We very much enjoyed our resort, the Reverie Siam yesterday evening, and love it maybe more for breakfast. We automatically get a three-tiered assortment of scones, breads, fruits, cream/butter, and jams. And to that we each get to add one complete breakfast. Yum.
Before long we’re packed up, checked out, and on the road again. The first stop is a metal bridge that the Japanese had used between Burma and Thailand in WW II. It was very significant but later fell into disrepair. Eventually it was saved and moved here. Without the story it’s not an overly impressive engineering feat, but whatevs. I’m sure there are 1,000 poignant stories that go along with it.
We also stop and check out ‘The Grand Canyon of Thailand’. If you’re a lawyer imagining the potential lawsuits, it’s impressive. The ground continues in narrow sinewing curves, off into the distance. The earth falls away, quickly, on either side. There were scary parts we wouldn’t even consider. It’s fun to imagine families there with their young kids trying to keep them from plunging to their deaths. There were very few others when we were there early in the day.
Our next stop is a thermal spring where we will be able to cool our heals and soak our feet. Should we so desire we can take the plunge and go swimming. Along the way there we round a corner and see three huge water buffalos trudging up the highway. It’s not clear who has right-of-way, but we yield. Supposedly these belong to some farmer and he’s supposed to keep them under control. We’re told that frequently doesn’t happen.
The thermal spa is nice. We doff our shoes and sox and soak our feet. The warm water is divine. It’s almost too warm at first, but soon just feels good. Thankfully there’s no sulfur smell like you get at other such springs. This place sells eggs, in bamboo baskets, which struck us as odd. We find out that up stream the water is 212 degrees and they have hooked bamboo poles for cooking your eggs in the boiling water. We do this and eat our eggs with the included soy sauce.
Nat is excited at the place she’s selected for our lunch until it turns out to be closed. Next door is a place that sells meals whose claim to fame is “all things spicy”. Since we’d explained about Tex-Mex food from back home, with jalapeño peppers, we’ve been labeled as spicy food lovers. It was fine. Afterwards we went into the Airbus 330 parked out front and had coffee. Looking out the cockpit you could see the upside-down house.
After another drive, we stop at another Buddhist Temple. To say this thing is a temple is like saying that the Magic Kingdom in Orlando is just a park. This thing was so over the top it wasn’t funny. It was amazing, and impressive, and awe inspiring. There is a sign out front alerting visitors that shorts and short skirts may not be warn on the premises. We exclaim that silly Scott is wearing shorts, whoops! No worries, we’re told, that sign only applies to women. Is this a great country, or what?!
There are a seemingly innumerable number of dragons with dragon heads, dragons with elephant heads, and tons of animals of all twelve years of the Asian zodiac calendar. There’s a 200 foot long reclining buddha inside a huge ornate temple. There are so many temples and shrines, it takes us half an hour just to walk around it. As if that’s not enough, they're building another huge temple with an enormous golden Buddha seating inside. We ask if Buddha would approve and got the answer we expect (undoubtedly not).
We drive another long ways almost to Myanmar, to the city of Tha Ton, aka Thaton. There’s one of these here, in Thailand, and a city of the identical name in Myanmar. When visitors are asking what vaccinations they need, for going to Thaton, they sometimes are told they need everything, as the Myanmar Thaton apparently is full of cholera, typhoid, malaria, and a dozen other things you don’t want. We’re happy to be at this one.
Our resort hotel regularly serves as an education center for Thai students and others from around the world. Apparently they had a group from Austin High, in our home, last year. They learn about ecology, or survival. But the resort is pretty comfy and civilized for softies like us.
The place is run by a delightful English couple who lived in Hong Kong for many years. They now run this place, which is lovely, but a tad rustic when compared to some of our other accommodations. Given how close we are to Myanmar, perhaps this isn’t surprising. But it’s comfortable, nonetheless. The heater for the shower in our room is one of those ‘just in time’ heaters. We’re intrigued, but sadly neither of us needs a shower.
There’s a drinks menu in the room and instructions on how to have ‘whatever’ delivered right to your doorstep. They must have seen us coming. Karen calls the number and requests a large carafe of white wine and two glasses. Karen repeats the order a few times to the young woman on the other end of the phone and they eventually hang up. Two minutes later a gentleman calls from the restaurant/bar and asked me whether we wanted a bottle or carafe of wine, if carafe, what size, white or red, and how many glasses. It was delivered a few minutes later and definitely fit the bill. The rest of the evening is a bit of a blur, but dinner was really good.
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