Thailand

Here's part two of ACDC's  Asia Adventure.

After China, we flew south to Khao Lak, where we boarded the Similian Explorer for four days of diving in the Andaman Sea. While we didn't see any whale sharks or mantas, we saw plenty of incredible wildlife. Here's a short list:

Giant morray eels Giant Octopus Nudibranches (lots of 'em) Great lion fish Banded sea snake Angel fish Napoleon wrasse Giant trevally Orange lined trigger fish Porcupine fish Bat fish Seahorse Peacock mantis shrimp Zebra moray eel Blue spotted stingray

Indian cushion stars Butterfly fish Cuttle fish trumpet fish great barracuda turtles clown fish anemones fan coral Leopard shark White banded cleaner shrimp Sea dragon Bearded scorpion fish Honeycomb moray eel Giant puffer fish

I'm sure there are a few that I've forgotten, but that's a decent list for now. The visibility was amazing, and the crew was great. We basically woke up, dove, ate, dove, ate, dove, explored an island, dove, and ate again each day. Some of the best diving was the sunset dives, when the life was more excited, and when we used lights. Those make a big difference at 90'. It brings out the color that disappears with the reduced light. I don't have lots of pictures of the diving, but here's the sunrise during breakfast and the beach where we relaxed between dives.

As it turned out, a big group of the divers were French speaking, and then there was a small English speaking contingent. As we all spoke a bit of English, we all got along quite well, and I was able to use a little bit of my French as well. Our dive master, Luca, was from Italy, and he set up a great dinner at an Italian restaurant once we got back from the boat. It was a great experience, and I really can't wait to get back in the water.

From Khao Lak, we returned to Bangkok, where we spent a couple days. While we had snow on the Great Wall, we had real heat and humidity here. We stayed in the old part of Bangkok, amid most of the temples and national palaces. On our first night, we found a small restaurant and ate while we watched the sun set over the Temple of the Sun. It was incredibly beautiful to watch the ambers and pinks in the sky give way to the deep blues amid the city lights. Every so often a long boat would roar by with their loud outboard motors, ferrying tourists up and down the river. It was kind of funny to be at the restaurant, because everyone had the same idea. I think I counted at least twelve photographers there, several with tripods, while everyone else clicked away on their iphone or camera.

We visited the National Palace the next day. To get in, we had to rent special cover ups, which meant a floor length skirt for abby and long pants for me. Our knee length shorts weren't modest enough for Thai standards. Once properly equipped, we headed in and perused the grounds. The details on Thai architecture are amazing. I've never seen so much gold in my life, or ceramic mosaic tile for that matter. It is everywhere. It's truly inspiring to think of the amount of time devoted to making and placing each of the tiles.

I think one of the best finds we had was the temple just adjacent to our hotel. We were fortunate to be there during a full moon, which meant that we were able to see the monks conduct their monthly service in the temple. I'm sure there are more services performed, but as one of the locals explained, there is a special  morning service held each full moon. We were also able to see the Buddha statues being painted and re-plated with gold.

On our last night, we headed over to the Marble Temple to catch blue hour. We got there a bit early, and were able to see many of the monks coming and going for the evening services. I actually stopped and asked if I could take their picture, which they were kind enough to allow.

Blue hour was amazing here, and I was not disappointed. A few clouds drifted in at just the right moment, and it just added to the image.

Once the sun was down, there wasn't much left to do but head to the local mui thai boxing matches. We bough the cheap seats, using up just about the last of our Thai money. The seating arrangements are such that the expensive tickets on the floor are typically bought by the foreigners. There were a good number of Thai attendees, but I'll just say that we were the only foreigners I saw that weren't in this section. Then there is the mid range tickets, one tier up. These are largely family seating, and it's about what you would expect for any western sporting event. Finally, there's the section where we were, which, incidentally, is caged off from the rest of the sections. This would be the gambling section. Of course I didn't know that when we bought the tickets, but it was pretty clear when we got there. One of the men in the crown pointed to a an empty section  on the opposite side of the arena and said, "You need to go there. You should not be here." Hint taken. I'm really glad we moved too. We had a great view, a safe view, and no one disturbed us. His section on the other hand was a bit wild. It made for a memorable night at any rate. 

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by the flower market, which is only open at night. I have no idea how this country consumes so many flowers. Heaps upon heaps does not adequately describe the volume of flowers here. They are arranged in all kinds of bouquets, stringers, and even decorated eggs. There's also a small food market, but we steered clear after discovering that small rodents also accompany that section of the road. Not so much on the flower side. It's a short and interesting walk, but since we weren't buying flowers, we decided to call it a night. We headed back to the hotel, grabbed our bags, and took a cab to the airport for our 1 am flight to India.