Apologies to my readers...going non stop in hot humid weather left little energy to write and this is the first day in Nepal that the internet has worked for me in our guesthouse.
We have now traveled from Osaka to Bangkok where we met Barb and Hal. Our hotel, or serviced apartments, was perfectly located to be able to jump on a boat for several different destinations along the Chao Praya River or the Skytrain to take us to destinations inland...both of these modes of transportation enable the traveler to avoid traffic on the roads. We experienced the wisdom of this when we went to meet friends at a restaurant not accessible by boat or skytrain that should have taken 15 minutes to get to and we sat in a taxi for 1 1/2 hours!#$%&! Interesting conversation with friends Thomas and Hilda Fisler, who are Swiss, lived in Nepal when we did, have lived in Bangkok for five years while Thomas commuted to Myanmar every week and are off to Northern Korea for the next four to five years...not the shopping mecca that Hilda loves, but certainly will top up the retirement account!
We enjoyed introducing Barb to the sites of Bangkok including the Reclining Buddha, one of the royal palaces built in 1900 that is the largest golden teak building in the world and a wild ride with 4 of us squeezed into a tuk tuk. Our efforts to find a particular market in Chinatown resulted in ending up in Indiatown where we stumbled upon a wonderful Sikh temple. We found covers for our heads and took an elevator up to a huge hall where people were praying and listening to classic Hindi music being played on the tabla drums and a harmonium accompanying the singing. Reading various posted papers we learned that the Sikhs are an inclusive group who believe in clean living, helping and receiving any and all people, including feeding whoever comes into their temple where lunch is served every day without cost. Because they are from India, they spoke beautiful Queen's English. I am always surprised that so few Thai people speak English given the importance of tourism.
Our dinner destination, the Queen of Curry was recommended by fellow hotel dwellers, and it did not disappoint. It was some of the best Thai food we have ever eaten...and washing it down with plenty of Singha beer helped replenish the moisture levels sweated out during the day.
We received an email that our intrepid traveling duo, David Painter and Alan Pomatto, who were to have arrived in Chiang Mai a day ahead of us, had misread their tickets. So after arriving early for what they thought was a 1 PM flight, it had rudely departed on time without them at 1 AM!! After lots of scrambling and a huge dose of Asian courtesy and accommodation, Cathay Pacific Airlines arranged a later departure and they arrived about an hour before we did. It has taken more time than that to live it down, however!
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| A view of our hotel thru the ever present mesh of wires. |
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| Photographer, yours truly, on the floor of 3 seater tuk tuk! |
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| We at least refrained from licking the plates!! |
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| The Queen of Curry herself! |
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| Dinner with the Fislers |
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| Could have filled the whole page with flower market photos! |
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| A mosaic lotus thrown for one of many Buddhas. |
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| New Sikh recruits...application still pending! |
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| Young street performer...his brother in lavender on other side of screen. |
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| Amazing detail work applying tiny crystal beads to the lace... |
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| ...and I mean tiny!! |
Loved this post as I could really feel like I was experiencing some of the food and atmosphere from behind my computer screen! We love Thai food and that like the remains of a lovely peanut satay on your plates? I am really jealous of you going to the flower market, bet that was incredible. I'm off to read your next post now - hooked! Niki x
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