Oh my, I’m getting this blog post written on the same day that everything occurred!  It’s not due to major efficiency, rather, it is because tomorrow morning at 6.30 am we will be heading up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.  So if I don’t get this done now, who knows when I will have the opportunity!

We had a very leisurely breakfast at our guesthouse this morning.  It is going to be difficult to adapt back to the time zone at home when we return – but hey, that is still two weeks away!  We decided to spend the day in the Old City of Chiang Mai, starting with a visit to the most visited temple, Wat Phra Singh.

There are many parts to each temple here in Thailand.  They really are a large complex of buildings with different purposes, although much of the time one building can serve a number of purposes too.  Paraphrasing my Lonely Planet guidebook, the formal aspects of Thai Buddhism such as funeral rites, meditation courses, merit-making and dharma talks are carried out at the temples.  But in addition, temples often mix religious guidance with luck-enhancing rituals.  People go to the temple in times of need to ask for assistance from the Buddha image or guidance from the monks.  The temple also serves a social function and often an educational one.

We happened to arrive at Wat Phra Singh just before the monks were sitting down to a meal inside the temple.  The meal was cooked on the temple verandah, and brought in for the monks who were studying at the adjoining school.  According to Lonely Planet once again, men are all expected to become monks for at least a short period in their lives, usually between finishing school and starting work.  They usually stay for three months, and this earns a great deal of merit for their families.

It was very strange to me to be watching others eat: taking photos felt very intrusive.  However, I was told by a temple staffer who noticed that I wasn’t taking any photos that I was very welcome to.  They must be used to it and the monks certainly didn’t seem perturbed.  Other older monks were sitting on chairs around the edges of the temple and appeared to be giving advice or in deep discussion with temple goers.  These people often had offerings of food, flowers, incense and gold leaf.  The gold leaf was applied to images around the temple.

I just love that some of  monk statues are wearing glasses!  There were a number of smaller buildings within the complex that held their own Buddha images.  These varied considerably in size and style.  The walls in one of the smaller buildings were covered in paintings.  The elaborateness (is that a word?) of the architecture gets a little overwhelming at times.  There is just so much detail.  It’s hard to take it all in.

The gardens around the temple have signs on each of the trees.  This was one of my favourites.  There are all sorts of inspirational slogans.

After all our wanderings at the temple we needed food and drink.  We got chatting to a family who were sitting next to us at a cafe, discussing our holiday plans.  They mentioned that they had an ex-pat friend who lived near by who they were looking forward to catching up with.  We mentioned that we were going to meet with an ex-pat friend who was going to take us to the markets.  And the light dawned – yes, Gaye, of all the tourists in all the cafes in Chiang Mai, the two families that you know met one another!  After conversation and enjoying the air-con we were back out in the heat on the streets.

And yes, then we headed back to the Lila Massage Centre for foot massages for the whole family.  Part of me thinks that my children are getting far too accustomed to such a decadent lifestyle! They certainly seem to have adapted to it very quickly.  Stella fell asleep a second time.

And that was pretty much it for the day!  We walked slowly back to the guesthouse, buying snacks from street vendors along the way.  More watermelon juice, chrysanthemum juice for Dan, fried chicken, mystery pastries, dried banana, fresh coconut icecream, and another Chang beer.

But check out the Singer sewing machine shop!  The sewists among you may have realised that I ended my last blog post with a photo of the Singer sign – I was sure that it looked like the familiar sewing machine branding, but the shop was closed at that time.  Today it was open, selling all these modern machines powered by treadles.  And can someone enlighten me about these Singer things that look like petrol bowsers?  What ARE they?

EDITED THANKS TO VIREYA:

They are vending machine petrol bowsers, or minipumps. There’s a forum post which mentions them here:
http://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?id=23640
Looks like people buy the bowser, and attach a drum of fuel to it, as a small business.

According to this item, at some of them you can also top up your pre-pay phone:
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/08/21/technology/technology_30045829.php

Amazing!

We stayed at the guesthouse for “dinner” this evening, which consisted of all the treats we’d bought on the way home.  The girls swung on the hammock and checked out the turtles in the pond, when they weren’t niggling one another or whinging. Time for an early night for both of them, I think and I hope!

As you know, we are in Chiang Mai after having arriving in the morning on the overnight train.  Our guesthouse is just lovely.  Built in traditional styling up on high poles to catch the breezes, the bathrooms and living areas are outdoors.  The bedrooms still have air-con though, much to our relief!  Stella has been a little unsure about it, as it’s such a different style of accommodation compared to what she is used to.  I thought she’d love it – you never know what things will appeal to kids or tick too many of the “different” boxes.

After settling in to our room we headed into the central part of Chiang Mai.  We are staying in the old city, so many sights and attractions are within walking distance.  Like in Bangkok, it is HOT here.  I’ve never drunk as much water, or as much watermelon juice.  There are numerous stalls selling tropical juices of many types, where they juice the fruit for you on the spot.  So fresh and so cool!

There are also many roadside food stalls.  The kids were particularly impressed when I bought what turned out to be a huge potato chip on a stick, where a single potato had been cut into a long, long spiral then fried.  We also tried a few different sweet treats.  I really enjoyed the little coconut pancakes.  There are plenty of foods available that are familiar to the kids, such as waffles and ice creams, and fried chicken.  There are plenty of foods available that are not familiar to any of us!

One woman had tiny birds in cages.  I think that the idea was that you paid to have them released and watch them fly away.  We declined, as we assume that if we let them go it just encourages more to be caught to repeat the cycle.

Outside the Lila Thai Massage Centre, we decided that we should sample their massage menu and headed inside. As per the brochure: The Lila Thai Massage was established by the former director of the Chiang Mai Women’s Prison to help support the lives of newly released inmates in society.  Prior to their release, carefully screened inmates go through an extensive massage training program so that they can make a living and contribute to society.  Despite their training, many employers would not employ them and consequently they would often find themselves returning to a life of crime.  Therefore the Lila Massage Centre was set up to provide them with employment.  Back to the brochure: it is our cherished hope that you will see these former inmates in a positive light, and your kind patronage will allow them to proudly start a new life and support themselves and their families.

No matter what their background, these women certainly know how to do a massage.  Both of the girls had a one hour foot massage.  And yes, Stella fell asleep on the massage table before it was over.  Dan and I both had a traditional thai reflexology massage, incorporating feet and legs, shoulders and arms, and heads.  I’ve never had a thai massage before, and never would have believed that my body could be twisted, poked, pushed and bent into so many different positions that seemed way beyond the range of normal.  It actually felt amazing that my muscles could be stretched as much as they were.  Beats the myotherapist any day!  Our massages took an hour and a half, which gave Stella some extra snoozing time.  And all up – the massages for the four of us cost 1000 baht, which is around A$35.  Oh my, we’ll be doing that again.

When we emerged from the massage centre, the streets were being set up for the weekly Sunday Walking Market.  This is a market that is full of scarves, clothing, wood carvings, textiles, leather sandals, original artworks, t-shirts ,jewellery, and other creations from local crafters.  Melbournians, it is similar to the St Kilda Market.  Plenty of tourist offerings, but also plenty of other items that we didn’t see around Bangkok, with a handcraft focus.  And plenty of food stalls.  There were street vendors aplenty, as well as chairs set up for foot or shoulder massages if you got tired while shopping and eating.

The market got incredibly crowded after a couple of hours, and by then we were exhausted and headed back to the guesthouse with our tummies full and some shopping done.  Stella chose a lovely little top and skirt combination that are quite distinctively Thai without looking like a costume.  Poor Clare was desperate to find some clothes but she is right at the size where she is too big for most of the kids clothes that were on offer and too small for the adult offerings.  I have assured her that I will be purchasing some fabric and will make her something to her specifications.

The rain has poured down for half an hour or so this morning, but is clearing up.  I’ve had a cat purring on my lap for a little while, and am enjoying some green tea as I type.  And yes, the rest of the family are still snoozing.  I rather like having the early mornings to myself!  No plans yet for today (Monday).  Back to the guide book I go!

Oh my goodness, it’s amazing what you can fit into each day!  Remember that I had mentioned that friends had given me a whole lot of itinerary and accommodation recommendations?  Well, those very same friends arrived in Bangkok on Friday night, and stayed at the same hotel (we did know that this was going to happen – and we will also see them again later in Chiang Mai).  It was lovely to see familiar faces – Clare and our friends’ eldest daughter are in the same grade at the same school – and we took every opportunity to pick their brains a second time while the girls were all splashing around in the pool.  We decided to take a long tail boat tour around the river and the canals.

It’s fascinating how different things look from the waterways.  There don’t appear to be any planning regulations in Bangkok.  Fancy hotels are right next to shipyards are right next to small shops are right next to slums are right next to hairdressers are right next to car parks are right next to food carts are right next to mechanics are right next to residences are right next to temples are right next to restaurants are right next to schools are right next to jewellers are right next to….well, you get the general idea.  The juxtaposition is very interesting but also often quite unsettling.

Our boat driver was keen to point out the many water monitors in the canals – I think that we saw about five!  They look like a cross between a large goanna and a small crocodile, as far as I can see.

There were also what appeared to be a million temples.  The Buddhist faith is such an integral part of the lifestyle here.  Many of the temples are accessible from the canals.  It was remarkably peaceful on the water, and quite a bit cooler – yesterday was a stinking hot day in Bangkok.  We only had one lady with a boatload of souvenirs approach our boat.

For Stella – and Dan too – the highlight of the tour appeared to be when the boat went “faster, faster, faster”!  It’s surprising just how much speed they can reach.

Lunch was back at one of the restaurants we had visited on our walking food tour.  I was rather impressed that I was able to find it a second time!  None of the staff there spoke English, and our Thai is pretty much non-existent.  Another diner saw our plight and came to our rescue, suggesting dishes and writing down an order for us.  And she was just enjoying a meal with her husband!  As it turned out she spoke French and English as well as Thai.  Very versatile.

We came across this little shop selling overlocker thread not far from the hotel – just superb! I wish that there was somewhere with this range of colours at home!

After another quick dip in the pool it was time to get our bags and head off to the main train station, Hua Lamphong.  I had pre-booked our tickets to Chiang Mai from home, and they were waiting for us at our hotel when we checked in.  So efficient.  I had pre-booked and pre-paid all of our accommodation and travel arrangements online, as so far (fingers crossed) everything has gone very smoothly.  Originally I tried to book first class air-con sleepers, but they were already sold out.  So it was second class air-con sleepers instead.  The main difference is that the second class sleepers are either side of a central aisle.  What are seats during the day flip up to become beds in the evening.

As it turned out, we were the only family travelling in second-class.  Our fellow passengers – around forty people in our car – were a few Thai and the rest twenty-something European backpackers.  Up until then I hadn’t really thought that we were doing anything particularly adventurous by travelling independently through Thailand with our primary school age kids, but maybe we are!  The internet and easy accessibility of information has made it so straightforward, however, and we do have the added bonus of English being such a commonly spoken language.

Both girls slept beautifully overnight.  Dan and I were more restless – the lights in the corridor stayed on all night, and despite having curtains across the sleeper it was pretty bright.  My advice to anyone taking a sleeper to Chiang Mai is to take an eye mask with you!  The restaurant car was another funny experience, as it came complete with English language songs from the 1960s, none by the original artists, all made boppy.  The food on board was quite tasty, and we particularly enjoyed having coffee brought to us in the morning after we awoke. Travelling by train is a wonderful experience.

So here we are, in Chiang Mai.  It’s late Sunday morning, we’ve all showered and refreshed ourselves, I’ve found free wifi and time to update the blog, Clare has answered loads of  iPod messages from friends – mostly questions about the toilets – and Dan and Stella have gone for a quick walk.  Our guesthouse (another recommendation from our friends) is also marvelous.  I am the chief researcher and organiser, so had better pull out the map and guidebooks again shortly.  I wonder what today will bring?

Okay, for the next few weeks this has become a travel blog rather than a sewing blog.  Those of you who are here for the craft may as well click away now, and instead I’ll wave to the family and friends who aren’t usually here for the craft but are currently here for the holiday updates!

Yesterday (Friday) was all about the kids.  It’s hard to decide what to do and see when you are in a major international city with a limited amount of time.  Stella squeezed in a morning swim straight after breakfast, while the rest of us pondered our plan of attack for the day.

We decided to take public transport across to the Siam Paragon. We took a taxi for the short trip to the skytrain station, and once again it did a u-turn across two lanes of moving traffic. I don’t know that I’ll ever get used to that!

Train fares from Thon Buri station to Siam station were only 37 baht per person (one Australian dollar is around 28 baht at the moment). However, taxis are super cheap – the taxi home again from Siam Paragon cost less than 100 baht. For a family of four, metered taxi is a very economical way to travel. The sky train could have taught Melbourne’s public transport system a lesson or two. Air conditioned, no graffiti, comfortable, announcements about each station in more than one language as well as visual representations of where you were, and television screens. The passengers were all on their mobile phones, just the same as at home! And another miracle – people stood up to offer the children seats.

The Siam Paragon was an amazing shopping centre. It started off with a very impressive lobby. As the girls said – this is much nicer than Norflanz.

The first level was full of luxury goods, all the well-known mega-expensive brands that we could never afford to buy. There were also luxury cars, sound systems, and all related items. Once we made it up to the third level we found lower priced department stores and a shop for kids selling Rilakkuma teddy bears. Our hotel has these teddies in our family room, and the kids were rather taken by them. Especially this giant one (that would definitely not fit into our suitcases).

The biggest challenge then became actually finding Kidzania. Once we got there we were very impressed. We’ve never come across a theme park quite like it. It’s all about edutainment – the kids get to be various professions and parental involvement is strictly discouraged. It’s all about the kids interacting and learning and doing jobs to earn money (Kidzos) and then spend it on other activities. The kids got to be newspaper reporters, radio hosts, vets, doctors, firefighters, gas station people, dancers, magicians, cooks, 3G workers, courier deliverers, and models.

The girls also had makeup and nails done, attended university and learned about astronomy and took cooking classes. And that was all that we could fit in over the course of six hours – and there were still at least as many other activities that they didn’t get to, including police, detectives, pilots, lawyers, bankers, life insurance sales, milk factory, burger shop, seven eleven, photographer, sportspeople, builders, etc etc etc. We stayed and watched them have fun for the day, but apparently many parents leave the kids there with synchronised security tags and spend their day shopping while the kids have fun.

Our taxi ride home gave us a good taste of Bangkok traffic jams. Then it was a quick dinner and off to bed, all completely exhausted. Today is our last day in Bangkok – I can see a number of hours in the pool in our future.

Friends of ours visited Thailand with their primary school age kids last year.  They were generous enough to share the results of all their research and planning with us, and consequently we are staying at the same accommodation and are taking part in many of the same activities that they did.  Why reinvent the wheel!  One of the activities they suggested was a walking food tour with Bangkok Food Tours, and that is how we kicked off the day yesterday. Our hotel was in walking distance from the tour meeting point. There were lots of interesting things to see on the way, including a full outdoor gymnasium and other sporting facilities all built underneath a massive bridge that spans the river Mae Nam Chao Phraya that winds its way through the centre of Bangkok.

Crossing the bridge way up high also allowed us to get a different perspective on the city – and to watch the traffic. Wow, the traffic – the taxis, tuk tuks, motorbikes, vans and private cars that speed their way through the city and dodge and weave rather artfully. Our traffic “highlight” experience last night included our taxi doing a U-turn across two completely packed and moving lanes of traffic in peak hour. He just kept on edging his way in and kept on turning – it was rather astounding to watch, and all the other drivers were very polite and gradually let him in. There is no way that anything even vaguely similar would happen back in Australia! I couldn’t do anything but laugh incredulously.

Our food tour took us to five different restaurants all within walking distance of one another, and also included visits to other local landmarks including a temple complex. Olive was a marvelous guide, and provided us with information about the style of food, the family running the business – in some cases the third or fourth generation – and encouraged us to try things that were out of our usual comfort zone.

I think that the most exciting thing on the food tour for us as parents was watching Clare actually TRYING different foods and even liking the curry chicken noodles!

Stella pretty much just stuck to eating rice and roti – and plenty of ice. There were lots of other interesting Bangkok sights to see as we wandered around, many rather ubiquitous.

And who needs a sewing room when you can do alterations on a street corner?

We were completely stuffed with food by the time that our tour finished. I really recommend it if you are visiting Bangkok – a great way to get a feel for the area and to sample some of the tasty wares. But I have to admit that the chilli factor in the cooking can be slightly problematic for us, even with dishes that we ask to be mild. Dan claims that he loves spicy foods, but he coughed, choked and spluttered a great deal after chomping down on something in the soup! Then it was back to the hotel for a couple of hours.

At this stage, I think that the pool is still Stella’s favourite activity. We decided to pop over to Khao San Road in the late afternoon so I could reminisce – I have been to Bangkok before, but only for a couple of days at the end of my backpacker year more than twenty years ago. The stalls and bars don’t seem to have changed much, except for all the free wi-fi. And I don’t remember eating doughnuts on a stick.

As soon as darkness began to fall, the area began to liven up and feel decidedly dodgy. It was definitely time to get the kids out of there and head home to the hotel. Clare didn’t like the touts, pushy vendors or the number of tattoo places at all – she felt quite uncomfortable. Stella was oblivious to all of that, and enjoyed seeing colourful hair accessories and trinkets. We crossed over to Rambuttri Road where the feel was more pleasant, and Stella soon did what she does and started dancing to some music that was playing outside a restaurant. She entertained a small crowd for a few minutes.

Well, it’s time to see if the rest of the family are awake yet. We are planning a trip to Siam Paragon today, especially to visit Kidzania which was recommended to us by a family we met in the pool. It will be interesting to see the contrast between Khao San Road and the luxury shopping centre of Siam Paragon! We will catch the sky train there for another local experience. So far, all is very good!

Well, I suppose that technically day one was the day we arrived.  But since we spent most of that day in the air – and I have to say, both my daughters were superb travelers – and didn’t arrive at our hotel until almost midnight, yesterday (Wednesday) was really day one.

The rest of my family have already adapted to Thai time, but my body seems firmly attuned to the time in Melbourne. So I was well and truly awake by dawn. The photo above is the view from our hotel window. After breakfast we decided to take a trip up the river to Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace.

One of the funniest things has been that the girls appear to be a tourist attraction in their own right.  They have been photographed many times both by locals and other tourists.  They do stand out with their blonde hair – actually, there are less Anglo-European people here than I anticipated.

The afternoon was spent in the hotel pool.  Our new bathers got a workout – and my husband also got a workout in the form of a thai massage.

Today we plan to take a food tour of the Bang Rak district.  Tasting food – ticks all boxes for me!  We have quickly realised that one activity a day outside the hotel is all that the kids can manage.  The rest of the time is clearly destined to be spent in the pool.