Thailand Posts
Arriving in Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand, our first visit was to an astounding place. Wat Traimit houses the world’s largest, massive, pure gold seated Buddha measuring nearly five metres (15 ft) in height, weighing 5.5 tons and worth approx $250 million usd! Such an impressive sight. The treasure of Bangkok.
The latter day saw us at a several important stops. Wat Pho (the Temple of the Reclining Buddha) is a must-do for any first-time visitor in Bangkok. It’s one of the largest temple complexes in the city and famed for its giant reclining Buddha that measures 46 metres long and is covered in gold leaf. The Giant Swing and Wat Suthat Temple rounded out the day.
Going from gold to marble. Undoubtedly one of the most beautiful temples in Bangkok, Wat Benchamabophit is also known as the “marble temple”. It is a fine example of Bangkok’s architectural style with its multi-tiered roofs, elegant bird-like decorations (chofahs) at the top of the temple roofs and the stunning gold carvings. There is a large stone lion on either side of the entrance, guarding the temple.
Unbelievably, there are over 31K Buddhist temples spread around Thailand. In Thai temples are called wat. One of these, the Wat Arun or the Temple of Dawn, is named after Aruna, the Indian God of Dawn. Sitting majestically on the Thonburi side of the Chao Phraya River, the legendary Wat Arun is one of the most striking riverside landmarks of Thailand. Despite the name, the most spectacular view of the glittering monument can be seen from the east side of the river at sunset, when the spires of Wat Arun make an impressive silhouette against the skyline. We took a 1 hour private boat tour on the river before arriving at this huge temple.
Wat Saket ‘The temple of the Golden Mount’ is one of Bangkok’s oldest temples. The structure of Wat Saket is distinct because of the 80-meter high mountain, called Phu Khao Thong (meaning Golden Mountain), where the temple’s main gilded chedi (or stupa) rests. This ‘mountain’, formed from the debris of a collapsed chedi was once the highest point in all of Bangkok. The Golden Mountain is a well-known and much revered landmark in. A climb to the top of the mount is a journey of more than 340 steps. Upon reaching the top of the steps we were rewarded with a 360 degree view of Bangkok.
Our last day in Thailand’s capital Bangkok was spent touring many of the other iconic temples and settings in this huge city of 9.5 million people, known for ornate shrines and vibrant street life. We hired a tuk tuk to pick us up in the early morning and exhausted ourselves into the evening.
After a week in metro Bangkok it was time for something more mellow. We hired a car for a southerly 5 hour drive & 1 hour ferry to Koh Chang, one of the largest Thai islands in the Gulf of Thailand, which contains dense, steep jungle, Mu Ko Chang National Park, a preserve with hiking trails and waterfalls, and offshore coral reefs. The coast is dotted with beaches and villages.
Our favorite stay on Koh Chang Island was on the way less crowded & far more jungle-ish southeast side. There were far fewer hotels and tourists, probably due to the lack of large beaches, which was fine with us. The seaside resort, waterfalls, offshore islands, mangrove boardwalks, temples and motorbike friendly, deserted streets gave it more than sufficient charm and plenty of activities.
We spent our first week on the east side of Koh Chang Island. There were many places to visit: great waterfall, high cliff views, and all the way to the furthest south section of Bang Bao with its many shops, pier & lighthouse
We had a blast renting a motorbike and exploring all of Koh Chang Island’s east side. The roads were not too busy with traffic so we felt fairly safe on the motorbike. Plus, we kept to some back streets. Too many sights for one posts so here we go AM & PM
Koh Chang is known as “Elephant Island” as it has 6 camps. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the visiting of elephant camps. Some feel it is cruel to keep the elephants chained up and responding to the beck & call of their masters to carry tourists. They are chained up as it isn’t safe to have large animals wandering around. This camp has elephants in a more natural surroundings deep in the jungle and surrounded by fruit farms and jungle clad hillsides. And the handlers are known to treat these elephants in a much more humane way. Regardless, we chose to only feed them and not ride or bathe them.
Son of a beach did we see some nice beaches that day while touring the east side of Koh Chang Island on our rented moterbike ($5/day). Weather was perfect and traffic was very light on the back roads. Hope you like the pics!
Vivian gave her motorbike butt & legs a break so Shane traveled solo to visit some more Koh Chang sites. He went from dawn to dusk visiting some waterfalls, temples, piers & curvy roads.
Now what would Thailand be without some island hopping? We know, we know, we were already on Koh Chang Island off the mainland, but we wanted to visit the smaller offshore islands we could see from our apartment. So we hired a tiny 4 hp boat holding us, the boatman & the resort owner’s daughter as a guide, and set out to visit 4 islands.
It was time to bid adieu to Koh Chang Island and Thailand. It only took us 1 hour in the back of a pick-up truck “taxi”, a 1 hour ferry from the island to the mainland, and a 6 hour bus journey to Bangkok. Whew!!! So we elected to stay in a Bangkok airport hotel before flying to Singapore.