The Taj - our home away from home

So this is my final post from India.  It's been a wonderful 11 weeks here.  My last post is about the Taj Vivanta.  It's a very nice 5-star hotel within the ITPL compound.  I've got pictures of our room, the view from our room, and some shots of the complex.  Unfortunately, cameras are not allowed inside of ITPL, so I had to take everything from the hotel grounds.

our room

view from our room - the ITPL complex

another view from our room

the swimming pool

ITPL complex, DDU is on the top floor of the furthest building away

main entrance to ITPL

Latitude - the main restaurant and where breakfast is served

the lobby

standing on the grass roof of the bar looking back at the hotel

me and Tracy

Hope everyone enjoyed my blog.  This is Wolf Bain signing off.

Thailand part 3 - Bangkok

So after Pattaya we headed back to Bangkok.  Stayed in a very nice hotel called Hotel Solo.  It was within easy walking distance to the elevated sky train system they have so we could get around the city very quickly.

Our only pre-paid excursion was a bus ride around the city where we went to Wat Trimit and Wat Pho where we saw a massive Buddha.  I think it is the largest leaning Buddha in Thailand.  We decided to split from the tour group from here rather than continue on to shopping malls and gem galleries.  Instead, we thoroughly explored Wat Pho, walked around the area. ate at this magnificent little hole-in-the-wall restaurant which overlooked the river and Wat Arun (The Temple of the Dawn).

both of us at Wat Pho

Wat Pho

Wat Trimit

One of many Buddha statues we saw

the largest leaning Buddha in Thailand

We ran into a couple other expats from Thailand.  They were very friendly and pointed us to some cool night markets where we could walk around and see everything from restaurants to art stands, to live performers.  Really cool place!

a night market we visited

the view of Wat Arun from our restaurant

The next day we went to the Grand Palace which is right next door to Wat Pho.  Got to see the Emerald Buddha.  Also rode on some river ferries and hiked up to the top of Wat Arun.  The steps were incredibly steep.

The Grand Palace

The Emerald Buddha

an awesome green door to one of the government buildings in the complex

more Grand Palace

more Grand Palace

statues at Wat Arun

Wat Arun

really steep steps at Wat Arun

That night we swam in the pool on the top floor of our hotel with a nice view of the Bangkok skyline.

Our final day, we just walked around a bunch more.  Went to Wat Benchamabophit, walked by the zoo, and the Democracy Monument.  Democracy Monument is in the center of this huge 6 lane roundabout.  A little interesting trivia, all kilometer markers start at zero and go outwards from this monument.  So no matter where you are in Thailand, if you're on a major road, you'll know how far you are from this point.  Very interesting.

Wat Benchamabophit

Wat Benchamabophit

the grounds around Wat Benchamabophit

Democracy Monument

Our last stop was at Wat Saket and the Golden Mount.  We climbed all the way to the top, ringing giant bells and gongs as we ascended.  It was a really great experience.  On our way back to the hotel, we took another water taxi which was a lot of fun.

The Golden Mount

one of the many river taxis - a great way to get around

That night we took an express train from the city center to the airport and headed back for our last two weeks in India.  This was an incredible trip and I highly recommend coming to Thailand and exploring Bangkok, one of the most unique cities in the world to visit.

Bangkok airport - the architecture here was really impressive

Thailand part 2 - Pattaya

So after we flew back from Koh Samui, we took a 1 hour bus ride from Bangkok down to Pattaya which is a large resort city overlooking the Gulf of Siam.  Overall, our experience here was not the best.  Compared to Koh Samui, it's incredibly crowded, the beaches are dirtier, and everything is just so much busier and congested.

The hotel we were originally supposed to stay in was very dingy so we ended up walking down the street (maybe 100 yards) and stayed in a much much nicer hotel that ended up costing about $30 more a night.  This is probably the farthest $30 has ever taken us in terms of quality.  Comparing the two places was like night and day and the best part about it all, our new hotel choice didn't have a combination shower and toilet!

We spent the evening walking up and down the beach checking out the hundreds of street vendors that line up along the main beach road.

Pattaya beach at night

The next day, we took a speed boat from Pattaya to the island of Ko Lan (about 30min. to the west).  This trip didn't start out so great either.  We were basically ferried from one stop to another along the way where we were given opportunities to walk on the bottom of the ocean, para-sail, or ride on a glass bottom boat.  All of these stops cost extra, or you had to sit out and wait for another speed boat to come by and ferry you to the next money making scheme.  Their prices were outrageous and to top it all off, you only got 1.5 hours to enjoy the beautiful white sandy beach at the final destination on Ko Lan.

not a speed boat, but one of the other ferries with the entire engine just sitting there exposed

Thankfully, the tour guide for our group was extremely nice, very accommodating, and she knew this entire trip was not being entirely faithful to their advertising.  We were able to eat lunch on the island, and we broke off from the group, spent the afternoon on this really nice beach, and took a ferry home in the evening.  So in the end, it all worked out great and the people were really helpful and accommodating after we expressed our concerns about the trip.  I would definitely recommend taking the ferry in the future.  It's much cheaper and you explore the other options (para-sailing and whatnot) at your own pace and at less inflated prices.

all of the umbrellas on the beach

the bar van - any drink/cocktail you could imagine

Ko Lan beach, much nicer than Pattaya beach

some of the shops along the beach in Ko Lan

short clip from the ferry - the water was really rough that day

the ferry from Koh Lan to Pattaya

In the evening, we walked around a large mall not too far from our hotel and had a wonderful Italian dinner overlooking a large 3 story Christmas tree.

really well-lit water fountains at this mall

A view of Pattaya beach, jet skis, speed boats, and all the umbrellas

The next day, we headed by bus back to our final destination, Bangkok.

Thailand!!!!!!

I've updated my last post in Kerala with new videos so check them out when you get a chance.

The following weekend, we headed off to Thailand on Christmas Eve.  This trip was amazing, the people were great, and I definitely loved the time we spent in Thailand.

Our first stop was Koh Samui.  This is a small island towards the south end of Thailand.  It was a beautiful island and surprisingly quiet for Christmas.  We stayed at Al's Laemson Resort which is just north of Chaweng beach which is the main beach on the island.

Our resort room

the infinity edge pool

We went kayaking to a nearby island and swimming in the water.  The beaches are not quite as clean here as they are in the US.  You'll often find empty bottles, straws, and some other trash around on the beaches and sometimes floating in the water.  It's such a shame too because this place was incredibly beautiful.

The nice thing about Chaweng beach is that you all the resorts and restaurants are right at the waters edge.  The beach is fairly small and there is not a lot of space from the resorts to the water.  Many places have tables and chairs that they put out on the beach for patrons and they are merely feet from the water.  We ate by the beach a lot!

Now apparently this place is usually packed with people but for Christmas, it was pretty quiet.  All these resorts put out these giant lavish buffet spreads, exotic table place settings, and lights everywhere.  It looked like each resort was preparing for 200 people and yet, there might have been 20 people max at each location.  It was kinda of eerie, and yet very peaceful, to see all this preparation for so many people and yet no one ever came.  Maybe this was a slow year or perhaps it's a slow time of year.  Either way, it was really nice and relaxing for us.  Plus, we were able to get a table anytime we wanted and very close to the beach.

Chaweng beach at night

one of many restaurants by the water

The next day we rented our own scooters and rode around the entire island.  We bought gasoline out of large one liter wine bottles.  All these little stands along the road where selling gasoline in these clear bottles.  It was really cool.  We also stopped at a fruit stand and got some fresh dragonfruit.  We drove through a few street markets selling live fish, eels, and fresh produce.  We rode into the center of the island, saw a waterfall and ate lunch under the trees.

me on a scooter

Tracy getting dragonfruit

one of the waterfalls towards the middle of the island

one of many street markets

After about 5 hours of riding and sight-seeing, we headed back to our resort and swam in the ocean and the swimming pool.  That night, we went on one last scooter ride through a smaller neighborhood to the north of our place.

The next day we got up and boarded a plane back to Bangkok and from there, headed to Pattaya by bus.

On a quick side note, the Koh Samui airport is beautiful!  A collection of large tropical huts, it has got to be the most pleasant airport experience I have ever had.

the airport

A video of our plane leaving Koh Samui

The next post will be about Pattaya and then Bangkok.