More of Chinese New Year

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Mike

Well, I ended up going over to Chinatown with my friend. It did n’t seem as crowded as last year, perhaps because we spent a lot of time down the back alleys away from the crowds.

Wat Mongkorn, perhaps the quintessential Asian temple.

Wat Mongkorn, perhaps the quintessential Asian temple.

Even though she is not Chinese-Thai, my friend wanted to make merit at as many temples as she could find …and there are plenty of wats in Chinatown. Perhaps one of the most quintessential “Asian” temples in Bangkok is Wat Mongkorn …think chanting monks, golden Buddhas and other statues, and clouds of incense smoke, then triple that as it was New Year and an auspicious time for hordes of worshippers to make merit.

feed the lion 20 baht and it will give you a "lucky " orange.

feed the lion 20 baht and it will give you a “lucky ” orange.

It was down one of the back alleys that we stumbled across a small temple absolutely filled with Buddhas and Chinese figurines, and one of the best lion dances I’ve ever seen going on outside. At one point the 2 lions were 3 persons high and chasing each others tails in circles at high speed !

Wat Traimit
Wat Traimit

Well that is 2 New Years gone, and another (Thai New Year) coming up in about 7 weeks, with all the madness and insanity that is Songkran.

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Happy Chinese New Year

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Mike

Or, today’s post is brought to you by the colour “red” ….

Not enough red yet ?
Year of the Goat
Year of the Goat

No prizes for guessing whereabouts in Bangkok I was yesterday !
I went across to Chinatown to get some photos without the crush of people that will be there for New Year today. I was not planning on going tonight but now a friend wants to go, so I’ll have to think about that ..we’ll see.

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Similan Islands snorkelling

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Mike

As I mentioned last week, I spent some time down in Phang-nga province and went out on a live-aboard snorkelling trip out to the Similan Islands National Park. A wonderful time was had, and I came back with hundreds of photos and video clips. I borrowed a GoPro and a Nikon 1 AW1 underwater camera again, as I did when I went down to Ko Phi Phi. As it turns out I took far more short video clips than photos and I have been trying to edit them into something worth watching for the last few days. Unfortunately there seems to be a problem with one of the GoPro memory cards, and neither Lightroom nor GoPro’s software can down load some of the clips off that memory card although I can play them back on the camera’s LCD screen. One of the clips has some good footage of a shark, a White-tipped Reef Shark I think it is …harmless unless you are a small fish. Anyhow, I’ve put the video project aside for a while to concentrate on some photos, much less of a headache.

similans-20 Before and after the boat trip I stayed at Poseidon Bungalows in Khao Lak which is part of the same operation as the snorkel tour. They have a variety of bungalows, but I went for one of the basic “Cheap Charlie” fan-cooled wooden huts with no frills but perched on a small hillside almost over the beach and with a great view. The bigger, more expensive bungalows are further back amongst the trees without the view. There is a small private beach just below the huts, or just a short walk down to the main beach.

The view from my bungalow ...950 baht/night

The view from my bungalow …950 baht/night

If you need noisy jet skis and pestering vendors during the day, and raging nightlife after dark, then Khao Lak is not for you. But if you like empty beaches to stroll along, where the only deck chairs are at the few very laidback beach bars where you can watch the sun set, then it might be your choice. It’s very different to Phuket just down the coast !

 

similans-17 Day 1 of the snorkel trip saw us leaving at 7am for a short ride to the pier in town, on to the boat and out to sea, with breakfast soon to follow. Although the boat can carry about 18 passengers there were only 10 on this trip, plus the guide, boat captain and his wife/cook, boat-boy and cook’s helper. One thing is for certain, despite all the exercise while snorkelling you will not lose any weight with all the excellent food they fed us !

similans-13 The islands are about 60km offshore, it took about 4 hours to reach our first destination, and we were soon in the water for the first of many snorkelling stops. While there is some dead coral laying around most of it seems in good condition, and being a Marine sanctuary there are lots of multicoloured fishes around you as soon as you get in the water. I saw a Moray Eel within minutes of getting wet.

Anchored in Donald Duck Bay

Anchored in Donald Duck Bay

We made a few more stops that day before anchoring in “Donald Duck Bay” at Island #8 for the night. If you have a good imagination one of the rocks on the headland looks a bit like Donald Duck’s head. There is a camping area on this island, and at sunset I think everybody climbed up to the Sail Rock lookout for the view.

The next morning we were off to new spots including one, “Elephant rock”, that our guide had never snorkelled before because usually the current is too strong. Even this time we had to get towed by the dinghy before drifting back to the boat over some very deep water. This is supposed to be a good dive spot, but it was n’t the best for snorkelling. I lost track of how many times we went into the water during the day, but I was certainly tired by the afternoon. In late afternoon we went ashore at the only other island with accommodation (Ko Miang) and did the short walk across from Princess Beach to Honeymoon beach. Apparently one of the princesses has a bungalow here, on the rare occasions that she stays there she gets the island to herself …one of the perks of being Thai royalty !

Parrotfish ?

Parrotfish ?

The next morning it was more of the same …eat, snorkel, move, snorkel, eat, move, snorkel, move, snorkel to finish at Hideaway bay. This is one of the best spots, spoilt only by day-tripping tourists who come over by speedboat to splash around fully clothed and wearing lifejackets while scaring away the fish. We had managed to avoid them for most of the trip by going to the most popular spots early, before they arrived from the mainland en-masse. And then after a thoroughly enjoyable 3 days it was back to the mainland for a couple of days at Poseidon again and then flying back to the Big Mango. Sad smile

If anybody is looking for a live-aboard snorkelling trip I can definitely recommend Poseidon Bungalows and Similan Tour, this is the second time I’ve been out with them and I’m already thinking about next year again perhaps …..Smile

Anyway, here are some more photos I took or you might want to check out some of the photos taken by the guides on their Facebook page …much better than mine but I guess practice makes perfect, perhaps I should go back down to Phi Phi and get some more practice Smile Taking decent photos while snorkelling is harder than while diving, you don’t have weights and a BCD to hold yourself steady underwater like a diver has so kudos to the guides for their photos.

Restaurant, Poseidon bungalows
Basic but comfortable
Powder_blue surgeon fish
Sunset over Donald Duck Bay, from sail rock
Donald Duck and Sail rocks
All that food came out of a tiny kitchen with 2 burners

 

 

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Breakfast with a view

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Mike

I am just back from a three day live aboard snorkelling trip out to the Similan Islands, about 60 kms off the west coast of Thailand. Sunburnt but happy !
image
This is the view from the restaurant at Poseidon Bungalows where I am staying. Back to Bangkok tomorrow, and start sorting through 64gb of photos and videos from the GoPro and Nikon AW1 cameras. We saw sharks, turtles, and multitudes of multicoloured tropical fish over the 3 days, hopefully I managed to get some decent shots !
It is hard to really tell on the small LCD screens of these cameras, so I am looking forward to seeing the results on my laptop. But for now, it will be a day of relaxing in the shade under a palm tree…..

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Myanmar, the logistics and other boring stuff

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Mike

 Just a few notes about hotels, transport, visas etc for anybody who might be going to Myanmar.

Visas

Myanmar has recently started an e-visa scheme for tourists of most nationalities arriving by air, where you apply online, upload a photo of yourself and get a letter of approval by email within a couple of days… http://evisa.moip.gov.mm/ … much quicker than going to an embassy to lodge and collect your passport and applications. Just show the approval letter at the airport and you are stamped in. They are planning to extend this to land entries later too.

Hotels

hotelsetc-1 In Mandalay I stayed at the Hotel Sahara which turned out to be a fairly good choice, apart from the luke warm water in the bathroom ….apparently my room (505) is the last in line plumbing wise, and sometimes the hot water never makes it that far ! No big deal though.

The breakfast was pretty good, staff were helpful, the room was clean and comfortable, wifi was slow but that is common all over the country I found. 8/10

In Bagan I stayed at the ‘Aung Mingalar Boutique Hotel” in Nyaung U….well it certainly was not “boutique”. From outside the grounds look ok, it’s in a good location, but really it’s more like a budget chain motel with grimy walls, just a few hooks to hang clothes, cobwebs on the ceiling …but it did have plenty of hot water and a comfy bed. Major annoyance was having the only switch for the main room light outside the room for some strange reason. Breakfast was basic, and make sure you eat it before the marauding crows. Wifi (paid) was only at reception, don’t know how much it cost or speed as I never used it. 4/10

hotelsetc-5 Yangon. I booked into the “New Yangon Hotel” in downtown part of the city, and got a room with a view of the river, but a much better view was available from the rooftop restaurant/bar. Pretty good breakfast included, helpful staff with excellent English, comfortable bed, fast wifi (ok, fast for myanmar Smile) and a good location. 8/10

Because of the tourist boom, the laws of supply and demand have pushed hotel prices up, especially in high season, so accommodation can seem expensive compared to other SEA countries. One of the inconveniences of Myanmar is that you are often expected to pay for hotels, tours etc in US dollars, which have to be pristine new notes without tears or marks on them. I had planned this trip out, and booked and paid for the hotels through Agoda so that I would n’t have to carry so much cash, but if you are free spirited go-where-the-path-takes-you sort of person who does n’t like to plan too far ahead then stock up on US dollars. There a number of ATMs connected to international  banking systems where you can withdraw local kyats but then you have to get out a large wad of 1000kyat notes to justify the bank fees. (1$US = approx 1050 kyat)

Food

I found Myanmar food to be a bit disappointing, too oily and a bit bland for my taste. But there are plenty of good Indian, Thai and “chinese’ places to eat so you will not go hungry. In Mandalay “Pan Cherry” near my hotel had huge servings of Indian food, more than I could eat in a day, for 4500 kyat including a coke, so that’s about $3.50 for the food.

In Bagan, “A little bit of Bagan” restaurant had great Indian food too, as well as a surprisingly good pizza and the 2nd best mango smoothie I’ve had in a long time (and I’ve tried plenty since moving to Thailand ). They also do pasta and Thai, and have ‘fast” free wifi.

But the very best mango smoothie was at KSS Cafe in Yangon ….uhmmm, yum ! 19th street is the nearest Yangon comes to a central tourist/backpacker area, at night there are many bars and restaurants to choose from. Ronald Mcdonald has n’t made it to Myanmar yet, but if you are desperate for a fix of fast food Lotteria near the New Yangon hotel has burgers and fried chicken, as well as hordes of local teenagers. And there is also a “Mr Clucky” fried chicken restaurant that looks awfully like a KFC. There’s also no Starbucks nor 7/11, but I did see a small minimart called SEVEN ELEVEN in the 7/11 colour schemeSmile. How long until the real thing gets to Myanmar ? probably not long, considering the number of 7/11s here in Thailand, and I’m sure Ronald will not be far behind. The moral of this story? ..if you are thinking of going to Myanmar, then go soon before the evil empires of western commerce spoil the place.

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Yangon

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Mike

The last stop on the trip was Yangon, which as I mentioned in an earlier post used to be the capital of Myanmar until the junta built a brand new city for their military government and moved all the government departments there. Combined with the economic sanctions in force at the time this caused Yangon to decline, with a lot of the beautiful old colonial buildings previously used by officialdom being left to decay.

But with the sanctions mostly lifted and tourism booming, Yangon is coming back to life. There are new buildings going up and lots of new cars on the road, but at least the drivers there only use their horns when actually needed, unlike Mandalay or even Bagan …it’s a lot quieter on the streets of Yangon. (for those familiar with SEA have a look at the street scenes of Yangon and spot what is missing from them)

yangon-20

yangon-1 The crowning jewel of Yangon and Myanmar is the Shwedagon temple, one of the most sacred of all Buddhist temples, and probably it’s most dazzling …or it would have been if the main chedi and it’s 27,000 kgs of gold was not covered up by scaffolding and bamboo matting Sad smile

But there was still plenty else to see anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

yangon-2

 

yangon-8 One thing that I noticed is that there are a lot of nuns compared to Thailand, and that they collect alms on the street as the monks do, something that does not happen in Thailand.

 

 

yangon-12 While walking around town I happened upon this young lad waiting for some sort of ceremony to start. Exactly what sort of ceremony I don’t know, but with a band playing and food being cooked the guests were enjoying themselves more than this fellow seemed to be !

 

 

 

 

yangon-15 And neither do I have any idea what this decorated pickup truck is all about either. I was trying to get a shot of the chedi floodlit at night when he just stopped in front of me.

 

 

Young nun
Yes, we have bananas
Young monks
Shwedagon temple
Grilled ….something

So what is missing from the streets of Yangon that is ubiquitous elsewhere in south east Asia ? Motorcycles, and anything resembling or that once was a motorcycle, are banned from the roads of Yangon. No tuktuks, no motorcycle delivery carts. Apparently one of the senior generals had his car sideswiped by a motorcycle in Yangon, so they just banned all motorcycles and their derivatives ! I guess you can do that when you are running a military dictatorship.

Another Myanmar oddity … In Myanmar they drive on the right of the road, but nearly all the vehicles are right-hand drive, with the steering wheel on the right. I saw some buses that were lefthand drive, with access doors on the right (kerb side) but most were right hand drive, and they had just cut a rough door with an oxy-torch on the right as well as the original doors on the left !

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