This trip runs from Jan 29, 2018 when we left Toronto airport to Thailand via Taiwan until March 3rd when we arrived back. Most of the hotels and flights were booked before we left. One of the reasons for the pre-booking was that I found that some hotels and flights were filling up when I started on the bookings in January. This may have been because of the Chinese New Year which begins February 16, runs for several days after that, includes a school break and many people from the region take holidays then.
Taipei Jan 30-Feb 2
We arrived in Taipei early Tuesday morning after a 15 and a half hour trip. The trip on EVA Airlines was fine; just very long. Despite the jet lag, we saw many interesting temples, museums, a hot spring, and a mountain village here. Unfortunately, it was rainy and cool the whole 4 days.
We took a day-long tour, Ultimate Taipei Sightseeing Tour, with a great tour guide, Kelly Yaxuan Lin, who was knowledgeable and entertaining. We visited the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, where you can walk up the 89 steps to the bronze statue commemorating the former President of the Republic of China. We watched the changing of the guard using the goose-step (the smiling Chiang Kai-shek according to the guide was smiling so as to be the people’s friend although he did not and was not in life) and walked the square where many Taipei events are celebrated.
The tour included a visit the Lin An Tai Historical House, a Southern Fujianese-style house.
Then we spent about an hour exploring the Thermal Valley, including the Beitou Hot Springs to observe the region’s bubbling springs and we visited a famous temple in the Wanhua District.
Afterward, we enjoyed a 1.5-hour guided tour of the National Palace Museum, which included painting, calligraphy, ceramics and bronzes along with Tang and Ming dynasty treasures on exhibit. Our guide pointed out the famous jadeite cabbage, meat-shaped stone (created from banded jasper) and the Cauldron of Duke Mao.
We finished up at the bustling Shilin Night Market with plentiful food and shopping options but we were tired and not impressed so we went for dinner.
We also took a half day tour north of Taipei. It rained heavily throughout the whole trip. As you can see we are dressed warmly. We still visited a water fall and painted lanterns in the Pingxi Xinbei City. The story of the painted lanterns is that if you write a wish on the sides of the lantern and send off the lighted lantern, your wish will come true. Being the logical people that we are, we asked if anything caught on fire when the lanterns came down-the answer if ‘yes’! It was rainy and cool but we had fun.
On our own we visited the Taipei 101 tower, the world’s 9th tallest skyscraper, but the visibility wasn’t that great and rode the elevator to the 80th floor observatory; we also visited another very lovely old temple: Bao-an.
Bao-an Temple
Bangkok Feb 3-7
Map of Thailand
We left Taipei at 9 pm on Friday and arrived in Bangkok just after midnight and went to an airport hotel-nothing special. No more cool days now for the rest of the month! We took the metro downtown to the Modena Hotel, a Fraser Hotel-very new and lovely. At every shop, house and hotel, there is a shrine like this one at the hotel with flowers and food offerings.
Other than the metro, our main transportation was by tuktuk – not the safest travel but a great adventure as you zip through the traffic and back streets and not great for respiratory problems as the air quality in Bangkok is terrible. It is a fair distance from the hotel to the old city but the metro is very efficient and the tuktuks take you the rest of the way.
Tuktuks
After we settled in at the hotel, we took the metro to a large outdoor weekend market on Saturday that sold everything! We had a beer and spring rolls and watched the crowds. We slept 12 hours and went on the Metro (about .50 each-5 subway stops and about 5 km after the Metro by tuktuk to the centre of the temples on Sunday . We took a ride on a longboat on the river and canals-very rocky and noisy; the tour took us past the homes on the canals and the temple sand we visited a famous temple, Wat Aran.
Longboats and Temple Warriors at Wat Aran
We went back to the mainland to visit the Grand Palace but were told that it was closed to visitors until 2:00 pm because only the Thai people could enter to pray, which turned out to be untrue. So for a very cheap price, we hired (we should have known there was a catch) a tuktuk to take us to the huge Standing Buddha (who was covered in scaffolding), the White Marble Temple (where we met some guys from Madrid, Spain), and then the tuktuk driver talked us into visiting 2 tailors so that he could get a bonus–at the third, I drew the line – no more tailors.
Then we went into the Grand Palace -massive, ostentatious and stunning! It was hot. You have to wear long pants and sleeves, no bare arms, legs or shoulders to visit the temples. You can buy clothes to wear if you forget. Entry was 500 BHT which is $20.
Imperial Palace
Monday we went back see more temples and visit Chinatown. We have been eating mostly street food-Pad Thai for $2 Can each. We took the metro and tuk tuk to the Wat Phra temple which is an amazing full block of temples built by various kings. It is the location of the reclining buddha which is so huge that it took 3 photos to get it all.
We walked to Khao San Road which is famous for being the backpacker capital of the world-just a street of shops and restaurants.
We had a glass of wine (which is hard to find) and a beer and people-watched. Then we took at tuktuk to Chinatown and came home. At 5:30 we went to a major metro station just to experience of rush hour madness – you were literally pushed into the subway car. We had dinner at a food market where you choose among various foods and which is a local favourite-not great.
Tuesday we were picked up at 6:00 am for a tour, a 100 km trip to a Floating Market, Damneon Saduak. First we had a longboat tour around the canals, visited an orchid farm and then we got on a large row boat with 3 others. We bumped and banged our way around the water’s edge market. Some of the others bought things like magnets, small paintings of elephants and a carved elephant. Bill bought a White cotton shirt for 300 ($12). Our boat pilot was a woman.
The tour company dropped us at Jim Thompsons’ house-he was a very successful American who was an architect who built a successful silk business and a fabulous traditional Thai house made up of 6 separate buildings that he moved to this one location, made entirely of teak. The gardens are an oasis in the city.
Jim Thompson House
That evening, we went to Chinatown for seafood – amazing number of street restaurants, people, noise, lights. We had an awesome fish dinner with large beer for 650 BHT, $25 and a plate of mussels for $8.
Everyone we talked to hated Bangkok and loved Chiang Mai. We enjoyed them both – they are very different! On our way tomorrow by air to Sukhothai for 4 days.
Sukothai Feb 7-10
It took all day but we arrived in Sukhothai around 5:00 pm on Wednesday (the airport is 20 km outside of the old town), went for a walk to the National Park and had dinner at a restaurant on the way back. The hotel, Scent of Sukhothai, is great with carefully-maintained grounds, a swimming pool, good breakfast and helpful staff. The main-floor room had its own balcony in a building with 4 units.
Scent of Sukhothai- gardens and room
The park, a World Heritage site, full of the remains of hundreds of temples built around the 13th century is the main attraction. We took a tuktuk to the temples outside the main area and then we walked to the main temples in the centre of the park. The names of the temples can be seen by clicking on the photo.
The last two of the photos shows the way it might have looked and today. We stopped for Thai soup for lunch on the way home and had the pool to ourselves for an afternoon swim.
That night we found a good restaurant in walking distance – Junshine -we had a really good meal with a bottle of wine- wine is hard to find.
We went to another area of the ruins today a distance from the main area of the park via tuktuk. A mammoth standing buddha was at the top of a hill so we walked all the way up and back in the hot sun-it was worth it. The second hill there were the remains of a temple. The third hill, we said no thanks.
Wat Saphan Hin
When we returned we went to the National Museum and saw some of the stone carvings and buddhas that have been removed from the temples in the park-for preservation, I think. The stone buddha on the left was in the museum and on the right is a photo of the temple where it had resided.
National Museum
We are getting to know the meanings of the various poses of the buddhas: both hands in front, face up means fear; lotus seated with hands in lap is meditation.
We had soup and a beer for lunch and walked back, swam in the pool and read. The next day we had our 4-5 hour bus trip to Chiang Mai. Sikhothai has been a much quieter place and we have taken it easier and even taken time to read.
Chiang Mai Feb 10-18
We arrived in Chiang Mai after a 6 hour bus ride – long but OK. A open air taxi (pickup truck with benches) brought us to the hotel, Raming Lodge, which was fine-a bit out of date but it has character and the breakfast was good. We stayed for 8 days and our friends from BC whom we met in Turks and Caicos in 2015, Laurie and Fred, arrived on Wednesday.
Open Courtyard at Raming Lodge
We had a full day tour of temples and shopping with a tuk tuk driver who was very charming and inexpensive. He took us to free temples and then shopping- a bit tedious at times but we have shopped enough in Asia to know the picture. One of the places we visited was a silk factory: I had seen this process before but not the worms actually making the silk.
The worms eating leaves; The creating of the silk
Woman spinning; Silkworm cycle
In the last store, there was a red cashmere pashima that I liked and got for half the price he was asking by walking away several times. The tuktuk driver had asked us to go to this particular shop and if we did, he got a free dinner- a likely story but who knows and it was his birthday (confirmed by his wife whom we met)!!
That night we walked to the night market: it was mad: wall to wall people. We got off on a side street where the food was and it was a little better. One of the very funny incidents happened there. We ran into the couple from Whitehorse who stayed next to us in Sikhothai – what are the chances?? We had some wonderful Pad Thai made in the street by a woman with a wok, propane and fresh vegetables.
Today we walked to a large temple, Wat Chedi Luang. This little guy was talking to the elephant! The buddha on the bottom is created with the 5-headed Great Serpent called Naga. Notice that I have no shoes; we spent a lot of time taking off shoes.
Then we had a ticklish foot massage with the fish tanks (as we did in Rhodes), had lunch, took the tuktuk to a 3D museum with special effects, Art in Paradise, so you videoed yourself being chased by a shark, in a earthquake or on a cliff. We walked back-it’s hot out there!
We went to a cooking class today at the Asia Scenic Thai Cooking School; we visited the market first to see the herbs, spices and vegetables and then we were guided through five dishes. We had a really good teacher and the food was great. Note to self: when the Thai chef asks you how hot you want it: 1-10, say 3! We’ll need to try some of the recipes when we get home-we have the recipe book!
Very hot here – 92 and getting hotter for the rest of the week. We then walked to Chinatown, had a beer and walked back. The pool felt really good!
In our quest to see more of the city, we walked to the flower gardens and then to the Silver Temple. At the silver temple, only men were allowed inside – I wondered aloud what would happen if a woman went in. On the way we saw this man putting flowers on the buddha shrine by the bridge – it was the Chinese New Year.
Our friends, Laurie and Fred (who live in Gibsons, BC -we have kept in contact since we met them in Turks and Caicos in 2015) arrived on Wednesday at dinner time and met us at the pool (they were staying in the same hotel); then we went to a restaurant down the street with a buffet where there was plenty of food but it was not memorable despite Trip Advisor’s recommendation. Thursday, the four of us walked down to the river, Ping, and hired a boat for a 2-hour trip up the river to a cafe/farm and back. The photo on the right is of Bill and a cannonball tree.
Afterward we had a swim in the pool and went for a drink at a bar that advertised itself as a wine bar. The owner explained that it was an old sign so then we ordered the one red wine that they had only by the glass but they had no white so Laurie ordered a lemoncello and he didn’t have that so she ordered a mixed drink. Guess what, they didn’t do mixed drinks! We had dinner at Dada Kafe where we had had lunch earlier and again the food was very good.
Today we had a full day trip to a tribal village where the women wear rings around their neck from an early age and never take them off except to increase the rings when their necks lengthen- they are called the long necks tribe – a bit gross. Then we visited an orchid and butterfly farm – very beautiful.
We arrived at the Mae Teang elephant farm where the elephants did a show: they danced, kicked the soccer ball in the net and lifted Bill’s hat off his head -they even painted and they were quite good. We fed the elephants bananas and sugar cane (they eat 220 kilos of food a day).
We had a ride down the river on a bamboo raft-very peaceful and I took a turn at steering the boat along.
We had lunch – a good buffet. Then we rode on the back of an elephant (with a driver); it is a very lumbering, rocky ride and the driver kept saying, “oh my buddha, oh my buddha” pretending to be worried. The elephants are such magnificent creatures; it was our first time up close and personal and it was an inspiration.
We finished with a ride on a a cart pulled by two oxen. The best part was the great group that we had: Laurie and Fred, Josephine and Anthony from Malaysia who insist that we come to visit them in Malaysia and some great young people from Hungary.
We had dinner at the hotel that night – good burgers (not my favourite meal but everyone else was happy). Today we walked to to Chinatown bought a few little things (Laurie is helping Bill buy rubber sandals) and some silk for my friend, Sue. Bill loves the sounds and smells of the markets; you could eat many strange things including scorpion-no, we didn’t!
We had lunch at ‘Good View’, a place on the river that we had heard good things about: it was good and the view was great. We walked back (it was very hot) and jumped into the pool. One of the things to keep in mind here is that they only sell liquor and beer between 11 and 2 and 5-7 in the 7-Eleven but you can get them in the restaurants and bars in those hours, somewhat surreptitiously – one day we had our wine and beer in mugs. Also, you need to go to a bank with your passports to get cash on a debit card with the exception of Bank of Siam ATMS which are purple.
A Danish man and his Thai wife told us about the excellent restaurant next to the hotel called Chez Marcel and the four of us had a great meal there- right next door!
On our last day, Sunday, in Chiang Mai, we walked the streets of the old town with Laurie and Fred, visited a market beside a temple and had lunch. Bill and Fred sounded the gong! The messages such as this one, ‘Life’s crisis should be overcome by mindfulness and wisdom’ (aside from the apparent error-‘crises’) were posted in the trees in the yard of the temple.
We left on the 3:00 pm hotel shuttle for the airport. There was a metal check before entering the airport. The hour and 20 min flight left on time and included a meal. The connection in Bangkok was easy and on the 55 min flight again we got fed.
Koh Samui Feb 18-24
The hotel shuttle in Koh Samui was late so a kind woman at the airport office called the hotel and reported that the driver was on his way. It’s a very small airport so one doesn’t want to be left there. It took an hour to get to the hotel and the driver stopped at the 7Eleven (they’re everywhere) so we could get beer, wine and water. The store was about a kilometre from the hotel so we noted that it might be a good hike in the heat of the day.
The first map shows the island and the second is the Evacuation route in the event of a tsunami or other emergency.
Maps of Koh Samui
The hotel, Centra by Centara Coconut Beach Resort, is on the opposite side of the island from the airport on the north-east side and quite remote-we couldn’t see another resort from our beach. The resort is quite new and modern but off the beaten path which in one way is a bonus because there were no hawkers and it is quiet.
The rooms are large and our first floor room opens onto the long pool that runs the length of the building that has two floors. It is stocked with coffee, cream and water, has a tub and shower, TV and CD player, beach towels. There is a spa, restaurant and bar, another pool next to the beach and beach frontage. The water is warm but there is seaweed both in the water and on the beach. The debris on the beach is not very attractive and quite disappointing.
View from our room and the pool at the beach
On Monday, we got up late, sat in our chairs in the morning sun on our porch on the long pool, had a swim and went to the front desk to get some information on the spa, the tours and the hotel’s’ bribe to stay on-site’: if you pay 10,000 BAHT up front, they add 3000 BAHT and at the time that seemed like a good deal. Because it is a long way to other restaurants, we felt that we would probably eat on site as Laurie and Fred had told us that the food is good, if a bit more expensive than Chiang Mai. There was talk of rain but the only day it rained was on our boat trip on Friday. However, it was always windy as seen in these photos.
We had a good lunch, sat on the beach and swam and read for the afternoon. We went for Happy Hour (2 for 1) at 6 and waited for the buffet to start. It was all set up and we watched the proceedings and waited and watched and …; finally, Bill said that we’d better order from the menu because nothing was happening. I had a Skype meeting with my friend and former student, Cathy Griffin, at 8 pm so we had to get going. The staff apologized profusely but we never found out what happened. My dinner was good, though. There are people from many places here-Sweden, Canada (living in Hong Kong), Austria, Japan, China.
Tuesday, we had coffee on the porch, swan in the long pool, sat in the morning sun and read. We are looking into a tour for tomorrow, Wednesday. We have been relaxing and relaxing-following Fred’s prescription for cleansing: beer and wine, beer and wine! Lots of swimming in the sea (although it is seaweedy) and in the pools, reading, people-watching and chatting. There are few English-speaking people here, except the staff.
We met a Swiss man on the road to the 7Eleven with his two dogs in a motorcycle with side car with benches and he gave us a ride in. He sold a business in Switzerland, has a Thai wife and has lived there for 10 years because “life is better in Thailand”. It was an interesting walk back (same distance going left or right on the main road) with the combination of paved and dirt roads, shacks, big beautiful houses and various levels of resorts.
Since we bought the deal for paying 10,000 BHAT up front to get 13,000, we are working at spending it. We both had a great massage yesterday and are enjoying Happy Hour.
Friday was a full day tour On our last day on Koh Samui, we had a fabulous day trip on the Red Dragon on Classic Thai Yachts Sunset Boutique Cruise to Ang Thong Park.
Our group included 20 others from many countries and we met a really friendly couple from London, UK that we spent time with. We toured on this good size boat with lounges on the front deck, restaurant below and hot tub. We sailed along Ang Thong Park`s most interesting limestone islands, which rise from the sea as dramatic rock cliffs and bizarre rock formations.
We cruised the northernmost islands of the park at Koh Wao and saw many of the local islands that have been worn into shapes like monkeys, dragons and turtles and stopped for kayaking along the coastline to explore sensational cliffs and magical tunnels that are only found at this location.We were no sooner in the water than it began to pour rain, just pelted down, but we were already wet so away we went. As time went on the water became rougher but we managed to keep afloat and get back to the boat.
Then we had a delicious breakfast and sailed to the snorkelling site along the coastline. By that time, it had stopped raining and we saw lots of colourful fish and coral.
We then had a great lunch with our UK friends and went back up on the front deck in the sun. After lunch, we arrived at Koh Mae Koh Island to be transferred to the beach.We climbed 150 very steep steps through dense rain-forest and narrow ravines to see a beautiful viewpoint overlooking the surrounding islands. Then we arrived at a lagoon in the mountain. We witnessed a hidden saltwater lake completely enclosed by walls, known as Emerald Lake and nicknamed The Blue Lagoon (inspired by the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach in which they dive and swim but which, in fact, is full of sharp limestone rocks).
On the sail back to Koh Samui we saw a short sunset and were fed ice cream.
Koh Lanta Feb 24-Mar1
Saturday was moving day: we got the shuttle to the airport and after a 55 min flight we arrived at another small airport, Krabi, where the shuttle van was waiting for us. Like other small airports, Sukhothai and Samui, Krabi is full of flowers and open air restaurants.
We drove for a half hour, got a short ferry from the mainland to the island of Koh Lanta, drove another hour and a half arriving around 4:00, just in time to have dinner at the hotel restaurant and watch the sunset. The hotel sits on a hill with cabins up the hill, facing the beach below. Each cabin has a porch -ours faces the sea- where we sit in the morning and before dinner.
There are 3 pools, 2 restaurants, massage salon, large beach frontage on a spectacular beach that goes as far as you can see. Sunday, we went for breakfast -huge assortment of foods- went to the beach and read. For late lunch, we walked to the Majestic Hotel Restaurant where we split a papaya salad and walked back. We are debating if we need another day tour out on the water.
When we were sitting on the porch on Sunday we saw a monkey – very cute. He was in the trees eating fruit and dropping the pits down on the roof of the cabin. We walked into town to find beer and wine. It was scorching hot but we found a store on the way back near the hotel. Note that you can buy gasoline for your motorbike by the bottle.
That night we had dinner in the hotel restaurant and the chef made us a dinner of prawns, calamari, grouper with vegetables-excellent! We watched ‘The Beach’ based in the Emerald Lake that we visited; the TV programming is mostly old movies.
Monday we had breakfast, read and swam at the beach, walked the beach.
Then went to a restaurant, Thai Smile Bungalos, that a couple from Whitehorse that we met in Sikhothai recommended. It’s up the coast about 6 km and a little off the beaten path but we found it along with the songthaew (open-air taxi) driver. It is a restaurant run by an Englishman and his Thai wife who is a chef. He told us that the local population is 90% Muslim so we saw more head scarves. In the rest of the country, they are 90% Buddhist.
Songthaew and Thai Smile Bungalos
The meal was really good, inexpensive and in a lovely location. The ride back in the tuktuk was rough-the roads are a mess.
Wednesday we had an hour Thai aromatic oil massage (600 BHAT-$24) – excellent. Then we spent the day at the beach, had lunch, read and swam. We are headed for a walk and look for a place for dinner. We found a place, Roi Thai, on the beach for dinner and with the sunset, candles and good fish, it was great.
Today included our usual routine (for the last time this trip) but the exciting thing was we had a monkey this morning. There were at least a dozen of them, all ages, running up and down the trees and roof tops of the cabins, eating bananas off the trees and generally making quite a show. We really are in the forest here with plants, trees and flowers.
We are having dinner at the hotel tonight-special beach barbecue- and watch the sunset.
We had a great fish dinner (mussels, squid, bass and vegetables) last night at the hotel. And a mango margarita!
This morning we had another monkey show (they are Macaque monkeys, I’m told). They were all sizes running and jumping, eating and fighting over bananas in the trees. One of them went into the next bungalow but the neighbour shooed him out. They will take things so you are warned not to leave your towels or bathing suits on the porch railing. Anyway, it was very entertaining.
It’s been very hot in Koh Lanta – 31-32 in the day and 26-27 at night. So the air conditioner is going whenever we are in the cabin except for coffee on the deck in the morning and a drink there later in the afternoon. Sometimes, there’s a breeze but not the strong winds we had in Koh Samui. The only day that it rained was the day of our boat tour!
The food has been very good. When it’s good, it’s very good and when it’s not, it’s not. We’ve had some really good meals. The first night in Koh Lanta we had Pad Thai and Cashew Chicken and it was great. We’ve had good Tom Yum and curry and spring rolls. Sometimes things are too hot or have too much coconut in them. To start we had trouble finding decent wine but the resorts have had OK wine but little choice.
Most of the voices you hear are not English. They are Eastern European/Russian or Chinese/Japanese with a few Europeans ( French, Swiss), Indians and Scandinavians.
We loved Koh Lanta. It is very Thailandese and not well-developed yet probably because it is a distance from the Krabi airport. The Srilanta Resort was very lovely, especially the beach- white, wide, long, very few people, clear water with low waves. The tide here is 4-5 ft: you could tell by the depth of water when you were swimming and how much of the rocks were visible.
Tomorrow we are taking the taxi to Krabi, the airport town so we are easily able to get to the airport Friday morning to start the journey home.
Krabi – Mar 1-2
Today, Thursday, we took the taxi to Krabi and arrived around 2:30. The hotel, Krabi Home Town Boutique, was fine – good pool but nothing much nearby. The hotel was a hoot! The room was big and nice – 2 king size beds, new bathroom, view of the pool . We swam in the pool and it was clean and had 2 fountains. However, there were only 4 lounge chairs, 3 of which were occupied.
We were given information about a restaurant 200 metres up the road so we walked there and the owner said that she was closed because of the holiday. We informed the hotel staff and she said we would need a taxi to downtown where there were many restaurants.
As I was negotiating a taxi, Bill talked with some Brits that we had seen at the pool. They told us that there was very little downtown and that they were going to the beach, AoNang, 10 km away where there were many places to eat and invited us to go in their taxi. I sat in the front and Bill and the three of them crowded in the back.
Ao Nang downtown
We arranged with the taxi driver to come back and get us at 8:15. We were informed by guys on the street that it was a holiday and no alcohol was available. We kept walking and looking at places to eat and found one that had fresh fish, beer and wine-very good meal. Half way through the meal, we heard the staff telling customers that there was no alcohol because it was a Buddhist holiday . They had been warned to stop serving alcohol or face consequences so we just made it under the wire. We waited for the taxi but he didn’t turn up so we hired a songthaew.
In the morning I had to dry my hair with Bill holding my hand mirror in the bedroom as there was no plug and no dryer in the bathroom and no mirror in the bedroom! The staff, however, were very helpful. The joys of traveling.
Bangkok Mar 2-3
At Summit Windmill Golf Resort we are in a fabulous apartment-size room with sitting room, kitchen, bedroom, dressing room and bathroom. Quite luxurious.
The golf course is green and perfect with women caddies with the same powder blue uniforms with numbers and hats that look like the Handmaid’s Tale. Also, the course is lighted like a baseball stadium and so they golf into the night which is sensible when it’s so hot in the day! This is how the other half lives and they’re not from Thailand. We had what may have been the best fish dinner so far at the resort restaurant (with a female chef) and Spanish Crianza.
Last Thoughts
There is very little English heard although most people can speak English; we heard many European, Eastern European, Scandinavian and Chinese languages spoken.
We have eaten mostly Thai food. Some favourites are Tom Yum soup, Green and Red Curry, Pad Thai, Cashew chicken. When it’s good, it’s great and when it isn’t…. Having said that, we had some great meals like the fish dinners at Srilanta and Centra.
All this time in Thailand and I can only speak two words: Sawasdeka (S̄wạs̄dī) -Hello, and Kobkunka (k̄hxbkhuṇ)-Thank you. Even when I did try other words, the pronunciation is difficult and they didn’t understand me. Ka is the female and Krup is the male.
We love Thailand! It is at times not as clean, both air and streets, as we are used to; at times a challenge to walk the streets with the poor condition of the sidewalks and the stores and restaurants flowing out onto the sidewalks and, most of the time, full of friendly, caring people. If there wasn’t such a long bucket list, we would definitely return.
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