arewethereyet

27 September – 7 October 2009

Krungthepmahanakornamornratanakosinmahintarayutthayama
hadilokphop nopparatrajathaniburiromudomrajaniwesma
hasatharn amornphimarnavatarnsathitsakkattiyavisanukamprasit.

The above is the official Thai name for Bangkok, the longest place name in the world, which translates as: The great city of angels, the supreme unconquerable land of the great immortal divinity (Indra), the royal capital of nine noble gems, the pleasant city, 
with plenty of grand royal palaces, and divine paradises for the reincarnated deity (Vishnu), given by Indra and created by the god of crafting (Visnukarma).

The beginning and end of the first leg of our Thai journey are inextricably linked as we cannot travel to Cambodia without returning to our first border crossing to obtain entry stamps immigration officials failed to put in our passports. We look forward to a 1900 km round trip as there is no one with authority in Bangkok to stamp passports that have not passed through the airport. No surprises from an immigration department that still uses floppy discs and typewriters – the joy of dated bureaucracy.

We crossed over from Malaysia in Songklah on September 26th. The border town was pretty chaotic, but the calm and simplicity of Southern Thailand soon emerged. A refreshing landscape free of any shopping centres, global chains, and billboards (other than pictures of the King and Queen). Lots of roadside stalls, palm trees, rice paddies, green forests and beautiful wats. We saw utes carrying huge loads of rubberwood, palm oil fruit, coconuts (complete with monkeys) and lots of friendly faces.

Our first stop was Pak Meng Beach in Trang province. We stayed at Pak Meng Resort for the first night and indulged ourselves the second at Anantara Si Kao. Anantara was a real treat for everyone – huge pool, sea views, beautiful room, kids area & a yummy buffet for the morning. We reluctantly checked out and headed north.

The van had been making a funny noise Singapore – Kai suspected it was another bearing falling apart – so we decided to make a dash for the Mercedes garage in Bangkok and do the Southern provinces properly on our way back to Singapore in January.

We left Pak Meng Beach and headed north – trying to drive as far as possible before sunset. We managed to find a roadside hotel 60 kms north of Surat Thani.

It was here that we watched a documentary about the Thai king – we started to understand why there were pictures of the King and Queen plastered up in every town, on almost every shop as well as bumper transfers ‘Long Live the King’. The King is a bit of a superstar here for all the right reasons. He has devoted his life to improving the livelihood of Thai people through sustainable work and life practices.

We arrived in Bangkok the following night and after turning the map up the right way, managed to navigate peak hour traffic to find our hotel. The porta potti got it’s first test by Kaia en route through the city. We set up camp at New Siam 2 – complete with pool for sweaty girls and boys. Kai and I stayed at New Siam when we were here together 10 years ago – it was here that I felt Lulu move in my tummy for the first time. A special memory.

Bangkok is a fantastic city to hang out in for a while. We have spent the last week visiting the Grand Palace, taking various boat rides along rivers and canals, visiting Chatachuk market – a weekend market with 8,000 stalls and chatting to an inspiring group of women – www.gendercc.net – participants in the Global Climate Forum currently taking place here at the UN.

Kai took the van to the Mercedes Garage in Bangkok, where they took apart the pulley belt assembly to analyse the problem with the noisy bearing. It turned out to be the magnetic clutch on one of the compressors for the secondary air conditioning unit – not critical. They also had a go at re-seating one of the injectors which was leaking some diesel, and identified some cracks in a hose for the turbo manifold which has been ordered in from Germany. After 3 hours of 4 guys giving the van some TLC and no charge for any of the labour, Kai left the garage a happy camper!

Downsides of a busy city is the usual dose of stomach turning diseases apparent on the beggars, pollution, rubbish, diseased animals, open sewers and tourist touts. It is getting harder to glimpse the original Bangkok through the filth and haze. A shame considering it has only been about 150 years since roads were introduced here. Bangkok was built around the river & canal system with boats servicing all of the houses. There are still stilt houses opening up to canals in some parts of the city – but they look like they only have a few years life before disappearing under the water. It wasn’t until we were horribly lost on the outskirts of the city that we were able to transport ourselves back into the past with clean(er) rivers and stilt houses along the rivers.

We also took an interesting trip to Jim Thompson’s house. An American entrepreneur who introduced Thai silk to the global market and then disappeared without trace in Malaysia. The mystery has been a hot topic since 1967 – there are still numerous theories floating around and our guide also had a definite opinion that he was either eaten by wild animals or kidnapped by the CIA. He was a great collector of Asian Art and his houses are traditional stilt houses that were constructed by master craftsmen without any nails or bindings. Well worth checking out if you’re in town.

Last night we said goodbye to our darling Lulu as she winged her way back to New Zealand to spend a few months with her grandparents. Lulu had mentioned a few times that she wanted a break from traveling and also to go back to school. We fully respect her decision but we miss her already. She has called from New Zealand, weary but happy to be having a cup of tea with nana.

THANK YOU ULA FOR TAKING GREAT CARE OF LU ON THE JOURNEY HOME !!

The airport was the place we discovered the absence of entry stamps in our passports. As a result, there was a possibility that Lulu would not be able to travel. Luckily we had a fantastic Thai Air rep. who allowed Lulu to travel as a transit passenger so stamps weren’t an issue. We had conflicting opinions on how to solve the issue. One immigration official told us to return to the Malaysian border. Another woman told us that the immigration official should have been a cleaner, not an official – and that someone in Bangkok could stamp our passports.

Yesterday we spent the day heading to one immigration department (where we were directed by the airport official), to find out it had moved to the other side of town. We shared a cab with another misdirected character and ended up at the new Immigration facility where signposts stating that it only serviced residents of Bangkok. My heart was sinking at this stage. We were directed from Level 1 to Level 2 – then back down to Level 1 – to be told that we definitely had to drive back to the border. A waste of a day. We are hoping not to have the same trouble at the border.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 8:28 pm and is filed under Trip Diary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.