Day 22 - Jan 5 - The End

We woke up at 3am, which can't right be called the morning, but we were pretty cheerful when we set off in the taxi for the airport at 4:15. Our flight was at 7:15, the morning of Saturday Jan. 5.

We're still not sure what Thai Airlines did, but for whatever reason they didn't have our assigned seats. Though we had seating confirmation. So we were spread about in sets of 2, which made for a not entirely comfortable but not too uncomfortable 5-hour + 11-hour set of flights.

During our stopover in Korea, we visited the airport's Cultural Corner and tried on traditional Korean outfits.

From Korea to Las Angeles, then to Las Vegas, then to Salt Lake City, we arrived home before 6pm, on Saturday, Jan. 5th.

Sleep!

And thus ended our wild adventurous trip to Thailand.

Day 21 - Jan 4 - Thai Massages Are Good

It is highly recommended -- a consensus of the whole Utah Schjelderup family -- that any visitor to Thailand get a foot or Thai massage every day. Average price is 300 baht / hour (about $10).

This day began late and happily. At 11:00 all but Mia went shopping to spend our last baht. We came back with bakery lunch goods around 3pm. (Mind, the walk was about 40 min. and we went through 3 shopping centers of Bangkok crowds.)

The pool here is wonderful. Our last swim was wonderful. Then we went for massages and after finding a place to take all 6 of us at once, Mia got a foot massage, the rest of us tried for the first time the Thai massage (full-body massage), and it was wonderful. Following that up was a dinner at the Thai/Vietnamese place nearby (where we got take-out twice before), which was wonderful. Dessert was ice cream from the grocery store, a wonderful end.

Wake-up time is 3am in what I dare call the morning, so -- sawardi ka, farewell, good night.

Day 20 - Jan 3 - The Temple of Doom

After a successful night of living through the terror of swarming cockroaches in the train, we arrived in Bangkok and even made it to our hotel. On the way we went through a large park, where the locals were busy with their morning exercises, including sword dancing.

Fortunately the guests in the room that would be ours had just checked out. Unfortunately the world is not always magical and we were told we could check in after noon.

So we went to a little cafe and had a partial breakfast, then went back to the hotel in hopes of swimming. Seeing our commotion digging through our bags, the hotel checked us in to a different room and it was only 10 o'clock :)

Once we were swim'ed and cleaned, we began preparing our battle plans for this day in Bangkok.

We set off shortly after 3 o'clock, and rode the Skytrain to the main river dock, foolishly asked somebody advice and set off on the wrong ferry, got on the right ferry and made it to the right port, took the 2-min ferry across the river, and arrived at Wat Arun, the Temple of the Dawn. (Somebody called it the Temple of the Doom once on accident so....)

Wat Arun is named for the Hindu goddess of the dawn, Aruna. (Though that's not why it was named that, maybe?) It was maybe built in the 1600s and restored later on (it also went through a name change).

The central prang (tower) is fairly high, and we climbed the steep, large stairs to reach almost the top for a nice view. The stairs are steep and perilous enough to warrant a rope-like handrail.

Once we'd wandered about the top for a bit, we went back down, then hung about the grounds until sunset.... when the lights came on. As the sky grew darker and darker, the temple and grounds grew brighter. It was quite pretty and we were glad we'd stayed.

After this serene rest, we went back via ferry, ferry, Skytrain, then revisited a Japanese restaurant (Yayoi) for a late dinner. The walk back was still festively covered in Christmas decorations.

It was a lovely day. Well, it ended better than it started. Did you know that trains in Thailand are not unusually 4-5 hours late? But guess what. Ours were all early. Including the one this morning, which arrived 10 minutes early at 6:40, and we were woken at 5:20. Phew. We slept very well that night in our lovely clean comfortable Mariott suite.


(I include the following section because it was a pain to research it all and I hope I can save others my pain. May Google help you.)

Thailand Traveler Directions to Wat Arun (by Skytrain):

Take the Skytrain Wangyian(?) bound, to Saphan Taksik (river pier). Get on the ferry with the orange flags -- do NOT ask anybody for advice, do not get on any 'Tourist Boat' -- just get on the boat with the orange flags. They charge you on the boat, and it should be no more than 15 baht. After maybe 10 minutes, get off at stop 8, Tha Tian (will check names later and update). The dock right next to where you arrive is the ferry across. You will pay your way to it, the ride is a whole 3 baht (about 10¢).
Congradulations, you've arrived at Wat Arun! Entry is 50 baht to the main prang (no charge for the rest of the grounds).
Be sure to dress appropriately: women, you must have covered shoulders and no transparent clothing (but a transparent shoulder-cover is OK), skirt or pants that goes below the knees, and (supposedly) closed-toed shoes. Men supposedly have to wear pants that go below the knee (I read) but hah. I also saw people in flip-flops so I don't suppose that mattered either, at least not to that guard.
The entry area closes at 6pm, but there is a little temple inside that seems to close at 5 (but it didn't look that interesting).
There are two sets of about 15 steep big stairs, lots of people seemed scared of going down especially, but it was not that bad. Be ready to climb (no long skirts! You'll die!). The view from the top is pretty nice but nothing spectacular.
The temple is especially pretty at dusk (and dawn, I'm sure). Lights start going on before the sun has set all the way. I'm not sure if it's because it's the holidays or if they always have them, but the gardens were decorated with blue (Christmas) lights and it was quite pretty. Be sure to view the tempe on its side, then take the ferry back (runs 'til 9pm) to the other side and observe from afar.
The ferry back down the river runs until 7pm. Get off at Central (which is after stop 1!). Take the Skytrain home.
(Note, across the river from Wat Arun, on the side of the pier, there are a bunch of attractions. Wat Pho, the Grand Palace, etc. So if you are smart, you will do these all in one day. The Grand Palace closes at 3:30.
NOTE 2: Never listen to anyone trying to tell you the temple or Palace are closed. They are con men.)

Thank you and goodnight.

Days 18 & 19 - Jan 1 & 2 - The Start of a New Year

Our plan for the first day of the year was this - relax, then shop. We lounged around the resort during the day, and at 3 set out into the old city. Our objective was the Night Market, where we planned to do all of our souvenir shopping. Our driver dropped us off at that street, but being a night market, we still had some time before it began. We walked for a bit until we found a massage place where we all got hour-long foot massages. Then we walked back to the market, which was half set up, despite it being only 5.

The Night Market was basically a million stalls lining both sides of the streets, selling all sorts of things, at pretty much the same quality and price.

We shopped for a bit, then we found an open air Indian restaurant and ate a marvelous dinner, after which we resumed our shopping. We took a break again sometime later, this time for gelato. Then we shopped some more. Then we caught a taxi back to our resort, experienced the taxi driver trying to con us (or a misunderstanding on their part anyway), then retired for the night to pleasant dreams.

The next day we sat around. We packed, we read, we played games, we ate lunch, then we went to the train station and boarded the night train to Bangkok. All in all, a good start to a new year!