Day 399 - 14 Aug ‘24 - Phang Nga. Today was our last day in holiday mode while in Thailand. Our plan was therefore to spend most of the day by, or in, the pool. Unfortunately, Abi’s new swimming costume she chose for her birthday, had been rubbing between her legs and under her armpits, so she didn’t want to go swimming.
On our way to the restaurant for breakfast, we counted nine vans dropping off day tourists, and it wasn’t yet 10am.
“Oh no! Now we’ll definitely not get any loungers!”
Abi ran back to our room while we finished breakfast, and packed a bag of everyone else’s swimwear and towels - so thoughtful!
We managed to get three loungers together under two umbrellas; I counted two other yellow towels given to hotel guests, and the rest of the towels were the pale blue or white ones of the visitors.
“I guess the hotel has got to make money during quiet times,” I said to Dan, “but this is a bit ridiculous. I can understand the negative reviews on the booking website now. It’s going to affect the review I give!”
Abigail spent the day on the lounger, getting increasingly hot and increasingly bored.
“Why don’t you go swimming in tshirt and shorts?”
“I don’t want to.”
“It will cool you down and you won’t be bored.”
“I DON’T WANT TO!”
“Fine!”
We had an icecream for lunch, and finally took pity on her around 2pm, when we went back to our room and watched half of the final Jurassic World movie.
At 6:30pm we went to the restaurant for dinner, and I brought our togs and towels with us for another nighttime swim. We had lots of fun trying to stand up on a foam mat, which neither Dan nor I managed at all!
We didn’t stay too long though, before going back to our room for showers and to watch the end of the movie. I was also not feeling particularly wonderful.
I’d been coughing all day, and my throat was now hoarse from the effort. But on the positive side, my nose was completely clear! I’d had a rubbish sleep last night, having woken every hour or so to cough, so I really wanted a good sleep tonight in preparation for travelling and sightseeing to start again tomorrow.
Day 400 - 15 Aug ‘24 - Phang Nga to Kamala. Stupid, painful, exhausting cough. Enough said.
We enjoyed another buffet breakfast and then went back to our room to pack. When our driver came to collect us at midday, I saw two double-decker coaches in the parking lot.
“Jesus! Look at that Dan! They’re a bit bigger than vans…”
“Thank god we’re not in the pool today!” he replied.
We’d enjoyed the size of the pool here, but we all agreed we would much rather have stayed on Ko Yao Yai for the last couple of nights. It was definitely more relaxing, and the pool there was cooler and more refreshing.
We’d organised for our driver to take us to the Big Buddha on the way to our accommodation in Kamala. It was about one-and-a-half hours to the Buddha, and on the hill up to the top, Dan pointed out the place where we had first tried durian, seven years ago.
“Luckily the kids haven’t spotted the elephants chained up…”
“Oh mummy! Look!” cried Abi.
“Scratch that…!”
According to the internet, Thailand had apparently improved its animal welfare in the last few years, but not, it would seem, as much as we would like. Seeing elephants in concrete booths, with chains around their necks connected to a pole barely a metre away, must be confronting to even the hardiest of souls.
The Big Buddha statue started construction in 2002, and when we were last here in 2017, was about 80% complete. Today, it still had works going on under the statue, and sadly, Buddha himself looked a little worse than he did before, with some staining on the front as well as some missing tiles.
The statue is 45m tall, and is the third largest Buddha statue in Thailand. The view from the top was amazing, and we could see Ko Yao Yai in the distance.
“Aah, such sweet memories!” Dan said wistfully.
“Mmm-hmm,” I agreed.
We only stayed half an hour before we carried on our way, and arrived at our new hotel around 3pm. It was a massive difference from secluded resort to tourist-and-scooter-packed streets!
Once we’d dropped our bags in our room, we went out to find Abigail some new togs. The first shop we went to kindly pointed us across the road where they sold rash shirts with matching bottoms for children. There were two styles - one with shorts that looked like bike pants, and one with a skirt with undies attached.
“Which ones would you like?” I asked Abi. “The ones with the skirt or the ones with the shorts?”
“I don’t like either,” she muttered, with a look of disgust.
“Well, those are your two options.”
“I don’t like them!”
“It’s either one of these or you have to wear your togs! There’s no other option, and there won’t be anywhere else either!”
“I! Don’t! Like! Them!”
We left the shop, and had a look down a street full of shops, in which only one had children’s swimwear…and they were exactly the same!
After a quick visit to a pharmacy for insect repellent and itchy-bite cream for Alex, we went back to the first shop, whereby Abi begrudgingly deigned to try on the “it’s got a dirty mark on it” togs.
They were a perfect fit. A new rash shirt for Alex (which also came with trunks), a rash shirt for me, and some diving pool toys later, we all walked out the store moderately happy. I didn’t negotiate the prices down as much as Dan would have liked, but I really couldn’t be bothered.
We stopped at a massage place that had a fish tank out the front for you to put your feet in - we’d done this in Bali five years ago, and it was a crazy sensation having fish nibble the dead skin on your feet!
While watching the kids have fun, Dan and I noticed one of the massage ladies bent over the head of another massage lady, going through her hair with a pair of tweezers and a comb, picking out the nits.
We were offered the couch to sit on, which we did for about 20 seconds so as not to seem impolite, before we stood up to ‘look at our children’.
When the lady was finished, she flicked the towel clean, and this towel was then used to dry the kids’ feet! So gross!!
I mean, nits are a fact of life, but there’s a time and a place, and on the side of the road outside your business, is not it! Needless to say, we won’t be going there for any massages.
It was then 5:30pm, and Dan and I were starving. The kids were keen on the pool, but I didn’t want to have to wait any longer to eat, so the kids lost the discussion and we sat down for dinner.
Abi was thrilled to discover baked potatoes on the menu, but was horrified when her ‘with baked beans’ order came ‘with bacon and cheese’.
She was so loud in her complaints to us, that the waiter heard from the kitchen, and came back to find out what was wrong! Not embarrassing at all…
“There’re ways to say there’s a mistake with your order,” we told her, “and being loud and rude is NOT what you do!”
The waiter was most apologetic and took her plate away.
“You could have just asked for some baked beans, now you’ll have to wait another 20 minutes for a new baked potato!”
In the end, the waiter came back after just a few minutes with the bacon replaced with baked beans, and Abi was finally happy.
After dinner we took the kids to the pool for half an hour, and then sent them to bed at 8pm. There was no buffet breakfast tomorrow, so we could take our time with getting up and out.
Day 401 - 16 Aug ‘24 - Kamala. I don’t now how, but Dan and I seem to have a secret skill in getting rooms with crappy air conditioning. The apartment was a lovely and cool 20°C (according to two other air conditioner units), but in our room, the thermostat never dipped below 27°C.
“At least the sun rises on the other side of the building,” I said, trying to find a positive.
I needn’t have bothered, as I spent the night coughing up my lungs, Dan had restless legs, and our upstairs neighbours kept thumping around until after 1am, so we were both awake fairly early after all.
We left the apartment around 10:30am to do a quick bit of shopping (Abi wanted some new summer dresses, and Dan took his trousers to a tailor to get the hem fixed), then we bought some snacks from a 7-11.
After quickly popping back to our room to eat and drop off the dresses, we went for a walk along the beachfront for a while. We didn’t stay too long, however, as it started raining, and there were also a few thunder rolls.
Everywhere we looked, were signs about being in a tsunami hazard zone, and there were painted arrows on the ground pointing to the nearest safe area.
It had been almost 20 years since the devastating tsunami that killed over 220,000 people globally, and this area of Thailand was badly affected. Since the tsunami, a new alert system for the Indian Ocean was put in place, and there were now alarm posts along the coastline. We told the kids all about the devastation, although it is impossible to even begin to imagine what it must have been like - to be lying on the beach, relaxing on your Christmas holiday, when out of nowhere…
In the afternoon we watched a movie, then went poolside for a while. I went swimming for a bit, and even helped a small child avoid drowning! He must have been no more than five years old, and was swimming in water that was deeper than his ability. On one trip across the width the pool, he suddenly panicked (I think he was tired), so I reached out for him and then helped him get to the side. His mum, who was on the side of the pool watching him, was very thankful, but I told him he should be swimming in the shallow pool where he could stand up. His mum, however, just told him he had to swim near the edge of the pool, so he had something he could grab hold of.
“That boy is going to drown,” I muttered to Dan when I walked back to the loungers.
“Why is he going to drown?” asked the kids, loudly.
“Because he’s swimming in water that’s too deep! He’s going to get himself into trouble, that’s for sure.”
We didn’t stay at the pool for very long either, as it wasn’t the cleanest of water; there was dirt and rubbish on the bottom of the pool, and I had no idea when it was last filtered.
We went to the closest restaurant for dinner, where I had a delicious chicken burger. As much as I’ve been enjoying Thai food, I really felt like something a bit more Western!
After dinner, we went for a walk along the beach again. It was much busier than before, and we were there in time to watch the end of a sunset.
“It’s crazy the different angle for the sunset, from here to Ko Yao Yai!” Dan pointed out.
We also got to watch some stupid people swim in the sea where the red flags warned people not to swim. A lifeguard came up the beach waving the red flag and blowing his whistle - he was pulling up all the flags, having obviously finished his shift, but still made sure to tell the idiots to get out the water.
“Even if you can’t read Thai OR English, the flag is red, red means stop, or danger, and there are picture signs up saying no swimming!” I said.
“Who wants to go swimming in the dark anyway?” Alex asked.
Day 402 - 17 Aug ‘24 - Kamala to Chiang Mai. This morning was pack-up time again. I only coughed up one lung last night, so that was a slight improvement.
After packing our bags, we collected Dan’s trousers from the tailor, did a quick bit of shopping for clothes, then bought some sushi triangles and chocolate milk from 7-11.
“We’re sure going to miss these sushi triangles when we’re back in New Zealand!” I said, when we ate them in our room.
“Yeah…they’re awesome!” agreed everyone.
As we sat in reception waiting for our taxi, the heavens opened. The drive was an hour to the airport, and it poured the whole way there. And while sitting in the departure lounge, seven flights, including ours, were delayed!
Then, Dan showed me a message from our accommodation: there had been some kind of damage from the previous guests, repairs would take a couple of days, could we therefore find somewhere else to stay?!
“Crap! That’s not good at all!” I said.
“Nope - now I’ve got an hour to find somewhere else to stay, before the plane takes off!”
It was a nail-biting time, that’s for sure. We found a couple of places and sent ‘request to book’ messages, then waited for a response. We waited, then queued up to board the plane, and waited, then boarded the plane, and waited, then just as we were about to start taxiing, we got a reply to say the booking had been accepted. Phew!
It was only a two-hour flight from Phuket, and then a short taxi ride to our accommodation near the old city.
“You’ll like this, Nic,” Dan called from the bedroom. “A large bed, super quiet air conditioning, and dark curtains!”
“YES!!”
It’s the simple things in life…
Day 403 - 18 Aug ‘24 - Chiang Mai. We had the best sleep we’d had in a long time. Other than 3:30am, when we were both awake for some reason. It was super quiet where we were, as it was back from the main road, and the room stayed dark and cool. Bliss!
For the first time in a while, we had cereal for breakfast in our own kitchen. I did a load of washing, then we headed out to visit the old city.
The old part of the town was founded in either 1294 or 1296, and was a large square with a moat around the whole area. Inside the moat were the remnants of a defensive wall, mostly still standing at the corners and at the main gates, although some areas had been heavily renovated.
We wandered around the city with no set route or plan, and stopped in at a few different temples we came across.
The first one was Wat Saen Mueang Ma Luang, and it was an incredibly beautiful complex.
None of the buildings were open, so we could only wander around the outside. It was also really quiet, with no other visitors.
We kept walking in a straight line through the old city, and stopped briefly at a public plaza, where stood a statue of the three kings who founded the city.
Slightly further on was the biggest temple of the area, the Wat Chedi Luang. It was quite a large complex, and the first small temple we walked past was for men only. Women were not allowed inside due to menstruation. It was believed they “humiliate and ruin the sanctity of the city pillar”, and that even if men disobey the rules of proper attire, it will cause “social instability”.
“That’s so unfair!” Abi said.
“That’s just different cultures and beliefs,” I said, although I was inclined to agree with her.
One of the temples at the back was dedicated to a monk, who spent 60 years of his life in pursuit of meditation, mostly in forest temples. Inside the temple was a wax model of him, sitting lotus-style at the ‘altar’.
The most incredible part of the complex was the massive stupa, which was built between the 14th and 15th centuries, and stood 82m high. In 1545 there was an earthquake that destroyed the top 30m of the structure.
Even though it was in quite a bad state of disrepair, I thought the plants growing out of the rubble gave it an ethereal air.
The last building we went to in the complex was a modern temple, that looked like it had been undergoing some extensive renovation.
There were a lot of statues of Buddha in his different positions (depending on the day of the week), and they were absolutely covered in little squares of gold leaf, which you could add on for a donation.
After the temple, we went to a restaurant across the road for some lunch, where Abi had pad Thai, Alex and I had sweet-and-sour chicken (it was one of the only meals without nuts), and Dan tried a traditional northern Thailand dish called Khao Soi Gai - it was fresh noodles, fried noodles, and a drumstick, in a creamy, spicy, soup. This dish had been recommended by two of our taxi drivers, and my friend Elaine who used to live here.
“It’s a shame you can’t taste this, Nic,” Dan said between mouthfuls.
“That’s okay,” I replied between sips of my rose and lychee juice.
We continued our journey across the city in a straight line, until we came to the other gate, then walked around the moat on a Pokemon Go ‘route’.
One of the shops we walked past was an old-school pet store, and inside were the cutest little baby bunnies, all curled up and fluffy, as well as some baby Guinea pigs, and a couple of hairless ones!
There were also snakes, albino hedgehogs, a chameleon, gliding squirrels, meerkats, and some prairie dogs that were trying their absolute hardest to chew through their cages.
“I wish I could buy them, then set them free,” Alex and Abi both said.
“Mmm, it’s not nice, is it?” I replied,” especially after we’ve seen them living in the wild.
We kept walking around and then back through the city, this time making our way to the apartment. We stopped at a clothing store for me to try on some really nifty trousers, that tied at the front and back and had split legs.
“Thanks for not telling me about the sweat on my bum,” I said to Dan once I was dressed again.
The light green linen blend trousers I’d bought for our safari were hotter and thicker than I’d expected, and soaked up sweat like a sponge.
“I can’t keep wearing these!” I said when we left the shop, and I adjusted my backpack to cover the worst of the sweat patches.
By the time we got back to our apartment, we were all hot and bothered. It was 31°C and the humidity swung between 70-85%. The apartment only had air conditioning in the bedrooms (which were upstairs), so we’d left their doors open and the ceiling fans on in the lounge, which helped make the whole apartment slightly cooler than outside.
We cried our way through A Dog’s Purpose, then shortly before 7pm, walked back to the old city to check out the Sunday night market.
Hundreds of stalls now lined the main street, selling arts and crafts that ranged from beautiful wooden carvings and dragons made from rope, to indigo-dyed clothing and flowers made from soap. There were also fresh drinks and produce stands, with some fruit we’d never seen before (this picture is of snake fruit).
One of the stalls was selling fried insects, that included crickets and silkworms, but none of us felt inclined to try them!
We had some normal food at a restaurant then slowly made our way back home, past a couple of stores where I finally bought some of the trousers. Alex packed a massive tantrum because I wouldn’t let him buy a rice-filled frog or lizard ‘cuddly’ toy.
“You never let us buy anything! And you’ve got three pairs of trousers now!”
“You only wanted it because you just saw it.”
“I’ve wanted one for ages, since we saw them in that other place in England.”
“They always pop! The rice always comes out of them, and you’d be carrying them around in your rucksack where they will likely rip.”
“But we want them!”
“You’re not getting them!”
“You never let us buy anything!”
I’m such a mean mum.
We bought what must have been our fifth drink of the day, some fresh fruit smoothies, and slowly made our way home. It was 10pm by the time we got there!
Day 404 - 19 Aug ‘24 - Chiang Mai. This morning, my alarm went off at 7:30am.
“Eeuggh, why is my alarm set?” I groaned.
“Because we’re off on a trip, remember?” Dan reminded me.
“Oh yeah. What time was the guy coming?”
“Half past eight.”
“Guess we should get up then!”
A couple of years ago, I started my “places to see around the world” list, and one of the things on it was the White Temple. This temple was unfortunately a three hour drive north of Chiang Mai, and I had contemplated not going because of the distance and the cost to get there.
“But that’s what we decided to spend money on,” Dan pointed out. “Going and seeing things!”
And so, at 8:30am we were in a private van on our way to Chiang Rai, and the driver was the father-in-law of the man who picked us up from the airport!
On the way to the temple we stopped at a long-necked tribal village. This was the home of a subset of the Karen peoples, where the females had brass coils wound around their necks, in order to elongate them. Anthropologists have not yet come to a conclusion as to why this practice is performed; possible reasons include beauty, to resemble the revered dragon, or to protect against tigger bites!
The weight of the coils was up to 5kg, and wouldn’t actually stretch the neck, but instead deformed the collarbones and rib cages by gradually pushing down on them. The process would start as young as two to five years old, and every four or five years, the coil was unwound and replaced with a longer one.
There were at least 20 other vans there, and it was almost a race to get to our main destination, with all the drivers leapfrogging their vehicles!
When we arrived at the temple grounds, we had lunch at a food court, and had our cheapest meal yet. I had roasted duck with rice, bok choy, and cucumber, and it was just $2.70NZD. Dan’s meal, which included barbecue pork as well, was a whopping $3.10NZD!
After lunch and drinks, we crossed the road and visited the White Temple, or Wat Rong Khun. It can only be described as an incredible mix of elaborate carvings of modern Western themes, a bit of Hollywood, and the macabre!
There were statues of Predator and Alien, next to Thai demons, surrounded by hands and skulls of people apparently representing unrestrained desire.
Inside the main temple, which we weren’t allowed to take pictures of, was an amazingly detailed wall, covered in paintings of Neo from The Matrix, Elvis Presley, Minions, Ben 10, Star Wars, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Jaws, oil pumps, Michael Jackson, and planes crashing into the Twin Towers, among so many others!
The actual temple was a glorious carved and mosaic-bedecked masterpiece, complete with dragons that looked like elephants. It was designed and constructed by local artist Chalermchai Kositpipat, who has spent over 40 million Thai Baht of his own money!
Further into the complex was a man-made water feature, also with random carvings of Alien, Predator, TMNT, and lizards!
And then, in front of a beautiful gold building dedicated to Ganesha, was a hedge carved into the shape of Zero, Jack Skellington’s dog!
It was all so phenomenally bizarre. It was like the designer just had a massive brain fart while on a wicked LSD trip, and asked the builders to include everything that popped into his brain. None of it made sense, but it sure was amazing to look at.
The next place we went to was the Blue Temple, which I hadn’t heard anything about, but which we were also amazed at.
So much blue! And again, amazing paintings inside the temple.
Abi kindly queued up for us, and we got a family photo in front of the Buddha statue. Such a smart idea, having one permanent person take your photos for you, so everyone just queues up and patiently waits their turn.
Yesterday, while walking around the old city, we met a Portuguese family on their holiday. We met them today at the long neck village, again at the White Temple, and once more here! The son passed on a recommendation from their tour driver, to try the coconut and mango icecream, that came with blue sticky rice that had been coloured and flavoured by the local pea flower.
Both kids were a bit reluctant to try it, after all, rice with icecream is a strange combination, but they both decided they liked it.
Our driver then took us to one last place for the day, the Wat Huay Pla Kang, a massive statue of Buddha that you could go inside.
We got a lift up to Buddha’s head, where we could look out his eyes at the view, and on all the walls were amazing carvings of peacocks, dragons, trees, and people.
We heard a large roll of thunder, and looked at the darkening clouds, but the storm thankfully passed us by. At the base of Buddha was a huge pile of bags of rice that you could buy one of for 100THB, which the monks then used to feed the local orphanage and elderly.
“At least you know the food will be going to where they say,” I said to Dan, once I’d finished writing my message on the bag. “They’re hardly going to lie to you within a temple.”
We walked down the stairs flanked by some wonderfully detailed dragons, then while Abi and Alex went back to the van, Dan and I looked at the temple building.
This one was just as beautiful on the inside, as it was on the outside, with every square centimetre covered in intricate carvings, and all in white!
It was also very quiet, with just us and three other people inside, who left not long after we got there.
The strangest part of the complex was outside:
“Just what every self-respecting temple needs to have - fibreglass models of sheep, pumpkins, and a dinosaur!” I laughed. “And what’s with the one black sheep?”
“That’s obviously the dinosaur’s dinner,” Dan wisely said.
“Hmm, yes, obviously!”
The last part we looked at was a huge stupa-shaped pagoda, painted in vibrant colours, and with windows on every floor. We didn’t go in though, as it was just a gift shop, so joined the kids back in the van, and started our journey back to Chiang Mai.
It started raining not long after we got on the road, and rained the entire trip back to Chiang Mai. It stopped briefly when we walked to KFC for some dinner, but started again while we were eating. Fortunately, when we walked home, it wasn’t too heavy, and was actually quite refreshing!
The kids were naughty again at bedtime, which meant they had had enough sleep and were no longer tired. After an hour of giving them chances, Alex was put in our bed.
When we went to bed, Dan woke Alex up. Alex was clearly still asleep as he made his way back to his own bed, as he picked up the laundry basket and said he had to go and feed the dogs! Ha ha ha!
Day 405 - 20 Aug ‘24 - Chiang Mai. Today we went on another guided trip, this time with our airport taxi driver himself.
Our first stop was to an elephant sanctuary about an hour’s drive out of Chiang Mai. Our driver, JJ, assured us it was ethical, that all the elephants were rescued, that the corporation was set up by monks, there was no elephant riding, and they didn’t use hooks.
I’m sorry to say that it turned out not to be the case at all, which we didn’t find out until we were already through the gates and changed into red or pink tops and old shorts.
The first inkling I got was when we saw the group in front of us, posing for photos with the elephants, who were swaying their heads, swinging their legs, and then posing on command.
“I don’t like this,” I whispered to Dan.
I asked the guide about the swaying, and he said it was because they were too heavy to stand still in one spot, so constantly moved. Having seen elephants in the wild in Tanzania, I knew this was a downright lie, but kept my opinions limited to a subtle glance at Dan.
We were given two buckets of food each, containing pumpkin, bananas, and sugarcane. Once the elephants had done their posing (with us, this time), they quickly walked over a fence and stood in their own lanes, where they stretched their trunks out for some food.
Feeding them was lots of fun, and the nostrils on their trunks were surprisingly sticky, and extremely dexterous! They would grab the food with the trunk tip, then curl it into their trunk, then grab some more food, and once they had three or four pieces, would shove the whole lot in their mouths!
After feeding them, the main guide gave us a talk on the biology of elephants, including the main differences between African and Asian elephants. We also learned about the different types of plant ‘medicine’ they give the elephants, including turmeric, betel leaves, and red lemon, among many others.
We were also shown one of their side projects - making paper from elephant poo! The droppings get collected, boiled, strained, shredded, and soaked, and they use frames to slowly lift up the fibres, which are then dried to become paper!
We then got a turn at making their medicine: small Thai bananas for sweetness, stuffed with tamarind, salt, and rice chaff; the tamarind was bitter, the salt obviously salty, and the rice chaff, sour.
Our next job was to make the ‘sponges’ used to clean the elephants. We bashed small sections of Snuffbox Bean until they were flat, then shook them in buckets of water - the sticks created soap-like bubbles, and were used to scrub the elephants to prevent ticks and fleas.
We fed the elephants their medicine, and then held the trays up for them to suck clean! It was funny to watch them eat everything until only a piece of tamarind remained on the tray, but they eventually ate that too.
It was then time to bathe them in a small pool. While walking there, I asked the guide how many rescue elephants there were, and that’s when I learned the truth about the place.
They had seven rescue elephants that were not displayed to the public as they were a bit aggressive, which was fair enough. The nine the public got to interact with were bought as babies, or bred and raised there.
“But you don’t do riding?” I asked.
“No, no riding.”
“And you don’t use hooks?”
“Yes, we use hooks, when they are young and naughty, to train them. We train them for two or three years. All the babies are naughty!”
I was fairly disgusted.
“Well, you just need to think of it that without us coming they wouldn’t have the money to buy the food to feed the rescue ones,” Dan said to me when I muttered the news to him.
“No, I don’t. I wouldn’t have come here.”
“No.”
We gave the elephants one last helping of food, then followed two of them into the pool. We used our previously bashed up sticks to scrub their skin, and poured buckets of water over their backs.
Once they’d been washed enough for the keepers’ liking, they were led out of the pool, but not before spraying water on all of us!
It was definitely a conflicting experience. We were naturally appalled at their training methods, but getting up so close to them, and getting to feed and wash them, was enjoyable.
We got changed back into our own clothes, then had a simple but tasty lunch, before we carried on to our next stop, the Wat Banden temple.
This temple complex was the largest in Thailand, and seemed to go on and on, with each building being even more beautiful than the one before it.
The statue carvings of elephant dragons, peacocks, and other animals, were all so vibrant!
Inside one of the temple rooms, was a gigantic reclining Buddha, surrounded by paintings on the walls, beams, and ceiling, with so much gold and sparkle everywhere.
“I know the churches and cathedrals we saw around Europe were lavish, but these Thai temples must have had fortunes spent on them!” I said to Dan, as we marvelled at every room we went in.
One thing we had found quite interesting, was all the wax figures of monks. We had seen ones in other temples, so we figured the monks were obviously highly respected, but this place had heaps, and they were all of amazing quality.
One of the buildings was particularly pretty, with a wonderfully detailed mirrored mosaic pattern on the walls, and lovely golden carvings on the door and window frames.
We had one last place to visit after the temple, and that was the Sticky Waterfall, so named because of the amount of calcium in the water that had stuck to the rocks, and they weren’t slippery at all.
We got changed into our togs and followed the masses of people to the top of the waterfall. Alex practically ran down the steps, and I followed with my bag of clothes, chasing after him as he still had his bag!
By the time I got to the bottom, Abi and Dan had arrived, without their bags of clothes.
“Okay, you guys go up the waterfall and I’ll take your pictures and meet you at the top.”
Off they went, and I made my way back up the stairs.
They didn’t stop at the first set of rocks. They didn’t stop at the second set. I waited for ages at the third, and they still didn’t stop. Wankers!
By the time I got back to the top, I was hot, tired, and in a foul mood, cursing them under my breath.
Alex approached me when I had 10 steps left to climb, and offered to carry the bags.
“Don’t even bother!” I huffed at him.
“Why’s mummy so angry?” he asked Dan when I joined everyone.
“I’ll tell you why!” I stormed at them. “I walked all the way down there, chasing after Alex to get his bag, and then said I’d take photos, and not one of you stopped! I had to walk all the way back carrying the bags and kept waiting at each stop, and you guys were always 10 feet ahead! You didn’t once look around and wait!”
“Hang on just a minute,” Dan said. “You carried your bag down there, and said you were going to walk back up the stairs.”
“Yes! But I also said I was going to take photos! What else was the point of me walking all the way down there!”
“Well, I’m going to walk up the waterfall again. Are you coming this time?”
“No!”
“Are you sure?”
“Who’s going to take photos?”
“I will. Are you coming?”
“Fine.”
It’s entirely possible I was acting a bit petulantly, but I was hot and annoyed, so the jury’s out on that one…!
Walking up the waterfall was a surreal experience. You fully expected to slip and slide on the rocks, with the water cascading over them, but they were surprisingly grippy.
There were ropes at slightly steeper portions, to help pull yourself up, and it didn’t take long before we were sweating, and longing for a deeper pool to go swimming in!
Once we were back at the top, we had quick showers to rinse off and then got changed. It was getting later in the afternoon, and we still had the hour or so drive back to town.
The trip back to our apartment didn’t seem to take too long, and as soon as we’d hung up our wet togs, we went out for dinner.
We were recommended to try Khao Soi Gai again, as it’s not usually prepared with peanuts, and the first restaurant we came to on the main road had it at the top of their menu. Perfect.
It was delicious! Spicy, yes, but very tasty. I added in the supplied onions and pickles, and squeezed on the lime, and it really added to the flavour. Another recipe to add to the books when I have a kitchen again!
The rest of our evening was spent watching TV and listening to the frogs in the pond outside the apartment. Last night, the frog was squawking all by himself, but luckily for him (maybe not so much for us), tonight he had a friend. As least we couldn’t hear them from the bedroom!
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