REPEAT WARNING: Once again, this is not a sailing related entry. This, as well as future entires through April/May 2025, reflect our effort to capture our experiences while we explore Australia, New Zealand and other places (now Southeast Asia) across the world from the country we call home by land with some air travel assists. We are metaphorically putting our memories in a bottle to savor on some future date. If you are not interested in reading an amateur attempt to document travel experiences you may wish to skip these entries. No offense will be taken. You were warned!
When we left off on our last blog entry, we were just traveling to Bangkok for a brief 4 night/3 day tour before heading on to Singapore. This was the third segment of a trip to Thailand with 3 distinct parts. Given the Part Iii was so short, we debated whether we should post a separate entry for it or combine it with our upcoming, and also brief visit, to Singapore but we decided that our last stop in Thailand should be part of a Thailand trilogy. That means that this entry will be uncharacteristically brief, covering just 3 full days.
We were very much looking forward to this visit. Of course, we were looking forward to exploring Bangkok but, truth be told, what had us most excited, was the hotel. When we originally planned this part of our trip we were trying to coordinate with our friends Ruud and Laurie who were thinking about joining us. Due to a number of complications, they were unable to meet us in Bangkok but, before they made that final decision, we were looking for hotels that could accommodate 2 couples. Even though we planned this trip 9 months ago, the original hotel our travel agent recommended did not have two rooms available — we are visiting Thailand in the height of their tourist seasons and very close to the Chinese New Year. In looking for other options, she recommended The Siam. We went on the website to check it out and we were immediately smitten. It was a significant upgrade from our original hotel but still reasonable by USA standards and we figured we’d be celebrating the end of a successful 57 day Thailand tour with good friends so why not treat ourselves. Of course, in the end, Ruud and Laurie were unable to join us but there was no going back after getting virtually acquainted with the Siam. So, we guess, many thanks to Ruud and Laurie for The Siam Hotel (though we still wish you were there with us ❤️).
As always, our travel day to Bangkok was exhausting. It entailed an early flight from Chiang Mai and, unfortunately, the inevitable sleepless night before hand as we thought about all the last minute things we needed to do in the morning to vacate our condo after a 5 week stay. We arrived to The Siam mid afternoon feeling bedraggled and very much looking the part. But the minute we walked into The Siam we exhaled. The Siam is a luxury boutique hotel with only 39 guest rooms, all of which are suites. The hotel has a rich art deco motif with dark wood accents, crips white walls, large open spaces and courtyards and substantial, slightly curved, white columns. It is tastefully appointed with period vintage and antique furniture — just enough to give it a feeling of understated opulence and comfort.
Upon arrival we were escorted into a great hall where we were greeted by the manager and then our butler “M.” After a refreshing welcome beverage, M gave us a brief tour of the grounds before showing us to our room. Even their entry level suite (the one we reserved) is approximately 860 square feet. It was furnished with a large and deep couch in the living area and a heavenly king bed (awards for the best mattress — by far — in Thailand where they are generally quite “firm”) with 2 overstuffed chairs in the bedroom area. Every suite has a motif and ours was elephants so we had lots of elephant decor to enjoy. A vase of fresh cut orchids — a vibrant violet color and the largest blossoms we have ever seen — added the final flourish.
Aside from the grandeur of the hotel, its location made it very special. It is located on the Choa Praha River, far from most other hotels and the major shopping area. As a result it is a bit isolated adding to its peaceful feel. But have no fear that we were trapped. The hotel owns its own riverboat that delivers you to various locations along the river. It also serves as a wonderful way to take a sunset cruise. We did that on the evening of our arrival, getting off at a nearby local restaurant towards the end of the trip down and back up the river. Not an inch of the grounds is wasted. Even the walk from the entry of the hotel and guest rooms to the river (and the restaurant which is next to the water) is delightful. Highly curated, you pass through a long and open sculpture garden with several shallow pools (one tiered and one flat) and fountains. Large over-sized palm plants with ginormous fronds jut out from the water evoking the image of an ancient pond. (Incidentally, with its large open courtyards, library and some smaller nooks where you could relax with a drink or book (or both), The Siam very much reminded us of the Rachamankha but with a larger footprint. As we mentioned in our blog entry covering Part I of our Thailand adventure, the Rachamankha is the boutique hotel we stayed in when we first arrived in Chiang Mai. Only when we were checking out on our last day did we learn that the owners of The Siam took inspiration from the Rachamankha.)
We could go on and on about The Siam — oops, we think we just did! — except we forgot to mention the food! Generally, as we toured Thailand, we have preferred the Thai food we ate at small local restaurants to the food we got at our hotels. The Siam’s restaurant is a BIG exception to that rule. The meals we ate there (every breakfast, 2 lunches and 1 dinner) were among the best we had during our nearly 2 months in the country. Just traditional Thai food (including curries, noddle dishes, salads and stir-fried basil dishes), made with simple and fresh ingredients (less is more) with the right level of heat. Between the facilities, gracious staff and food, The Siam definitely offered us another one of those “do we have to leave the hotel property” experiences.
But, of course, we did leave the hotel. For our first full day we visited the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. The Grand Palace is a magnificent and huge complex built in 1782 to serve as the royal residence as well as the site of the king’s administrative offices. It is comprised of numerous structures set around open lawns, gardens and courtyards. Most notable and unique to us were the structures (gates, roofs and even stupas) covered in ornate Chinese porcelain — intricately carved into flowers and leaves with an incredible level of fine detail. The famous Temple of the Emerald Buddha (yes, real emerald — not just a green Buddha statue) is on the palace’s premises. The temple is breathtaking with beautifully carved wooden ceilings, crystal chandeliers and glittering golden mosaic tiles. It was an impressive site. (We posted several pics from our Grand Palace visit on our Bangkok Instagram post.) The only distraction was that this is the first time since our arrival in Thailand that we felt crushed by the volume of tourists. As we mentioned above, we were visiting Thailand in the height of their tourist season. (We should explain that this is due to the dry air and cooler temperatures experienced in December and January.) And the number of tourist in the country grows exponentially around the Chinese New Year — which is precisely when we were in Bangkok. As a result, we felt a little claustrophobic as we entered the various buildings on the palace grounds. They were just filled to the brim. It was still wonderful to see the splendor of the palace complex but we did not linger as long as we ordinarily do when admiring the beauty and uniqueness of the architecture, design elements and artistry.
Wat Pho is just a short walk from the Grand Palace. It is known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha because — surprise — the centerpiece of the temple is a large and beautiful reclining Buddha. (We love these descriptive temple names!) Once the largest reclining Buddha in Thailand, it is now only the third largest. (Guess large Buddhas are like skyscrapers — everyone has to build one that is slightly larger than the current largest one to take top honors). Still, at 151 feet long it is quite impressive. (We included a partial picture of the reclining Buddha in our Bangkok Instagram post — it was way too large to capture the entire statue in the small space that houses it.) Aside from the reclining Buddha, the temple is also famous as the earliest center for public education in Thailand. It houses a school of Thai medicine and is also considered the birthplace of the traditional Thai message. Thai massage is still taught and practiced at the temple and it is a very prestigious place to obtain your degree in the art of Thai message. If you get your credentials at the school within Wat Pho you can secure a job at the most exclusive Thai massage organizations. The school still provides free massages to visitors as a way to train its students and while we were there several tourist as stopped our English speaking guide to ask where the student masseuses were. They do a brisk business!
After recovering from the overcrowded experiences at the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, we went out in the evening to visit Bangkok’s Chinatown and the flower market. The Chinatown reminded us of the Chinatown in NYC. It covers an expansive area and all the signs are in Thai and Chinese. Vendors lined the sidewalks, spilling over into the street and makeshift restaurants with tables and chairs were ubiquitous. Vibrant and fun — especially since the neighborhood was already decorated with lanterns for the Chinese New Year! (Some Chinatown pics made it into the Bangkok Instagram post.) After enjoying some freshly prepared dumplings (vegetable for Jill and meat for Zack), we headed to the flower market. The flower was market was awesome! The market starts to open at about 6 PM as rush hour traffic ebbs and the streets are closed to cars. The market is a hive of activity with wholesalers selling all the various parts and pieces (flowers, ribbons, greenery, etc.) to support the floral industry. Some of purchasers are hotels, restaurants and flowers shops and some are other wholesalers who take the component parts to create beautiful bouquets that they then sell. It is quite a production with people scurrying around delivering boxes of fresh flowers or working as part of a production team. At one point we entered into an open air building where the workers were assembling different products and Jill stopped to take a picture. As young women speed past her carrying replenishments, it dawned on Jill that while the market may present wonderful photo ops for us, these people are really working and she quickly got out of the way and put her phone in her backpack. (She still captured some great shots, a few of which we posted on Instagram!)
Though the flower market seemed to be really busy when we arrived around 7 PM, apparently, it doesn’t really get going until about 11 PM when the people who buy in bulk come in to make their purchases. That continues for 2-3 hours and then it slows down though the market continues to run until about 6 AM the next morning when rush hour traffic starts and the shops must yield to commuters. What was also fascinating was how an entire ecosystem has developed around the flower market. As we mentioned in our last blog entry, Thai people who live in cities don’t cook their own food. It’s more economical for them to buy their meals from street vendors and that is an important part of Thai culture. The thousands of workers who arrive at 6 PM and work through the night until 6 AM, have to eat. So a plethora of food vendors have set up shop to meet that need by offering freshly prepared, fully cooked meals in small plastic bags.
The next day (our second full day in Bangkok), we visited the floating market and the Mae Klong railway market. The floating market is largely a commercial endeavor today serving the tourism industry by giving visitors an authentic glimpse into commerce in Thailand as it exited before cars. Specifically, before the advent of the automobile (or scooter), some places in Thailand (like Bangkok) constructed man-made canals so that residents could shop for what they needed by boat. Vendors would line the canal while customers in longboats would move from one waterfront store to another to buy items for daily living. As other modes of transportation became widespread, these canal based shops were no longer efficient and productive so they gradually closed. The remaining vendors now serve as a living museum of this bygone era. (See our Bangkok Instagram post for select pics from the floating market.)
The railway market is a bit different from the floating market in that even though it clearly attracts many tourists, it has very much remained a local fresh market with vendors selling fresh and dried seafood, meat, vegetables, fruits, fresh and and other miscellaneous goods. As the name implies, the market is built on a railway. Interestingly though, the Mae Klong Railway Market pre-dates the arrival of the train in Thailand. When the track was constructed in 1905 on the narrow road that ran between the market’s shops the shop owners decided to continued to operate their markets there rather than relocating. It’s an amazing sight to witness. Shops have their awnings out — these extend over the railroad tracks — as people mill about on the tracks to purchase food and wares. As a train approaches, an alarm sounds (and railroad workers shout loudly) which is the signal for shoppers to move back deeper into the stalls and for the shopkeepers to quickly bring in their awnings and to move any items that are on the track. There is very, very limited room between the shops and the tracks. As we watched this process occur and stood in a vendor’s stall, we could have reached out and touched the passing train. Once the train passes, the awning go back out and goods are put back out on the tracks into their usual place. Not surprisingly, this market is commonly called the Siang Tai (life-risking) Market. (We also included a few pics from the train market in our Bangkok Instagram post.)
For our final full day (day 3) we were on our own until dinner when we were booked on a dinner cruise. With the help of M, our butler, and the fortuity of having friends from our rally in Bangkok, we put together a great day. We started our day at 10 AM in Songwat, one of Bangkok’s oldest trading quarters, established in the early 1900s. Shophouses in the Sino-Portuguese style from the period still line the neighborhood’s main street. Today, the neighborhood is slowly transforming to what M described as “hip.” Cafes, coffee houses and art galleries are moving into vacant shophouses, blending the old with the new.
Though we enjoyed walking through the historic neighborhood with its preserved architecture, it was a Sunday morning so (unfortunately ☹️) most of the shops were closed. As a result, we finished our walk through the neighborhood much quicker than we anticipated. We had made arrangements to meet our friends, Susie and John from SV Casamara and Derek and Letitia from SV Mary Doll, at 12:45 PM that afternoon which meant we had some time to kill. To give us something to do until it was time to meet up we decided to veer toward nearby Chinatown. During our side trip we fortuitously came across Wat Traimat, home of a solid gold Buddha. We are not sure how we missed that in our itinerary but we were so glad that Songwat was a bit of a bust. The gold Buddha has a great backstory. Based on its style, it is believed to have been crafted in the 13th or 14th century. It was constructed using the highest quality pure gold which is unusual — not only because of the great cost but also because of the difficulty using it in image casting. At some point, the gold Buddha was covered with plaster, lacquer and colored glass to make it look like most of the ordinary Buddha images during the time period. There is no record of why or exactly when that occurred but the leading theory is that the Buddha, originally located in Sukhothai, was camouflaged by monks to protecting it from the invading Burmese army by making it look much less valuable. (We wrote a bit about the Burmese invasion of Sukhothai in our blog post covering Part I of our Thailand journey. We love how the pieces are all starting to fit together!) Unfortunately, all the monks involved in the subterfuge were killed in the invasion, so there was no surviving institutional knowledge of the hidden secret. Eventually, the Buddha was moved to Bangkok though no one had any idea of its true value. It wasn’t until 1955 that the truth was revealed. At that time Thailand’s ruling party began modernizing Bangkok and building new temples. The plaster covered Buddha was transferred to a new temple as part of this process. While being moved by a crane the ropes lifting the Buddha broke and it came crashing down to the ground. On inspection, the monks involved in the move found a crack and notice the glittering gold on the inside. At that point they began the painstaking process of removing the plaster to restore the gold Buddha to its former glory. With a weight of 5.5 tons, It is now believed to be the largest solid gold statue in the world, worth over $240M by today’s pricing. It is truly magnificent — with its bright mirror-like sheen it is much different than the Buddhas covered in gold leaf.
The remainder of our last day was all about food. We met our rally friends for lunch at the ICONSIAM Mall. This mall is a huge shopping center — it boasts over 7,000 shops, 100 restaurants and even has a floating market). It is also, however, a major tourist attraction due to its location (it is on the riverfront of the Chao Phraya River) and its stunning and imposing architectural design which is said to capture the cultural elements of Thailand while embracing modern design. It truly is an impressive structure and, while shopping malls are not usually on the top of our list of places to visit, we were glad we had an excuse to go there. Alas, no shopping occurred but we did enjoy sharing a leisurely meal in a fun atmosphere while swapping stories about our adventures and misadventures, as the case may be, since we saw each other last, There were some really good ones (more in the misadventure category) but, as they say, what happens in Thailand stays in Thailand so our lips are sealed. (We included a picture capturing our happy faces during this reunion on our Bangkok Instagram post.)
Lunch was a 2 hour affair so we didn’t get back to our hotel room until a bit after 4 PM, giving us just enough time to pack and meet our driver for transport to our planned dinner cruise down and back up the Choa Praha River on the Manohra Moon. The personality of the Chao Phraya River really comes to life at night with its glittering palaces, temples, skyscrapers and bridges. It was delightful to dine on the Manohra Moon, a beautifully restored antique rice barge, as it slowly motored along the river. The dinner, staff, ambiance and traditional Thai music (quietly playing in the background) were all 5 star. What an amazing way to cap our 57 day stay in Thailand! (Some majestic shots of the Grand Palace, Wat Arun and an artful suspension bridge lit up at night made their way into our Instagram Bangkok post and we used the Wat Arun photo as the feature image for this post.)
We are now headed to Singapore for a 6 night/5 day stay. We’ve got a few tours set up but, mostly, we plan to explore the city on our own hitting the highlights and, of course, enjoying the diverse food scene which everyone raves about! We will post our next blog entry after we complete our Singapore visit, either right before or right after we arrive in Cambodia.
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