Sixth Wedding Anniversary in Thailand!

Hola, 

This is a very interesting post about the celebration of our sixth wedding anniversary in Thailand.  I had always wanted to visit Thailand and explore their culture and traditions but hadn't had the opportunity to do it.  Every year for our wedding anniversary we try to go to exotic places so this time we went to my dream place: Thailand.  It was amazing.  I enjoyed a lot, ate delicious food, rested and had a wonderful time with Paul.  I think we couldn't have selected a better place to celebrate all these great years of marriage.

Unfortunately we only stayed eight days and could only visit Bangkok and Koh Samui.  We were thinking of going to other areas but it was rainy in the north and therefore we decided to head south and stay most of the time in the beautiful island of Koh Samui.  I will walk you through the trip showing you a selection of pictures and giving you a few explanations and reflections. 

Paul and I met at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok at around mid day.  Paul arrived from Geneva and I arrived from Colombo.  After almost one hour in a taxi we arrived to our hotel where we spent two nights before going to Koh Samui.  The hotel was very beautiful, the service was excellent, everyone was smiling and we started to feel on holidays!

We had a very romantic and delicious dinner at the hotel, nice cocktails and a wonderful evening

Paul enjoying the dinner!

Next day we took a little boat from the hotel and crossed the Chao Phraya river to go to the old city.  Here is the view!

 There is a lot of contrast on the way.  On one side you can see very beautiful buildings, skyscrapers, and on the other a lot of poverty and houses built on poles over the river.

Here is Paul standing next to Tuk Tuks, typical Thai transportation

We went to Wat Phra Kaew which is a huge and very impressive compound that also includes the former residence of the Thai monarch, the Grand Palace.  The glittering temples and pagodas are amazing and you feel like hundreds of years back in time.  Within this area is located the most sacred Buddhist temple of Thailand,  known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.  We entered the temple and rejoiced in meditation and awe. 

Paul next to a mythical giant, Yaksha

Paul and I in front of the Wat Phra Kaew Complex

Grand Palace complex

Around the Grand Palace

Beautiful lotus

Children praying at the temple

Paul in front of the Ministry of Defense

After lunch we headed to Wat Pho where you can find the largest reclining Buddha statue, the largest collection of Budda images in Thailand and the country's earliest centre for public education.

The reclining Buddha statue is very impressive.  It is 46 m long and 15 m high and illustrates the passing of the Buddha into nirvana.  We were standing for a while just revering the magnificence of this statue and the tranquility it brings. 

The temple has more than 1000 Buddha statues

Beautiful and breath-taking

With one of the several Chinese stone giants guarding the gates

Had a great dinner in the evening after a long day walking, discovering historical places and getting amazed by the beauty of Bangkok

Next day in the morning we took a plane to Koh Samui, which is the third largest island in Thailand.  Koh Samui is located 700km south of Bangkok and about 80km from the eastern coastline of Southern Thailand.  It has a population of over 50,000.

  In down town Koh Samui

We stayed in a very beautiful hotel, and again, the service was outstanding.  People were very friendly, willing to help all the time and always with a smile in their faces! After exploring the hotel in the afternoon and enjoying the swimming pool, we had a delicious dinner in one of the restaurants of the hotel. 

Traditional Thai soup

We spent four nights and five days in Koh Samui.  Here is the entrance of the hotel. 

Koh Samui was probably first inhabited about 15 centuries ago, settled by fishermen from the Malay Peninsula and Southern China. It appears on Chinese maps dating back to 1687, under the name Pulo Cornam. The name Samui perhaps is an extension of the name of one of the native trees, mui, or came from the Chinese word Saboey, meaning "safe haven". 

We had a one day tour around the island, visiting several local places and a Safari Park.  Here is Paul at Wat Phra Yai or temple of the Big Buddha.  The statue was erected in 1972 and it is 12 m high. This is one of Koh Samui's landmarks visible from several kilometers away and from the air.

Paul ringing the bells around the Big Buddha statue and enjoying the amazing view!

In one of the local markets!

Hin Ta and Hin Yai, are very beautiful rock formations on Koh Samui’s south coast.  These rocks, known as Grandpa (Ta) and Grandma (Yai) look, respectively, like male and female genitalia.

A ride around nature - Here you can see a buffalo

Beautiful landscape

Anodas pool.  Unfortunately I don't remember the history of this place but these are beautiful statues carved in stone surrounding a water stream.

We visited Wat Khunaram temple that hosts a mummified monk called Luang Phaw Daeng, that has been dead for over two decades but his corpse is preserved sitting in a meditative pose and with a pair of sunglasses. 

Luang Phaw Daeng

At the Na Muang 2 Waterfall.  We were brought to this place to bathe for a while before heading to the animal park.

 

At lunch time we headed to Namuang Safari Park.  It was a good experience though it was a bit sad and disturbing.  We spent several hours in this park, observing animals and participating in several animal shows.

It was amazing how close you can be to nature. I could feed this sweet baby tiger.  It was a very beautiful experience though I wonder where his parents were and how comfortable he was standing there being touched by so many people.  I didn't see that he was mistreated, on the contrary the woman handling him was very friendly. 

We went on a half an hour ride around the park on an elephant.  I was a bit bothered by the guy who was walking the elephant.  He had a stick with which he beat the elephant and then he wanted to take pictures of us with our camera.  For one or two pictures it was ok but then when we asked if we could get the camera back he insisted he could continue taking pictures. We said no and he gave us a very serious look.  When the ride was finished he didn't even say goodbye to us.  I guess he was expecting us to tip him, which we didn't do.  It was very strange to be on top of the elephant and I was wondering if he felt comfortable having us there.  The comforting part for us is that we could give him many bananas and pamper his head and ears! These animals are just awesome!

There was an elephant show and here is Paul playing with the elephant!

The elephant show was very beautiful.  The elephants played, danced and performed very well. 

Several men were called to try to push the elephant but they couldn't do it.  The animator wanted to prove how heavy and strong elephants are and it was indeed funny to see so many guys pushing without any success.  Paul was one of those!

 

Then there was a monkey show! It was not very impressive but I liked a lot this little monkey dressed like a girl.  She was very delicate and knew how to sit properly.  The trainer was very friendly with her and they seemed to get along pretty well.

Here two monkeys playing with fire.  There was another show where they played with knives which I didn't like.  I was wondering why instead of teaching them to play with fire and knives, they don't teach them to play with objects, move around, play with people or do something less violent. 

This was the most disturbing show.  Three men were playing with crocodiles and putting their hands, heads and money inside their mouths.  It was very scary, sad and disturbing.  I kept thinking how dangerous it was and how silly it was to put money inside their mouths.  I was frightened all the time and on top of everything the animator, that not only animated this show but most of the other shows, was very nasty, using inappropriate language and making ridiculous jokes. 

The birds' show was perhaps the most beautiful.  These macaws were racing each other to fill those pots with cans.  They guessed the age of some of the people in the public and they were just wonderful.  

At the end we had the snakes show! Also scary but interesting.  Here is Paul pampering the snake!

On the way back to the hotel we stopped for a rubber tapping demonstration.  It was very interesting to see how they use a special knife to slice the bark of the rubber tree and let its milky sap trickle into a container.  Very short visit but interesting.

 

The other days we spent a wonderful time in the hotel, went to the gym, got a wonderful massage at the Spa, went to town for lunch and shopping and enjoyed the beach, the swimming pool, the nice cocktails and just being there!

This is me just thoughtful

Paul reflecting, enjoying the sun and getting tanned!

We had very romantic dinners with a fantastic view, great music and excellent food

Romantic dinner!

A great Philippino band singing Besame Mucho in Spanish.

Having a massage during one of the parties organized by the hotel

 

Another delicious meal

At the Koh Samui airport waiting for our flight back to Bangkok

Next day in Bangkok we had a great time in one of the biggest shopping malls.  We had a delicious Japanese lunch, did some shopping and had a lot of fun.

 

A delicious dessert!

 

There was a racing car show in the shopping mall and of course Paul was extremely curious about it so we spent a lot of time checking the cars!

We had a great time in Thailand.  We hope to go back to explore other cities and especially Chiang Mai, which was our main choice but due to weather conditions we opted to go to the south.  

The entire trip was very exciting and interesting!

Hugs,

Malu