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| Wonder World Package , Thailand |
Here's a view of Bangkok looking towards the royal district of Ko Ratanakosin from Wat Arun, one of the first temples built in the city - and yes, that tower really is leaning over slightly! Bangkok is the center of Thailand, both geographically and in terms of what makes the country tick. The metropolitan area has a population of around eight million, far surpassing the next largest city Udon Thani, which has less than a quarter of a million. Not only are there a lot of great sights, but as Thailand's main tourist hub there are a lot of services and a wide range of Bangkok hotels to choose from.
There are plenty of other interesting temples in Bangkok including Wat Pho, which is only a short walk away from the Grand Palace complex. Wat Pho is famous for housing the largest reclining Buddha statue in the country, measuring 46 meters from head to toe, and 15 meters from bottom to top.
Another very short hop and step and you're at Tham Daowadung, the Cave of Heaven. It's not sign-posted in English, so it took me about an hour to find, but you can join a tour of the cave without needing a booking, and it's worth the price to see the different rooms, formations and wildlife - mostly in the form of bats, which are somehow able to tolerate all of the disturbances and even hang on the roof at eye level.
By far the most spectacular sight in Bangkok is the Grand Palace complex and its associated temples. The building here is Dusit Hall, which King Rama I had built as a place for his body to lie in state when he died. The smaller structure in front of the hall includes a platform to allow the King to mount one of his white elephants
In case you hadn't already noticed, Thai palace and temple architecture tends very much towards the ornate. This is a side entrance to Prasat Phra Dhepbidorn, usually translated into English as The Royal Pantheon.
It's only open to the public on one day of the year, which wasn't the day I was there, but I'm told that it contains statues of kings of the current Chakri dynasty.
One of the main reasons why foreign tourists come to this part of the country is to visit the "death railway bridge" on which the fictional book and movie "Bridge on the River Kwai" were based. The historical bridge was heavily damaged by allied bombing in 1945, but was repaired after the war; the round trusses are part of the original Japanese design, while the box trusses on the two center spans are the repaired sections.
The Japanese army used Asian slave labor and prisoners of war to build the bridge, which was part of the Thai-Burma railroad built to take war supplies to the advancing imperial forces. During construction over 100,000 conscripted locals and 12,000 prisoners of war died building the railroad with inadequate tools, food and medical care through difficult terrain such as this at the aptly named Hellfire Pass, the most difficult cutting in the entire enterprise
Sai Yok national park is only a few kilometers west of Hell fire Pass. It's a pleasant enough place with several hiking trails and a couple of waterfalls, Sai Yok Yai (Big Sai Yok, shown here) and Sai Yok Noi (Little Sai Yok). There's also a bat cave you can visit in the early evening, though you shouldn't expect to encounter either Batman or the swarms of bats you've seen on wildlife documentaries! There are a few remains from the Thai-Burma railway here and the park also has a movie connection as the place where the Russian roulette scenes from The Deer Hunter were filmed.
Heading back towards Bangkok, Ayuthaya is only an hour or two north of the current capital. You wouldn't think so to look at it, but Bangkok is actually a very new city, founded as recently as 1782. Prior to that, Ayuthaya was the center of political and religious power in Thailand. However today elephant transportation is mainly the preserve of tourists as they make their way around the ruins of the city, which was almost entirely destroyed by the Burmese army in 1767.
Wat Phra Ram contains a very large prang or tower, it's not certain who built it, but some historians think that it was the cremation site of King U Thong the founder of Ayuthaya.
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| jams Bond Island |
Thailand's south-west coast is famous for its limestone scenery, shaped into distinctive Karst formations both on land and sea. I made a very rushed but worthwhile half-day trip around Ao Phang Nga marine national park, which has a number of interesting pieces of scenery, including "James Bond Island", where the eponymous secret agent thwarted the evil plans of The Man With The Golden Gun. The beach you see here is where the duel between Bond and the villain Scaramanga takes place.
I headed even further south to Krabi, jumping off point for Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Leh, two of the most popular islands in an archipelago making up Ko Phi Phi marine national park. Krabi town has a very scenic setting beside the river of the same name, lined with tall mangroves and with a pair of giant limestone pillars just up from the main pier, looking for all the world like ancient monuments from The Lord of the Rings
The beach is on the bay called Ao Maya, but there's another photogenic bay a short walk to the other side at Pilah. There's no beach here but it's a good spot for snorkellingLeh
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| Cave |
The national park has large stands of very tall mangrove trees, and several caves cutting right through limestone islets, such as 50 meter long Tham Lawt. "Tham" is the Thai word for cave and "Lawt" is the Thai rendition of the Malay word "laut" meaning ocean, an appropriate mix since southern Thailand is very near northern Malaysia, and many of the inhabitants of this area are ethnic Malay muslims.
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| Phi Phi Island |
Ko Phi Phi Leh (pronounced "ko pee pee lay" and meaning little Phi Phi island") is where the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach was filmed. In the movie the island is an idyllic secret hideaway with a backpackers' commune which changes twist by twist from paradise to hell. It's certainly not my idea of paradise with all the tourists who now descend on the place, but I came here twice, once with a dive boat for an underwater visit and then later by long-tailed boat for a quick photo stop onshore.
Wonder World Package Thailand
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| Discover Thailand with Us |
Here's a view of Bangkok looking towards the royal district of Ko Ratanakosin from Wat Arun, one of the first temples built in the city - and yes, that tower really is leaning over slightly! Bangkok is the center of Thailand, both geographically and in terms of what makes the country tick. The metropolitan area has a population of around eight million, far surpassing the next largest city Udon Thani, which has less than a quarter of a million. Not only are there a lot of great sights, but as Thailand's main tourist hub there are a lot of services and a wide range of Bangkok hotels to choose from. 
There are plenty of other interesting temples in Bangkok including Wat Pho, which is only a short walk away from the Grand Palace complex. Wat Pho is famous for housing the largest reclining Buddha statue in the country, measuring 46 meters from head to toe, and 15 meters from bottom to top. 
Another very short hop and step and you're at Tham Daowadung, the Cave of Heaven. It's not sign-posted in English, so it took me about an hour to find, but you can join a tour of the cave without needing a booking, and it's worth the price to see the different rooms, formations and wildlife - mostly in the form of bats, which are somehow able to tolerate all of the disturbances and even hang on the roof at eye level.
In case you hadn't already noticed, Thai palace and temple architecture tends very much towards the ornate. This is a side entrance to Prasat Phra Dhepbidorn, usually translated into English as The Royal Pantheon. 
Heading back towards Bangkok, Ayuthaya is only an hour or two north of the current capital. You wouldn't think so to look at it, but Bangkok is actually a very new city, founded as recently as 1782. Prior to that, Ayuthaya was the center of political and religious power in Thailand. However today elephant transportation is mainly the preserve of tourists as they make their way around the ruins of the city, which was almost entirely destroyed by the Burmese army in 1767.
Wat Phra Ram contains a very large prang or tower, it's not certain who built it, but some historians think that it was the cremation site of King U Thong the founder of Ayuthaya.
I headed even further south to Krabi, jumping off point for Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Leh, two of the most popular islands in an archipelago making up Ko Phi Phi marine national park. Krabi town has a very scenic setting beside the river of the same name, lined with tall mangroves and with a pair of giant limestone pillars just up from the main pier, looking for all the world like ancient monuments from The Lord of the Rings
The beach is on the bay called Ao Maya, but there's another photogenic bay a short walk to the other side at Pilah. There's no beach here but it's a good spot for snorkellingLeh
