Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Thailand - Pattaya and Laem Chabang

Monday, March 16, 2009 – Laem Chabang (for Bangkok and Pattaya) Thailand
Hot and sunny – 92 degrees
Since the drive to Bangkok is approx. 2 hours each way and we’ve been there several times, we opted for Pattaya, a beach resort about ½ hour away from the port. We arrived again at the commercial port and had a wonderful indoor area of vendors and masseuses!

Pattaya has three separate bays. Local tourism authorities are working to increase tourism with theme parks, golf courses and shopping plazas. For example: the Nong Nooch Tropical Gardens with the world’s largest orchid garden; Mini Siam, a replica of Thailand’s most precious monuments reconstructed to 1:25 scale; Underwater World with three different marine worlds; the Sanctuary of Truth with daily dolphin show and massage services in a temple-palace designed to evoke the great ancient Khmer sanctuaries of Angkor; Sraracha Tiger Zoo with 200 Bengal tigers and 100,000 crocodiles and the Bottle Art Museum.

We opted to go to the Siam Bayview Hotel in Pattaya and then headed out to Elephant Village. We had a private hour long ride on Banjit, a male elephant. We sat in the “basket” saddle and went through the water, through the forest, through the village, on the highway and through the fields. We had two large bunches of finger-size bananas with us and were constantly stopping to feed him. He also ate most of the underbrush along the way. At times, the trees were higher than we were and we were on top of the elephant!! We enjoyed the bumpy ride and had fresh fruits waiting of us upon our return. This was a good selection as we could feed the rinds to Banjit.

Three buses from the ship arrived for the show and everyone was able to ride the elephants bareback and see an historical ceremony with people in costume. Per day, elephants drink approx. 156 gallons of water and eat 400 pounds of food. They sleep for four hours and if they sleep longer, their organs may get squashed! They excrete approx. 10-16 pounds every hour!! When they flap their ears, they want to bath/need to be cooled off. They can swim 2 km an hour and can use their trunk as a snorkel. They can pull ½ their weight and can clear land and push logs. Asian/Indian male elephants have tusks. Their ear looks like a map of India! Their tusks must be cut every four years. In this particular camp, there are 3 boys and 30 girls. They have four teeth (two up and two down) and we saw one eat a whole coconut. He squished it in his mouth and then squirted the juice over his back! They can get pregnant between 14-40/50 years of age and their gestation period is 18-22 months. They are three feet high at birth and weigh approx. 150 pounds. If you double the circumference of their footprint, it tells you the height of the elephant. We learned a lot and it was fun.

On to the jewelry factory! No visit to Thailand is ever complete without a jewelry visit! Thailand has the magnificent gems. They have five types of sapphires – blue, pink, yellow, orange and green. They have two types of rubies. Their faceting and setting skills create beautiful pieces of art and the prices are excellent. Their handicrafts are based on silk and teak wood and jade, pearls and gems. Back to the ship’s vendors and it seemed the entire ship was buying there again!!

Dinner in the buffet as were too late for dinner and to the show, the Odessa String Quartet, and I worked on the cocktail party for tomorrow night. Very tired and I just want to get to bed.

Thailand is a true melting pot of people and cultures. 90% of the population is Buddhist and even Thai kings humbly don the monk’s robes at age 13. Disrespect for the royal family and religious figures, sites and objects will cause great offense. Women should never touch a monk and when handing a monk an offering, he will provide a cloth for you to lay the item upon, and he will collect it. The feet are the lowest part of the body so even pointing your feet at someone is offensive. Shoes should be removed when entering a temple or private home. The head is the highest part of the body and should never be touched. Avoid confrontation or shows of anger or frustration.

The language is derived from Mon, Khmer, Chinese, Pali, Sanskrit and English. It is a tonal language, with distinctions based on inflection – low, mid-high, rising or falling tone. The BAHT is the currency and is currently 35 baht for one US$1.

Bangkok has an estimated population of over 12M in a country of only 60M. Choked with traffic, polluted and corrupt, the city is also the financial capital of one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

Historical Treasures:
- Grand Palace: built by King Rama I when the capital was moved from Thonburi to Bangkok in 1780.
- Jim Thompson’s House – a DELAWAREAN who served in Thailand and settled there. He revived their silk industry and mysteriously disappeared in 1967
- National Museum – was originally a palace and is now the largest museum in Southeast Asia
- (Wat means Temple.) Wat Po – Temple of the Reclining Buddha built in the 16th century and is the oldest and largest Buddhist temple in Bangkok. There are also these temples…the Emerald Buddha, the Golden Mount, the Marble Temple, the Temple of Dawn and the Golden Buddha.

Other must do’s in Bangkok: shopping at the night market or Weekend market or Thieves market, to a tailor, ride on a klong (canal) and the SkyTrain and in a tuk-tuk (three-wheeled vehicle), visit the Royal Barge Museum and Chinatown and the list goes on and on.
Thailand became a constitutional monarchy after a bloodless coup in 1932. The current king: His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej is the world’s longest reigning sovereign, who just celebrated 62+ years on the throne.