Travel – Page 4 – KEVIN CRAIG

Travel Journal – Thailand! November, 2024 – Bangkok – The Beginning

We ALL know the song ONE NIGHT IN BANGKOK by Murray Head, right? At least those of us who grew up clubbing in the ’80s. Let me tell you, I was humming this song quite a lot this past fall. I was so eagerly anticipating our November trip to Thailand (nee Siam), that I couldn’t quite get the song’s jingle-y chorus out of my head.

I did the same just before we went to Kathmandu in 2018. I had Bob Seger’s Kathmandu in my head the entire summer before that trip! I never in my life imagined I would one day find myself in that beautiful far-off city. Seger’s chorus burned into my head for weeks before that trip.

The view from our hotel window in Bangkok.

When we finally arrived in Bangkok on November 14th, 2024, after about 24 hours of travel, one of the first things we saw in the streets outside our hotel was a signpost from home.

Tim Hortons, a Canadian icon…in the heart of Bangkok.

That’s right. Just a half a block from our resting place at Mandarin Hotel Bangkok in the heart of Bangkok, Tim Horton’s was waiting for us. Canada to the core, Tims is an institution you can’t get away from at home. Or, it would seem, when you’re away.

A quick note about the Mandarin. At first glance, it seemed pretty opulent. The entryway and lobby scream money. Once you get to the rooms, however, it’s a different story. They’re quite basic. I’m not complaining here…they were absolutely fine. Better than fine when I think of some of the places we have stayed in. But the lobby does not match the rooms.

We were pretty discombobulated that first day. We had a 16-hr flight to Taipei, Taiwan, followed by a layover, followed by a second flight to Bangkok. Our only venturing that day was by foot in the neighbourhood surrounding our hotel. No worries, though…we found a super huge mall and ate our first meal on Thailand soil.

And our first Thai beer…

This was a fully planned out tour we took, so I won’t break it down the way I break down the trips we plan on our own. We were with guides most of the time in Thailand, with a few exceptions, until we got to Phuket at the end of the trip. Our guide in Bangkok was exceptional. His name was Rio and he might just be the tape measure with which I will rate all future guides to come. The trip we took was offered by Tripoppo here in Toronto and it was called ALLURE OF THAILAND with Phuket 16 Days.

Our full first day with Rio and the rest of the tour group was amazing. We were taken to Golden Mount Temple.

Ring dem bells…found along the way up to the top of Golden Mount Temple…

The Golden Stupa at the top was gorgeous, not to mention all of the wondrous treasures we saw along the way to it!

Vultures standing prey…

Reclining Buddha…

So many beautiful things to see throughout the temple…

Our next location was the nearby Wat Po, which is Bangkok’s largest and oldest temple.

We made a stop along the way at Temple of Dawn (Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan), which is a beautiful stupa reaching up to the sky and fully inlaid with pottery imported from China. It’s breathtaking!

Intricate and whimsical…the broken pottery pieces that make up the facade of the Temple of Dawn stupa…

A short boat ride across the river, and we were ready for the biggest reclining Buddha I have ever seen.

Wat Pho. The Buddha is almost 150 feet long and 40 feet high.

It was impossible to get a photo of the entire Buddha. Here’s some glimpses as we made our way alongside it…

I didn’t know whether to sing One Night in Bangkok or The Neverending Story…

Don’t look at my socks. I SAID don’t look at my socks!

Looks like my crazy eyes strike again with this one…

There was so much to see at this temple. It was filled with treasures.

We had more than one night in Bangkok. And did we ever pack a lot into it.

We did the pool back at the hotel after our full afternoon out and about. Temple hopping is definitely a thing in Thailand, something we were about to get extremely used to…as the country is FULL of temples. We took our down time when we could.

Yes…I went to Tims. Don’t judge. I had to see it with my own eyes. It was quite different than the Tims at home. The coffee was made as you ordered, like a latte. And it was not very good. It looked the same, but definitely did not taste the same.

After our first full day of touring, we decided as a group to give the famous and infamous Khao San Road a go. 10 of us (the full group was 11, but one of the party bowed out of the first day activities) fetched a van through the GRAB APP (Get the app if you go, it’s the Thai Uber and it works grand). I somehow led the way on this one…though I never actually know what I’m doing. My party of four, along with our six new friends in the tour group, put their trust in me to get them to Khao San road and back. In one piece, if possible.

As soon as we stepped inside this Grab van, I was ready to play CASH CAB. To the chagrin of all, we weren’t being filmed for the popular in-cab game show. It was just a light show, after all.

Proof that Michael and I made it to one of the most notorious streets in the world!

We had a lovely meal in Khao San road. I think it was a great idea to go out with the group that first full day. It went a long way in forming the bond we would share for the rest of the tour. Friendships were made. Bread was broken. Tales were shared.

Breaking bread with our fellow travelers…at BUDDY BEER on Khao San Road. Table for ten, please. I expected push-back, but they said, “Right this way!”

It is definitely one of the most wild streets I’ve ever been on. Something to see at every turn!

Hordes of people from all over the world coming to catch a glimpse of the Manic Mile…

It was a wild night…so much fun was had! It felt like we had packed the universe into that day. So much for jet lag. We were fully immersed.

The next day, Rio promised us–if we were really good–that he would take us to see a train that was not scheduled as part of the itinerary. We had to be up and ready early. It wasn’t just any train…but one that has become Instagram famous. I couldn’t wait to see it!

See the NEXT THAILAND POST HERE.

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Paris – Day 14 – September 22nd – Last Day in Paris! Montmartre, Ladurée, Tour Saint-Jacque, Le Relais de l’Entrecote and Goodbye!

Our last full day in Paris sprung up to meet us, and we were not prepared!

The day began with the threat of rain. After two weeks of great weather, we couldn’t really complain about the two drizzly days at the end… could we?

We began our day with a walk to Montmartre, taking in everything on the way. We were saying goodbye to a beautiful city with every step we took.

The foot of the staircase that leads to Sacré-Cœur Basilica at the apex of Montmartre.

The fountains just prior to the last staircase from the top…

Sacré-Cœur Basilica is an amazing place to view the city. From the top of the hill, all of Paris spreads out below you…

Just a few steps along the way to the top!

Sacré-Cœur Basilica really is an architectural wonder!

And, yes, of course we did the thing where the sinking house is sinking! The Sinking House of Montmartre is now officially famous…

The trickery seems fitting for the bohemia of Montmartre…

Prior to this visit, it seemed there was always a service taking place in Sacré-Cœur. I had only ever been able to stand at the back and look into the church. For this visit, though, we had the entire church open to us!

I really got a sense of just how vast the basilica really was. Glad we chose this day to go.

We did a LOT of walking around on our last day. After we walked around up in Montmartre for a while, and stopped in a little restaurant for a petit-déjeuner while waiting out the rain, we walked back down the hill.

Another thing we decided to check off our list! Macarons in Paris. Where else to do this but Ladurée!

One cannot merely window-shop at Ladurée!

We decided to take our treasure to the river and find a place to sit down there…another last day goodbye! The Seine called out to us. But, first, a Bouquiniste along the way.

The treasured Bouquinistes line the walkways beside the river…

With the river at our feet and the Louvre in our sights, we found a nice place to sit and gaze about…

If you want to say goodbye to a city, you need to walk that city, go to its hearts, wander aimlessly like a flâneur. But you also need to take little breaks, stop and sit and watch the city go by about you…have a treat…

We watched the river for a bit, knowing we were leaving it for a very long time…if not forever.

After our snack, we were ready to continue our exploration and goodbyes.

Two weeks and we still hadn’t made our way to the pretty Square du Vert-Galant! We needed to remedy that. This is the pretty little park at the western tip of the Ile de la Cité…next to the Pont Neuf! Such a lovely spot.

Another must-do item on the bucket list was Tour Saint-Jacque. We kept missing out on it. The visiting hours are hard to nail down and possibly sporadic. Anyway, Michael said THIS IS THE DAY. And it was so…

This tower is one of the iconic starting points for the Camino de Santiago…

Michael stayed behind, waiting at the bottom. I went with a small tour group. There are over 300 steps to the top of the tower and it’s a low narrow spiral staircase. A bit of a workout. You need to be fit to do this tour.

There is SO much to see on the way up!

Once you get to the top, that’s the real prize! It’s definitely one of THE best views of the city. I feel like I kept saying that no matter where we went, but this time…it was just spectacular! In every direction!

I was truly stunned by the spectacle of it. The entire city was just there! The skies had cleared and it was a perfect September day…and the city opened up!

Even Sacré-Cœur and Montmartre were there, for one last goodbye…

I couldn’t get enough!

It was time to come back down to earth! Michael was waiting…and we had dinner plans!

It was time to say goodbye to Saint-Germain-des-Prés! But not before returning to one of our favourite restaurants and visiting the Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés (Église de Saint-Germain-des-Prés).

I couldn’t decide if the church was gaudy or beautiful, but I suppose some things could be both. It reminded me a bit of Sainte-Chapelle, only without all the glass.

What did we choose for our last meal in Paris? The same place we chose for one of our first meals!

After dinner we walked back to the hotel, saying goodbye to everything we passed by.

There’s a saying, “We’ll always have Paris.” And we will. No matter how old we get, how far we go, how much we change or don’t change…Paris will always be with us. Like a big shiny diamond, glowing in our past. We might make it back one day, or we might never see it in person again. But it’s a part of us now. We’ll always have it.

To paraphrase Hemingway… “If you are lucky enough to have BEEN TO Paris AT ANY AGE, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”

Yes, I bent that quote to my will! But it’s true.

This concludes our 2023 Paris journey. It was everything and more!

We might see it again…maybe. As Audrey Hepburn said, “Paris is always a good idea.”

“Au revoir Paris. Je t’aime.”

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Paris – Day 12 – September 20th – The Unforgettable Mont-Saint-Michel!

How does one top Versailles? Easy, go to Mont-Saint-Michel the very next day…

This day makes me think of SAUDADE. This is a word I used in my novel THE CAMINO CLUB. People loosely describe saudade as the love that remains, but it is also so much more. Look it up—SAUDADE. You’ll love all it entails!

All this to say that September 20th, 2023 was a very otherworldly experience. I never in a million years thought that I would step down on the little island of Mont-Saint-Michel. Little ole’ me, the snot-nosed kid from Scarborough, Ontario who used to sneak under the turnstile and onto the subway with their big brother and ride it back and forth for fun on a Saturday morning visiting this mythical place on the other side of the world? No. Not me.

And yet, here we were!

I will always long for the return of this day!

I mean, look at it! It’s monolithic and gothic and impossible. And yet, there it is…REAL. Mont-Saint-Michel, in all its glorious gloriousness.

But first thing’s first. It was an EARLY day, as we needed to take an almost 5 hour bus ride to get to Mont-Saint-Michel. And we needed to get to the start point near the Eiffel Tower. Did I mention that the Eiffel Tower is in the no man’s land of the 7th Arrondissement? We decided to grab the Metro, which is SO extremely easy to navigate.

Don’t be afraid to take the Metro…it could not be easier to use.

This might give you some indication of how early we were making our way to the Eiffel Tower. Paris’s underground is arguably the busiest subway system in the world. During rush hour, you cannot move on the platform or the trains. This is what we encountered on the way to the Tower on this morning.

Enter the part where we spent over 4 1/2 hours on a bus crossing France’s countryside. One stop for a bio-break and a stretch.

I have never felt so inserted into history as I felt when we finally made our way into the little conical village of this mystical magical island. It is truly an architectural wonder. Awe inspiring!

If ever you get the opportunity to visit Mont-Saint-Michel, take it! You may not think it’s worth spending 9 hours on a bus for, but I assure you…it IS! When you walk its streets, you are in the presence of wonder itself.

Narrow and overcrowded, and a thousand times worth it!

Yes, it’s a tourist trap…but it’s also a marvel. Ground broke on the construction of the abbey in the 10th century…please let that sink in! It was completed in 1523!

The breathtaking view from the courtyard of the abbey at the top of Mont-Saint-Michel…

The abbey itself was just a never-ending architectural and archaeological masterpiece. It’s stupefying how this place was even built in the middle ages.

Michael, enjoying one of the many views from the Abbey.

We had time to wander the little spiraling village to its apex at the breathtaking Abbey, and then come back down to do a little shopping and have a meal in one of the tiny pubs near the bottom.

I did not take a photo of our lovely meal, as I noticed a sign that said PUT YOUR PHONES AWAY and I just know the woman serving us was a close relative of THE SOUP NAZI!

Being on the outside of the ramparts of Saint-Michel was just as magical as being in its narrow streets.

Enjoying an incredibly windy afternoon outside the fortress walls of Mont-Saint-Michel. This beach is often under water, yet here we were…

We decided to walk back to the parking area, as opposed to taking the shuttle. We wanted to take advantage of seeing Mont-Saint-Michel at various viewpoints as it faded away to nothing behind us. Such an amazing piece of history to be in the presence of…mind-blowing!

The inexplicable cow menagerie we met along the way back to the parking area. 🙂

It was time for the 4 1/2+ hour bus trip back to Paris. We were filled with the wonder of being at one of the world’s seven wonders! What was the inconvenience of a bus-ride now? We were blessed! The Gothic-style Benedictine abbey we had just been to was known throughout the medieval world as the ‘Wonder of the West’. And here were we, visiting it in 2023.

Soon we were dropped off very close to the foot of the Eiffel Tower…

The Tower at night is a treat to witness!

On our way back to the hotel that night, we decided to cross another item off of our Paris bucketlist. Yes, we sought out and found a place to serve us absinthe in the original theatrical way it should be served! They had the fountain of iced water, the fancy glasses that sat beneath the fountain spigots, the slotted spoon with the cubes of sugar! It was a moment! We watched as the process called louching took place and then we enjoyed the licorice-y burn-y sips of fire until it was gone.

Done! Checked off the list. We then walked back to our hotel feeling the fire dance within us!

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