HRGolfGuide.com Ten Days in Thailand: It Is Worth the Long Trip
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River Taxi By A.J. Jones If anyone is contemplating a trip
to Thailand, they should not let the al- most 24 hours of travel time it takes to get there, scare them away. Had I known the trip would take so long, prior to boarding the 13-hour leg, from Los Angeles to South Korea, I be- lieve I still would have wanted to go to Thailand. Exploring the Southeast Asian country bordered by Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea is definitely worth the sacrifice. Thailand is home to approximate- ly 69 million people. The Thai people appear to be very kind and humble, which quickly puts tourists in a re- laxed mood. This mood erases most of the long flight anxiety from their thoughts. Thailand natives remind me of the sweet, soft-spoken people on the Island of Trinidad and Tobago. We left our ATM card in a machine on our way to get a massage in Bangkok, Thailand and a Thai gentleman tracked us down at the day spa, about a block away from the machine, to return the card. Some areas in Bangkok are quite with
modern and sophisticated tall
buildings and swank hotels. The city has a population of 8.3 million peo- ple who live harmoniously together. Although there is quite a bit of hustle and bustle, as with any city that size, the
pace in Bangkok seems much
slower. The low-cost massages may be the reason people are so laid-back there. That is why I would have nev- er believed that the country had expe- rienced a military coup in 2014. They
held their first elections since that the coup, during our stay in Thailand. One United States Dollar (USD)
is equivalent to approximately 30 Thai Bahts (THB), making a trip to Thai- land within reach of those on some of the most restrictive budgets. One could book a very nice four-star hotel in Bangkok for around $100.00. Airb- nb and similar websites also operate in Thailand.
Although Uber is not active in
Thailand, a similar app called Grab of- fers rides there. Taxis and public trans- portation
provide other options for
mobility in Thailand. Since a couple of the hotels where we stayed were locat- ed along the river, we had the option of taking very inexpensive river tax- is. These hotels had their own private boats that transported us to the mall and night markets just across the riv- er from the hotels. The IconSiam Mall is the nicest mall that I have ever seen and caters to the mostly Chinese tour- ists who visit the area.
My daughter and I traveled via the river taxis for miles, stopping at tourist attractions along the way in- cluding temples and palaces. At one point, after taking a river taxi as far as we could, we hired a Tuk Tuk to travel the remainder of the way to our desti- nation. If anyone wonders what a Tuk Tuk is, they can just imagine a cross between a covered wagon and a taxi on three motorized wheels. My daughter and I love elephants
and Thailand has plenty of them, al- though having them in Bangkok has
Elephant Sanctuary
been banned for safety reasons. We traveled to Phuket for the beach and stayed for the elephants. We researched which elephant riding businesses of- fered the most humane treatment of the animals. We decided on a place that offered patrons the option to ride on the strongest part of the elephant’s body, its neck, rather than riding on its back. The elephants really seemed to enjoy it. They are such intelligent and expressive creatures. Because we rode on the elephant’s neck and I have such short arms, I had to lean forward for my hands to touch the elephant. This created a more awkward riding expe- rience than most proportioned people, like my daughter, enjoy. Since the trip back to the disem-
barkment point was downhill, I elect- ed to get off of my elephant at the top of the hill. I walked down the hill to avoid leaning forward down the hill on an elephant’s neck with nothing to hold me in place. The elephant seemed
to understand my dilemma and knelt so that I could easily get off of him. He returned to the bottom of the hill shortly after I did. My elephant imme- diately came over to me and rubbed his trunk up against my arm, as if he wanted to make sure I was okay. In Phuket, we also had an oppor- tunity to bathe a mother and a baby el- ephant. We were in a pond with them and they relaxed while we brushed them. Evidently, elephants like to cud- dle. The baby elephant continuous- ly rubbed up against my daughter, or myself, with either his leg or his trunk. Bathing the elephants was very peace- ful and like nothing I have ever expe- rienced. We were in the presence of truly gentle giants.
When we returned to Bangkok
from Phuket, there was only one thing on our list of Things to Do in Thailand, which remained undone. We had not visited the ancient ruins of Ayutthaya.
Tailand - Continued on Page 15
Ruins of Ayutthaya
Breakfast in Phuket
Phuket, Thailand
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