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| Other countries sue_and_nathan visited in yearaway |
| Australia (4) |
| Cambodia (2) |
| Czech Republic (1) |
| India (6) |
| Indonesia (2) |
| Japan (1) |
| Malaysia (6) |
| New Zealand (2) |
| Singapore (1) |
| Thailand (7) |
| United Kingdom (2) |
| Vietnam (4) |
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| The name Bangkok comes from 'Bang Makok' which means 'place of olive plums' and refers to the original site which is today the old part of the city - that's where we've been staying. The whole of Bangkok has the Thai official name of "Great city of angels, the repository of divine gems, the great land unconquerable, the grand and prominent realm, the royal and delightful cpaital city full of nine noble gems, the highest royal dwelling and grand palace, the divine shelter and the living place of reincarnated spirits" We haven't seen this on any signposts though - Krung Thep or City of Angels is usually used in conversation instead (Wonder why?) The initial inpression of Bangkok was of an unplanned city with masses of people, impossible traffic and unreal pollution. Must admit to feeling pretty overwhelmed by the whole place very quickly. From the relaxed Koh Samui to the hectic pace of Bangkok was a little difficult to handle. We booked into the Royal Hotel, just opposite the Grand Palace and within 10 minutes walking distance from the infamous Khao San Road - home to many sad backpackers!! A great location, but probably a little expensive for what we got. The whole of our first day was spent shooting around town trying to find a decent price on flights to Vietnam, this took a few taxi rides mainly due to our lack of Thai and the drivers very politely nodding when we told them where we wanted to go even though they had absolutely no idea where the hell we wanted to go!! We've also booked some trains tickets up country to Chaing Mai - it's an overnight sleeper and takes 14 hours - should be an experience! We read in the newspaper that it's even hotter up there - an amazing 41 degrees, but hopefully without the pollution it'll be slightly more bearable. I guess we'll have to remain in refridgerated areas for the hotter parts of the day!! After a couple of days here we've come to like the place which is quite a thing after the initial impression. We haven't really seen much of the city, but hope to see more of the sites when we return from Cambodia in mid-June. We did visit one temple just up the road from the Royal Hotel though - a place called Wat Ratchanatda which was built by Rama III and dates from the mid 19th Century. We sat and had a long chat with a monk who had learnt English (and very impressive English it was too) from a book! He had been a monk for 17 years and was a pretty learned sort of chap. Made Sue's day sitting and chatting with him about Buddhism and such things. He told us how lucky we are to come from the West and have the money to travel around the world meeting new people and having new experiences which will teach us many things. How true he was! | ||||||||||||
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| 15 Apr 2001 : Koh Samui - Thailand | 23 Apr 2001 : Chiang Mai - Thailand | |||||||||||
| Beach life - Tamarind Retreat to Tongsai Bay | Up country | |||||||||||