Bangkok Safari World : An Ultimate Zoo Experience

                 After five days of long bus rides, visiting temples, haggling at markets, a day trip to the beach and playing charades with the Thai people, we were not done yet. On the sixth day of our Thailand- Cambodia vacation we had to get up early again for a trip to a zoo,the Bangkok Safari World. The main reason why I wanted to visit Bangkok Safari World was to see giraffes as they have dozens of them.It's my childhood dream to see a giraffe, In fact, when I first set foot in Manila one of the first places I visited was the Manila Zoo. Sadly, I was told that the giraffe at the Manila Zoo had died.         

Opening of the Elephant Show

                                       
                   Bangkok Safari World is also highly recommended because of its Open Safari Tour which makes visitors feel like they're in a real African Safari. We took the skytrain and alighted at the Victory monument station. We hurriedly looked for the bus going to Bangkok Safari World (the zoo is located at 99 Panyaintra Road, Samwatawantok, Klongsamwa, Bangkok ).I had written down the address on my notebook and I kept on shoving it to the faces of the locals whenever we asked for directions. We already asked several people and no one knew which bus could take us to the zoo. It seemed like they had not heard about Bangkok Safari World . It was perplexing that none of the locals we asked had heard of the place when it's a hit among foreigners . Though I was aware that most Thai doesn't speak English I didn't realize that they could not read our writing either. That explained the look on their faces accompanied with the head -scratching -thing every time I would show them the address on my notebook (sometimes to the point of almost slapping them with it out of utter frustration that they could not understand it).
                  Finally it rang a bell to someone and he pointed us to the right bus.The bus doesn't actually stop at the gate of the zoo, we had to take a taxi from the bus stop to the zoo entrance. It was like a 10 minute ride through a nice and exclusive neighborhood. After buying our zoo pass which cost 830 baht each. They gave us a zoo map and the schedule of the shows they had. We're late for the Orangutan show as it was already 11am so we briefly stopped at the dolphin show instead. We stayed only for a few minutes  since we had already seen the same type of show in Hong Kong Ocean Park.

                             
                 Our next stop was the elephant show. It took a while for us to find the venue of the elephant show because the zoo was really huge and there were so many trees and man- made bodies of water within the sprawling property that it felt like we're in a forest. When we found the venue of the elephant show which was another amphiteather , we settled at the top. Most of the spectators was comprised of grade school students .Shortly after we could already hear the kids screaming as the elephants paraded in front of us. Some were carrying hoola hoops with their trunk and the less flirty ones carried poom pooms.They all looked cute.The cheers and screams from the audience got louder when the elephants lined up and raised their forelimbs and put them on the back of their fellow performer in front of them, but that's it,they stopped there and just held that position for a few seconds. I thought they were gonna do something to multiply.The beast also showcased other talents like painting while holding the paintbrush with their trunk.             
               


                Finally it was time for me to meet the giraffes so we proceeded to the Safari terrace. In that section we were face to face with the giraffes literally as we were on a platform as tall as them. Tourists get to feed them bananas for a fee of 40 baht. We didn't waste money , we just helped the kids who were scared to feed the bananas to the giraffes. Those creatures have very long tongue and if you get too close you run the risk of getting licked. I overheard a tourist who commented that the giraffe she fed was "la chica mal" or a bad girl, I wondered how she'd figured that out. 

Feeding the giraffes costs 40 baht, talking to them is free

                           

                  There was also another section of the zoo called the White World as its residents were albino creatures. We saw white deers, white tigers and a polar bear?I felt sorry for the bear because the zoo environment in a tropical country like Thailand is the exact opposite of the conditions that they are used to. 

                           

polar bear in the tropics?

                           

 

                  Next stop was the main attraction of the zoo , the Open Safari tour. It's like being in a mini safari where visitors can see the animals roaming freely. I call it "mini" because even though its a vast area, it's still nothing compared to a real African Safari. When the tour started around 2 pm we found ourselves on a bus among Indian tourists , good thing I wasn't suffering from a "last song syndrome" like what happened in Hong Kong Ocean Park where I'd burst into singing Jai Ho every five minutes while queing up for the rides with Indian tourists.We drove slowly as we passed by the animals. There were few camels,rhinos,zebras,buffaloos ,black asian bears, a lot of deers , my favorite giraffes,long legged birds and peacocks .What about the lions and the tigers? They were actually occupying a separate section of the open safari which is like a maximum security section of a prison. The lions and tigers had to be separated from everyone else for obvious reasons.
                           



                We were about to leave the zoo when we saw a woman mounted on top of an elephant. Yehey ! We found out that they offer quick elephant rides for 40 baht only. It was a great deal because it only cost 40baht compared to the  fee of riding an elephant in Siem Reap which costs $15. The trainer instructed the elephant to kneel down so I could climb on its back. I was amazed at how quickly it obeyed the trainer. When I was on top I held on to the rope tied around the elephants neck preparing for the acrobatic maneuvers it was about to do. My favorite part was when it raised its forelimbs and just stood on its hindlegs just like what horses would do when in battles. While mounted on the elephant I caressed its hairy skin then I noticed the bleeding wound on its neck.WTF! No wonder they were so obedient. Anna told me that the trainer would hit the elephant with a gad or a stick with pointed metallic object on one end everytime he commanded them to do something.Poor creature. I felt guilty afterwards.There I was having a blast while the elephant was suffering.

40 baht -elephant ride with a twist

                                       
                I'm aware that a lot of people are against putting animals in a zoo. They say it's a cruel environment. I agree that its not right that you pluck them out from their natural environment and separate them from their brood or parents but I believe that zoos can also help educate people about the nature of different animals  especially those that we don't see in our locality. I ,personally went there to learn more about the animals I only read about from my text books.Seeing them may help us understand their behavior and their needs which could be useful in conservation and protection of these animals.But  why did I  let myself  enjoy watching the whole show when I knew that the stars of the show  were suffering. Was I really learning or just trying to justify this cruelty towards animals? 

siesta time for the tigers

Koh Samet : White Sand Beach Near Bangkok

                   We had heard of nice beaches in Thailand so we wanted to visit one during our trip. Our problem was time constraint. The famous beaches are far from Bangkok and we only allotted a daytrip for the beach. Phuket and its neighboring islands were out of the question as it’s impossible to do a day trip to those islands being 8-12 hours away by bus or car from Bangkok and even flight schedules if one chooses to travel by air won’t allow a day trip either. One day, when I checked my facebook account, I came across photos of a really nice white-sand -beach in the island of Koh samet.I researched about it online so I could find out how to get to Koh Samet from Bangkok( a lot of islands and beaches that popped up had the word "Koh" on their names. It turned out that “Koh” means island in Thai).

               Koh Samet is an island in Rayong Province, Thailand. In 1981 it was declared as a National Park. Being a National Park means it’s protected so there’s limited development as far as the construction of resorts and commercial establishments is concerned. The transit point for every visitor to Koh Samet is Ban Phe, Rayong province. The cheapest way to get to Ban Phe from Bangkok is by bus from the Eastern Bus terminal also known as Ekemai Bus Station . Once in Ban Phe visitors can take a boat to the island of Koh Samet.

          We left  at around 5:00 AM. I forgot the bus number that takes tourists from Khao San area to Ekemai. Since we’re trying to make it to the first trip to Ban Phe we hailed a cab instead. There was a miscommunication as the driver didn’t use the meter when I told him to use it. Instead he charged us 140baht which I haggled down to 120 baht. The bus ticket to Ban Phe cost 157 baht (round trip)which came with bottled water and a cupcake. Sweet .The bus didn’t leave until 6:30 AM. It was the only bus that we took during our stay in Thailand that didn’t leave on time as buses in Thailand were usually on the dot. It was kind’a sad on the bus because there were  only 5 of us including the driver and the conductor. The sights were again familiar but what’s interesting was the fact that we were already an hour away from Bangkok and were still driving through an elevated highway.


                                  



                   It took three and a half hours to reach Ban Phe. From the Bus Terminal we just crossed the street to get to the port. The ticket for the boat ride to Koh Samet cost  100 baht . After buying our tickets we ate at a restaurant and waited for two hours because the boat wouldn’t leave until there were at least ten passengers. We left around twelve noon and the sunny weather turned gloomy and then it rained. The boat ride took 25 minutes. I somehow lost interest because of the weather. When we arrived at the pier in Koh Samet we hopped into a pick up truck that took us to Hat Sai Kaew beach (the ride was included in  the 100  baht that we paid for the boat ride) . Hat Sai Kaew beach is the closest beach to Nadan pier and its also the most popular . It was still drizzling when the driver dropped us off. We walked through a small alley lined with souvenir shops then a white sand beach and blue water welcomed us. We were surprised. It was indeed beautiful. Fine white sand was something that I was looking for. It’s the quality of the sand that I use to gauge the quality of a beach since I spend my time just strolling (because poor me can’t swim).




                   Even with an overcast skies the sand still looked pristinely white and it was also very fine that I couldn’t help playing with it by burying my hands . There are also restaurants in the area and a lot of affordable guesthouses.While strolling on the beach I noticed that it was littered with plastic and foil wrappers .It’s a shame that the people there didn’t mind throwing their garbage everywhere. If we had more time I would have picked up all those plastic bottles and wrappers.             

                                 

                                  
                   Despite what I saw I continued walking and I enjoyed the feeling of the powdery sand under my feet.The good thing about the island is that it's not crowded so it is perfect for those who need some quiet place to relax while on vacation.

The Grand Palace and Other Temples in Bangkok : Part II

                               

          After exploring the Grand Palace complex in Bangkok we had lunch at a small restaurant across the Grand Palace.We had chicken rice which was really good. After lunch we decided to go to Wat Po temple to see the reclining Buddha. I almost forgot Wat Po because I thought every important temple in Bangkok including Wat Arun was inside the Grand Palace complex. I was wrong. Wat Po is a block or two away from the Grand Palace and Wat Arun is on the other side of the Chao Phraya river. I learned about Wat Po because of the reclining Buddha which is probably one of the most photographed Buddha images in the world. It didn't interest me at first because I'd seen so many Buddha statues already (name it! I've seen them in different positions,sitting,standing, etc.) , but when I learned that Wat Po is the birthplace of Thai massage and is also considered the oldest educational institution in Thailand it became a must-visit to me. There's a bit of history there so I had to include it. We started walking but I was wondering if a block or two in Bangkok is the same distance as it is in my hometown. Later a man walked past us and called my attention.He told me to watch out for pickpockets since I was carrying my bag on my back. I was glad someone reminded me. The man stopped and turned around. He introduced himself as a local police and asked us where we're from and if it's our first time in Bangkok.We told him that it's our first time in Bangkok but I regretted it shortly after when I sensed that he was up to something. He inquired where we're going next. I told him we're looking for Wat Po. He said it's closed at noontime since it's a Monday and that monks would be praying but it would open again at 2 pm. I almost believed him since the scam that I had been warned about was slightly different (Some drivers would tell tourists that a temple is closed for the day because of a certain holiday). When the man started suggesting other places to visit I started to keep my guard up. I also noticed that he was mindful of the surroundings while he was talking to us. He then started calling tuktuk drivers to take us to the places he recommended. I told him that the other place  on our list was Wat Arun. He nodded and instructed the driver to take us to the pier. I told Anna that I was suspicious of the guy but I also said that we could give him the benefit of the doubt since we would be going to Wat Arun anyway and the tuktuk ride to the pier cost only 10 baht per person. When we reached the place that was supposed to be the jump off point to Wat Arun (which was on the other side of the river) I realized that it wasn't a pier. There were men waiting for us but it dawned on me that it's another scam. I told Anna to leave the place and not to talk to the guys there. Anna was trying to be polite and argued with me. She told me that I could have refused their offer politely and that I shouldn't have walked out on them. Well, they deserved to be treated that way for wasting our precious time.
                        


              Few meters from the scammers we bumped into some locals.We played "charades" again. The Thai are generally nice people except for some scammers. It's just frustrating that as much as they would love to help they couldn't because of language barrier. Our acting skills were always put to the test whenever we talked to them. The locals we talked to this time could not tell us how to get to Wat Po so we just started walking again until we found the temple. The gate to the temple was actually wide open although I'm not sure if that was the right entrance for tourists because I've heard that some people had to pay an entrance fee and we didn't. We looked for the reclining Buddha right away. I had seen it a thousand times on pictures but I didn't expect it to be so stunning. It practically occupies the entire building. It's 46 meters long and 15 meters high, decorated with gold plating on his body. At the back of the statue we saw alm bowls lined against the wall of the temple.People were dropping coins into the bowls. We had no clue what they were doing but we had our picture taken pretending to be dropping coins as well.

      

             From Wat Po we walked to the Tha Tien pier. When we reached the pier I was so thrilled to see Wat Arun standing on the west bank of the river . It was surprisingly greyish from afar. I had expected  it to glisten under the sun,nevertheless it was still beautiful. We paid 3 baht for the ferry ride to the temple. We went up to the upper terrace of the central phrang (tower). When I looked down I realized how steep the steps were and I got worried about descending from the tower. The view of the metropolis from the top was spectacular. Up close you can see that the central phrang and the four smaller surrounding phrangs were decorated with seashells and porcelains which had previously been used as ballast by boats coming to Bangkok from China. After almost an hour spent at Wat Arun we boarded the boat back to the other side of the river.
             I was impressed that despite the construction of modern structures all over Bangkok they were able to preserve the old temples that are very much part of  Bangkok's historical and cultural identity. I was glad that my first impressions of Bangkok were wrong.      

The Grand Palace and Other Temples in Bangkok : Kingdom in a Metropolis

                   As usual we got up early on the second day of our Bangkok trip and we ate at a restaurant around the Khao San area. I didn't take note of the name of the place. I'm really not cut out to be a food connoisseur as I don't take note of the details of the food I eat or the places I eat at. What matters to me is I get stuffed with something that's not bland. We ordered my favorite seafood rice.It cost 60 baht per serving. One of the things I like in Thailand is the generous portions of food. When they say seafood rice expect to see generous amount of seafood in your order (not just a piece of shrimp or two).

                  After breakfast we played charades with the locals. The category was landmarks and the first landmark to guess was RAMA VIII bridge. NO, we actually asked for directions to the bridge and we spent forever making all the hand gestures that we could as nobody could understand us. Aside from the fact that most Thai don't speak English , I also learned that the locals have other names for their tourist spots and other places in their country, so if a tourist mentions the name of a famous landmark it might not ring a bell to them.What made things worse was the fact that Thai words are actually pronounced differently from how they're written. Suvarnabhumi ( the airport) for example is pronounced as Suwanaphoom and Mo Chit (the bus station) is pronounced as Mo Cheet.Hhmm.
                We were looking for RAMA VIII bridge. I don't know why but I'm so fascinated with bridges. RAMA VIII is a suspension bridge named after the predecessor of the present King of Thailand who happened to be his brother. We got so frustrated after asking several people for directions and nobody could give us a clear answer that we just started walking towards the direction where we thought the bridge was located. The Bangkok map we had was totally useless, the place had a totally different lay out in reality .After we had gotten past a dozen shops and restaurants we came across a white fortress. It was the Phra Sumen fortress. On the other side of its walls was a small park by the Chao Phraya river. When we got to the park we saw the magnificent bridge. It was just so stunning. I was not contented seeing it from a distance so I convinced Anna to get near the bridge. We walked through alleys and we passed by a bunch of schoolkids having their breakfast on the sidewalk. It seemed like a lot of households in Bangkok don't prepare breakfast. They just eat at small holes-in-the-wall that had set up tables on the sidewalk. The sight reminded me of Manila which I didn't like because I hate feeling at home when I travel abroad for sight-seeing. After seeing the bridge up close we took a bus to the Grand Palace. Another thing that reminded me of Metro Manila are the non-airconditioned buses that still operate throughout Bangkok (you can ride some of those buses for free). The good thing about them is that the drivers and conductors are much kinder to their passengers. They never rushed us and screamed at us to move faster. If we were in Manila we would have heard the conductor shouting "galaw galaw" (move) while hitting the metal handrail with a coin as if it's a timer for passengers who are getting off the bus. They usually hit it five times in succession which is like five seconds. Yes, five seconds and one should get his ass off the freaking bus. BRUTAL!!!

               After few minutes we reached our next stop, The Grand Palace which was the royal residence of King Rama I to Rama V. The complex which is surrounded by white walls is consists of temples , ceremonial halls, royal residence and government offices. We paid an entrance fee of  350 baht. The Grand Palace complex is smaller than I'd imagined. There's not much space between the temples and other buildings. It's like they're five steps away from each other.
              The temples though beautiful with their walls covered with exquisite and colorful tile mosaic were not as impressive as the Angkor temples. They didn't have the same appeal as their Angkor counterparts, maybe it had something to do with their location being in the middle of a bustling metropolis. Good thing the architecture of the temples in the Grand Palace is different from the ones in Angkor so it's still worth a visit. Most of the temples were closed so we only got to enter Wat Phra Kaew, also known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Wat Phra Kaew is said to be the most important temple in Thailand because it is where the Emerald Buddha is enshrined. The Emerald Buddha is the most revered Buddha image in Thailand. It is believed to bring good fortune to their country. Inside the temple I could barely see the Buddha because it was seated high on its golden altar and probably the intense light outside had also hurt my eyes. We stayed for a while and observed the worshippers. The colorful murals on the walls inside also caught my attention. The dominant colors of red and gold made them eye catchy.

               When we're done with the Wat Phra Kaew temple I felt that the Bangkok weather was already too much for doing a tour. I could sense that the western tourists had lost interest and were no longer paying attention to their guide. They all looked dehydrated to me.
               Our next stop was the Chakri Throne Hall. It's so magnificent and befitting for any royalty. It's a fusion of Thai and European architecture. On the third floor there's a balcony where the king would stand when he needed to address the people. I also noticed the well-manicured lawn in front of the hall.We had our picture taken right next to the guards standing in front of the palace. They looked so intimidating as they were not smiling nor moving at all.
               We were about to leave when I saw people making their way to the basement of the palace. We checked it out and we found ourselves inside a museum of weapons. They had an impressive collections of guns ,daggers and spears. Too bad , taking pictures was prohibited. There were guns that could measure up to two meters in length. There were also other weapons that I could not identify and I never thought had existed.
               It was noontime when we made our way to the exit and we came across an enormous gate that once again reminded us that we were at the
Grand Palace.

                                           
              On the third floor is a balcony where the King would stand if he needed to address the people

Bangkok : First Impressions

             We got up early on the day we're leaving for Bangkok and we took our free breakfast of french bread, scrambled eggs and slices of tropical fruits. All our efforts to get up early was wasted because the van that would pick us up did not arrive until 8:30 AM. It ruined our plan. We were hoping to reach Bangkok before 5pm so we could go to a night market. We were transferred from a van to a bus at around 9AM . The bus roamed around Siem Reap to pick up the other passengers from their respective guesthouses and hotels .

Back in Bangkok


                                

                  The trip back to Bangkok from Siem Reap took so much longer than we had expected. It went smoothly at first until we reached the suburbs of Bangkok. The road became congested and that's where we got stuck. We had been traveling for 8 hours and I had been putting up with the Thai songs blaring from the bus' stereo since I didn't have my earphone with me. I kept on complaining to Anna that everything in Bangkok so far looked like Manila. It was already 7 pm when we arrived at the Mo Chit bus station. I thought the bus station was just a walking distance from the skytrain station. I was wrong. According to everyone we asked , we had to take a cab.We were staying at my friend's place not so far from Khao San, the famous backpacker's area in Bangkok. I just can't remember the name of the street. It's a challenge when you're dealing with Thai nouns which usually are consist of consonants that outnumber the vowels by a mile. To avoid being stuck in traffic the original plan was to take the skytrain from the Mo chit station and get off at the Saphan Taksin station then walk to the Central Pier (then maybe pass out for a few minutes) and take the boat along Chao Phraya river to get to Pier 13 (again I can't remember its name but each pier has a corresponding number).We paid the cab driver 70 baht to get to the skytrain station. I slammed the door at him because he initially refused to take us to our destination. He just  had no choice since it's his turn to pick up passengers otherwise he would have to queue up again and wait forever for his next turn. There is no skytrain station near Khao San so our plan would have been the best way to avoid the dreaded traffic.The thing was the boats that ply the Chao Phraya routes only operate until 6pm so that was out of the question. We took a bus instead from the National Stadium station to Khao San area. We arrived at our destination in no time since it was already 9pm and the roads were almost empty. We were dropped off near a 7-11 store.We hadn't eaten dinner yet so we bought cup noodles and shortly after I had my introduction to Thai flavor.It was so hot and spicy that I felt sick afterwards.


                                

                                          

             We walked towards the area near the Democracy Monument and there we found my friend. My friend is a fellow Filipino who works as a teacher in Bangkok. He lives at an apartment near Khao San and he would be our host for the next four days. I didn't feel like sleeping yet even though I was tired so I left Anna with my friend. Neither one of them could accompany me, Anna was dog-tired and my friend had to go to bed early since he had classes the following day. After we settled our things at my friend's place I went out alone to explore Khao San.
             I was hoping that my first impressions about Bangkok wouldn't last as nothing so far that I had seen impressed me.