[Beer tasting, the Tour of Flanders bike race, and general busyness with life in Antwerp distracted me from posting this promptly. The Carnaval de La Louvière was the weekend before last, March 26-28 9 (Sun. – Tues.)]
One of the first things I do after basic travel plans (dates, transport, lodging) are set is check the holiday and festival/event schedule for a destination. Bank holidays are especially worth knowing since they can change opening dates and hours for things you really want and/or need to do. Festivals and events can effect practical things, too (like anticipated crowds, parking, elevated prices, etc.), but they can also be tons of fun and unique experiences not to be missed.
Although we’re currently on our fourth extended stay in Antwerp, Belgium, it’s the first time we’ve been here at this particular time of year: Voila! Potential for new things to see and do! I’ve got several things in my sights for the coming weeks, but we felt like we hit the jackpot this past weekend when we hopped a train down to La Louvière in the south of Belgium for the annual Carnaval de La Louvière “Laetare” festival. I learned about La Louvière’s Carnaval while doing a little research pre-trip. La Louvière is in an industrial area of Belgium and it along with several surrounding towns have been hosting these mid-Lent carnivals featuring local characters called “Gilles” since the 1800’s.
Somewhat like New Orleans’ Mardi Gras “crewes,” various societies form groups of Gilles who participate in various festivities and parades, finishing off several days of festivities with bonfires. The Gilles wear very distinctive traditional costumes in the Belgian national colors of red, yellow and black. The most spectacular feature of the Gille costume is an enormous headdress of ostrich plumes, in gleaming white or tipped with color at the wearer’s discretion.
Gilles at the Carnaval de La Louvière
Otherwise, the costumes are nearly identical: barrel-shaped jackets stuffed with oat straw and matching pants, both covered with felt appliques of crowns and lions; white “caps” worn with or without the ostrich-plume headdresses; wooden clogs; belled belts; lace flourishes.
Each Gille carries a basket of oranges to hand or toss to spectators. The Gilles march along in a step intended to maximize the clacking of their clogs and the jangling of their bells.
A musical band including drums, trumpets, trombones, clarinets, souzaphones and sometimes euphonia and tubas. Periodically, the band would really fire up; then the Gilles would stop, face the band and begin a sort of semi-organized group dance consisting of more stomping and sharp quarter turns. After a bit of this, the whole group would move further along the parade route before the routine would be repeated.
Firing up the Gilles danceA young Gille with carnival-goers in horse costumesLots of spectators were in costume. Hats like these, decorated with dried orange slices, were on sale for those who weren’t in costume but wanted to get in the spirit of things.
The parade–short in length and long in time–ended up on the main square where the various groups of Gilles and other variously-costumed participants converged via two streets. The growing mass group began the final “rondeau” a large circle dance filling the entire square.
Heading for the rondeau; even little ones get into the actThe final “rondeau”
Afterwards, spectators and participants poured out of the square, scattering to restaurants, food stalls, beer pubs and carnival rides until things geared up again later in the evening for more dancing and drinking.
Parade refuse: orange remnants and confetti (and a close up of those clogs)After the rondeau, we opted for a surprisingly good burger and people watching at Le Goulaf’.
The Carnaval de la Louvière goes on for three days with the final festivities topped off by bonfires. You can learn more at the web site of Amicale des Sociétes du Carnaval Louvièrois. Nearby sister towns host similar Laetare festivals.
_____________________ The direct train from Antwerp took about 1.5 hours and dropped us off just blocks from the main action. The Carnaval is free, so we just wandered our way over and arrived just as the parade was really kicking off. We joined the crowd marching along with a group of Gilles, then moved along to other groups at whim. It was easy to get right along-side the Gilles and join in the action. Everyone was friendly and in high spirits…and the oranges were particularly good!
(Although there’s almost no difference between 1st and 2nd class on local Belgian trains, I opted for 1st class out of an abundance of caution, afraid that the train might be full when we were ready to leave. This turned out not to be the case at all, so the extra <$20 was wasted…save for when the conductor made a very loud and food-smelly group move to another car. That was actually pretty welcome as we’d been dozing until that mob plopped into the seats next to us. Anyway, if you decide to go to La Louviere by train, there’s no point in springing for 1st class. If you go by car, be warned that parking looked to be hard to find and several roads are closed off for Carnaval. Book tickets on the Belgian Rail site.)
Fruits of a successful beer pilgrimage: David and our first crates of Westvleteren 12…and a 6-pack and glasses. It was hard not to get greedy!
UPDATE 13 May 2023: The process for getting Westvleteren beer is easier now that they have an online ordering system for both pick-up and delivery. You can find details and a calendar here: https://www.trappistwestvleteren.be/en/beer-sales . Create an account, log in on sales days and wait in a queue to order.
Year after year, Westvleteren 12, a Belgian quadrupel beer brewed by Trappist monks in a rural Flanders abbey has been named the “Best Beer in the World” by the major beer rating sites. While I’m the first to say that claiming any food or drink to be the “best” of its kind is always going to be a subjective exercise, “Westy 12″ is undoubtedly an outstanding beer. It’s also really hard to come by. I’ve read that only five monks brew the beer and another five help when it comes time to bottle. I’m not sure how accurate those numbers are, but I am sure that the Westvleteren Abbey is a small beer-making operation with no signs that it cares to be anything larger. The monks’ primary focus is on being monks, not brewers. The reputation and mystique around Westvleteren 12 has led to a mad and highly competitive scramble to buy this elusive beer.
A Little Background on Trappist Beers
Trappist beer is brewed by Trappist monasteries. As of today, only 11 monasteries produce beer officially recognized by the International Trappist Association: six in Belgium, two in the Netherlands and one each in Austria, Italy, the United States (New Jersey). Many of these are very old breweries with recipes going back to medieval times, but one in the Netherlands and those in Austria, Italy and the U.S. are recent entries, only being recognized in the years since 2012. Some are tiny, like Westvleteren (producing only 4050 US bbl/year), while others are substantial producers, the largest by volume being La Trappe in the Netherlands which produces 124,000 US bbl/year. To be able to designate their beer as Authorized Trappist Product and display a special logo, these beers must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastery, the brewing should be secondary to and in keeping with the monastic way of life, and the brewery should not be a profit-making enterprise, but rather to support the monastery and the monastic lifestyle.
Westvleteren 12 and Our Beer Journey
I first heard of Westvleteren 12 in reading about Belgian beers prior to the first housesit David and I did in Antwerp. When we discovered our favorite local beerpub, Gollem, and attached ourselves to our favorite bartender/beer sensei there, Sam, I asked about this then-unpronounceable beer. Sam informed us they had it–at a very steep price since, except at the abbey, it’s a gray-market product. We balked then, but soon went for it at our second favorite Antwerp beerpub, the legendary Kulminator. We were total beer newbies at the time with no real way to evaluate except to say, “Hey, this beer is really good!” Sigh. We’ve come a long way.
Since then, David and I have done an awful lot of beer tasting, reading and even brewed our first batch of homebrew. David became so obsessed with The Beer Bible, a Christmas gift from my elder son, that he read it every night for over a year and lugged the tome with us around the world. (Thankfully, we’ve got it on Kindle version now, so can read up on iPad or cellphone…even sitting in a pub.) You can get your own addictive copy of The Beer Bible on Amazon.
Buying Our First 6-Packs of Westies at the Abbey Café
So, of course, as part of our beer odyssey, we wanted to try Westvleteren again at the abbey. When my younger son, Dillon, arrived to spend a week with us in Antwerp in August 2015, we used the opportunity to drive the hour and 40 minutes into rural Flanders where the St. Sixtus Abbey sits amid fields of crops and sheep.
Flanders fields on the road to the St. Sixtus Abbey
A modern and spacious abbey-owned café called “In De Vrede” (“In Peace”) lies across the road from the main abbey building.
In De Vrede, the St. Sixtus Abbey café in Westvleteren, Belgium
The three Trappist beers brewed at the abbey are always available to drink on-site at the café. These are Westvleteren 12, Westvleteren 8 (a tripel) and the Westvleteren Blonde. At random times 6-packs of whatever beer the abbey happens to provide are sold at the café shop. On that first trip, we were thrilled to learn that 8’s and blondes would be available in the café shop after 2pm, but disappointed that none of the top-of-the-top 12’s were available for take-away. Oh well, we consoled ourselves with breakfast Westy 12’s before showing Dillon some of our favorite World War I museums and sites until it was time to return for the afternoon beer sale. Back at In De Vrede, we happily joined a long line and bought the maximum two 6-packs/person of the unlabeled brown bottles. [The sum total of packaging information on a Westy bottle comes on the cap and in the simple molded glass collar on the bottle that reads “TRAPPISTENBIER.”]
Lining up in In De Vrede for 6-packs to go
Buying Cases of Westvleteren: The “Beer Hotline”
The only way to get more than those random 6-packs at the abbey is to make an appointment to pick up cases of beer. To do this, you have to consult the abbey’s website and click through until you get to their beer page. There you’ll find a page displaying a 2-week schedule: On the left is the current week with times blocked off when the “beer hotline” will be open for the abbey to receive calls from those wanting to place an order for beer. (Only calls from identifiable numbers, land or mobile, will be accepted.) On the right is a schedule for the following week showing the dates and times when the maximum 2 cases/car is available to pick up and which beer (12, 8 or blonde) will be available. David and I have done this twice now. The first time, it took us over 400 calls, using three phones to get through to a monk. Usually, you are required to give a license plate number, but the monk very kindly agreed to take our name instead since we planned to rent a car to pick up the beer.
A screenshot of the Abbey web page described above with the 2-week schedule for reservation calls (on the left) and beer pick-up times the following week (on the right). For the coming week, the beer hotline will be open on Tuesday and Wednesday at the times shown. You can request 12’s on either day at the given times and Blonde on Wednesday from 10-12. Pick up days for the 12’s are the following M-Th. The only pick-up day for the Blondes is Saturday April 9.
The second time (this past week) it took us over 1100 calls to get through, again using three phones. Since the hotline opened at 8am that day, we started dialing in bed, getting busy signal after busy signal. Three times, we thought we’d gotten through only to have a Dutch-language recording of a female voice (apparently from the phone company) give way to yet another busy signal. Hungry and discouraged, we went downstairs to make breakfast, but kept doggedly dialing in the process. Finally, the recording gave way to an actual dialing and finally, a monk. This time we had a license plate to give (thanks to the friends for whom we housesit), chose one of the available dates the following week, and were done. Victory!
Part of the reason the monks ask for a license plate or identification is that the same vehicle or person cannot buy cases of beer from them again for 60 days. You must also agree not to resell their beer. This is a widely ignored prohibition and an active gray market exists in Belgium and elsewhere for the beer. We, on the other hand, buy for our own consumption, to cellar and to give away. Besides, there’s just something about lying to nice monks that just wouldn’t sit right!
Both times we’ve bought cases of Westvleteren beer, we’ve had a 1pm pick-up time. We drive over from Antwerp, arriving in time for lunch at In De Vrede (which I’ll review later) before picking up our cases. The iconic wooden crates are available at a small drive-through loop adjacent to the abbey.
The drive-through loop for beer pick-up at the St. Sixtus Abbey at Westvleteren
A lone monk mans the stacks of cases and will help load if need be, although he’s fine with you loading yourself.
Loading up crates of Westvleteren Trappist 12 beer
Once we have our beer, we pull forward to pay by credit card. (The monks don’t accept cash.) Although a single bottle of Westy 12 can run €13-20 on the gray market, at the abbey a case of Westvleteren 12 costs €42, a case of 8 is €37, and a case of Blonde costs €32. In addition, there’s a €12/case deposit that you can get back if you return the case and empty bottles to the abbey.
So What Does it Taste Like?
Now that we’re a little past “Hey, this is really good beer!”, how would we describe the taste of Westvleteren 12? Well, first, for the appearance: It’s a medium dark beer with a warm red-brown color and a dense tan head. It pours clear, but there’s often lots of sediment in the bottom of the bottle. The nose is rich, molasses-y, fig-sweet with that wonderful Belgian “barny” yeast smell that conjures for me images of horses and the green pastures of Flanders. The taste is fig, prune, toffee/molasses, yeasty “barniness” and warm spices. (So, now we had to go open a bottle to double check our perceptions and report them in real-time. It’s a tough job, but we’re willing to go that extra mile!) Westvleteren 12 is well-carbonated, effervescent with tiny bubbles that foam in the mouth. At 10.2% alcohol, it’s a substantial beer, but the alcohol is not too forward. It’s wonderfully easy to drink.
A Westvleteren 12 and a Westvleteren Blonde at In De Vrede
I also really like the Westvleteren 8 and love the Blonde, which is harder to come by and needs to be drunk fairly quickly, not being amenable to cellaring like the 12 and 8.
And finally, how to get it home?
We’ve discovered that a wooden case of Westvleteren beer fits perfectly into the reinforced “medium-extra strong” cardboard moving box sold by Shurgard in Belgium (a branch of which in Antwerp is particularly handy to us) for €3.50. We wrap each bottle in bubble wrap to wedge it securely into the case. Then, we line the bottom of the box with foam pads and/or styrofoam peanuts, set the whole case inside, pour in more peanuts and tape like crazy, being sure to reinforce the corners. Packed like this, each case becomes our 2nd piece of luggage on our international flight home. It’s within airline size and weight limits, so there’s no charge. On our last flight home, our beer arrived perfectly, with no breakage or leaking. This time, we brought a light-weight duffel bag full of the recycled peanuts and bubble wrap to repeat the process. We’ll just fold up the duffel and stash it in a suitcase for the return.
A crate of Westvleteren 12 safely back in Texas
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Follow up to our latest transport of Westy 12’s back to the States, 5/2017: Our latest two cases (plus a few extras) made it home on British Airways in perfect condition; no leaks, no breakage. The handles on the cardboard boxes had started to tear despite our reinforcement, though, and we’re considering having the boxes plastic wrapped at the airport next time. (It would be best if the handle holes weren’t used at all.) There was also a small hole in the bottom of one of the boxes, but it was a non-issue given the protection afforded by the wooden crate and the layer of styrofoam on the bottom. We saved the styrofoam peanuts and bubble wrap in the duffel and stored it away for repeat duty on our next trip to Belgium in the fall.
Mid-packing in Antwerp, before adding the final layer of styrofoam and sealing.Both cases safely in Dallas with the worst damage to the boxes being at the handle holes.
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The St. Sixtus Abbey website is: http://sintsixtus.be/ It’s in Dutch for the most part, but hover over “Gasten en bezoekers” at the top then click on “Bierverkoop” to get to the information about buying beer. There you’ll have an option to choose “English” (or French or German) which will pull up a screen with the beer hotline number as well as the method and rules for buying their beer. Once read, close that window then click on the big green button that says “Bierverkoop, Ventes de Bières, Beer Sales, Bierabsatz”. This will take you to the screen with the 2-week schedule for calls and pick-up times described above.
David and I did our first pet and housesitting gig two and half years ago, in September 2014. We loved it and have done quite a few more, often for the same people (and pets). We’re about to return to Antwerp, Belgium, for our fourth cat and housesit for a wonderful couple who have become friends over the past couple of years. We’ll be in Antwerp for six weeks in a great Dutch-style house with two terrific cats in a neighborhood we love in a city and country we love and love exploring. We know and like the neighbors, as well as our favorite local shops, restaurants and beer bars. Pet and housesitting is a great way to temporarily step into another life and lifestyle and really get to know a place, to be something more than a tourist. You take on responsibilities (that we take very seriously), but you also get a free place to stay and a truly special experience. We love interspersing our own travels with these stays whenever a tempting opportunity presents itself. We often use a housesit to kick off other travels in the region, too. After our upcoming Antwerp stay, we’ll spend a few weeks tooling around the Baltics before flying home. It’s a much easier and cheaper flight from Brussels to Lithuania than anything I could find from the U.S.!
For the pet owner, it’s a great way to let your pets stay in their own familiar surroundings and not subject them to the stress (and potential exposure to illness) of outside boarding. It’s cheaper, too! A home is safer as well when it’s not left vacant. Sometimes housesits are offered even when no pets are involved.
Coming “home” to pets is a bonus to usThese two are sweethearts!
House- and Pet-sitting sites we’ve tried and our conclusions:
There are several sites out there to connect house- and pet-sitters with people looking for them. We’ve subscribed to three: Caretaker Gazette, Housecarers and Trustedhousesitters. (You’ll find a 25% discount for our favorite here.) I received one positive response from Caretaker Gazette–our first foray into this world–, but found most of their listings to be for true caretakers: b&b, small inn, or farm managers or long-term live-in caretakers. [I had major doubts about the Caretaker Gazette after I received an email from a homeowner saying he hadn’t authorized the posting of his ad which he’d placed with another publication. We no longer subscribe and will not again.] Housecarers seems to be a reputable site, but is very heavily Australia-weighted, and I found its web site awkward to use and let the membership lapse.
We have been most happy with Trustedhousesitters.com, based out of England. It has worldwide listings, but the most numerous countries on the site are UK, USA, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand. While there is still some room for improvement, overall their web site is well thought-out and easy to use. You can search openings without joining, but you’ll only see the newest postings if you join. This is important as competition is fierce for appealing locations. Owners are often swamped with applications. (The woman in Antwerp for whom we pet and housesit told me she got 30-something responses in the first day or so. Your vacation house in the south of France or on a Caribbean beach or your posh flat in London will be swamped with people wanting to pamper your house and pets.)
Creating your pet and housesitting profile:
Once you’ve paid your dues, create a profile introducing yourself and your relevant experience. Even if you’ve never been a house- and/or pet-sitter before, you’ve got experience if you’ve owned or cared for pets (or farm animals), been a homeowner, gardener, tended a swimming pool, etc. Be sure to post photos and any references. If you’re just starting out as a pet and housesitter, use other character references. We used the Executive Director of a charitable board I served on and a former law partner of David’s. We’d already had background checks done for our French resident visas, but you can get them done via Trustedhousesitters for added reassurance.
View of the Willamette River from the balcony of our first pet and housesit in Oregon
Getting your first gig:
Because it can be so competitive, you may want to start with something that might not be so high-demand. It doesn’t hurt to shoot for a week in Paris your first time out, but you might have more luck with something closer to home. Once you get a housesit under your belt and a (hopefully) positive review, you’ve got experience to bring to your next housesit and a budding resumé. Look, too, for listings where you might have an edge up. Our first pet and housesit was for a wonderful Oregon professor who was heading to an annual stay in Paris. My years as a Paris ex-pat caught her eye and our love of Paris is something we have in common. It didn’t hurt that she has two cats and David did years of cat rescue. People with horses will look for people with horse experience. Foreign language skills can come in handy; so can gardening and horticulture skills. I once saw a couple looking for someone with aquaculture experience. You get the idea. It also pays to scan the site frequently and jump on any new listings that appeal to you. If you’re the first to respond, you’re ahead of the game. The site has recently upgraded so you can see how many people have applied already. That’s a useful tool.
Owners will email and call to get to know you. Usually, they want to Skype, FaceTime, etc. It’s normal for them to interview several candidates before making a selection, although we’ve had them just say “yes” on the spot.
David cooking with cat in Oregon…and cooking with cats in Belgium. He’s a popular guy!
Your responsibilities as a pet and housesitter:
Being a pet and housesitter isn’t just a free hotel somewhere. You’re staying in someone’s home and caring for a beloved pet. You’re there to take care of both. You should provide not only the basics for the pet(s)–food, water, exercise and “bathroom” needs–but also companionship and affection. If a medical issue arises, be prepared to take the animal to the vet. If unsure whether the condition merits veterinary attention, contact the owner if possible to find out their preference.
We pride ourselves on leaving the house as clean or cleaner than when we arrive. I like to keep any flower beds or flower boxes weeded and tidy, too, and will happily plant a few things, as well. Usually, the owner invites us to eat anything perishable in the fridge, but clarify that along with what spices, etc. are up for grabs. If we finish off something that would otherwise have been usable on the owners’ return, we replace it. Often, I set aside things that might get broken or spilled on (especially in the kitchen). I take photos of where items are when we arrive and try to put everything back just as it was when we leave. If there’s time prior to departure, we launder the sheets and towels. If there’s no time because of a quick hand-off (due to flights, etc.), we ask what the owners would like done. We offer to pick up groceries for the owners’ arrival and have cooked a welcome-home dinner on occasion. Just imagine what you’d expect and appreciate if it were your home and pet and do that. Get emergency contact numbers: for family, neighbors, vets, plumbers. Find out where the fuse box is and ask about any appliance quirks, etc.
Sharing my morning routine with one of our charges
Who usually pays for what:
For most pet and housesits, the lodging and utilities are free to the sitter. For some longer-term (multi-month) sits, the owner might ask the sitter to pay something towards utilities. Travel expenses are borne by the sitter. If private transportation is required, some owners offer the use of a car, but many do not so a rent car may be necessary in some locations. Factor in the costs before you commit to a housesit.
Staying long-term creates more opportunities to see local events
Things to think about:
We’ve only dealt with very nice, easy-to-work-with homeowners. Still, it’s only smart to do a little research. Read reviews. (They work both ways: owners review sitters and vice versa.) Use Google Earth to check out neighborhoods. Ask questions. You don’t necessarily need a contract (and I was an attorney by profession), but it never hurts to spell out your understanding in an email. At the very least talk about anything that might give rise to a misunderstanding before you accept the housesit. Trustedhousesitter does offer a housesitter agreement form, but it’s not intended to be a legal document.
When pets are involved, be sure you’re really up to the task. If you’re not comfortable with big dogs or horses, for example, don’t let a luxurious house or a dreamed-of locale tempt you beyond your capacity. Some pets require a lot more in-person time than others; think of a goldfish vs. a puppy. Be sure you can make the time commitment, and don’t expect to be as free as you would be on a self-paid vacation.
We fell in love with this big sweetie!
Once you commit to being a housesitter, nothing short of serious medical problems or death should keep you from showing up. Someone else is now counting on you to make their travel plans work, so don’t accept a housesit unless you’re 100% committed. The same applies if you’re an owner; your housesitter may be out pricey plane tickets and other expenses if you back out. The relationship depends on trust.
A 25% discount!
If you’re interested in giving Trustedhousesitters a try, you can use my referral link for a 25% discount. I’d really appreciate it since I’ll get an extension on my membership, too. Thank you in advance to anyone who uses the link!
We left the condo at 7:15am on the day we chose to visit the top site in Bangkok, the Grand Palace. Everything I’d read said to get there at least 15 minutes prior to the 8:30am opening time to avoid crowds and to beat the worst of the heat. We arrived at our neighborhood Sathorn Pier just in time to catch a commuter boat to the Tha Chang pier which is the Grand Palace stop. Since everything went so smoothly, we arrived much earlier than we’d planned, exiting the covered market that abuts the Tha Chang pier at 7:45am. Although we had more time than we needed, it turned out to be an interesting experience to be there so early.
On the morning commuter boat to Tha Chang: River plants and left-overs from the previous night’s Loi Krathong floating offeringsJust off the Tha Chang pier: A monk blessing those who gave him morning alms
Instead of going straight to the main entrance, we turned right along the same path we’d followed the previous day to see if free water was still on offer (provided for mourners traveling to the capitol to pay their respects, but also offered to tourists and other visitors). We were running low on water at the condo and planned to pick some up after our palace visit. Sure enough, the tables were still set up and food and water already on offer. We accepted a cold bottle for the day’s tour, then headed back to make our way to the main palace gate.
Contents of a free boxed lunch we were given near the Grand Palace: rice, fried chicken, and larb gai (a minced chicken salad)
The street in front of the palace is closed off to all but official traffic and security check points set up. After passing through scanner stations and metal detectors, we walked nearly a block to reach the main gate where white-uniformed guards stood watch. A few tourists had already gathered and more trickled in as we waited. Still, it wasn’t too a large crowd and boded well for our visit.
Tourists waiting for the Grand Palace to open
Soldiers formed rows just inside the gate and eventually two marched in a sort of goose-step towards the two guards at their posts outside. We watched as they performed a changing-of-the-guard routine that included a prolonged adjusting of the new guard’s uniforms by the retiring guards. Collars were straightened, hems of jackets tugged, epaulettes adjusted.
Changing of the guard begins
Soon after the changing of the guard, the first of many waves of mourners were led through the main gate. They all wore black and many carried photographs of the recently-deceased King Bhumibol Adulyadej clutched to their chests. The king was much-loved by his people and they have poured into the capitol to pay their respects. I read that visitors to the Grand Palace are being limited to 10,000 per day. The mourners we saw all wore name tags, presumably related to this limit and part of an organization system going on somewhere out of our sight.
Mourners dresssed in black entering the Grand Palace main gate, many holding photos of His Majesty King Bhumibol AdulyadejYet another huge wave of mourners being led into a side gate of the Grand Palace
It was incredibly touching to see the real grief displayed by the Thai people. All over Thailand, we encountered large tributes and displays of photographs of the long-reigning kind. The photos depicted him at seemingly every stage of his life: young man, avid photographer, in middle- and old-age, playing his saxophone, in full royal regalia, visiting a memorial with sweat dripping from his nose, in military uniform comforting a hospital patient and on and on. Black and white bunting draped walls and buildings everywhere. Black clothes are de rigeur now for Thais and are prominently on display in clothing shops and stalls. If a work or military uniform is not black, people wear black arm bands or black ribbons pinned to their shirts and dresses. Videos played on display screens on skyscrapers in Bangkok, in parks, on subway screens. David and I saw one woman nearly brought to tears as she watched a film of the king on a subway car screen. The genuineness of the general grief is unmistakable.
After the morning waves of mourners were inside the palace compound, we tourists were admitted. I hurried through security while David pulled on his over-pants and I ended up buying the first tickets of the day. At 500 baht ($14.30) apiece, these are some of the most expensive entrance tickets to be found in Thailand. The tickets include access to Wat Phra Kaew (the Emerald Buddha Temple), The Royal Thai Decorations & Coins Pavilion and Queen Sirikit Museum of Textile, which are located within the Grand Palace compound, and to Vimanmek Mansion Museum on Ratchawithi Road. At least, the tickets usually include all this.
What the ticket usually covers
A notice at the ticket booth inside the palace compound informed us that the Emerald Buddha Temple was closed for the day. This was a real disappointment since we’d seen emerald Buddha temples in Chiang Khong and Chiang Mai and even a replica of the statue in Chiang Mai. We were looking forward to finally seeing the real thing. Oh well, we chalked it up to more out-of-the-ordinariness due to the mourning period, and our minor disappointment seemed trivial in comparison to the grief around us. Still, this meant we made a fairly quick sweep through the area of the compound around Wat Phra Kaew. The temple and structures surrounding it were magnificent and, of course, over-the-top in their ornateness.
Chedi, Royal Pantheon and other structures within the Temple of the Emerald Buddha complexCleaning the Emerald Buddha TempleRoyal Pantheon
High-ceilinged open galleries run all around this portion of the palace compound and they were filled with the thousands of mourners we’d watched enter the palace earlier. They fanned themselves in the heat, but waited patiently for their turn to file past the king’s bier.
Hordes of Thais wait in the hot open corridors of the Grand Palace complex for the chance to pay final respects to their king
It was still fairly early in the morning when we exited the area around the Emerald Buddha Temple to view the Grand Palace itself. We encountered another large group of mourners outside, but the Grand Palace is not open to tourists. Well, OK. We’d budgeted a lot more time for this visit and there was no more to see here. So, we moved on to the The Royal Thai Decorations & Coins Pavilion only to be told the decorations portion was also closed. The Coins Pavilion is an unimpressive little museum and we made a quick sweep through displays on the second floor of Thai coins through the ages, spending most of our time standing in front of the two air conditioning vents that actually blew cold air. Downstairs, yet another tribute to the dead king took up the majority of the small space.
Hmm. There was nothing left to do, but head back towards the main gate of the palace compound–now mobbed with later-arriving tourists–to the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textile. It didn’t sound all that intriguing, but we had the tickets and the building looked nice…and air conditioned. The museum turned out to be a surprise hit. It housed two main exhibits: the first on khon, a very stylized traditional form of Thai dance; and the second, a display of clothing worn by Queen Sirikit and created by famed French designer, Balmain.
Crowds of tourists just inside the Grand Palace main gate later in the morning
Unfortunately, photos aren’t allowed inside the main exhibits, so I can’t provide any here. Both exhibits were fascinating, though. Queen Sirikit devoted much effort to reviving the khon form of dance, which had died out. Costumes worn by khon dancers and patterned after royal garb had to be recreated from old written descriptions. In the beginning of this revival, silk from China was used, but with Queen Sirikit’s encouragement, the silk industry was revived in Thailand and Thai silk is now used. The characters in khon are celestial beings, demons, monkeys and humans. The dancers wear masks and elaborate headdresses and jewelry. They mime action while a chorus sings the plot of stories based on Ramakien, the Thai version of Ramayana, the Indian epic. The museum displays not only costumes and masks, but also has rare video footage of old khon productions along with modern film slowing the slow process of dressing each actor. Dressing involves intricate folding of copious amounts of cloth, layers of both clothing and jewelry, and even sewing the dancers into their costumes.
The display of Queen Sirikit’s wardrobe beginning in the 1960’s reminded me very much of an exhibit of Jacqueline Kennedy’s clothes I’d seen at the Musée de la Mode in Paris. Jewel-toned suits with three-quarter sleeve jackets and pillbox hats gave way to sequinned cocktail dresses and gorgeous formals. Queen Sirikit wanted Thai elements and fabrics blended into western-style dresses. The effect was unique and beautiful. Period photographs and videos of the King and his petite and pretty Queen on trips to the west accompanied the exhibit.
We made one final stop at the museum, where photos were allowed. This was billed as an activity room, but turned out to be primarily a space where visitors could dress up in faux khon costumes and pose for photos. As the first to visit for the day, we had the full attention of the bored young woman in charge of this room and were soon hustled into costumes and coached in “classic” khon poses. The laughable results are below for your viewing amusement:
Leaving the museum and the Grand Palace compound, we crossed the street in search of more free water. En route, I was stopped by a reporter for a Thai television station who asked to interview me. His questions, like those of the students who interviewed me at Hellfire Pass, had to with what I thought of Thailand, “how the death of the king effected me,” and whether I wanted to return to Thailand. I think the questions and the concern had to do with whether I, as a tourist, was put off or influenced by the mourning going on around me. All I could say was that I loved Thailand, my heart was touched by the grief of the Thai people, and that, yes, I’d love to come back.
Bangkok has a pretty manageable list of must-sees. The Grand Palace is probably top of the top, but everything I’d read said to get there before it opens to avoid the massive crowds and highest heat. We were tired after our drive from Kanchanaburi to Bangkok (and a first-night-in-Bangkok stop at a brewpub David had to check out), so we really didn’t want to get up that early on our first morning in the capital of Thailand. Number two on my list was Wat Pho and its famous reclining Buddha. We knew it would be hot and crowded, too, but heat and crowds are pretty much a given for Bangkok and we weren’t going to miss the city hiding out in the air conditioning.
One of the many selling points of our AirBnB condo is its closeness to both the Skylink overhead railway and the main Sathorn water taxi station. The express boats (water buses) that ply the Chao Phrya River run from Sathorn to Wat Pho and the Grand Palace (side-by-side on the same side of the river) along with many other stops. There’s a tourist boat that costs several multiples of the regular boats, but is still a bargain. We opted instead for an express boat that’s ridiculously cheap at 14 baht (40 cents). There’s an express boat pier, Tha Tien, just in front of Wat Pho. Unfortunately, it is closed for renovations. That meant we needed to ride one stop further to the Tha Chang pier that sits in front of the Grand Palace, and walk back to Wat Pho.
The express boats are identified by colored flags. We’d read to get on the orange flag express boat, but staff at the pier told us to go ahead and get on a blue flag boat (the first to dock after we arrived) that would also stop at the Grand Palace for the same price. Boats pull in and out frequently, never stopping long. The tourist boat docked just next to the other express boats. There’s a private boat offering tours, but we ignored those touts, who were asking much more. There are also water taxis and long tail boats. The Chao Phrya is a busy river, teeming with water craft of all types.
A blue flag express boatLooking back at the Sathorn Pier (also known as “Central”) as we pull away
The boat ride itself is fun and a great way to see the city. It’s actually fairly cool, too, since it makes a breeze, you’re in the shade and on the water. In less than half an hour, our boat dropped us off at the Tha Chang pier where we walked past stalls of vendors set up in a covered market to exit by the white walls of the Grand Palace. Since the palace wasn’t our destination for the day, we turned right, putting the walls of the palace to our left and walked along a sidewalk lined with stalls offering free food and ice water. All this is part of the on-going mourning period for King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The generosity of the Thai people and camaraderie in their grief is touching. We assumed the refreshment was primarily for Thais journeying to the capitol to pay their respects to their king who lies in state in the Grand Palace. As foreigners, we were hesitant to accept the offered food and drink, but were repeatedly urged to do so by the Thais (who, of course, couldn’t help but see our obvious otherness). We gratefully accepted icy bottles of water as our walk to Wat Pho was long, hot and getting hotter.
Free food and cold water at tents set up all along the Grand Palace; part of the nationwide mourning for King Bhumibol Adulydej. Note how nearly everyone is dressed in black.
At Wat Pho, we paid our 100 baht ($2.86) per person entrance fee, then pulled on the long pants we’d brought to wear over our shorts to comply with the temple dress code. As expected, the temple housing the famous reclining Buddha was a mob scene. The temple is long with two relatively narrow halls that run down either side of the Buddha. Large square columns separate the halls from the statue, which is so large, it’s hard to take in as you can only see parts at a time except for when he is viewed from one end or the other.
Crowds viewing the reclining Buddha which lays behind the pillars to the leftThe only was to view the giant Buddha in its entirety is from one end or the other
At 150 feet long, the Buddha is gigantic, but the detail work on his face and mother-of-pearl inlaid feet is equally impressive.
Buddha’s feet
Beyond the temple housing the reclining Buddha, many other stupa, temples and shrines dot the grounds of Wat Pho. We wandered in the shimmering heat, admiring the dramatic lines of the structures and the ornate ceramic, paint and mosaic work that covered nearly every inch of some of them. Clearly, Thais love bling and are big believers in more is more!
Stupa ornamented with ceramic flowers and embellishmentsGalleys lined with Buddhas bring a welcome respite from a sometimes overwhelming ornatenessA courtyard at Wat PhoFlower offerings placed before a seated Buddha
Reaching the far side of the temple complex, we happily accepted more free ice water in cups. I gulped some and splashed the rest on my face, neck and arms. David and I both peeled out of our long over-pants. We needed a break from the heat! A quick search on our phones turned up an air-conditioned restaurant not far away. I’d had some slight misgivings about the restaurant since it was located in a small hotel–usually not a great sign–, but the restaurant at Inn a Day turned out to be stylish, cool, and serving really great iced coffee and good food. Happiness!
Bliss is iced coffee and green curry chicken in an air-conditioned restaurant!Shrimp pad thai
Refreshed by our break, we headed back towards the Tha Chang boat pier, detouring to explore a fish market tucked behind the pretty colonial era buildings that line the road in this part of town.
Colonial buildings in the area along the river between Wat Pho and the Grand PalaceDried fish makes for a pungent marketSmelly work. This group was, I think, making ingredients for fish sauce. Whatever it was was fishy, dark and entrail-y-looking.
Exiting the fish market and strolling back along the cafés and shops in the colonial buildings, we made a serendipitous detour into a covered market that turned out to lead to one of the many ferry piers along the river. For 3.5 baht (10 cents), we hopped a ferry to the far side of the river and Wat Arun.
On the ferry with the scaffolding-covered stupa of Wat Arun visible on the far bank
Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn) is famous for its massive, beautifully-decorated stupa. The entire structure is now covered in scaffolding with a temporary structure at its very top that is unfortunately reminiscent of an outhouse. Needless to say, we were less-than-blown-away by the stupa, although the glimpses of it through the scaffolding hinted at the hidden beauty. The rest of the temple complex is lovely, though, and we admired the pastel flowers covering the walls of one temple and the blingy gold and mosaic work of the building’s trim that wouldn’t be out of place on a Mardi Gras float.
Detail work on a temple wall at Wat Arun
Giant guardians outside a small temple near Wat Arun
Having enough of the heat, we hopped another boat bound for Sathorn Pier and home. Upon debarking, we made a slight detour to explore the riverfront Wat Yannawa, a temple with a unique boat-shaped shrine that we could see from our condo balcony. Stalls were set up on the temple grounds and the place bustled with activity that hinted at more to come. Later, hearing broadcast announcements that wafted up to our condo and seeing throngs from our condo balcony at Wat Yannawa, we realized it was Loi Krathong, a holiday famous for its floating lantern offerings. Candles, flowers (and fingernail and hair cuttings) are placed on banana leaf (or sometimes bread) holders and set afloat upon the water at night. In Chiang Mai, Loi Krathong is occasion for the famous flocks of floating lanterns released into the sky.
Boat-shaped shrine at Wat Yannawa, near the Sathorn PierLadies making Loi Krathong floating offerings with banana leaf bases and flowers
Looking beyond Wat Yannawa, we got a good view of the 49-story derelict and supposedly haunted Sathorn Unique building. We could see the other side of the Unique from our condo along with an adjacent parking garage with overgrown ponds on the roof and had been curious about the story behind the abandoned buildings. It turns out that the building is one of a dozen-plus such derelict skyscrapers in Bangkok, forlorn remnants of the Asian financial crash. At one time, there were reportedly more than 300 unfinished high-rises in Bangkok. Apparently the Sathorn Unique was 80-90% completed when the crash hit and work was halted, so it’s structurally sound, but a wreck inside, and now a destination for urban explorers. The rumors of the Unique being “haunted” or cursed in some way arise from claims it was built on an ancient burial ground and that it casts a shadow on Wat Yannawa. In any case, it’s a strange and strangely intriguing structure.
Wat Yannawa worship and traditional medicine center with the Sathorn Unique in the background. Our AirBnB condo is in the left-most of the two towers behind the Unique.
David and I rewatched the 1957 movie classic “Bridge on the River Kwai” before coming to Kanchanaburi to help with the mood change from beautiful, tranquil Tup Kaek Beach to the infamous “Death Railway.” The movie, like the novel it’s based on, is fiction, but it’s based on a real bridge (or bridges) and a real railway constructed at great misery and cost of life by POW’s and conscripted civilians forced into labor by the Japanese during World War II. Over 100,000 people died building the 250 miles of railway, also known as the Thailand-Burma Railway which connected Bangkok to Rangoon. Most of the dead were Asian civilians (“romusha”) and roughly 16,000 were Allied prisoners of war, the majority of whom were Australian, British and Dutch.
Conditions were much worse than depicted in the movie for the POW’s and even worse for the romusha who had no medical personnel among them. The Japanese deliberately underfed and overworked their prisoners, even hording Red Cross rations rather than distributing them or using them themselves. The result was widespread disease. Other prisoners died of beatings, torture and executions. Many of the camp commanders were convicted of war crimes after the war.
Today, a train makes several runs on Saturdays and Sundays along the historic railway. At one section, the train runs along a wooden viaduct that clings to the face of a 30m deep “cutting” or man-made cliff/gorge, a stretch where nearly every man who worked on it died. It’s a peaceful area now, with a nearby resort and floating bungalows available to rent. I was struck, as I was in Auschwitz and other places of past horror, by how a place where great evil was done can be beautiful and peaceful years later. Some people claim to feel a lingering malevolence in such places, but I don’t don’t feel it; just a sadness for those who suffered and that humanity can lower itself to such cruelty. It doesn’t seem to me that the birds that sing in such places now or the natural beauty that has reasserted itself are tainted by what people did there long ago, but I believe it’s important not to avoid such places, to remember and mark evil events in hope that they are never repeated.
The train starts in Kanchanaburi and runs to Nam Tok, some two hours away. (Actually, you can take a train from Bangkok, too, but I had no interest in that. Too hot and too long for me.) The train is old and rattling and un-air-conditioned and everything I’d read said the real views and interesting part happened just after the rural train stop at Tha Kilen. If we started our train ride there, we’d shorten the trip by an hour and miss the initial, hot ride that many described as “boring.” By car, the distance to Tha Kilen is only 30 minutes…and in private, air-conditioned comfort. Our decision was made!
There’s frustratingly little info on how to start your trip anywhere other than at the main Kanchanaburi station or the nearby Bridge on the River Kwai station. The internet yielded no details. We tried asking at our hotel, but they just wanted to sell us a tour (as did any number or tour touts on every block of Kanchanaburi) and tried to discourage us from driving on our own. So, we got up early and drove the five minutes to the main Kanchanaburi station to see if we could buy a ticket from Tha Kilen there. No, we were told in no uncertain terms that we had to buy the ticket at Tha Kilen. They were friendly about it, though, and showed us the schedule which indicated that the train would stop in Tha Kilen at 11:30am. This train had the added benefit of being the only train of the day with a “special carriage” where we were guaranteed a seat. I didn’t feel like standing up for an hour in a hot, crowded train and it was only 150 baht, one-way for the “special carriage” (50 baht more than the 3rd class fare). We could buy a ticket at Tha Kilen 30 minutes before departure or 11am. We had a plan.
Tha Kilen had the extra enticement of Khmer ruins in the nearby Muang Sing Historical Park. I was worried that the train might be full as I read that sometimes it is packed, so wanted to get to Tha Kilen early on the chance that someone might be there to sell us a ticket before 11am, with ticket safely in hand, we could go check out Muang Sing until it was time to catch the train. We arrived at 9:30am to find a few people around the Tha Kilen station, but we were told again that we could buy a ticket at 11am. Alrighty then, it was Muang Sing for us.
Tha Kilen Station
Muang Sing turned out to be a very nicely set-up historical park. Very few people were at the park at this hour and we were able to visit most of the ruins in peace before a tour bus showed up. Even at that hour, the heat was oppressive. The ruins are partially rebuilt and worth a look (especially if you’re killing time until you can catch the train), but it’s a relatively minor site and not a big loss if you miss it.
Ruins at Muang Sing
Back at the Tha Kilen station, things were starting to pick up. Vendors laid out food for lunch and we bought sticky rice and pork wrapped in banana leaves, salty banana chips and sour-sweet karonda (or corunda) berries with chili powder. Other people started to arrive, but still the ticket seller was not open for business. I watched him through the open door and window of his office as he worked ancient-looking brass machines which clanged as he turned a shining handle. This apparently had something to do with incoming trains. A regular train came through and the station master handed off a lunch to the engineer as he went by. At exactly 11am, the station master took his seat behind the sales window and we were able to buy our tickets (which had the departure time printed on them as 11:45, not 11:30). We pointed to the sign about the “special carriage” and got the correct tickets. Our request for the left side (best view going towards Nam Tok), met with a nod of his head, but we had no faith that he understood us. [Note: There’s a red sign next to the ticket window stating that you have to show your passport to get a ticket. This is not true and no one asked for a passport. Since we weren’t crossing a border, I have no idea why the sign is there unless maybe some trains are going on to Burma/Myanmar.]
Food vendors setting up at the Tha Kilen station
With a little time before the train was due to arrive, I bought food from the vendors: sticky rice with pork wrapped in banana leaves, salty banana chips and sour-sweet pink karonda berries with chili salt for dipping. We dug into the chips on the spot, but saved the rest for the train.
Unwrapped banana leaf packet of sticky rice and pork. Yum!Carunda berries
Some tour groups and individuals began to arrive and at 11:45am, the train pulled in. Since our tickets showed no specific seat assignment, we asked a guide we overheard speaking English. She told us the green cars were the “special carriages” that we had tickets for and asked the station master about our seats and said he said he’d show us to our seats. He made no move though, so we’re not sure where the translation went wrong. Not wanting to miss the train, we climbed onto one of the two front green cars and I staked out a left-hand seat. A uniformed attendant approached and said he’d lead us to our seat, then proceeded to lead us to another car and direct us to a right-hand seat. When I stated our preference for the left-hand seat (relying mostly on gestures), he took us back to the seat I’d originally claimed. Oh well.
The “Death Train” arrives; the 2 green cars in the front are the “special carriages”
The special carriages are “special” because you get a guaranteed seat plus a cushion on the wooden bench that comprises that seat, a sealed plastic cup of water and a cold moist towelette to start the journey, and your choice of a tea or coffee. Pretty swank, huh? We were grateful for the water and the cool cloth, but wanted no part of hot tea or coffee in the tropical weather. All the windows on the car were open and the train made a nice breeze as we chugged and clanked along.
Inside a “special car”; the ticket is 150 baht each way.
Shortly out of Tha Kilen, we came to the most dramatic scenery of the trip, the portion along the 30m “cutting” where so many died. Now, though, a resort and floating bungalow hotel rooms occupy the first portion of opposite bank. Tourists clustered along the way taking photos of our train as we passed. People on the train leaned out, taking photos of the resort and the people photographing them. Just beyond, the opposite bank peels away, opening up a lovely vista with the mountains beyond. Throughout this stretch, the sheer rock wall of the man-made cliff is all you can see our the right-hand windows…save for a flash of a Buddha statue in its cave at Kraesae.
Looking back on the floating bungalows we’d just passedThe River Kwai with mountains in the background
The view was beautiful, but both David and I were a little underwhelmed by this stretch, only because the descriptions we’d read tended towards the hyperbolic. We didn’t really have the sense of clinging to some precarious perch on a cliff. No doubt we were, but you don’t get that perspective much from the train itself because you’re so close to the cliff on the right (nothing but rock just outside the window) and there’s a lot of vegetation hiding much of the drop to the left.
When we arrived at the Nam Tok terminus, a swarm of songtaew, cars and buses awaited. An old lady near a songtaew with its modified pick-up bed crammed full of passengers approached me. David was aghast that I’d even consider joining that throng, but the lady was offering us a ride up front in the air-conditioning, for a premium, of course. She borrowed a laminated sign from a neighboring driver indicating the charge would be 800 baht ($22.86) for a round-trip ride. This is a fortune around these parts, but it was a 20+-minute ride to Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum, a total 2-hour commitment for her since she had to wait on us, and we didn’t have time to waste since we needed to be back to catch the last train back to Tha Kilen which left Nam Tok at 3:15pm. We made the deal. David rode in front with our lady driver while I sat in the rear seat of the club cab with her middle school-age grandson. A couple kilometers away, we dropped off the throng in the rear of the songtaew at the local Tok Sai Yok waterfall/swimming hole before going on to the museum.
We had to pass through a military checkpoint to enter the Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum grounds. The museum itself is small, but very well done and modern. It’s also free, but donations are encouraged. It didn’t take long to walk through and watch the 5-minute movie of prisoner recollections that runs regularly.
Entrance to the Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum with the ramp just below the name on the building leading down to the walkway to the pass
Stepping out the back of the museum, there’s an overlook with a “peace vessel” created by an Australian former prisoner and a view over the path to Hellfire Pass, the deepest of the many prisoner-made cuttings through the mountains.
“Peace Vessel” at the museum overlookLooking down on the wooden walkway that descends to the bottom of Hellfire Pass
The entrance to the Hellfire Pass walkway is just outside the front doors of the museum, to the left as you exit. At the base of the initial descent, you can choose to walk left down a wooden walkway or right. The lady at the Information Desk inside had suggested we go left, then return along the other path to make a full loop, so that’s what we did. It’s not a bad walk, but not for the mobility challenged. It’s a lot of walking and a lot of stairs going both directions. It’s hot, but much less so that we’d feared given the elevation and the shade.
The scale and magnitude of the work done here under such horrible conditions is really brought home as you walk along the base. You can’t help but be impressed by what the prisoners accomplished in this rocky jungle with basic tools and dynamite, especially while in such weakened physical states. Makeshift memorials along the way bring home the human suffering and loss.
Makeshift memorials in Hellfire PassPoignant memorialThe scale of the cutting here is brought home as you walk along the old railroad ties along the bottom.
At the far end of the pass by a permanent veterans’ memorial, I was stopped by a group of Thai students wanting to interview me. Their questions had to do with where I was from, whether I liked Thailand and would want to return and why I chose to come to Hellfire Pass. As always in southeast Asia, “United States” was met with puzzled looks which brightened to understanding when I amended to “America.” Their English was pretty functional, though, and I enjoyed the lightness their young enthusiasm brought after the solemnity of my walk through Hellfire Pass. They insisted on photos together after the interview, so I got David to snap a couple for us, too.
Mimicking the cheerful “thumbs-up” of my lead interviewerVeteran’s memorial at the end of Hellfire Pass with stylized railroad ties in the foreground and railroad ties of the actual railroad visible on the continuing path beyond.
The return path to the museum through humid jungle proved to be longer and a bit more arduous (and hot and mosquito-y) than the wooden path and steps on the descent. Mid-way through, I was wondering if we wouldn’t have been better off retracing our steps through the pass and back up the wooden walkway. [It’s also usually possible to hike much more of the railway line than the 40-minute loop Hellfire Pass loop that we walked. However, segments were closed when we were there. We felt we’d seen enough, though, and weren’t interested in hiking hours more anyway.] We made it back ten minutes earlier than we’d estimated to our driver, but she was waiting and we headed off back to the Nam Tok train station.
Once again, no tickets were available until 30 minutes prior to departure. This seems to be a hard and fast rule. So, we ordered a couple of Chang beers at an open-air restaurant across the dirt parking area. The train was ready to go early, but we were delayed a warm ten minutes as they waited for a tour bus full of German tourists. I think we understand now why the train is notoriously late. Ten minutes wasn’t bad, but I could see it compounding over the length of the journey to Kanchanaburi.
Red flag until the German tour bus showed up
There were no “special carriages” on this train, so we got to try out 3rd class. The main difference was no cushion on the seat (and of course no drinks and cool cloth). Fans mounted on the ceiling and the open windows made for a nice breeze, though, and David and I spent most of the return trip hanging out the window, always careful to ease out and dodge any plants or rocks too close to the track. The lowering sun now on the right side of the train made it hot whenever we stopped at a way-station, but that was nothing new to our SE Asia experience.
Inside a 3rd class train car
More passengers boarded as we went along so that most seats were filled by the time we reached Tha Kilen where we’d left the car. It was a shock to see the parking area at the Tha Kilen station filled with motor coaches and cars. We sprinted off the train and to our car to beat that mob scene and were soon rolling through the countryside back to Kanchanaburi.
Tapioca fields by the road to Kanchanaburi
We got back into Kanchanaburi late in the afternoon with enough time for a visit to the famous Bridge on the River Kwai. There were two bridges in the area during World War II, a concrete and steel one that the present one replaces and a wooden bridge built by prisoners. Both of the original bridges were destroyed by Allied bombing. The present bridge, pictured in the top photo above, was built shortly after the war.
We took our final AirAsia fight of this trip from Krabi to Don Muang International Airport in Bangkok. Don Muang is Bangkok’s old international airport, now replaced by Suvarnabhumi as the city’s main international airport. Don Muang–the oldest operating airport in Asia and one of the oldest in the world, for that matter–is now primarily a regional and low-cost carrier hub. Most flights from Krabi go to Don Muang and that suited our purposes perfectly, given the airport’s location on the north side of the city. Our next destination was Kanchanaburi of Bridge on the River Kwai fame, WNW of Bangkok. I researched various ways to get to Kanchanaburi and decided a rental car would be ideal…if David was willing to do the driving.
I’ve done my share of driving in foreign countries, on both sides of the road, but one of the luxuries of my late-in-life marriage to David is leaving the driving to him. He actually loves challenging driving (and is fine with wrong-side stick shifts) and I’m a pretty darn good navigator, so we make a great team.
Nerves of steel!
Bangkok, though, has a reputation of being a driving nightmare and there’s that always-present worry about accidents or police shakedowns in a third world country. Still, a car would be ideal and online research led me to believe it wouldn’t be that bad given the location of Don Muang. (Had we flown into Suvarnabhumi Airport to the south of the city, we’d have had to drive across Bangkok to get to Kanchanaburi. No way!) I showed David what I’d found and he was game for the drive, so I booked a rent car with Sixt…but made it cancelable in case on-the-ground experience in Thailand changed our minds. After two weeks in Thailand, David felt more confident than ever, so we made the drive.
Sixt provided us with a nice mid-size sedan with automatic transmission(!), Google Maps was up and working on my phone via my Thai SIM card, so all was good as we pulled away. Don Muang is a long airport whose length runs along a major highway. To get out of the airport, we had to drive through parking lots and drop-off lanes to reach a U-turn bridge to get us going north on the highway; no big deal.
Yes, I know. The sign spells “Don Muang” differently. The airport spells it the way I have. Mostly. Thai spelling is a very changeable thing.
Traffic, as expected, was heavy on the highway with scooters and motorbikes weaving in and out among cars and trucks. We encountered our first problem when we tried to make our first exit. Massive construction of an overhead road was going on along the length of the highway and the exit was blocked. Thank God for Google Maps! We just kept trying to head west and after a series of Google re-routes that resulted in a lot of backtracking as we made long parallel straightaways and squared-off U-turns, we finally got onto the right road. Google Maps predicted 2h25 to go 142 kilometers (88 miles).
Traffic was insane in the early part of the drive as we made our way through Bangkok suburbs. [See lead pic.] Cars and passenger trucks mixed with tuk tuks, songtaews, motorbikes and brightly-painted big rigs. Major town signs usually had English, but not always. Most road signs were in indecipherable Thai squiggles and swirls. Worse yet, Google Maps would often show road signs and directions in Thai, not English. The robot lady still talked in English, but her “turn right’s” and “turn left’s” often came at the wrong time and I’d have to zoom into our little moving icon then tell David, “No! Not here!” more often than I would have liked. It required a lot of attention on both of our parts. Meanwhile, cars and motorbikes cut in and out around us. Traffic would occasionally come to a stop on a major median-divided road, to allow a stream of cars from the other side to U-turn. We could figure no pattern to that, and when I got the chance to research it, I found an expat message board where someone attributed it to “telepathy,” like us finding no rhyme nor reason to when cars would yield.
Trucks sported all sorts of decoration.
Things got better as we moved into the countryside. The roads, all along, were in good shape, not much different from what we’d see at home (if you don’t count the temples, rice fields, loose cows and other signs that we weren’t in Kansas any more).
Not unlike home, except for the Buddha
Thais protect themselves from the sun and it’s common to see people, especially on motorbikes, with their heads fully covered by cloth with only eye holes. It’s vaguely alarming-looking, like a bunch of bank robbers on the loose.
Roadside vendor avoiding the sun
Getting hungry, we started looking for somewhere to grab a quick lunch. By now, we were used to and fond of Thai street food, so a local open-air market looked promising and we pulled in. A songtaew overloaded with locals pulled in beside us. This crowd headed to tables and vendors at the front of the market, but David bee-lined for a cloud of smoke emanating from the very rear of the big space, far from the other vendors. An old lady with a bandaged foot greeted us eagerly while a man tended skewers on the grill. When we asked the price, she replied “5 baht,” about 14 cents. Sure we must have misheard, David asked her again, but got the same answer. Um. OK. She got out a plastic bag and quickly added several skewers. When we asked if it was chicken, “gai,” she nodded and repeated “gai.” Inspecting the skewers, I spotted a heart and some other odd bits. We asked her what part of the chicken those were. She waved her hand around her stomach. Intestines. That’s what I thought. The skewers were split down the middle then wired shut around the meat. Some of the skewers held flattened, unidentifiable meat with small bones visible. It looked like chicken back. Maybe. David tried pointing to his leg and chest, asking for more familiar cuts, but she just nodded and added another skewer, bringing our total to five. When she mentioned sticky rice, for 3 baht, we happily bought 2 plastic pouches for a grand total of 30 baht or about 86 cents. She’d moved her crutch aside for us to sit down, but I told David we should eat in the car, both for a/c and so we could spit out anything we wanted without offending her.
Inedible barbecue with strange beaky bit on the right
Back in the car, we inspected our lunch. We tried nibbling on the flattened, bony meat, but could only get the tiniest bit of food. Were you supposed to just crunch through bone?! Giving up, we moved on to the tripe. Curling my lips back, I tried a bite…but couldn’t get through. An odd beaky looking bit was equally impervious to my teeth. Hmm. The barbecue sauce wasn’t bad, though. We quickly wolfed down our sticky rice and tossed the rest of our “lunch,” afraid to feed it to the two dogs wandering the front of the market for fear of choking them. Oh well, back on the road.
We arrived at our Kanchanaburi hotel without incident. The drive, while a little frazzling in some places (for me anyway–David has nerves of steel), wasn’t bad. It was nice to have the car, for privacy, comfort and just to be free to follow our own whims and timetable or lack thereof. For about $30/day, it wasn’t a bad deal either. It also turned out to be a great way to escape the myriad tours being touted in Kanchanaburi. More on that later.
Great roads in the countryside (This is between Kanchanaburi and Tha Kilen the day we did the Death Railroad.)
Top on my list of things to do while in Krabi–other than lounge on a gorgeous beach with David and drink mai tais–was to dive the Phi Phi Islands (amusingly pronounced “pee pee”). The Phi Phi Islands consistently get top marks as a world class dive site. All dive shops I’d found going to the islands were in Ao Nang, and that was a 20 to 30-minute ride from our hotel, Tup Kaek Sunset Beach Resort. I’d made some inquiries prior to leaving the U.S., but was frustrated by their requirement that we come into Ao Nang at least a day before to “show our dive cards, sign forms and try on equipment.” This sounded ridiculous to me and I had no desire to take time away from a coveted beach day traipsing into a town I’d deliberately avoided and back…Not to mention the pointless expense added insult to injury.
I tried emailing the resort to see if they worked with any dive shops that would pick up at the resort, but got no response to either my emails or my attempts to message them on their Facebook page until they miraculously responded to the FB message nearly 6 weeks later. Oh well, better late than never. They informed me they could book a 2-tank dive trip to the Phi Phi Islands, including pick-up at the hotel and we wouldn’t need to go in ahead of time.
Sure enough, when we got to the resort and asked, they could book us the dive trip we wanted with Local Diving and they’d pick us up. The price was exactly the same as with the dive shops I’d found previously which did not include pick-up, i.e., 3500 baht ($100) per person, including equipment, lunch and the 2-hour boat ride from Ao Nang.
We had time for a quick breakfast before our ride arrived at 7am on our second morning at Tup Kaek. Our Local Diving “limo” was quite a sight: a battered red “SUV”/station wagon sort of vehicle with a red leather interior and red leather facing seats in the far back. The driver’s seat was broken so that it leaned a good 6″ back from the level of the front passenger seat (and into my knees). Hand cranks rolled down the windows…except on David’s side where the crank had broken off. Hmm. A questionable start, but the vehicle seemed to drive OK.
The “limo” in front of Local DivingDriver’s seat “reclining” into meRear seating
In twenty minutes, we were in Ao Nang. We made a quick stop to pick up a Norwegian sheep farmer, Per, who would be the only other diver to join our group. A few minutes later, we arrived at the Local Diving shop. Small and not impressive, they quickly produced qood-quality wetsuits and fins for us to try on. No one cared about seeing our dive cards; they just had us sign statements that we had them. So much for that other dive company wanting us to come a day early to present cards and try on gear!
Local Diving in Ao Nang
Our guide then led us on foot across the parking lot and through a park to where a fleet of long tail boats were docked. We waded out to one, full of other divers, that tendered us to a larger, two-story dive boat anchored just off shore.
It turns out that Local Diving and several other dive shops share large boats so that there were 3 or 4 groups of divers on our boat. Everyone did basically the same dive, shared the same fruit snacks, the same lunch, same everything. There were several of these larger boats operating in the area and this is apparently the same system for dives at the Local Islands as well as at the Phi Phi Islands. I seriously doubt whether it makes much difference which operation you pick so long as the equipment is good and the dive master attentive and knowledgable. (Big items, I understand; I just mean that the basic set-up will probably be identical so–once you verify reviews re safety and quality of equipment–it makes sense to choose by price.)
The trip to the Phi Phi Islands from Ao Nang takes 2 hours, but that’s only because the boats go incredibly slowly. We kept waiting for our boat to kick it into gear, but it never happened. Our dive mate, Per, said he loved the boat ride, but we were a little impatient going out and bored going back. It’s beautiful, but I could have enjoyed the beauty in an hour rather than two…and been back on our gorgeous Tup Kaek beach.
A dive master on board was pushing seasick pills claiming some “magical” properties to Andaman waters that induce seasickness. The water was very calm and we ignored his advice with absolutely no ill effects. If we could survive 3 hours crossing the Sea of Japan just above a typhoon without feeling sick, the Andaman held no threat at all for us.
Relaxing on the upper deck of our dive boat
We reached Hin Klai, just east of the Phi Phis, for our first dive right at 2 hours out of Ao Nang. A preliminary check of my gear revealed a damaged octopus so our guide quickly changed out the whole first stage and attachments. The new first stage set-up was in good condition, but surprisingly we had no depth gauge. We made our first descent into a curving school of silver and yellow fish that numbered in the thousands if not tens of thousands. Breathtaking! The sheer numbers of tropical fish were the most remarkable thing about this reef. We saw squid, lionfish (which we’re very familiar with as an invasive pest in the Caribbean), mantis shrimp (like small lobster with “wings” instead of claws…and very, very powerful front “legs”) and more, but it was the huge schools that really blew me away. They let me swim into their midst, so thick I could barely see out of the cloud of shimmering bodies. I felt like a kid playing among them, reaching with my hands to have the nearest dart just out of reach. We ventured off the reef into some pretty barren terrain where our guide later explained he was looking for black fin sharks. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any although Per told us he’d seen a lot of them on an earlier dive to a nearby reef. Next time!
After our first dive, we had a 50-minute break during which we moved to our next dive location, Koh Bida Nok, just south of Phi Phi Ley. We anchored near one of the under-cut rock islands that give the Andaman Sea its exotic and unique appearance. Upon descent, we found ourselves on another beautiful reef. More large schools of fish swirled around us and we also came upon cuttlefish, a large barracuda, a turtle and more lionfish. As at Hin Klai, we saw lots of clownfish tucked in among sea anemone as if they’d been pulled straight from “Finding Nemo.” I half-expected to see the large schools of fish form themselves into shapes and talk to us!
The only real negative to the actual diving part of this trip is that there are just too many other divers around. The Phi Phis draw multiple dive boats to each of their reefs and we frequently ran into other groups of divers below, both from our boat and from others. Newbies are particularly bad about stirring up the bottom and visibility suffered in places.
Lunch was set out in the galley of our boat after the second dive and people served themselves then sat wherever to enjoy the Massaman curry and vegetarian noodle main dish with plenty of steamed rice. More fruit supplied dessert. Then, we settled in for the puttering 2-hour ride back…except it was closer to 2.5 hours on the return trip. It’s hard to believe that’s all the engine power the boat could muster, but apparently so. Again, it was beautiful, but too long for David and me.
Our dive master–and pretty much everyone else–crashed out on the long ride back to Ao Nang
Then, it was back on a loud, exhaust-spewing long tail boat for the tender back to shore and the walk to the Local Diving shop and our red leather chariot.
On the long tail tender
Local Diving did a professional job (even though they didn’t check dive cards) and I’d dive with them again. I’m super glad we dove the beautiful Phi Phi reefs, but I’d have loved a faster boat. You can find out more about Local Diving at: http://www.localdivingkrabi.com.
I don’t usually do straight-up lodging reviews on Wanderwiles unless something really stands out. Tup Kaek Sunset Beach Resort is one of those:
I’d always wanted to visit the beaches of Thailand, but I originally didn’t think it would be possible on this trip because we’d be there during rainy season. I’d originally thought to go directly from Singapore or Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok, then travel through Thailand, ending up in Cambodia, from where we’d fly home. When Luang Prabang, Laos, found its way onto my radar screen, I discovered flights that allowed me to reverse my original circuit. Flying home from Bangkok rather than little Siem Reap had the added benefit of bigger and better Korean Air airplanes for our much-anticipated First Class flight home. (We would have had to forego First Class entirely and settle for Business Class on the Siem Reap to Seoul leg of our journey home.) So, after Kuala Lumpur, we flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia, and from there to Luang Prabang where we caught the Mekong boat to northern Thailand. This allowed us to push the south of Thailand to the end of our trip, and that meant we could add a detour to the far south beaches in November when the area would just be moving from the rainy to the dry season. Cheap direct flights were available from Chiang Mai. We had a shot a good weather and we decided to take it.
I considered Phuket or one of the islands, but opted for Krabi instead because I wanted somewhere less touristy, less nightlife-geared, and quieter. I also didn’t want the hassle and extra travel steps of getting to and from an island. Krabi (pronounced “kra BEE” rather than “crabby”) is the name of both the city and the region. The city itself is inland with gorgeous beaches not far away on the coast. The nearest beach town is Ao Nang where I found some pretty resorts, but descriptions of street noise, young crowds and bars led me to look farther afield. I researched lots of options up and down the coast before settling on Tup Kaek Sunset Beach Resort 45 minutes from the Krabi Airport. (Tup Kaek rhymes with “cupcake.”) It turned out to be the perfect choice for us.
Once we got past the AirAsia chaos at the Chiang Mai airport, the flight went smoothly. We arranged a transfer via the resort and our driver was waiting with a sign, as promised, when we exited the baggage claim area. The sky was overcast and there was a slight drizzle that ended during the drive. David and I were the only passengers in the brand new silver van and we marveled at the dramatic landscape of steep rocky cliffs that jutted straight up from the jungle as we left Krabi proper and sped through Ao Nang. The shops and restaurants gave way to a rural landscape as we neared our destination. I worried when we spotted a tanker at a long pier, but our van turned inland, skipping that small commercial stretch to arrive on the far side and our hotel.
A smiling Thai lady greeted us in the open-air lobby, offering pottery cups of chilled tropical fruit juice to enjoy while she made quick work of check-in. A waiting golf cart then whisked us to our thatch-roofed beachfront bungalow. I relished the pleasure of expectations fulfilled when we stepped inside: The room was spacious with sliding glass doors facing the incredibly gorgeous beach, gleaming teak floors and furniture, a vaulted ceiling made of woven bamboo.
The bathroom was sleek and modern in a back-to-nature sort of way with a big tub and a pebble-floored rain shower open to the sky above and a cut-out window facing the beach.
Looking out our shower window
Beyond the sliding glass doors, two cushioned lounge chairs on a large roofed teak porch faced the beach where the still waters of the Andaman Sea lapped against white sand only 20 meters away. Rocky little islands and outcroppings dotted the blue water, improbably beautiful. There was no mistaking this beach for more-familiar beaches back home or in the Caribbean or Mediterranean. My parents had given us a generous 5th anniversary gift in July and we’d decided to use their present on this portion of our Asia odyssey, so we were considering this a late anniversary celebration. It was perfect!
Beachfront bungalows at Tup Kaek Sunset Beach Resort: all facing west, perfect for watching the sunset over the water
We were on the beach in no time, marveling at the bathtub warm water. Only a few small resorts shared this gorgeous beach and there were not many other guests in sight. At our resort, lots of cushioned lounge chairs and hammocks were free for the taking. Choosing lounge chairs near our bungalow, we ordered two mai tais to sip while we watched the sunset. The mai tais turned out to be the best of the trip: made with real juice, good rum, a little nutmeg and topped with a slice of fresh pineapple.
First mai tais at Tup Kaek…but not the last!
We spent four nights at Tup Kaek Sunset Beach Resort, enjoying mai tais every day save a day we dove the Phi Phi Islands, a world-class dive site a 2-hour boat ride from Ao Nang. Breakfast was included with our room and was a generous spread of Thai and western food served in the open-air tented waterfront dining area. After trying a neighboring hotel, Tup Kaek Boutique Hotel, for lunch, we ended up eating the rest of our meals at Tup Kaek Sunset Beach. The food was good and the service excellent.
Lunch at Tup Kaek Sunset Beach ResortThe tented open-air dining area; the only dining space while the main dining room is being renovated
The prices were much higher at Sunset (and at the other hotels on the beach) than we’d found elsewhere in Thailand as we were a captive audience and this was a higher-end hotel. There’s no walking distance town with food stalls and the usual little dive-y restaurants. Still, by American standards, the prices were very reasonable and much better than you’d find at a comparable resort back home. We could have hired a taxi or tuk tuk to try a little place in the closest town–or one of the six restaurants in the nearby Ritz-Carlton, but we simply weren’t motivated to leave.
The weather turned out to be great. It was raining the first morning, but stopped by the time we got out of bed. There were a couple of other intermittent, brief showers and one impressive but not overly long deluge. We’d duck under our porch roof during those periods, then be back out enjoying partly cloudy skies and delightful temperatures for most of the day. Occasionally we heard a little thunder and saw sheet lightning on the horizon, but it only made for a pretty show. The water was warm with barely any waves. The bottom is soft sand, sloping very gradually so that you can wade far out before the water is chest-high.
Cool water flowing into the sea from the mountains behind the resorts
Tup Kaek Sunset Beach Resort has other non-beachfront rooms, including some very neat ones whose porches open directly onto a new blue-tiled swimming pool of Olympic proportions. There’s a pretty older pool as well and rooms that open onto small man-made “canals.”
Construction/remodeling is ongoing on a large, enclosed restaurant that is not currently open. It sits to one side of the resort complex, so did not really effect our stay. Construction noise wasn’t an issue, and the open-air beachfront dining suited us perfectly. Housekeeping kept the room spotless and were quick to respond to requests for things like extra towels. Two bottles of water were provided each day. We had a small minibar fridge with a few other food and drink items for purchase which we didn’t use. The hotel also provided a large safe, big umbrella, flashlight, robes and sandals. Local “long tail” boats pull up just down the beach and can be hired to visit the islands visible from the beach.
View from our porch. Oh, the tough decisions: lounger on the porch or hammock?!
David and I have struggled to find negatives to this stay. The internet was sometimes–but not always–very weak in the room, but was always very strong and fast on our porch and in the dining area and other parts of the hotel. We did get some maybe-mosquito bites, mostly on our sandaled feet, although we only saw one while we were there. It’s a quiet, low-key location, especially during this shoulder-season, which we consider to be a huge plus, but it wouldn’t be for those looking for a party scene. (i.e., There were no backpackers and loud music.) We spotted a lizard or two in the room a couple of times, but they didn’t bother us and we just ignored them. There are several cats on the resort grounds and they’re happy to beg if you feed them, which we got a kick out of, but I guess if you don’t like or are allergic to cats, it might be an issue. That’s pretty much all we can come up with in the way of negatives. We loved the Tup Kaek Sunset Beach Resort!
We paid 28,420 baht ($812) total for our beachfront bungalow for 4 nights, including breakfast and taxes. Meals, mai tais and private transfer from and to the Krabi Airport cost another 8,270 baht ($236.29) total, including taxes and gratuities. (The airport transfer cost 800 baht/$22.86 each way for a 45-minute ride.) I consider the cost to be good value for what we got. Value is my goal whenever I purchase anything, often more important to me than the bottom line. You can find out more about the resort at: http://www.tupkaeksunset.com/en I had some trouble contacting them, pre-trip (re questions about diving companies that would pick up at the hotel), but was finally able to get a response by messaging them on their Facebook page. Also, I booked via booking.com this time, probably because they were offering the best final price and a rebate via Topcashback, one of my favorite sites. If you haven’t joined and are interested, please use my referral link: https://www.topcashback.com/ref/tcut It’s free to join and easy money for things you buy anyway. I always check it when I’m booking travel (or buying almost anything) to get rebates on hotels, rent cars, products and more.
Massages are a big deal in Thailand. We’d seen signs and brochures everywhere, often multiple storefronts per block. Prices varied wildly, with fancy places near expensive tourist hotels many multiples of the crazy-cheap prices quoted in small, local massage parlors. Some of these little places were “mass production” affairs where we could watch through windows or open walls as customers, side-by-side with each other in un-air-conditioned rooms, were manipulated and prodded… an experience which didn’t appeal in the least. Still, we wanted to try a real Thai massage and see just what that entailed. How was it different from a Swedish massage or an “massage with oil” which often cost twice the price of a “Thai massage”? We decided to dedicate some free time in Chiang Mai to finding out.
The kind of Thai massage we didn’t want: no air conditioning and no privacy
After doing a quick scan of Tripadvisor reviews, we chose “Green Bamboo,” a small place not too far from our hotel which offered 1 hour Thai massages for 200 baht/hour ($5.71). How could we go wrong? Our hotel called and booked us a reservation for 2pm, giving us time to wander the streets a little and have lunch beforehand.
Following Google Maps through the winding streets of Old Chiang Mai, we arrived at Green Bamboo ten minutes early, but were greeted warmly and showed a list of available massages. They didn’t ask about our reservation, but that didn’t seem to be an issue. Scanning our options, I decided on the 1.5 hour foot and Thai massage for 350 baht ($10) while David really went hog-wild with a 450 baht ($12.86) 1.5 hour foot and Neck, Shoulder & Head massage.
To start things off, two ladies brought tubs of warm water in which lime slices floated to the “waiting room” chairs in the little main room.
Our Thai massage starts off with a foot scrub
They gave us a delightful foot scrubs before leading us upstairs to a darkened, sweet-smelling room with two pallets on the floor.
Side-by-side pallets ready for our massages
Crisply pressed cotton shirts and pants were laid out for us to change into. The pants were similar to the mahout clothes we’d worn with the elephants: a tie in the back being wrapped around the huge waist and tied, bag-style to hold them up. My pants were big enough for two or more of me!
Baggy pants for my Thai massage
The stairwell had been worryingly warm, but an air-conditioner ran in the upstairs room, quickly bringing things to a comfortable temperature. Several other similar pallets lay behind a curtain drawn to make our area private. (I peeked!)
Dressed for our massages, David and I lay down on our side-by-side pallets and the ladies returned, draping cloths over our eyes as they began our foot massages. For 40 minutes, the sturdy lady who worked on my feet pressed and kneaded (with oil) and flexed my feet in all directions. It was heavenly and just what my overworked feet needed.
Ready for my massage
With the foot massage over, the ladies began our two different types of massage. David had the more familiar massage using oil on neck and shoulder muscles. My Thai massage was a new experience: The masseuse began by raising and bending one of my knees and extending that leg slightly. She then began a firm pressure-point technique along the adductor muscles and the tendon of my inner thigh, manually stretching the muscles and tendon for me. It was painful in places, but I deliberately relaxed and the result was good and not uncomfortable. She proceeded to cross the bent knee leg over my other leg and press the knee inward and outward to further stretch things. Eventually, she raised the leg straight up and leaned her body into it, pressing the knee in the direction of my chest. She applied firm pressure, but there was no pain after the initial inner-thigh pressure points. The masseuse repeated the entire procedure on my other leg before directing me to roll over onto my stomach.
She pressed firmly on the various pressure points along my calves and back, kneading from time to time. When she got to my shoulders and neck, she quickly honed in on a knot near my left shoulder blade and worked long and very hard on the spot, forcing the muscle to relax. It hurt so good! She didn’t skip the glutes, something I appreciate.
Finally, she had me roll back over and sit up. She sat behind me with her legs on either side of me, then had me lean back against her where she’d placed a pillow while she worked my neck from that angle and then my scalp. As is often the case with a massage, it’s oddly personal contact with a stranger, but this lady really knew her stuff and I was happy to place myself in her capable hands. Beside me, the end of David’s massage was proceeding in the same fashion. My masseuse wrapped things up with sweeping motions across my face and brow, releasing any lingering tension.
An hour and a half flew by and it was time to get dressed again. Downstairs, the ladies had laid out warm sweet tea and crackers. Different than the plain or citrus water usually offered at home, but we tried both in the spirit of doing the full experience. Just in front of us, two men were in the chairs by the front window to the tiny establishment, just beginning foot massages. I could get used to this!
Post-massage refreshment (with the common toilet paper “napkins”)
It wasn’t until I started to blog our Thai massage experience and look at photos to upload that I realized we’d made a mistake: We’d accidentally entered Bai Tong, the establishment next door to Green Bamboo! (I did mention how Thai massage parlors are everywhere, right? :)) Oh well. I’m sorry we blew off our reservation at Green Bamboo, but I can’t regret our great experience at Bai Tong!
David in front of Bai Tong…with Green Bamboo just to the left in the photo
