RTWbis

This was a day for shopping and eating, both by day and by night. The Warrarot market across the Ping River from 137 Pillars House, was teaming with vendors of food, flowers and everything else a tourist in Chiang Mai could want. Here's one of my favorite street vendors. "How much is that doggie by the bead bins? I do hope that doggie's for sale -- and that you will give me a good price." Then there was this back-backer after my own heart, Who has devotep recious space in his pack to his juggling clubs. I'm assuming that he and his girlfriend are walking across southeast Asia, paying their way with his guggling, while she passes the hat. Or maybe she's the juggler, and he kindly agreed to carry her clubs. By 6PM, the Night Street Walking Market comes alive, as crowds mill about amidst the stalls and the wats. And as a treat, in the square before the entrance to the Chiang Main Youth Marching Band was performing in style . . A...

We checked out of the Dhara Dhevi immediately after breakfast, and by early afternoon we were quite happly ensconsed 137 Villas Hotel, much closer to the center of Chiang Mai, and much more comfortable. A wedding took place in the garden area while we were there. Greeting for the wedding guests   After lunch we toured the Pra That Soi Dutemp temple, with both Hindu and Buddhist themes,,, And watched the Naga devour its own... Before ending the day at the Buddhist temple Wat Suan Dok. Featuring also this charming Rapunzel fountain figure in the garden

Morning flight to Bangkok, afternoon flight to Chiang Mai, check in to the Dhara Dhevi Hotel. When we arrived at the Dhara Dhevi hotel (chosen more or less by lot from the two that were recommended by the high-end travel agent we used for our previous RTW voyage), we were stunned and horrified.  It got worse when we saw the “rooms”, first the villa we had been assigned, and then the suite where we ended up staying the first night after rejecting the villa. It’s hard to put the reasons why into words, but this video of the suite should suffice.  Add in that the premises were enormous (golf-carts to get around), the hotel is a 20-mintue drive from the centre, and we only saw two other guest during the 28 hours we spent there, you may get the picture. We went to bed determined to switch hotels first thing in the morning.  

This morning we drove 40km to Banteay Srei, built soon after Ankor Wat, but of a warmer, rose-coloured stone, now having a rusty hue. It's much smaller than Angkor Wat, and therefore much more digestible, especially if you are almost the only ones there . On the way back to Siem Reap, we visited  Golden Silk   -- an enterprise far out in the rice fields started by a Cambodian woman who grew up in the French town of Colmar, but retur ed to Cambodia with her French husband to help develop the silk industry for the benefit of people in the villages and hamlets of her country. At Golden Silk they grow mulburry trees, feed the leaves to silk worms (actually caterpillars), boil the empty cocoons to dissolve the saliva, extract the silk thread, remove any impurities, and prepare for weaving. The first step after selecting the design (Golden Silk originals) is to take a single strand of silk, mount the end on a rack the lengths and width of the fabric to be made, wind the st...

The four of us departed at 7 AM for the "small circuit" tour: Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and Ta Prom (aka the Angelina Jolie Tomb Raider temple). In a way, the most impressive thing about Angkor Wat is something that no-one who ever set foot in the place when it was built ( ) or during its hay-day (  )  ever saw, nor can it be seen today. I'm referring to what it would have looked like from the air at that time. The closest we can come to visualizing that is the model in the National Museum.  For the visitor then or now, it is simply too huge to be appreciated in its entirety.  I suppose the same could be said about Versailles. As at Beng Malea, there were almost no areas of Angkor Wat without or with the walls that felt at all crowded. Some parts were virtually deserted. Where is everybody? Phung (cottonwood) trees at work Geoff at work Sydney shoots a creeping Phung tree root Apsaras (dancing heavenly n...