Tuk-Tuks, Typhoons, and Tigers in Thailand

From Strike Zone to Flood Zone

Our 24 hours of travel from Meteora (Greece) to Athens to Cairo to Bangkok was full of delays and raunchy food. Lucky for us and an Egyptian Bride (who wore her huge wedding dress the whole time), we had a half-empty flight from Cairo to Bangkok. This allowed us to each take a row of seats to ourselves, which monumental for sleeping while in the air for 9 hours.

We left the strike zone of Greece to come to the flood zone of Thailand. As we flew in, it there appeared to be hundreds of lakes, but then we realized the Thai countryside below was solid flooding. We soon found out that October is the rainiest month (monsoon season) for Thailand and it has been the rainiest October on record in over 60 years. We both have experienced our fair share of heavy rains but I have never seen water fall from the sky in such a way as our first night here in Bangkok. Sheets of water fell from the sky persistently for over 3 hours as the lightning randomly lit up the city. I now understand what the meteorological term "monsoon" truly means.

We are staying at our first real hotel for the trip! It is like a palace in comparison to all the hostels and inns we have stayed in over the past 7 weeks and the best part is that it is cheaper than some of them. Baan K Hotel is in the center of Bangkok and provides amazing facilities- we essentially have a studio apartment. As much as we love our hostel adventures, it is such a nice change.

Jorie's friend from Bates, Collin, who has been living in Thailand this year and teaching English, gave us a great introduction to the city. Over our first traditional Thai food dinner he told us all about the does and don'ts in Thai culture. He then showed us around a bit... The subway system is the cleanest we have seen (they even do security checks)... Walking down Cowboy Road (essentially the red light district) was truly a shocking experience. I don't know which was more blinding to my eyes- the skimpy dressed Thai women or the sea of neon flashing lights. Thank goodness the nude beaches in Europe someone broke us in for this quick walk through.

At midnight we finally had our Wohelo reunion with our mutual friend Nicole arriving for the weekend with us. It was great to have another friend join us for the weekend and spice things up.

Temples and Tuk-Tuks

The three of us had a fun filled Saturday exploring Bangkok's temples and markets. We started by seeing the Grand Palace and the Emerald Budda. Asia is quite a contrast from Europe... The gothic churches have been replaced with Goddy colorful bedazzled temples, the saint statues have been replaced by Budda's and mythical creatures, and the fall-like weather has been replaced by hotter than hell stickiness. The contrast is great, and like the churches we saw in Europe, the Grand Palace and the Emerald Budda were so beautiful and masterpieces.

Our true Thai experience really began when we decided to take a Tuk-Tuk around to see more temples and the rest of the city. For those of you who don't know, a Tuk-Tuk is a motor bike with a covered cab back (hard to describe) that is a very traditional form of transportation around here. We payed 10 baht (32 baht = $1) for this Tuk-Tuk to take us around for over 3 hours, and he would wait while we went into the temples, stores, and had lunch. Although dicy at times, for example when he would go on the wrong side of the road, the Tuk- Tuk was a blast and we really felt in the center of everything. During our Tuk-Tuk tour we went to the Marble Temple (incredible massive ornate temple), the huge Golden Budda, several hand made clothing stores, a jewelry store (where I caved to the cheap prices), and to lunch. Our lunch was an amazing adventure... It was a traditional Thai place down an alley right next to the river, or I should say it was suppose to be by the river but instead the river, due to the floods, was going through the place. The waiters were actually in waders, and the cooks were wearing rain boots as water rushed over their feet. We hopped from sand bag to sand bag to get to our table. The food was great and for our 3 meals it was less than $4 total.

Before the afternoon monsoon came we went to Jatujak weekend market, the largest market in Bangkok. Large does not even begin to describe this place... We spent 2 hours going down two rows of stalls and probably only saw 1/8 of the place. The market has thousands of stalls and is at least 3 football fields in area... This place had everything under the sun. It was so overwhelming and over stimulating, but so fun.

After being completely over stimulated we relaxed with pedicures, which were beyond needed. The ladies had to work so hard on our feet, as the miles of walking we have done over the past 6 weeks has taken a toll on our feet.

My mom arrived late last night after a long day of travel. We are so excited to have her join us for the next 10 days and then to lighten our load by taking all of our purchases home.

Elephant Kisses and Tiger Bites

At 7 am we hopped in a van heading 3 hours Northwest of Bangkok for a full day of adventure with the animals. We first stopped to see the Death Railroad (a railroad built by the prisoners of WW2 from Burma through Thailand) and the museum to go along with it. Then we drove past sugar cane fields and through rain forests (with monkeys) to the foothills of beautiful mountains where we stopped at an elephant camp. We rode two people per elephant on a strapped-on seat with a guide on the head of the elephant steering the elephant by tickling it behind the ears. It was amazing to be so high up on the elephant's back and to be riding to the unrhythmic gate of the huge creature. While we were riding it began to pour rain, which seemed to make the experience that much more authentic and the baby elephant that followed his mother (me and my mom's elephant) seemed to love it so he could roll around in the mud. After riding for a while we were all offered the opportunity to take the place of the guide and ride on the elephant's head. Jorie was the only one who accepted this offer and she had a blast riding the elephant, but consequently smelled of elephant for the rest of the day.

After riding the elephants we were able to participate in a little show with one of the younger male elephants. This little guy was amazing, as he would take money in his trunk, put it in a bucket, then grab him self a bottle of milk, walk the drink back to us for us to then feed him the milk. As if we weren't already impressed, we then each laid down on the ground and he gave each of us a kiss on the face with his trunk, which was not only incredibly slobbery but also ticklish, and then he gave us a butt massage with his feet. In my opinion it was a true Thai massage and he was rather skilled. We were so entertained by him and loved every minute of it.

We were on an absolute high from our elephant experience while we ate a traditional Thai lunch along the river. The fried chicken, as Annie Riley told me, was delicious!

We then went to the tourist trap of The Tiger Temple. It was an amazing experience that you most certainly could not have anywhere else in the world, both because of the geography of The Tiger Temple but also because it would be a legal nightmare anywhere but in Thailand. There were tons of animals around the Tiger Temple- everything from water buffalo to wort hogs to tigers. There were also lots of Western "volunteers"- aka, tiger freaks. In fact, there were more "volunteers" than actual tourists. There are 99 tigers that live in the complex and they are all tame. We first walked the tigers to a canyon area where we took more pictures than my iPad can even handle (literally it won't take any more pictures). Then we watched the tigers play with each other, wrestling and jumping at each other. They are such big agile playful creatures, but they are not as soft as they look and they do smell. We then went in with the 3 young tigers (2 were 3 months and 1 is only a month) to play and feed them. Within the first minute the feisty boy pounced on my thigh and sunk his teeth in, but with a quick smack to the face like a puppy he was off. Then he did the same to Jorie and then to my mom. After trying it with all three of us and getting the same smack in response he figured out not to bite us. The little tigers were so cute and had the biggest paws ever- their paws were so disproportionate to their bodies. They were extremely playful like puppies until it was time for their afternoon bottle. They sucked down every drop of the milk and were so much more affectionate after eating. The Tiger Temple was quite an experience, and it was great to see and handle these beautiful animals.

So far we are loving Thailand! It is unlike any other place we have ever been. More to come!