Touring Bangkok and the Northern Early Thai Capitols

It'a about time for some news from CYAN. We are in Boat Lagoon Marina in Phuket, Thailand which is a great place to work on the boat. And there was a lot to be done.

We finally got the boat work done on CYAN so we were able to take off for Bangkok and places north of there. We found a gem of a hotel in the President Palace. [For those planning to go to Bangkok...don't consider anywhere else. Everything was just perfect for less than $60 a night.]

We began by seeing all the many Wats in the area. For the home folks...these are Buddhist Temples that are lavishly decorated in a vast number of different ways often with different remains of the Great Buddha himself inside a "Chedi" [sorta like a tall pyramid structure] on the grounds, too. Remains of other royal and religious folks are inside Chedis, too.

We really began to enjoy the different styles of temples especially in Bangkok because they were decorated with richly painted murals all over the walls telling stories of religion, myths and what life was like in ancient days. We hadn't seen that in other SE Asia locations. There are literally hundreds of Wats but tourists try to see the significant ones with specific artistic value. In total we have seen at least 35 to 40 in just Thailand alone. And that's in detail, walking all around! We are about to become Buddhist by saturation!! I hope they have a sense of humor!!!

Marble Wat in Bangkok...so beautiful!

example of story telling painting on walls

One meaningful experience in Bangkok is visiting the Grand Palace and grounds. I am impressed that the present king...Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), who is the longest serving monarch in the world and the richest being worth more than 30 billion dollars according to Wikipedia. It's all quite complex and we were glad to have a guide on our tour the day we toured the palaces. No photos were allowed inside and it was a shame because we really enjoyed the visit and walked ourselves to exhaustion over more than 15 buildings.

Detail at Palace grounds

Needing a break next, we decided to go to cooking school and perfect some needed skills and it was such a great fun morning: educational and so entertaining and really filling.

Are we having fun or what?

We sought out some more obscure tourist locations to visit like the Jim Thompson House and the Suan Pakkad Palace Museum. Jim Thompson was an American who had developed a big silk trade in the 60's and built quite an elaborate home complex and art collection with lovely garden [for Lynn]. We just loved seeing all of it and would recommend it highly. We learned about him in the mountains of Malaysia when we were there in June because one day he mysteriously vanished from there and has never been seen again. Big Asia Mystery!!!

this is a typical Thai home on the grounds

The Suan Pakkad Palace Museum was very interesting. It was a collection of 7 old Thai buildings moved to Bangkok to house the beautifully done display of an extensive archeological expedition in northern Thailand and many other pieces of art work.

After a bit of shopping we were ready to board the train for Ayutthaya an ancient capitol of Thailand from 1250 to 1760. It had many ruins and, yes, more Wats, to visit and we hired a tuktuk to drive us to the best selection to visit so we would feel like we got a good view of it all since we both were still recuperating from this darn H1N1 flu and hacking away. It was well worth the look around.

The below in Ayutthaya is the famous head left by thieves that a tree grew around and is considered sacred now.

We definitely thought going to Sukhothai was more exciting, though. It was more trouble to get there. We had to take a 5 hour train ride from Ayutthaya and then take an hour bus ride to the town near the ruined remains of the ancient, elaborately designed showplace that was the capitol of the northland in Thailand fighting off the Burmese in 1100-1250. It was surrounded by moats and had all kinds of water features and temples with unique designs. We think no trip to Thailand is complete without seeing this fabulous place.

The train ride to Chiang Mai was quite attractive through the mountains going north but it was 8 hours and we only brought snacks. We didn't much like the rice and spicy tofu they served! We were ready to relax and enjoy Chiang Mai which is actually another capitol of Thailand...the Lanna area...the very north and has a rich history of it's own. We have just loved it here and have seen such a thick concentration of Wats and monks all around...like one on every street corner...no kidding! But they all have something interesting to offer and we still actually find something good to look at...can't believe it...me who gets bored so easily!!! Buddhism is actually pretty cool...even for good Episcopalians...we can respect all this. These people are so sweet and calm and helpful. they sure don't understand excitable people!!!

We do the big Elephant adventure tomorrow and I will give that it's own page. This is long enough. For more photos and info check out Lynn's Facebook page at

http://www.facebook.com/#!/Lexxycyan

all my photos are open to everyone and aren't repeated here.

On the road to yet another Wat way up on a mountain overlooking Chiang Mai on a clear Day

The rest of the Tour, SE Asia, 2010

Our new 37th Anniversary

Elephant Rings from Laos..

the elephants rotate around...so cute!

Soupmaker on the street in Hue

We must mention the food in Vietnam because it is so good everywhere we go and the healthiest in the world with little use of fat and starches and so many herbs to flavor the soups and banana wrapped goodies. We have just loved it and will learn to make much of it....especially after the boring, spicey food in Malaysia. We have also taken up having massages at the reasonable prices and are enjoying the spas as we travel around. Chuck has decides he really wants one of these talented massage girls to crew on the boat but I say only if she can cook the food too!!! They sure don't take up much room!!! Chuck has gained weight and I have lost...I just love that...the beer is too cheap and I gave up drinking and coffee and it has done me good!!!

Hue

Next thing was just a short bus ride to Hue where we had the nicest hotel and we just relaxed for several days before going on to Hanoi. Besides Lynn came down with strep throat and needed a break. This is a town with 5 Universities and is also the place where Hoi Chi Minh whent to high school. We went to the museum that was all about him and it was actually quite interesting. There is a huge walled area in the old city called the "Cidadel" that was a fortress and if a commoner entered he was killed...in earlier times, of course. We visited the tombs of earlier emperors which are actually beautifully landscaped parks that take quite a while to walk around. By now we are half way up the coast of Vietnam and we are ready to fly to Hanoi because there are really no real tourist attractions to see until there.

Here are shots of an old temple in a lake in mid Hanoi

Hanoi
This was a surprise because so many had told us that they didn't like Hanoi and it was just a big city. We found many things to like after learning our way around. Our hotel was on the edge of the very ancient "old town" and it was always exciting and not threatening to walk around. It was just too tempting to shop for small fun items that were great buys. They have great copies of everything from Rolexes to Iphones and Ipods. We were advised to try and take in a symphony but there was the ballet of Carmen opening instead and with some new friends we went and got 3rd row tickets. We found it to be really a great performance in dance and costume with only the set needing some flair but that's just us...we are glad we went. We also met for lunch with some folks we'd met earlier in Singapore for a nice visit.

Opera house where we saw the ballet was based on the one in Paris

The Hanoi Stock Exchange, Chuck just had to take a photo

Sapa

We took the night train to Sapa but without planning ahead only got what's called a hard sleeper but it was OK and we slept away the night. We'd planned over 4 days in Sapa with plenty to see but only got in 2 days because we both got dreadful stomach flus like we hadn't had for 20 years or so with Lynn getting knocked down first. so it was good that our tickets and hotel were so cheap. The other days were like in slow motion in a haze of nausea drugs. We took another night train down to Hanoi and a flight to Luang Prabang, Laos, on Wed March 24, the day after our 37th anniversary. We are in a nice remote resort outside of town, still doing some recovering. We bought cute matching elephant silver wedding rings for our anniversary. Chick hasn't worn a wedding band since heleft his in the safety deposit box when we left. That was sentimental.

Scenes around Sapa

Some of the Ethnic Hmong peoples around Sapa

Laos

We really enjoyed relaxing for 6 days at this reasonable resort in LP, Laos and Chuck needed time to recover from what ever hit both of us in Sapa. We had leisurely strolls into the village, ate yummy french food, saw a vast number of varied temples, pretended we got up at dawn to see the traditional walk of monks down main street being fed sticky rice by the residents, a centuries old tradition. We can imagine it. Besides it seems sorta peronal to me and photos are not allowed but most took them and that's offensive! LP was a nice visit and we should have stayed there and not wasted our time with the capitol of Vientiane for 3 days. We are sorry we took the time because it was quite boring but not un attractive, just no redeeming value to speak of. We did find an example from the mysterious "Plain of Jars" where stone age jars were carved from stone quite interesting [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_of_Jars]. We were also fascinated by the Ethnic Market that everyone calls the witchcraft market where you can actually buy elephant tusks if you want to risk it and have the conscience.

Monks in Luan Prabang

Lynn with a jar from the Plain of Jars, repaired, and Chuck with a temple dog!
Below are items, herbs and effigies from the witchcraft market.

Then on April 3 we headed to KL, where Chuck bought his Ipod Touch and we bought luggage for China in September. We also got to go to church on Easter Sunday with folks from so many countries in their native dress, India, Malaysia, Africa. It was so impressive at St Mary's Anglican Cathedral. On April 6 we were off to Penang for some dental work and medical tests and minor surgeries before going back to the boat.

Best of all was how good the nachos at Chili's tasted along with the Wendy's burger and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Just had to have some home food after all this time!!!

PS.Lynn is doing great not drinking alcohol or coffee or citrus or soft drinks any more...and proud, she is!!!

We can finallly tell you about Vietnam!

Biker Couple with no tatoos!!!

We left Phnom Penh on Feb 26 after a very nice stay in Cambodia. We had allowed an extra 3 days for processing of our visa at the embassy of Viet Nam, and were surprised when they had the processing done, and our passports back to us on the same day we applied! This gave us an extra 3 days in Phnom Penh for relaxing, shopping etc before bussing to Ho Chi Minh City (new name for Saigon but everyone still calls it Saigon).

The bus ride to HCMC was fine, including an efficient crossing of the Cambodia, Viet Nam border. HCMC is a large, prosperous, swept clean, busy city with cleaner air than expected. We found it to be a better "city experience" than PP in Cambodia but then it has come further with a lot more economic help .

One of the remarkable things about the city is the traffic. Everyone owns motorbike and they all drive like the crazy from every direction!!!! We found the city to be beautiful and green, and good for walking (check all ways before crossing the street, as they drive on the right, just like in the US)

After a few days in HCMC we bussed to the resort town of Dalat in the central highlands. It was a 7 hour bus ride to the town, which is situated in mountains that look a lot like north Georgia or eastern Tennessee, at an altitude of 5000 feet. We rented a motorbike for $4.50 per day and drove all over the surrounding countryside especiallythe coffee plantations. One of the main crops in this part of the country is coffee and it's some of the worlds best. The locals call it "Ca Fe Sua Doc", and it's served in a small drip strainer perched on top of the coffee cup and brought to your table. The coffee is as thick as syrup and VERY strong. Although strong, it is very smooth, and not bitter at all. We liked it a lot and now order "Ca Fe Sua Doc" sometimes when we want coffee. Dalat is the "California" of Viet Nam, because much of the available land is cultivated for growing everything from artichokes to zucchinni and all types of flowers. It is a lovely landscape, covered with small farms everywhere. Meals in Dalat, as well as in the rest of the country are VERY cheap, and highly nutritious with lunch for 2 was usually about $5 and dinner for two about $10 often including Dalat wine.

After a few days in Dalat we bussed to the town of Nha Trang on the South China Sea coast. Nha Trang is the best beach in the country and it has islands offcoast for diving. The beach front is the equal of any we have seen. It is clean, safe and beautiful. There are several high rise hotels on the beach (Sheraton, Novatel), and 4 new high rises going up along the main road. This is the beach capital of Viet Nam but we see our share of those types of towns.

Before our arrival we were concerned about how we would be received as Americans. We have been pleased and surprised that there is no anomosity in the Vietnameese at all. We were in a photo shop in Nha Trang and the operator offered to shake hands with Chuck and said "Viet Nam and America friends now. No more war".

Making Ca Fe Sua Doc

We took a dreadful overnight bus ride [had a flat and it had no restroom] to a wonderful centuries old port town called Hoi An and we really liked this location a lot. It had many restored merchant homes and trading buildings, temples, meeting houses and performance pavillion houses that were preserved and that could be toured.

We met a couple from New England that spend the winter in our hotel ever year for 5 years now and come back to the US with more money that when they left cuz it's so cheap to live in Vietnam for 3 months a year. The architecture and history was fascinating but we saw some traditional entertaining, folk dance, song and opera, that really was wonderful and so different and dramatic.

We took a tour to some historic runs built by the Champs, pronounced "cham", who originally came from Java and went back to very early man there. They were converted to Hinduism and built a series of impressive temples without mortar in the 1st through 5th century AD. Some damage was done during the war but much remains and is being preserved.

Some shots around Hoi An, one of our favorite places

Courtyard in traditional building in Hoi An

Fruitseller with new friend in Hoi An

A lantern maker in Hoi An


These temples are from the 1st through 5th centuries

We have more to come on Hue, Hanoi and Sapa in the next Blog.

Visit to Cambodia February 2010

We set out for our Southeast Asia adventure with Cambodia in Mid February meeting up good friends, Ray and Marilyn [from vessel Horizon] in Siem Reap. We'd heard nothing but great things about Cambodia, especially the kindness of the people, and we have found it an amazing and enlightening country. It really is like stepping back in time. Lynn was so excited to see that they still use huge clay pots...the size of washing machines...to hold and even filter river water in the country towns. She had read about the potters who make them way back when she was a potter. Few places in the world still do that.

We immediately followed our friends to Battambong for 2 days of country life in Cambodia and also because we may not see them for a long time and this is another good spot to visit. We all took a "tuktuk" ride around the dusty country. A tuktuk is a motor scooter pulling a covered cart seating 4. We got to see temples, a cave where hundreds of bodies were disposed during the Khmer Rouge Genocide and took a rickety ride on the bamboo railroad. This"railway" is just a bamboo slat raft sitting on 2 railroad wheel axles with an outboard motor connected to a fan belt running it. This raft thing was used to take crops to the city to sell produce and was disassembled when an actual train came along.

We returned to Siem Reap for several days staying in a nice comfortable $16 a day hotel. Siem Reap is the star location in Cambodia with many reconstructed temples from the 9th to the 12th century. The temples were built to honor Hindu Gods and commemorate favored myths of certain kings and are now for Buddist worship. These are massive constructions the size of cities with huge water reservoirs. Almost a million people lived all around this part of the country at this time and they have lived here since prehistory meaning 10's of thousands of years. That is amazing. Java man, one of the earliest cavemen, came from here in SE Asia.

We set off south to the capitol of Phnom Penh on quite an adventure of a 6 hour boat ride. It was overbooked so we rode on top for the first part and got soaked until some folks finally made some space below in the freezing air conditioning. We were glad to arrive, especially Lynn who had a mild cold anyway. In the city, it was still the celebration of Chinese New Year and a challenge to find a Hotel room so we had to pay $35 but it included breakfast if you like instant eggs, spam, hotdogs, orange koolade and noodles! We found a market for granola and box milk!!!! The fruit and veggies are great and overall the food is just yummy [except breakfast] and really cheap...and often FRENCH!!! Yea!!!

With their philosophy of Buddhism teaching tolerance and acceptance, these are really mild, polite, courteous people who really want to do a good job. We are so impressed with them. We are also crushed learning that Polpot's Khmer Rouge Regime wiped out 15% of the population in the early 70's in the Genocide that especially targeted the "intellectuals" who threatened his regime. That meant any man, woman or child who wore glasses or owned a book!!! We met some relatives of victims. So bitterly sad. See the movie "The Killing Fields". We visited the place that was turned into an interrogation and holding prison before execution in the city and we chose not to visit the killing fields themselves thinking we had seen enough. The city is slowly moving forward and rebuilding after being almost completely crushed. What really surprised us is that Polpot was allowed to live comfortably in Thailand until 1998 after murdering over 1.5 million people...astounding!!! They need Rambo here!!!

The King himself helped bury the significant number of crown jewels and gold statuary before leaving the country before the Regime and much was saved. We really enjoyed seeing the renovated palace and beautiful grounds that this country is very proud of. There is a strong bond between the king who is in his 50's and unmarried and the people. The country is a committed democracy, they did tell us, though.

We got our Vietnam visa here and leave on a 6 hour luxury bus for $12 for Ho Chi Minh City on Friday Feb 26. We'll see if it's better than the boat trip which wouldn't be hard to beat!!!

Malaysia

Shots around Malaysia in no particular order:

Buddist Temple in Melaka with offerings

Biggest buildings in Kuala Lumpur

Historic Fort in Melaka

Learning about how to make "Birds Nesr Soup"
It's sweetish and served for dessert!

Buying Batik artwork on silk in Melaka

Moslem school kids cut up with Chuck and Julia from Pacific Star, IP350

Malaysia is not as pristine as Singapore but a damnsight cleaner and richer than Indonesia so we are ready to like it here for a while. We plan to leave the boat in Langkawi while we travel and work on sprucing it back to shipshape!

We came to Johor the first of November, for the start of the Malaysia Rally but quickly went our own direction and pace, sailing NW up the Mallaca Straights, one of the busiest ship traffic locations in the world. We stayed in the barge lane missing all the fishing nets that are layed continously in 30' or less depth.

Our first stop was the historic town of Melaca with forts, museums, churches and old rebuilt squares to roam around. Next we stopped at Port Dickson where we left the boat for 5 days to visit the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur...means "muddy confluence". We did the usual big city stuff: shopping, museums, architecture, gardens. It was pretty OK but quite cheap!

After that we sailed straight for Langkawi, a group of touristy resort islands in the Andaman Sea. They are dutyfree and the water is much bluer than the muddy Straights. There are several marinas and yacht services. First we get 7 new batteries, a charger for shore power, a "fixed" or a "new" fridge, canvas repaired, new cockpit cushions and lots of scrubbing of mildew from all over this tub!!! I'll call it by name when it looks "schoonery" again!

We plan to visit Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China and even come home for a while, hopefully in spring. Good news is we bought a small AC unit cuz this weather is really hot and now we can sleep and work better.

We will also get physicals and renew prescriptions here, so hopefully we are in good enuf shape to keep doing this cruising stuff. We do have the net here at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club, so keep in touch.

Back to making the maintainence list...haven't begun work yet.

Singapore

We can only hit the high points in Singapore. We stayed 3 weeks and just loved being in a big city again. We shopped....shopping is a marathon activity here...and saw all the museums. We toured around Little India and Chinatown with friends who met us coming in from Malaysia. We stayed in Raffles Marina, the most luxurious marina we have ever been in but very reasonable.

Singapore is immaculate and quite refreshing after Indonesia with all the polluted water.

We really loved the most wonderful tropical Botanic Gardens we have ever seen and the Bird Park was also quite remarable. The Zoo was just soso!

We had to get new passports so that's why it took a while but it was no problem...except the minor one...the heat...whew...quite warm here. Tried to stay gone until 6pm when it cools down.

In Nov we are on to Malaysia with the start of the rally that we really are just drifting with in the straights of Malaka until we get to Langkawi near Thailand. That's when the water gets nice and clear again and we look forward to it.

Kalimantan to Singapore

We gotta say, the last part of Indonesia was definitely the best!! We were so impressed with our visit to Camp Leakey where wild orangutans are cared for before being released back into the wild. What a great experience! Actually just imagine anchoring right on a river in southern Borneo. The Indonesian part of Borneo is called Kalimantan. We took this river boat for 2 days and one night through the jungle to see these amazingly intelligent "cousins". You know there is a lot going on when you look deep into their eyes.
There is more info on the website on the Kalimantan page but I just had to add some more photos here.

We arrived in Singapore on Monday Oct 5th and it's great to be back in the first world again. The 4 days it took to get here was when all the dreadful disasters were hitting this area and we kept getting email asking about our safety when we didn't really know what was going on. We will be at Raffles Marina in Singapore until the Malaysia Rally begins and we sail up the straits of Mallaca towards Thailand.

Keep an eye out on the website, Starsonthesea.com for a Singapore page as soon as Lynn fully recovers from a weird infection setback.