A Day in Ayutthaya

To take a break from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, we asked our guide to take us out to Ayutthaya for a day.  In Ayutthaya is the ruins from the ancient Ayutthaya city, Bang Pa-In Royal Palace, and of course several temples.

Our first stop was the Bang Pa-In Royal Palace (Summer Palace) which was renovated and expanded by Rama V.  Rama V traveled the world and when he saw something he liked he would try to do it back in Thailand.  The Summer Palace is a great example of that as it seemed like a meld of Thai, Chinese, and European culture.

One of the statues on London Bridge, designed after the original.

Notice the Thai and European architecture 

A Thai pavilion

Withun Thatsana Tower

Wehat Chamrun Royal Hall which is Chinese influenced.

No pictures were allowed inside so this was as far as I could go.  The most interesting thing we saw in this building was the camel bone carving.

We ventured over to Wat Yai Chai Mongkal which was a monastary built in 1357 by the first ruler of Ayutthaya.

If you could hold a coin to the bottom of Buddha's foot and it stuck then you would have good fortune.

The rest of the Buddha that Derek tried to get his coin to stick on.

We climbed the stairs of this chedi but there was not much to see.

Buddhas everywhere!

Our guide suggested we stop for lunch at a local market on the side of the highway.  We knew right away that the food was going to be amazing because we were the only non-Thai's there, of course that meant we got lots of stares, too.  Nat led us over to a small restaurant that served fresh shrimp.  By fresh, I mean it was swimming in the tank and then put directly on the grill.  By far the freshest shrimp we have ever had.  We enjoyed our shrimp with some excellent shrimp fried rice and a snakehead fish.

Some of the market vendors.  Nat insisted we try a few different things like snake fruit.

Shrimp before they were put on the grill with a bowl over the top to prevent them from hopping off. 

Delicious grilled shrimp.  Peel, dip in thai chili sauce, and eat!  

The snakehead fish on the grill.

These may look familiar as we often use them when they are dried in floral arrangements.  Apparently, they can also be eaten.  Nat bought some and taught us how to eat the seeds.  Tasted a bit like a raw peanut.

Ayutthaya was once a Siamese kingdom in the valley of the Chao Praya River that began in 1351.  During the Burmese-Siamese War in 1765, the Burmese burned the kingdom and left the city of Ayutthaya in ruins.  They burned most of it to the ground but a few of the ruins remained like the ruins we visited next.

Many of the Buddha's are missing their heads as they were stolen or destroyed after the Burmese burned the city

The story is that when some burglars tried to steal this Buddha head, it was too heavy so they dropped it by this tree.  Over time, the tree grew around the head.

Our final stop of the day was a temple that once served as the headquarters for the Burmese army during the Burmese-Siamese War and was one of the only places not burned to the ground.  Within one of the temples was this ancient Buddha that was close to 1000 years old.  They do not know how it got there as they found it out in the woods.  They believe someone from India wandered over and carved this statue.

Before we left, the monk wanted to bless Janet.  He muttered some words, dipped his sticks in water and threw it at her and Nat.  Nat says that he was praying for her good health.

 After an exhausting day in Ayutthaya, we headed back to Bangkok to do some shopping.  We finished up our trip by visiting Chatuchak weekend market to pick up some souvenirs and gifts.  It was a fabulous trip and I know it will not be our last time to Bangkok!

Palaces, Temples, Cabbages and what?

With so many sites to see in Bangkok we wanted to make sure we made the most of our day so we hired a tour guide and driver to take us around.  We met up with our friend Kathy and her daughter, Ann Marie for a day of Bangkok's most popular tourist sites.  A few of these we visited on our last trip so I'll just post a couple of my favorite pictures.

The day started with Nat (the son of Rat, seriously) picking us up to meet our guide at the Grand Palace.

Back to the Grand Palace

Kathy unintentionally photo bombing.  She was standing there first but our guide yelled at her for being too close to a monk.

A little sprinkling of the water that was used to wash the Emerald Buddha 

One of the temples on the Palace grounds

Just a few of the many Buddhas 

Next stop was the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.  

A small altar in front of the big Buddha

These stone Chinese statues are quite common around the temples and this is because they are the ballasts from boats from the olden days.  The Chinese would leave these when they came to pick up goods.

We made stops at the Vimanmek Mansion and the Jim Thompson House but pictures were only allowed outside.

One of the former royal palaces of Rama V

Jim Thompson was an American who revitalized the Thai silk trade in the 1960s.  We bought tons of great silk stuff from the Jim Thompson Outlet

By the time we headed back to the hotel it was a Friday night traffic jam.  It was so bad that we ended up walking back to the hotel instead of waiting several hours in this mess.

We had asked Nat what a great place to go to dinner would be and he recommended Cabbages & Condoms.  We kept dismissing him because it sounded like a pretty sketchy place but he insisted it was nice.  After confirming this on TripAdvisor we decided to give it a shot.

It was a nice, secluded restaurant off a backstreet.  So far, so good. 

Those aren't just regular lamps.  They are made of what? Condoms?!?!

Cops in Rubbers, oh my.

While the decorations were all condoms and birth control, the restaurant was as we were told, very nice and served great food.  The restaurant was founded by a politician who was promoting family planning in the 1970s.  At the time the average family had 7 children and through his efforts they have reduced that to 1.5 children.  To continue with the theme, the restaurant handed out condoms with the bill instead of mints.  Despite its awkwardness I would be willing to eat there again.

What a long, interesting day!

Bangkok Food Tours

Derek and I are making sure we take our families to some place other than Singapore when they come to visit and we chose to take Derek's parents to Bangkok.  We visited Bangkok on our own last November but had still had so many things we wanted to do.  One of them was the Bangkok Food Tour.  We really wanted to get adventurous and learn more about Thai cuisine and this was the perfect way to do it.

Our tour was centered around the Bangrak along the Chao Phraya River.  We wandered the streets and crossed the river twice to try some amazing Thai food.

Our first stop was a roasted duck rice (Kao-Nha-Ped) stall.  This was all there was to the food here.  Definitely a whole in the wall kind of place we would have never ventured on our own.

While we are accustomed to duck and chicken rice in Singapore we usually don't get tasty thai chili sauce on top.  

While walking to our next dish, we stopped and picked up some thai sausages from a street vendor.  They were excellent!  Pork sausage with glass noodles, lemongrass, and a sweet chili sauce.

Fluffy Catfish (Yam Pla Duk Fu) with green mango salad.  I know it sounds weird but it was so delicious.  It is dried catfish that has been fried into this sponge looking thing.  It was spicy, sweet, fried goodness.  We liked it so much we ordered it again the next day.
At this stop we also tried some papaya salad (Som Tam)

Boats for crossing the Chao Phraya River.

A white temple that we passed on a backstreet.  Most of the temples are brightly colored or golden so it was different to see a white one.

More tasty treats from a street vendor.  Fried yam, bananas, and taro. 

A small Muslim restaurant in Bangrak known for their curry with egg.

So what is Derek eating?  Just ox brain.  He was the only one of us brave enough to try it.  Not even our local guide would eat it.  

For whatever reason I failed to take any decent photographs at our last two stops.  Probably because we were already full and could barely eat anymore food.  We were determined to try everything so we continued to eat green custard buns, steamed pork buns, green curry chicken, and coconut ice cream.
After walking and eating all morning we were ready to relax with a massage so we headed over to Healthland.  Janet and I decided to try the traditional Thai massage.  This being our first Thai massage, we weren't sure what to expect.  For two hours we were destroyed by these tiny, strong, Thai ladies.  Never have I been raked over a therapists knees and hoisted into the air on her legs.  Despite the thorough beating we were refreshed and felt even better the next day.  Totally worth the $15USD!  Food and massages made for a great first day!

Shopping, Tea, and Singapore by Night

Derek's parents recently made the trip to the other side of the world to spend a couple weeks with us.  Because we planned a trip to Bangkok in the middle of their stay, we did not have a lot of time but we certainly made the most of it.

You can't come to Singapore and not do a little shopping so we spent the first day wandering around Orchard and Chinatown.  When we couldn't shop anymore we headed over to Boat Quay to have dinner at a fantastic Indian restaurant overlooking the river.  We watched the sunset before making our way over to Marina Bay to watch the light show and see the Merlion.  I was excited to try out my new lens with some night shots!

Ion on Orchard before the crowds show up

Shopping in Chinatown

Enjoying dinner at Boat Quay

Boat Quay by night

Marina Bay Wonder Full show

This view never gets old

 On Sunday we enjoyed high tea at Shangri-La.  For two hours you get to enjoy one of TWG's 160+ teas and a delicious buffet.  We had big plans for the day but of course the weather had other plans. We relaxed before having a smorgasbord of meat at Level 33.

Just some of the teas to choose from

Beautiful desserts and delectable tea

Wally and Janet enjoying their tea

We love high tea!

Our view from Level 33

The rest of their time in Singapore was pretty low key except for the night we went to get drinks on the top of Marina Bay Sands and then to the Raffles Hotel to enjoy the original Singapore Slings.

Should you wish to make your own Singapore Sling, Raffles Hotel provided the recipe:

Singapore Sling

• 15 mL Heering Cherry Liqueur
• 120 mL Pineapple Juice
• 15 mL Lime Juice
• 7.5 mL Dom Benedictine
• 10 mL Grenadine
• A dash of Angostura Bitters
• Garnish with a slice of pineapple and cherry

It was a great visit with Janet and Wally and we hope they come back again to see us soon!  More to come on our trip to Bangkok!

My Addiction: Teh Peng

I was introduced to teh peng when I first arrived in Singapore and have been hooked ever since.  'Teh' is the Hokkien word for 'tea' and 'peng' means 'iced'.  You may be wondering "what is the big deal since it is just 'iced tea'"?  This is no southern sweet iced tea, it is iced milk tea or teh tarik which means 'pulled tea'.  They brew this strong tea and then pull/pour it by making a long stream that allows the tea to cool and creates a frothy top.  The tea is a bit sweet as they mix it with sweetened condensed milk (or you can ask for it to be 'siu-dai' which means 'less sweet') and some places add a little regular milk to add to the creaminess.  No lunch is complete without a trip to the Kopitiam or Toast Box to pick up a glass.

Brewing my teh peng

I am able to confidently go up to the counter and order my 'teh peng' in perfect Hokkien although I don't even have to do that anymore as they already know what the blond girl is coming to order.  Before I can say anything, they ask "teh peng?" and I just nod my head and wait for them to brew me a cup.  I much prefer my <$2.00 teh peng to the $5.70 iced chai tea latte from Starbucks.  I think it is time to go get some teh peng!

At the hawker center it comes in a bag

Perfect, creamy, sweet, teh peng