Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Visitors 3: my parents are coming!

Last week my parents came over. It was a short but intense visit: Gerard and I had prepared a route arround Thailand and part of Cambodia, which left all of us exhausted and fascinated alike.

We started sleeping in Bangkok on a Friday night, so on Saturday at dusk we could already start to drive to Kanchanaburi. Once there, we took some pictures of the famous bridge over the Kwai River and we went to Hellfire Pass, a railway cutting built by allied prisoners of war at the hands of the Japanese. We had lunch at a Natural Park nearby, in front of a nice waterfall: Papaya salad (too spicy for my parents), noodles soup and “pad thai” (fried noodles with vegetables and shrimps).

On Sunday, on the way back to Pattaya, we stopped at the Damnoen Sadueak Floating Market. Since 20 years ago, it’s nothing but a tourist attraction, although it is still cute and charming. We hired an organised boat trip along thousands of souvenir stalls and floating fruit vendors who were asking for our attention. We weren’t such good costumers as they would have liked, but we bought some Thai sweets and a couple of those tipical hats made of bamboo and palm leaves.

During the weekdays, while Gerard kept on working, my parents and I went to Cambodia. They were really willing to see the temples of Angkor and, eventhough we only had 2 days, it definetly worthed the trip. We visited all the famous temples (Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm and Banteay Srei) and then we went to the Great Lake; this gave us a nice opportunity to get into the most authentic Cambodia, much poor but as charming as Siem Reap.

Picture: my parents in front of Angkor Wat.

We spent the other days in Pattaya. We took a “sawngthaew” (also known as baht bus) to Pattaya downtown; we bargained for a couple of fake watches, we visited a buddhist temple, we relaxed sitting at a great viewpoint on the beach and we even took a Thai massage. We also had time to visit the Sanctuary of Truth, a wooden construction covered thousands of carved sculptures that symbolises the Ancient vision of Earth according to Eastern philosophy.
Picture: going to Pattaya downtown by “sawngthaew”.
Picture: buying some fruit at a local market.
Picture: my parents in front of the Sanctuary of Truth.
We spent their last weekend here sightseeing in Bangkok: the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun, Jim Thompson’s House and Chatuchak Market. Picture: Gerard and Erika in front of the Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho).

Picture: Esteve and Fina at Chao Praya River, in Bangkok, with Wat Arun behind.

As far as we know, my parents are showing loads of pictures to all their friends and family, and telling them thousands of stories about how their daughter and her boyfriend spend their dayly life in a country where traffic is chaotic (almost suicidal) and the language incomprehensible.

We would like to take advantage of this page to thank everyone who, through my parents, send us some pictures, clothes and food (we already fed up of Thai rice).