For the most part, we consider ourselves travelers rather than tourists. You know, the constant wanderer with no real plans or an agenda. We like to settle into a place, get its pulse, become regulars at shops and restaurants, and then decide which sights to see or if we’d prefer to move on to someplace new.
Sometimes, though, we need to put on our tourist hats and hit it hard. That’s how we attacked the mid-section of Thailand. I’m not suggesting that traveling is in any way superior to touring. They are just different gears. And, if you ask me, touring is a lot more difficult.
Buddhist bells at the temple on Chopstick Hill in Hua Hin. Don’t bother asking anyone where it is since none of the Thais know it by the English name in the guide books.
How do we decide which gear to use? Well, since we basically have an open-ended timeframe, we default to ‘traveling.’ As I said, it’s not as difficult as touring, and like water, we prefer the path of least resistance. Sometimes though we need to shift to ‘touring’ mode. For instance, at Angkor Wat we needed to fit two days worth of sights into one long day in order to keep a date. It was certainly worth it, but definitely exhausting!
Monkeys on the beach in Hua Hin. Did you know they are excellent divers?
Other times we kick it up a notch are when our visas run low (the immigration-thingy, not the credit card) or we are meeting up to travel (tour) with people on vacation. In the case of Thailand we met up with friends on vacation and the visa was a very stingy 30-days for such a large country. We did our best to take in the sights while still getting the flavor of the cities we visited. Check out the pictures. I think we did ok!
Part of our Thai cooking class in Hua Hin was a trip to the market. Look at these beautiful veggies!
Our Thai cooking school teacher showing us some of the ingredients we’d be using.
Where grated coconut comes from. I think the woman operating the machine was eating the profits.
Making coconut cream by hand
Chopping ingredients for our Thai feast
Prep work done, time to get cooking
Cooking up a storm. Massaman curry from scratch, coconut rice with mango, veggies in oyster sauce and chicken sate. Oh my! Too bad we forgot to take photos of the completed dishes before we devoured them!
One of our favorite restaurants in Petchaburi. We affectionately called it Grandma’s. The tables looked down on the river where we spotted monitor lizards. They were huge! Oh, and don’t tell the proprietor we call her grandma.
Petchaburi was well off the tourist trail and we happened to be there for a rather important celebration. These guys rocked!
The women wore the most stunning colors and textures.
We visited the Buddha in a cave in Petchaburi
The cave was huge by the way
We also climbed Khoa Wang and visited the palace grounds
Part of Ayutthaya is an island. Houses like this lined the river’s edge.
This is one of a couple of bull elephants being rehabbed in Ayutthaya.
Ayutthaya had many temples. Some had a bit of Cambodian influence.
A nearly demolished temple with a Buddha still standing
Tugs dragged huge barges three and four at a time up and down the narrow river surrounding the center of Ayutthaya
The night market in Ayatthuya was a street foodies delight. Check out these fried bits of pig. Mmmm!
The tree’s roots wrapped around the severed Buddha head and lifted it up above the ground at a temple in Ayutthaya
A very old temple destroyed by invaders in Ayatthaya. Seems like they enjoyed beheading Buddhas.
Hike, Drink, Live, Laugh
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