Buzzing Bangkok

As our plans to go to Argentina didn't materialize as well as we had hoped, we took the opportunity to go to Thailand, another one of our top travel "must-sees".

With only one full day in the country's capital, we met our guide, Ms. Nikki, early and set off to explore Bangkok for the day.  

Our first stop was the Grand Palace which has been the official residence of the Kings of Siam since 1782.  The Palace is made up of numerous buildings, halls and pavilions centred around lush lawns and greenery.  The Palace has evolved organically over the years, boasting numerous types of architecture and styles.  King Rama V injected the largest architectural variations by erecting many buildings that reflected his close relationship and extensive travels in Europe and the Western world.  In addition, Thailand's close relationship with China can be seen throughout the Grand Palace, with many of the buildings designed in the Chinese style.

As a side note, there were lots of Chinese tourists at the Grand Palace. Chinese tourism apparently skyrocketed this year after the movie, "Lost in Thailand", became a hit in Chinese culture, grossing more than $1 billion yuan since its release.

Although it is a working palace and hosts several royal events, the Palace is now primarily a museum and has become the most visited tourist attraction in Bangkok, with 50,000 visitors a day.  The large number of tourists, paired with the mid-30s "winter" temperatures in Bangkok, made for a very hot visit. It was difficult to appreciate the magnificence of this Palace when fighting so many other tourists who were also making their way around the site and stopping for photos in some very inconvenient locations.

Even still, we had a chance to take a look inside the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (and see the small emerald buddha who had recently had been changed into his "winter wardrobe" by the King himself),  the Coronation Throne Hall, the Royal Reception Hall, a miniature replica of Cambodia's Angkor Wat (which looked remarkably like the real thing!), and of course the Palace's weapon rooms.

Bursting through the hoards of tourists, we made our way over to the canal dock to board a long tail boat for a tour along the bustling Chao Phraya River and the quieter Klongs (canals).  The boats in the harbour all sport bouquets of flowers on their bows to bring good luck.  In addition, the boats have recently added plastic surrounds to protect passengers from the unwanted splashes of some pretty dirty river water.

The Klongs themselves are quiet, with houses lining the sides of the river.  As grandfathered houses in this area are exempt from taxes, little has been done to update these old buildings and, as a result, many are incredibly run down, with sunken roofs, holed walkways and some very suspect looking electrical wires running above them. We still cannot figure out how they would ever know which wire did what!

After a short boat stop to feed the fish in front of the Buddhist temple (to promote health and the sanctity of life) and a short dam transfer to the higher part of the river, we hopped off the long boat for a short lunch break before an ambitious afternoon of activities.

Our afternoon itinerary began with a trip to Wat Pho to see the Reclining Buddha.  The Reclining Buddha is enormous - 46m long - and is covered with gold leaf.  Its feet alone are 3m in size!  The temple is actually fairly narrow, considering the size of the Buddha it houses, making it difficult to see the entire Buddha in one panorama.  Nonetheless, looking at the Buddha from its various angles is striking, and made more intense and spiritual by the constant clanging of donation coins being dropped into the monk collection pots that line the side of the temple.

For our final stop, we squeezed into a local tuk tuk and headed to the local flower and vegetable markets. We were struck by just how fertile and lush Thailand is, being able to grow a very wide variety of vegetables and fruits and make a multitude of different spices and other delicacies.  Although many of the Thai fruits and vegetables are smaller than their Chinese or international counterparts, they are known to have much more flavour and use far fewer pesticides than these other locales.


As we headed back to our luxurious (and very affordable!) hotel, the Oriental Residence, we were exhausted from the stimulation overload of the day and opted for a quiet, but delicious, vegetarian dinner feast at Na Aroon restaurant .

Finally!!

We awoke to sunshine!

We excitedly got ready and met our guide downstairs for a morning of dolphin watching and snorkeling.  After a short drive to the docks, we boarded our boat and headed out into the extremely choppy waters in search of dolphins.  Although the sun had surfaced, the dolphins did not and we experienced the first trip in the past six months where they couldn't find any dolphins.  I guess sunshine AND dolphins would have been too much to ask for.

The fixer - Oil!

Instead, we headed towards a small cove to do some snorkeling.  As we navigated some very powerful waves through a very narrow inlet to get there, however, our boat broke.  Broke.  The boat's steering just stopped working thanks to loss of hydraulic fluid.

For a few tense minutes, we held our breath and scanned discreetly for the lifejackets as our captain skillfully tried to maneuver the boat into the calmer cove behind.  

We definitely breathed a sigh of relief as we emerged on a gorgeous and protected cove.

And thankfully, within minutes, the owner arrived with some oil to fix the boat - a little too quickly for this to have been unexpected.

While the boat repairs were happening, we outfitted ourselves in our flippers and masks and hopped into the water to look around.  It was a calm snorkel seeing a turtle, lots of colourful fish and some moray eels.

After a good long swim, we climbed back in the boat and headed back to shore.  Although we didn't see any dolphins on the way back either, at least the sunshine and the boat held together this time. As Meatloaf said, "two out of three ain't bad".

Relaxed Muscat

Taking advantage of Dubai's great transportation hubs, we headed to the airport to catch a quick flight for a weekend away in Muscat, Oman.

We arrived in Muscat by 10am and headed to our hotel, with fingers crossed that our room would be ready early.  By the time we had checked in, organized our activities with the concierge and had a relaxing coffee on the hotel's terrace, we were able to head up to our room.

Determined to make up for our rainy beach weekend in RAK, we decided to spend the bulk of the day by the pool and ocean, enjoying the comfortable beach chairs and soaking in the sun.  Incredibly, the forecast in Muscat was not looking promising as it, like RAK the weekend prior, was calling for its first rainfall in six months!

The lovely drinks...

The not so lovely dinner.

Although grey outside, we enjoyed a leisurely afternoon poolside, working and reading our books and enjoying an incredible value "pronto lunch" at the hotel.

Our dinner that evening provided slightly less satisfaction but slightly more humour as we experienced service unusual for a Shangri-La hotel.  Suffering through remarkably slow service with erred orders and frenzied staff, we watched as numerous people angrily got up from their tables and left before their food finally arrived.  Two hours after we sat down, we finally received our main course, only to find out the hard way it was not what we had ordered.  Even the taxi we asked them to order never showed and we were forced to take matters into our own hands.  Lucky for the hotel, they have a beautiful spot surrounded by stunning mountains and ocean which helps make up for the inadequate service.

The next morning, we met our "driver cum tour guide"  for a tour of the city. Perhaps our translation was incorrect because he certainly wasn't a tour guide,  having no answers for even our most basic questions about Muscat. Lucky for us, we pulled up our trusty tour book to fill in the gaps and focused his attention on giving us the basics about his daily life in Muscat.

After a short stop by the fish market, with market prices that vary daily depending on the season and even the weather, we headed along the Corniche to the grand souk.  The souk hosts all of the trinkets one would expect in a market, including more pashminas, jewellery and trinkets than you could count.  Surprising, however, was the large number of Oman-inspired items you could buy including flags, stickers, pens and ornaments sporting either the Oman flag or a picture of Sultan Qaboos.  The Muscat people seem incredibly patriotic and clearly adore their king, with many shops erecting odes to country and king and even car windows and doors being decorated with national decals.

Our tour guide arrived twenty minutes late to pick us up, and we made our way in near silence to the Old Town to stroll around Portuguese forts Jalali and Mirani and Qasr Al Alam, the Palace of Sultan Qaboos.  As with the rest of the city, the buildings were framed by mountains and the sea.  The buildings were understated but regal and seemed to encapsulate nice the Muscat vibe - pretty, cool and very relaxed.

The Corniche

The Royal Palace

And then...as feared...the rain came.  Again!  Hard and intense, it poured rain for the next two hours.  

Refusing to be deterred from our lunch plans at the stunning Chedi Hotel, we caught a taxi and took what felt like a boat ride over to the hotel.  Although we naturally had to move our lunch inside, we had a leisurely and lovely afternoon-long lunch there and even managed to find one of the few covered spots on the property to enjoy an afternoon coffee.

Although we were slightly disappointed that our outdoor concert at the city's beautiful opera hall would be cancelled that evening, we instead pulled out on our workout clothes and went to the gym, with fingers crossed the the sun would come out in time for our snorkeling trip the next day.

The Grand Mosque

Rainy Rak

Just an hour and a half from Dubai is Ras Al Khaimah, the most northerly of the 7 emirates.  To get there from Dubai, you actually drive through 3 of the other emirates - Sharjah, Ajman and Um Al Quwain - which makes the drive a tourist experience in and of itself.

After hearing several positive testimonials about Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), we decided to take a weekend trip up there to see the sights and enjoy the emirate's highly regarded beaches.

As soon as you get out of Dubai proper, the surroundings change quite dramatically.  The other emirates also have skyscrapers but they are much more modest and seem a fair bit older than those in Dubai. And the landscape has much more desert influence.

We arrived in RAK a little saddened to find our hotel located in the heart of the city (we thought it was on a beach!) and right next to an industrial plant.   Could this really be the second best rated hotel on Tripadvisor??

We were ecstatic to realize that our GPS had led us to the wrong Doubletree and were surprisingly undisturbed by the fact that we would have to backtrack for half an hour to get there. Conveniently, the wrong hotel was just a few minutes away from the city's museum so we decided to head there first to explore.

The museum's entry fee was a mere $1.50 and we learned quickly why that might be.  To say the museum is small would be an understatement. Although housed in a large former palace, the museum itself was only a few small rooms with the remainder of the building being used for government offices and a surprising number of toilets.  If you are a fan of geology, you may have enjoyed the very extensive collection of rocks and artifacts there but, as we are not experts, we were pretty must useless without accompanying explanations.

We were lucky to have been flagged by a Tripadvisor post to a hidden tower climb on the property that offered a nice view of the city.  This also helped us to stumble upon the best room in the museum which explored RAK's history of pearl diving.   In the end, although it was a very quick visit, the museum was quite charming and the property lovely.

Having explored the key cultural exhibit in the city, we enjoyed an authentic Hakka-Indian lunch in town, complete with owners overly-enthusiastic to have western guests, and then headed back to our actual hotel.

As we readied ourselves for an afternoon by the beach, we were confronted by something completely unexpected:  a violent rainstorm!   

This was the first rainstorm in the region in an incredible 7 months.

Not equipped for rain, the town flooded easily and quickly and made the drive fairly slow-going and very wet. 

Unfortunately, the rain did not stop all day, making the beautiful beaches and outdoor area of our much nicer and newer hotel a little less important than planned.  Even our intended "dinner on the beach" could not be salvaged.  

The rain finally subsided the next morning and, although still very grey, we took the opportunity to sit outside and swim in the sea.  As we checked out of the hotel, we realized that it was not quite the beach getaway we had planned.  And as luck would have it, the drive back presented us a surprise and something we had not seen all weekend -  sun!

Drunch??

In Dubai, the expats have a regular Friday activity - "Drunch" - to celebrate the first day of the weekend (weekends here are Friday and Saturday versus the West's Saturday and Sunday). An enhanced version of a traditional buffet, a Drunch is an afternoon of all you can eat...and all you can drink!

The food buffet is enormous.  Most hotels host food stations across their multiple restaurants and people can then wander to each of the restaurants and eat every type of food imaginable. Along the way, the hotels have multiple drink stations to supplement the free flowing champagne which is served directly at your table.

Meeting some friends, we headed to the "hotel with the horses" and caught its canal boat to the hotel restaurant where our table was located.  Seeing the overwhelming spreads, we were almost happy to be vegetarians (with far fewer options available) and have meetings later that afternoon which kept us on the straight and narrow.  A cultural experience is not quite the same if you are too annihilated to actually remember it the next day!

The UAE Capital...

For the final day of Fred and El's visit, we decided to go to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, to see how it compared.

Enjoying a nice sleep-in, we met our guide, Sameh, at 10am to head off.  Youthful, energetic and very knowledgeable, Sameh was an excellent travel companion, telling us all about the sites and UAE life in an open and genuine way.  His willingness to answer any and every question honestly and insightfully  - even those questions we never thought we could ask - added a special and enlightening dimension to the day.

The drive to Abu Dhabi takes about an hour and a half, or an hour and 10 minutes if Sameh's at the wheel. Although there is no official border, you can tell the moment you drive into the emirate because its roads become lined with trees and the colour of the road actually changes.  

Abu Dhabi's Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque was absolutely breathtaking. Envisioned and initiated by the late Sheikh bin Sultan Al Nayhan, the mosque is designed to blend the beauty of faith with the marvels of modern architecture and art.  

To head inside the mosque, El and Beth put on abayas to meet the stricter new dress code that was implemented after a visit by Rihanna that didn't unfold quite as everyone had hoped.

The mosque was opened in 2007 and is the largest mosque in the UAE and 8th largest in the world.  The inner courtyard - made of Italian white marble to keep it cool on even the hottest of days - can hold up to 60,000 people during prayer time.  The interior of the mosque also boasts the largest single piece of carpet and the biggest chandelier (weighing 12 tonnes) in the world.

Although the mosque holds many records,  it is the overall look of the mosque that leaves the most lasting impression.  With light coloured walls and floral patterned decor, the mosque managed to beautifully walk a fine line of feeling grand and regal but whimsical and inviting at the same time. 

Although we will never know the true cost it took to build the mosque (rumours fluctuate between 700 million to 3 billion), the finished building is a truly lasting legacy.

After an eventful morning at the mosque, we headed over to the Emirates Palace Hotel for lunch at Mezzaluna Restaurant. Luckily we had made a reservation as the hotel was only allowing scheduled guests to enter the premises because of the international film festival being hosted there.

The Emirates Palace Hotel was originally built as a palace for the Sheikh but, after the Sheikh's death, the palace was converted into a hotel as the Sheikh's son felt too wistful to stay there and moved instead to another palace.  At a cost of approximately 3 billion to build, the Emirates Palace Hotel is one of the most expensive hotels of all time.

Naturally, the hotel did not disappoint, offering a majestic and gorgeous interior...and the first "gold bar" ATM in existence.  We soaked it all in and we enjoyed a leisurely lunch in the patio outside.  

After a drive around town and a quick pop in to Ferrari world, an enormous theme park, we headed back to Dubai feeling like we had gotten a great sense of the exceptional UAE capital.

A trip to the Creek

Not all parts of Dubai are as new and grand as the Palm, marina and financial districts so we headed to the Creek/Deira area to see how Dubai used to look as it was starting to develop.

Dubai hosts a brilliant Cultural Centre that shows visitors what homes and life looked like historically (in the 1960s!) and then offers a traditional brunch paired with a lengthy conversation about life, religion and culture in Dubai.  During our walk around the Cultural Centre's "old town", we learned about the way they used tall towers to create natural air conditioning and narrow streets to allow the buildings to create awnings and sun protection.  Also interesting was how they only had windows on one side of the house to prevent windows in abutting houses looking directly into each other.  

Over brunch, our discussions about Arabic coffee, the local dress, family relationships and the daily lives of the Emirate people proved eye opening and interesting and we all certainly left with new information and insights.

After an educational morning, we wandered down to the water and paid our 1 AED (approx 33 cents) to take a small dhou boat across the Creek. The buildings by the Creek are much smaller and more understated than the other parts of town but the people roaming the streets are far more numerous.  Streets are abuzz with people wandering about, pushing trolleys of inventory for the nearby shops and merchandise to be loaded onto the shipping dhou boats scheduled for departure to other countries.

The gold market - the world's largest - was crammed full of jewellery that seemed almost identical across the market's hundreds of stores.  Much of the jewellery was a bit too large and showy for us - with necklaces that were almost a large as the front of a t-shirt. Nonetheless, we enjoyed browsing the merchandise and hopping into stores to breathe in the air conditioning and try to negotiate the cost of gold coins down to fair market prices. What a bustling part of Dubai!