Two words: Hot. Hospitable.
Have I mentioned how hot it's been? :). In the nineties every day with high humidity. We've had a great time here but are looking forward to heading towards the coast this afternoon.
We arrived on Monday evening and took a taxi to our couch surfing hosts, Cillia and Florian who are from France but who've lived here for about five years. They took us to a wonderful restaurant for dinner and we spent a few hours chatting and eating yummy Thai food. They shared their perspective on the Thai culture and gave us some valuable do and don't advice. One thing you should never do is make a fuss over anything. Just smile, nod and walk away. Those of you who know me realize how counter intuitive this is for me :)
Cillia helped us Tuesday morning with logistics about how to get around which were super helpful as we made our way to the Grand Palace - first taking a taxi to the sky train station and then taking the sky train to the pier where we picked up a water taxi to take us to where we could walk to the Palace. We were proud of ourselves that we actually ended up where we intended. At the Grand Palace we were prepared to hear that we weren't appropriately dressed (Val was wearing shorts and I had on capris) but they anticipate that from us awkward foreign tourists and have clothing you can borrow - a sarong for me and nifty knit pants for Val.
We spent all afternoon and into the evening walking around that area where we saw an amazing flower market and more street side vendors than I've ever seen where you can get everything from delicious food to hats to iPhone cases. Cillia and Florian were only able to host us for one night but we found an inexpensive but nice hotel within walking distance of their apartment and it was good to get back, take a nice cool shower and hit the hay.
Before we left CO, my sister, Sue, put us in touch with a colleague of hers and we were lucky to connect with Mo, Toum and their daughter, Boke for an adventure on Wednesday. We met them at the train station and from there we drove in their air-conditioned van North to outside the city. They were wonderful hosts who treated us to a day of good Thai food, sightseeing at places we would have never been able to see: the old, original capital of Thailand, the King and Queen's summer palace and four beautiful temples. Two of the temples were burned by the Burmese and even after all these centuries later, Mo got a bit choked up when he shared the story. The Thai people have a sense of pride about their country, their traditions and their history that you don't often see. We ended the day by taking part in a Buddist holiday tradition of walking three times around a temple in Bangkok where the monks pray for the followers.
An amazing day, an amazing family. We couldn't thank them enough! Now, off to Hua Hin!
We arrived on Monday evening and took a taxi to our couch surfing hosts, Cillia and Florian who are from France but who've lived here for about five years. They took us to a wonderful restaurant for dinner and we spent a few hours chatting and eating yummy Thai food. They shared their perspective on the Thai culture and gave us some valuable do and don't advice. One thing you should never do is make a fuss over anything. Just smile, nod and walk away. Those of you who know me realize how counter intuitive this is for me :)
Cillia helped us Tuesday morning with logistics about how to get around which were super helpful as we made our way to the Grand Palace - first taking a taxi to the sky train station and then taking the sky train to the pier where we picked up a water taxi to take us to where we could walk to the Palace. We were proud of ourselves that we actually ended up where we intended. At the Grand Palace we were prepared to hear that we weren't appropriately dressed (Val was wearing shorts and I had on capris) but they anticipate that from us awkward foreign tourists and have clothing you can borrow - a sarong for me and nifty knit pants for Val.
We spent all afternoon and into the evening walking around that area where we saw an amazing flower market and more street side vendors than I've ever seen where you can get everything from delicious food to hats to iPhone cases. Cillia and Florian were only able to host us for one night but we found an inexpensive but nice hotel within walking distance of their apartment and it was good to get back, take a nice cool shower and hit the hay.
Before we left CO, my sister, Sue, put us in touch with a colleague of hers and we were lucky to connect with Mo, Toum and their daughter, Boke for an adventure on Wednesday. We met them at the train station and from there we drove in their air-conditioned van North to outside the city. They were wonderful hosts who treated us to a day of good Thai food, sightseeing at places we would have never been able to see: the old, original capital of Thailand, the King and Queen's summer palace and four beautiful temples. Two of the temples were burned by the Burmese and even after all these centuries later, Mo got a bit choked up when he shared the story. The Thai people have a sense of pride about their country, their traditions and their history that you don't often see. We ended the day by taking part in a Buddist holiday tradition of walking three times around a temple in Bangkok where the monks pray for the followers.
An amazing day, an amazing family. We couldn't thank them enough! Now, off to Hua Hin!
Thanks for writing - love hearing about what you're doing. I can just imagine you guys there, see you soaking it all in. I know this is going to be the kind of trip where you are daily amazed! Love to you both. C
ReplyDeletein one word...WOW! It is so wonderful that you have great connections to provide a local flavor vs. the tourist blah blah. I can only imagine he food smells and sights of someplace soooo foreign. You guts are making the ultimate memoroes of a lifetime! Love you guys!
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