1.6.-13.6.2023
We ended up taking a flight from Siem Reap to Bangkok. It was a little unclear whether Thailand requires tourists travelling there to show proof of a flight departing the country. Depending on different sources, some said you needed one, others said you didn’t. We had not yet purchased tickets back to Finland at this stage of our trip, but fortunately we did not need to do so. There are companies on the Internet which, for a small fee, will make a reservation for a particular flight, but then cancel it after 24 to 48 hours, depending on the customer’s needs. We bought a reservation from a company like this. The reservation was for a flight to Helsinki and it only cost 10USD per person. Nobody asked anything about future flights. They just stamped our passports and told to move on. Finns have a visa free entry to Thailand for 30 days, so now we have until the 30th of June to stay in Thailand, after which we will have to leave. Where we will go next, we don’t know yet.
We had booked accommodation for a week in Bangkok just a few sky train stops from the city centre. We had no major sightseeing planned for Bangkok, and the kids were delighted with the news. They loved the idea of staying in our two-bedroom apartment hotel and swimming in the pool. To everyone’s delight, there was also a real sauna in the complex. It had been a while since our last sauna in Te Anau.
On Friday, we went to the MBK shopping centre to see if the vendors selling pirated goods were still there. They were. It is amazing how pirated products from various manufacturers can still be sold so openly there. We could have bought Gucci, Prada, Emporio Armani or Louis Vuitton for “a very special price for you my friend”. Marko found himself a few t-shirts, and the children were finally able to spend some of their “Granny’s money”. This money was a Christmas present from one of the children’s grandmothers, and Risto in particular has been waiting for the day when he can start spending them. This time, however, both children were unselfish and bought only souvenirs for their friends waiting in Finland.
On Saturday we didn’t do any sightseeing either, but went to one of Bangkok’s most popular shopping centres, Siam Paragon, to see what luxury brands they were selling there. The same products were sold there as at MBK, but these products were authentic with corresponding price tags. There were cars on sale on one floor also, but we didn’t buy any of the Bentleys or Aston Martins this time. Upstairs in the mall, the kids went for a duel in the bowling alley, after which we had lunch in the food court of the Siam Center, another mall next to Siam Paragon. After lunch, Jaana and the kids headed back to the hotel, and Marko stayed at the city centre for a bit longer.
On Sunday we all slept in really late, and had a slow morning. The kids found a children’s programme on the TV, so they were entertained for a good while. When we finally got ourselves going, we went to the Chatuchak weekend market. The place was huge. Apparently there are almost 10,000 vendors there. The advice for visitors to the market is that if you find a product you are interested in, you should buy it immediately, as you may not be able to find the same stall again later. We followed this tactic too, although we didn’t buy much. Marko mainly found some clothes to replace worn ones and Ronja found a t-shirt and a Louis Vuitton handbag for a ‘very special price’. Risto managed to find himself a spinner and Pokemon cards for a really good price. The kids also spent their own money on gifts for their friends.
We had a late lunch in the street food area of the market, and then wandered around the area for a while. At the market, certain types of items were in roughly the same area, which made it a little easier to navigate. We also found an area where pets were being sold. Behind this place was a mall with a “dog café”. There were a lot of different pooches running around, and for 150THB/person (about 4€) you could go and pat them for an unlimited period of time. To no one’s surprise, both kids were keen to visit the place.
We had only intended to make a relatively quick trip to the market, but we didn’t get home until a little before 9pm. Some of the time was spent travelling on the metro and going to the grocery store, but we had been on the move again for the whole hot (+35C) day. We are getting used to this heat, even if none of us enjoy it.
That’s all we did in Bangkok, but it suited everyone very well. One day, the children went to play in an indoor play park in a shopping centre while we adults were out on the town. Otherwise, the days followed much the same pattern: late morning wake-ups, eating and swimming in the pool. After six nights, we took a ride to Pattaya. We knew about the reputation of the place, but we wanted to see if it was as sex tourism-oriented as it was said to be.
Our apartment, The Edge Central, was located right in the centre of Pattaya, and our 13th (in practice 12A, because no. 13 is bad luck) floor apartment had a nice view of the sea. The best thing about the apartment, however, was the swimming pools on the top two floors. The top floor had a stunning, large swimming pool and the lower floor had a smaller pool, as well as a jacuzzi with really warm water. Although Pattaya doesn’t seem to have a lot to offer for families with children, we thought we’d enjoy the time here anyway, because of the lovely pools we have.
Pattaya certainly lives up to its reputation. There are really only three types of people on the street: western men with a Thai woman, non-thai male groups or single non-thai men. There are lots of Indian or Korean looking tourists, but none of them had local girlfriends. Old and overweight European men are simply too attractive. Along the main street, every other boutique is a massage parlour or a bar. Of course, there are also several restaurants and cannabis shops. Thailand legalised the sale of cannabis about a year ago, and it really shows in the street scene. Everywhere you look, you can find a variety of cannabis products, from biscuits to smokable cannabis. Apparently street smoking is still banned, but no one seems to be controlling it here. The sweet smell of cannabis is around just about every corner.
One day we went to the beach, which we can see from our apartment window. A sun lounger in the shade cost only 100THB (about 3€), which was a necessary purchase, as it was another hot day. As it was low tide, it was not worth even thinking about going swimming. This beach was more focused on renting water jets and paragliding anyway. Surprisingly, the sea bottom was quite muddy, so going for a swim a bit further away was not a very tempting thought. The kids did, however, get excited about collecting shells from the beach, and ended up taking a small hermit crab back to our apartment.
Risto’s idea was to tempt the crab to give up his own shell because Risto wanted to have it for himself. He had an alternative home in mind for the crab. In the evening, the kids googled what the crab eats and gave it carrots and bread, among other things. There was also water (straight from the tap, which was a mistake) in a plastic jar, and sand and shells at the bottom to make the crab feel at home. In spite of their devout care, the crab had died during the night. Risto was a little sad, but did see a golden lining in the incident: now he would get the shell from a crab anyway. The children held a funeral for the crab on the beach, and the crab’s final resting place was decorated with shells.
On the beach day, Marko had gone for a short walk along the beach promenade and the Walking Street area. In the afternoon, it was really quiet in both areas. But on Saturday evening Marko went to check the situation again and the atmosphere had changed quite extremely. There were more potential companions on the edge of the beach promenade than in Tinder, more cannabis shops than hamburger stalls in Finland and entertainment shows that had not been copied from Viking Line boats. On the other hand, physical security was taken care of very prominently. There was a police tent on the beach promenade with several police officers on duty. A mobile tourist police station was set up in the middle of the Walking Street, where there were several Western deputies to handle European dorks in their own language. There were also several Walking Street Security patrols in addition to a bunch of security guards in front of each club. The slightest argument and the participants would immediately be surrounded by a large number of different officials.
One day, we got back into tourist mode and went to Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. There we got to feed, mud bathe and wash the elephants. We were also told about the elephants, and how they came to be there. There were seven elephants roaming free in the area, and we went to make friends with them with bananas and pineapples. Apparently, also the way to an elephant’s heart is through its stomach.
Once the elephants had found us harmless, they let us spread mud on their skin. While doing it we got a little mud bath too, as the elephants liked to splash muddy water all over with their trunks. Once the mud coating was applied, we went to the elephants’ pool to wash them clean with brushes. After that, we too were able to take a shower, after which we had a really delicious Thai lunch. Before we left we got to try making paper from elephant poo. Technically, the paper pulp is 30% elephant poo and 70% mulberry bark, but it is marketed as elephant poo paper anyway. The paper pulp, or the dried paper itself, didn’t smell bad at all, so in principle it could have been used. However, we had to leave our own papers there to dry. We would have had to wait about 4 hours for them to dry, which we didn’t have time for.
The Elephant Jungle Sanctuary seemed like a place that really works on the elephants’ terms. They seemed to have plenty of room to roam around (sometimes even as far as the neighbour’s pineapple plantations). Moreover, all activities were happening on the elephants’ terms. If they didn’t enjoy mud baths or water play, they weren’t forced to go in. One of the elephants was not allowed to be touched at all because it had been rescued from the Thai-Cambodian border, where it had been used for work in logging areas. Apparently it had been mistreated there, as it was only now getting used to being fed by occasional visitors. Until recently, this elephant had trusted only its own keeper.
On another day we visited a crocodile park nearby. In addition to crocodiles, there were also elephants, tigers, giraffes, zebras and various birds. There were even some strange old rock formations on display. If in the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary animals were treated well, the same could not be said of the animals here. The cages for the tigers in particular were very small and cramped. Moreover, you could take a photo with a (clearly drugged) tiger if you wanted to. We didn’t do that. The kids did go and take a few photos with the elephants, and gave them bananas as a reward. The giraffes and zebras got some bananas too.
There was also a pond with huge cat fish swimming in it. We bought fish food for them, as bananas were not part of their diet. You could also feed the crocodiles in the park. For them, you had to buy a chicken to hang on the end of a “fishing rod”, and then throw the chicken over the railing. It wasn’t long before the hungry crocodiles came to take the bait. Since we were in a crocodile park, there was a crocodile show too. The show wasn’t particularly interesting, but it was undeniably pretty wild to see the man stick his head in the crocodile’s mouth. We wonder how often this performer has to be changed when the crocodile closes his jaw a little too early…
On the last day in Pattaya, Marko and the kids went paragliding over the sea. Jaana came along to take pictures. We took a speedboat a little further out to sea, where a large pontoon pier was floating. There, everyone put on life jackets and harnesses, and before Ronja could think about it, she was already up in the air. It all happened so fast that Jaana missed her departure. We had been told that Ronja was big enough to go on her own, but as she was swinging in the air, Ronja suddenly noticed a pair of legs hanging next to her. To be on the safe side, one of the staff members had went along with Ronja after all. This guy wasn’t wearing a harness at all. When Ronja had done her round, it was Risto’s turn. The same guy went with Risto too. Marko was the only one who was sent up in the air by himself. While setting up the life vest and harness, a member of the staff asked whether Marko wanted to go ‘high and deep’. We didn’t get any further specifics as to what that meant, so Marko just said ‘ok, let’s do it’. Apparently it meant dipping the participant in the sea, which was done twice. On the first time the speedboat slowed down a bit and Marko descended knee deep in to the water. On the second round, the whole dude got submerged.
All three agreed that paragliding like this was also fun. It was a fairly short round, but for 800THB/person (about 20€) you couldn’t expect much more. We took a very bouncy speedboat ride back to the. The boat had a 200 horsepower engine, so that thing was going pretty fast in the swell! In the afternoon, Marko went to test out the local barber shop and we did some shopping. Then it was time to pack for the flight to Phuket leaving the next day.