to Bagkok, get lady-massage, I take you.
Dirk: No thanks, that’s not for me.
After a long awkward silence,
Dirk: You like Thai boxing?
Cab Driver: Yea, I like Thai boxing. I like lady-massage better.
After another long silence,
Cab Driver: You want to go see ping-pong show?
I try not to pee myself laughing in the backseat…
![[ Sally typing ]
Just one more time with those crummy buildings!
I love this block, I love these buildings. A lot of the folks in my family like looking at old fancy buildings and houses that are nice and pretty — life-sized dollhouses. I, on the other hand, like stuff that looks crummy. I like the stains and textures, the visual discord. I like the evidence of usage, the clothes hanging out to dry. I like that everything looks to have been soaked in tea (or bus exhaust) for weeks, months, years. Somehow it seems more real to me, more human, and it’s the perfect contrast to the shiny shopping malls down the street, or the sleek iPhone that I took the shot with.
This shot was taken just down the street from the hotel where Tommy and I stayed, on Th Ratchaprarop…or Rajaprarop. There’s no standardization with the romanized spellings of Thai words. So on top of the endless map/signage errors and inconsistencies that we found along the way, the liquidity of spelling added a bonus challenge to countryside (BFE) navigation.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/wUXSwtVgmpwdt91ovj5zTETso1_500.jpg)
[ Sally typing ]
Just one more time with those crummy buildings!
I love this block, I love these buildings. A lot of the folks in my family like looking at old fancy buildings and houses that are nice and pretty — life-sized dollhouses. I, on the other hand, like stuff that looks crummy. I like the stains and textures, the visual discord. I like the evidence of usage, the clothes hanging out to dry. I like that everything looks to have been soaked in tea (or bus exhaust) for weeks, months, years. Somehow it seems more real to me, more human, and it’s the perfect contrast to the shiny shopping malls down the street, or the sleek iPhone that I took the shot with.
This shot was taken just down the street from the hotel where Tommy and I stayed, on Th Ratchaprarop…or Rajaprarop. There’s no standardization with the romanized spellings of Thai words. So on top of the endless map/signage errors and inconsistencies that we found along the way, the liquidity of spelling added a bonus challenge to countryside (BFE) navigation.
1 year ago![[ Sally typing ]
Someone revoke my photo-stitch access!
If this photo looks a little funky it’s because it’s 5 photos that were taken with an iPhone, and later stitched together so the colors are strange.
But check out what an awesome image, and in my mind a perfect representation of Bangkok. Here you have Baiyoke Tower II springing out of some crummy residential buildings. The incongruities in Bangkok never cease, and never cease to fascinate me.
Baiyoke Tower II is the tallest building in Thailand and I think the second tallest (at the time of this writing) in South-East Asia. On my first day alone in the city (while Tommy was at his conference) I attempted to find Baiyoke’s rooftop bar to check out the 360 panoramic view of the burgeoning city below. Navigating the city’s streets in the midst of the daytime street vendor explosion can be really difficult. At times, your view of the skyline and the streets is completely blocked by the vendors temporary tarp walls.
I entered an entrance to “Baiyoke Tower” but was confused and disappointed when the elevator to Thailand’s tallest building topped off at the 8th floor. Maybe I was in Baiyoke Tower I not II? Or maybe I was stuck in a little offshoot of Baiyoke II that doesn’t extend the entire height of the hotel? Well, I was too tired and hungry to make a second attempt that day. Later, Tommy, Dirk, and I made it up to the top of Baiyoke and checked out the 360 rotating deck at floor 84.](http://29.media.tumblr.com/wUXSwtVgmpwd521uiYuItvhCo1_500.jpg)
[ Sally typing ]
Someone revoke my photo-stitch access!
If this photo looks a little funky it’s because it’s 5 photos that were taken with an iPhone, and later stitched together so the colors are strange.
But check out what an awesome image, and in my mind a perfect representation of Bangkok. Here you have Baiyoke Tower II springing out of some crummy residential buildings. The incongruities in Bangkok never cease, and never cease to fascinate me.
Baiyoke Tower II is the tallest building in Thailand and I think the second tallest (at the time of this writing) in South-East Asia. On my first day alone in the city (while Tommy was at his conference) I attempted to find Baiyoke’s rooftop bar to check out the 360 panoramic view of the burgeoning city below. Navigating the city’s streets in the midst of the daytime street vendor explosion can be really difficult. At times, your view of the skyline and the streets is completely blocked by the vendors temporary tarp walls.
I entered an entrance to “Baiyoke Tower” but was confused and disappointed when the elevator to Thailand’s tallest building topped off at the 8th floor. Maybe I was in Baiyoke Tower I not II? Or maybe I was stuck in a little offshoot of Baiyoke II that doesn’t extend the entire height of the hotel? Well, I was too tired and hungry to make a second attempt that day. Later, Tommy, Dirk, and I made it up to the top of Baiyoke and checked out the 360 rotating deck at floor 84.
1 year ago![[ Sally typing ]
Bike box on the tuk tuk.
I know this is a really weird image — it’s 3 photos spliced together kind of crappily — but I really wanted to show how hilarious cramming a giant bike box onto a tuk tuk was.
The airlines require using a box like this to take your bicycle on a plane. Tommy & I weren’t sure how easy it would be to find a bike box in Bangkok (or at least how easy it would be to communicate our need for a one using only pantomime and 2 year old baby talk Thai). So we unpacked our bikes in Phuket, then shipped the bike boxes with extra stuff we wouldn’t need inside via DHL. My box went to Bangkok for pickup and Tommy’s to Chiang Mai.
Picking up the bicycle box in Bangkok’s DHL and transporting it back to the hotel was my final task of questionable feasibility during hair-brained adventure, at least for me, I’m sure Tommy has more excitement ahead.
I was shocked and amazed that this thing fit on a tiny, 3-wheeled tuk tuk! Here’s a shot of a tuk tuk from the outside for reference, used without permission:](http://27.media.tumblr.com/wUXSwtVgmpwcg1xtW1ADtpfpo1_500.jpg)
[ Sally typing ]
Bike box on the tuk tuk.
I know this is a really weird image — it’s 3 photos spliced together kind of crappily — but I really wanted to show how hilarious cramming a giant bike box onto a tuk tuk was.
The airlines require using a box like this to take your bicycle on a plane. Tommy & I weren’t sure how easy it would be to find a bike box in Bangkok (or at least how easy it would be to communicate our need for a one using only pantomime and 2 year old baby talk Thai). So we unpacked our bikes in Phuket, then shipped the bike boxes with extra stuff we wouldn’t need inside via DHL. My box went to Bangkok for pickup and Tommy’s to Chiang Mai.
Picking up the bicycle box in Bangkok’s DHL and transporting it back to the hotel was my final task of questionable feasibility during hair-brained adventure, at least for me, I’m sure Tommy has more excitement ahead.
I was shocked and amazed that this thing fit on a tiny, 3-wheeled tuk tuk! Here’s a shot of a tuk tuk from the outside for reference, used without permission:
![[ Sally typing ]
Riders on this canal boat (imagine a bus on water) have the option to tug the cord and pull the tarp up to avoid getting splashed.
The canal water is a milky, mustard-colored substance that smells of sulfur, and was one of the many images that flashed through my head as I tried to determine the source of my future intestinal upset.](http://26.media.tumblr.com/wUXSwtVgmpwc2suoAEbPjxPJo1_500.jpg)
[ Sally typing ]
Riders on this canal boat (imagine a bus on water) have the option to tug the cord and pull the tarp up to avoid getting splashed.
The canal water is a milky, mustard-colored substance that smells of sulfur, and was one of the many images that flashed through my head as I tried to determine the source of my future intestinal upset.
1 year ago