Sukhothai & Songkran

I have mentioned already the Songkran festival that was the old Thai new year. Today I got to experience a small taste of it. Each province seems to have its own things but the one constant is the water fight. We drove into Sukhothai and were greeted this most surreal view. Firstly there was a parade, lots of traditional Thai dancing, rock bands, concert bands, beauty pageant contestants riding old rickshaws and school kids all done up to the nines. That was the closed right hand side of the road, the open left hand of side was handling traffic in both directions, even with the help of the local police it really wasn’t coping. This is where it was really interesting. The water fight was in full swing on the main road and when I say on the road I mean on the road. 

Kids, some no more than six, were weaving in and out of the slow moving traffic upending buckets of water on all and sundry. Some were supervised, some were sort of supervised, others were clearly in charge of their own destiny. It was very good fun but I would hate to work in the casualty department of the local hospital. Some of the adults were clearly alcohol affected and the driving, which can be erratic at the best of times, gets demonstrably worse. Utes loaded with people sitting in the tray (sometimes more than 8) along with barrels of water (and any paraphernalia suitable for drenching) are driving up and down dowsing all and sundry. If you drive near a river, creek or other source of water the more enterprising will have set up pumps for sprinklers, hoses and refuelling stations for the utes. One bridge we crossed had us totally soaked in water as the hoses were set up for the Queen Mary was arriving and we drove through the water arches that ran for a good 200 meters. If you are on a motorbike you are a shot duck. It was clearly duck season. 

So that was Songkran. From the madness of new year to the amazing history to see. We headed to a UNESCO listed World Heritage Site containing the ancient ruins of the Sukhothai Kingdom, dating from the 13th &14th century. It has the remains of 26 temples and the royal palace. It is going green and no carbon using vehicles are allowed entry. There are 193 different sites spread over 70km2. The main ruins however are held in a 2 by 1.6 kilometre walled enclosure.

To get around it you can either walk (not an option in this oppressive climate), hire a bike and just enjoy the same problem as walking while moving at a slightly faster pace, hire a tuk tuk to drive you around, get on a hop on / hop off shuttle with a guide explaining things (in Thai) or hire an electric buggy and drive yourself, using Google and reading the signage. We went with the last option so Oui can say she has her own Tuk Tuk driver. We spent a very pleasant an extremely pleasant two hours tooling around, went back to the hotel for a dip and then enjoyed a Thai meal that was out of this world.

Riding The Rails

We went to a spectacular waterfall today, we got there by car, then train, then car and finally golf buggy. What a day.

There were a few sore heads when I awoke this morning and I was horrified to hear that two of our party didn’t present for work. We are days away from 13th April which is Songkran Day, the old Thai new year. Traditionally families return home to honour their ancestors and the young and old are purified with water. Those massive water fights you occasionally see on TV are part of the day. A visit to a temple to feed the monks is also part of the day and depending where you are in the country there are a variety of other ways to recognise the event. The good thing about this is that the absences can be hidden under the Songkran festivities. 

Did I mention that we had to take a train. This was ordinarily just going to be just Oui and I, but I think the novelty of having a big farong around has turned everything we do into an adventure. The trip to the waterfall was now a massive undertaking with seven of us now in the group. I love it. 

We headed out to the Kanchaburi train station for the 10.55am train to Nam Tok, one of our party Yei wasn’t up for another trip on an untested method transport (i.e. the train) and drove to the other end to meet us there. This turned out to be a blessing. Another of our party skipped ahead to purchase the tickets. It turned out for a Thai national the return trip was 16 Baht (about $0.80) for the big farong the cost was 100 Baht (about $5.00). Oui was not satisfied with these arrangement and spoke to one of the many uniformed men patrolling the train and got us an upgrade. For the princely sum of 700 Baht ($35.00) we were put in first class, given cool drinks, a souvenir ticket and the big farong got a gift box of goodies including another water, a Pepsi, a lemon tart and some Oreo cookies. 

Why do I keep banging on about this train? Well it runs on part of the old Thai / Burma railroad. You cross the bridge over the River Kwai. This was built by the Japanese during their occupation and repaired by them in 1947 as part of the war reparations following the damage caused by allied bombing. I got to cross it by train, you go through a very small cutting, cross bridges, see a massive viaduct all while following the beautiful River Kwai itself for much of the trip. 

We arrived at Nam Tok and Yei met us and I took the wheel for the drive to Erawan Waterfall. After about 50 km’s in the car we arrived, paid the farong entrance tax fee and 730 Baht later we were in. It is about a one kilometre walk from the car park to the first of the seven tiers of the falls. Or for a further 150 Baht you could be driven there in a golf buggy. We went with option two. The falls were stunning, the fish were startling and it is obviously much loved by the locals, it was packed. The water was refreshing and offered much needed respite from the 40 degree day that we were enjoying here along with the raging humidity. 

We drove back to Bo Phloi feeling cool and content. Tomorrow is Songkran Day so I am looking forward to seeing what that brings. 

It Floats

In the normal course of events I would travel miles to avoid a supermarket, any sort of market really. Today I drove for close to three hours to go to one. I didn’t buy anything but I still managed to drop over 1,200 Baht. It was an absolute hoot. 

We tried to set off at 8.00am but as our touring part kept expanding and we didn’t get away until close to 9.00am. Our first duty was to call in to one of Oui’s cousins who had just had a child. It has been really interesting to see how the local population lives. The family compound had three or four homes, a communal garage and their bread and butter, the piggery, all behind a secure fence with lockable gates. These guys were doing well for themselves and even though I don’t speak the language I caught a whisper of snobbery here. 

Our family duties done it was time for the floating markets. We pressed on and in about 30 minutes time we swung the Toyota into the car park of the Damnoen Saduak Floating Markets. More seasoned travellers would actually know what they are in for, me I had not a clue. Basically it a whole bunch of shops on the water’s edge and the only way to get to them is by boat. To add more colour there are long boats circulating along the canals offering their wares as well. The family was horrified that it cost 1,000 Baht to hire a long tail boat to traverse the markets so they negotiated the price down to 800. 

Oui and her family is not much used to the water. No one can really swim and the prospect of taking to an unsteady boat didn’t thrill them. The little fella who is not yet two kept on saying in Thai “Nutty scared, Nutty scared”. Grandma, who is 84, said this would be her first and last time. Me? I was having a riot. For a good hour we traversed up and down the canals looking at shops that had everything from tourist items, to food and drinks along with some genuine goods that you would find at a traditional local market. From there we headed into what is essentially a suburb populated by the local Chinese community, who live their lives here. I saw the washing getting done, someone bathing, the dishes being cleaned and what is no doubt essential if you choose to live your life this way, swimming lessons.

Once safely back on dry land we turned the car for home. That night we hit one of the local bars where a very indifferent band were working the crowd. The local constabulary turned up to try and shake down the operators and parked about eight of themselves out the front to scare off business. After about 45 minutes of this they either got paid or got bored, moved on and the drinks kept flowing. All in all a very satisfying day. 

Hellfire Pass

It is hard to put into words this experience. We drove for about two hours to reach our destination. From within the confines of our car the scenery was gorgeous. On arrival it was a stifling 41 degrees however in the shade of the beautifully manicured grounds of the Hellfire Pass Interpretive Centre they were doing everything they could to shroud it. 

There is a simple but affective museum and display leading to gorgeously constructed pathways that take you to a place that once witnessed immense pain and suffering. There is an excellent audio guide and the staff at the centre are softly spoken, kind and polite as they gently immerse you in one of the true horrors of World War Two.

Upon descending some tastefully crafted hardwood walkways and stairs you are, without really knowing it, on the old rail line. The tracks and sleepers have long been removed. A bed of newly laid rock forms your path and then subtly the tragedy of the place emerges. Next to a bench that lets you take in the view are some of the original spikes that held the railway line to the sleepers. You move a little further along and a cutting appears, more construction paraphernalia is present. You look up and the top of the cutting is 23 meters above you, you forward and you look back and it is 75 meters long. On your right is an old drill bit that broke off as they tried to make a hole big enough to drop a stick of dynamite in to blow apart the granite. It is still embedded in the rock.

You reach then end of the cutting. It is just a minuscule part of the 415 kilometres of railway that was ultimately laid. There is a understated memorial, they are getting ready for Anzac Day. You are covered in sweat for your 30 minutes of exertion. The men who worked on its construction endured 17 months of this, through the wet and dry seasons, with just about nothing to take away the misery. There was never enough food, poor access to clean water, no medical supplies, no clothes (the ones they arrived in rotted in the tropics and they worked in makeshift loin cloths often without boots), no tools and no basic sanitation. The lives lost ran into the tens of thousands with 12,000 plus among the POW’s and perhaps more than ten times that by the forced labourers known as the Romusha.

It is frightening to see what man can inflict on his fellow man. It is a lesson I trust the entire world will learn and may it never be repeated again. 

Colonel Bogey March

This one will be brief. We spent the day catching up with Oui’s family and just doing the general running around that large busy family do. Anyway we had to go in to Kanchanburi for a number of reasons and out of the blue Oui said do you wan’t to go to the bridge over the River Kwai? I said “sure, how far is it?” thinking we had some ways to travel. The answer however was if you take the next left its at the end of the street.

So I found myself walking across the River Kwai bridge made famous by the David Lean film. If you think I could stop myself from whistling the Colonel Bogey March you would be wrong. I should say the film is basically a fiction. The prisoners were treated in a far worse manner than shown in the movie, the British didn’t collaborate on building the bridge faster, in fact they actively sabotaged it. The final insult, the bridge used in the movie is actually in Sri Lanka and not Thailand at all. 

Tomorrow I will actually get to walk in the footsteps of hero’s as we head to Hellfire Pass. I spent a good deal of my early career helping veterans commemorate what they went through ensuring our freedom and way of life. I had the privilege of knowing Mr Joe Coombes a prisoner of war who worked on the railway. One day he honoured me by sharing some of his memories of his life there. He was even incarcerated in Japan and saw one of the atomic blasts. He has no doubt now left this mortal coil but I will be thinking of him as I walk in his footsteps.

The Giant Prawns of Ayutthaya

There is a local delicacy. It’s a giant prawn. They are found near the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya and like the name suggests they are huge, about the size of your forearm. These are not cheap, even by western standards so it is something of a treat to be eating them. 

However before we got to lunch we checked out an ancient temple dating back to the 1357, the Wat Yai Mongkhon. It has a giant reclining Buddha and a number of Stupas containing different relics used for various acts of worship or meditation. It was pushing 38 degrees when we got there with a relative humidity of 65%. I felt like I was walking in a hot bath. The tourists were fairly thin on the ground but a healthy swath of locals were in attendance. The interpretive signage was is in Thai and English but the calendar they used was the Buddhist one so a little tricky for me to figure out on the spot. I didn’t get anywhere near the feel for the place as I did in Angkor Wat but it was definitely worth the visit. Like Cambodia there are temples scattered all over the place in various states of ruin. Fortunately unlike Cambodia the fear of setting off an old land mine was not ever present. 

From the heart of Ayuttaya to the banks of the Chao Phraya River where we went to dine on the aforementioned giant prawns. We got a little lost trying to find the place, also it didn’t help that one of us used a Phnom Penh address in the sat nav. Before long we found ourselves on the edge of the river elevated over the water watching jet skis, river barges and an assortment of aquatic activities taking place as we feasted on these fresh water crustaceans. I could smell them as we walking in from the car park, just like barbecued prawns back home and yes they were massive. This is one time a picture does paint 1,000 words. 

We still had a little under two hours to go before we hit our destination Bo Phloi in the Kanchanaburi province and guess what the province is famous for? No less than the Bridge Over the River Kwai, made famous by the William Holden and Alec Guinness. Can’t wait to get there.

One Temple And A Market

With the Neung and Geng in tow we set off to explore Bangkok by water and grabbed a cab (the first one who has actually taken advantage of me all trip) to Sathorn Pier, the epicentre of the Chao Phraya River transport system. There, after much discussion, we grabbed an unlimited ride ticket for 200 Baht and set off. I was busting to ride in one of those long boats made famous by Roger Moore in Live and Let Die, but my exuberance was curtailed and we took the much more sensible if not as actioned packed ride down the mighty river.

Again they had turned the temperature up to level 5 hell. I was going to have to break out Milton’s Paradise Lost to ensure I knew exactly how far I had descended. We came upon this spectacular temple shining in all its glory from the river and sallied forth to take a look. Wat Arun, The Temple of the Dawn is just stunning. It has a main tower and 4 minor towers all of which are covered in tiles and porcelain that had made up the ballast of the ships coming from China. 

After a brief look around, we just had to avoid the heat and jumped back on our ferry heading for the Wang Lang Markets. These are another market that are located right on the river near a major hospital. My search for a money clip was again unsuccessful as we fought the heat and the crowds before finally relenting and dining at this amazingly good restaurant right on the water’s edge called Wind Water View.

After returning to Sathorn we jumped another cab and headed to the burbs to meet Oui’s brother, his wife and their two kids. We got hopelessly lost. When we finally made it and returned to the city we got caught in a massive rainstorm in Chinatown so what looked like a really interesting place to explore turned into a literal washout. 

Tomorrow we head to Oui’s home town but I think we have a few stops along the way. 

The World’s Biggest Market

With the blistering version of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall” including The album’s preceding track “The Happiest Days of Our Lives” still ringing in my ears from the previous evening I awoke ready to face the day.

The music was not the only thing that was blistering, so was the day. After another hotel breakfast of no real note we headed by taxi (they are so damn cheap) to Chatuchak Weekend Markets. This is the biggest market in the world and dwarves anything else I have ever seen by comparison. There are 11,500 stall holders, 15,000 stalls and 200,000 visitors a day. This place is humongous. It was hot as hell and my Bangkok belly was still not right so I was loathe to try any of the local produce. 

Durian, a fruit that is famous in this part of the world, was on offer. I have been busting to try one and Oui has not been satisfied with the quality in Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Hong Kong and Macau and has assured me that the Thailand durian will be truly amazing. It was described to me in Kuala Lumpar as “smelling live hell but tasting like heaven”. It looks like some medieval torture device and apparently some spectacular examples were on show at the markets but I was too scared to try as the public facilities are exactly what you’d expect them to be. Right throughout Asia there have been signs warning us not to bring durian on public transport and don’t bring durian into hotel rooms. I am really looking forward to finding out what all the fuss is about. 

The heat was beating both of us so we headed back to the hotel for afternoon naps. Then because we just had to we headed for the Patpong Night Markets where we tried with no luck to purchase a money clip. The currency here is insane and there is no easy way to keep the plethora of bank notes organised in your wallet so a money clip seemed like the answer. Of course it was just up the road from the famous red light district where we gawked like the tourists that we are. 

Dinner was in restaurant nearby that had the blessed benefits of taking credit cards and having air con. My stomach was not feeling that well so we headed to the V Residence which was our home for our three days in Bangkok. The next morning Oui’s cousin Neung and her husband Geng was coming to join us for the day and they would drive us to Oui’s home the next morning.

Three Nights In Bangkok

The only direct flight from Macau to Bangkok was on Air Asia, a budget carrier. I had read some pretty horrendous things about them and so was not looking forward to the trip. There are no meals or drinks included, no in flight entertainment and checked luggage was an optional extra. Well the flight was only 2 hours and 40 minutes so we wouldn’t need a meal. We could keep myself entertained with a book for that long and we just had to suck it up and pay full freight to check the bags. In terms of value for money all they have done is strip out the added extras and then charge them for them if you should avail yourself of the product of service. I could see no real saving. In terms of the experience it was perfectly bland. The staff were fine, the flight pedestrian and everything ran like clockwork. Where there would be five crew serving you there were three, meals and drinks were available if you hadn’t preordered and were hungry and thirsty. You were harangued mercilessly to try and purchase a range of produce from duty free to SIM cards to merchandise. There was no issue with the luggage and we arrived safely and on time in Bangkok.

Getting to the hotel however was another story. Oui was on home territory and said beware of the cabs that will overcharge you. We went to metered taxi rank. You don’t just get in one. You take a number and you are assigned a driver and car. When we arrived they gave us number 510, they were just serving 431. We waited 10 minutes and three people got a taxi. I asked Oui to go out and find out the price for an unmetered taxi. 600 Baht was the answer, that’s about $30 Aus. The trip lasted over an hour. I think we got value for money.

Before we had even checked in Oui had spotted some street food she wanted. A papaya salad (blistering hot) and an assortment of other things that she grabbed for the farang (me). After getting settled we headed to Nana, one of the famous red light districts, where we caught this amazing band and I sat drinking gin and tonics all night. The place was like Kings Cross of the 80’s on steroids. Every vice you could think of, plus a few more for those of you who were brought up Methodist, unashamedly on display for all to see. We caught a tuk tuk home that I believe set a new land speed record and were safely tucked up in bed just after midnight. By lunch the next day I had a case of Bangkok belly, not sure if it was the street food, the questionable milk in my morning coffee or the ice in the drinks last night. So many things to blame, time to suck it up and not miss a damn thing. 

The Casinos

In the interest of my career and with a sense of morbid curiousity I checked out six more casinos. 

The MGM Grand, The Parisian, The Galaxy, Studio City, The Grand Lisboa and The Lisboa. The only thing that stood out from the pack was the two Macau Peninsula casinos. Both the Lisboa’s were pretty seedy and considering the new one is only ten years old I was a little surprised. The new one even had an ageing stripper on the stage with the bar separating the talent from the patrons. It looked like something out of Vegas in the 60’s.

The interesting thing for me about many of these was that once you were on the gaming floor you are free from any distractions. There are no clocks, they trade 24 hours a day, there is no other stimulant such as TV’s, keno or sports betting options to take you away from your game of choice. Drink service was not really a thing, the smoking rooms were inside and elaborately decked out, player loyalty was huge (requiring a passport) each had a signature “offering” to get you through the doors that made it unique from its competitors. 

For instance the big thing happening at the MGM Grand was the Harry Potter Orchestral Spectacular. Here you could listen to the first four films works being played live while watching the movies on the world’s largest LCD screen.

At The Parisian the thing to get you in was a recreation of the Eiffel Tower which is half scale version of the real thing. You can ascend for around $22 and there were people lined up to do it. It is connected to The Venetian which has its signature gondola rides with your choice of three recreated canals from Venice where you can see replica building, including St Marks Square, while being serenaded by your gondolier. The best shopping district is here and instead of going for purely couture high end brands it has the more accessible (and affordable) brand names that are known throughout the world. 

The Galaxy take a more modern tac as it tries to recreate the New York Broadway district. By day it is dining but by night is entertainment as well.

Studio City tries to top them all on the entertainment front. It has a figure eight ferris wheel built into the casino’s structure giving you amazing views of the region. There is also a massive VR theme park with an array of activities to mess with your mind and currently playing is a show called “Elektron” which is billed as the most amazing stunt show in the world. 

The Wynn Palace has the amazing water show at its front door, quite literally, and to enter the casino they have a free cable car that takes you on a short trip over the water and of course deposits you near the casino’s entrance.

Sadly the signature City of Dreams show “The House of Dancing Water” was down for maintenance but it has the most amazing reviews and will apparently come back on line within the month. It also currently had a display of 10 rare Ferraris.

The two old Casinos (The Lisboa’s) didn’t really go in for anything quite as over the top however they are under renovation and will be adding the Versace Hotel brand to the stable and lets not forget the Grand Lisboa itself, an amazing site to behold. 

All in all the take away was that when you have access to large numbers of gamblers who come to your venue as an event, some may save up for a year or more before they try their luck, then you can extract very large sums of money indeed. There is little or no regulation at the venues, most had metal detectors as you entered but I did not see one person stopped. They are keen to check your age and I’m told prostitution is a big thing in the old town. There was nothing evident on the strip as no doubt that would take away from business. While there were plenty of exciting things happening and quite substantial prizes to be won I could see no real innovation in the poker machine space that the Club industry in NSW wasn’t already undertaking. Whatever the take away is it is truly amazing to see gambling done on such a colossal scale.