Tag Archives: tour

Bangkok

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We spent two days in Bangkok. Why city of angels ? Bangkok is the city with longest name all over the world and the name contains the term city of angels as well. You may ask wikipedia for the full name. We stayed at Ballys Studio Suites a nice and clean hotel at Sukhumvit Soi 20. First day we started relaxed with a walk through Siam Square area, we were at the Jim Thompson House ( the guy who has reestablished thai silk weaving..) and had our lunch at MBK 6th floor where you can find whole asian kitchen for less money. Afternoon we found a new tailor for me and Sabine decided to go for a nice dress as well. Enough for first day. Not really. We took another cab to famous Khaosarn Road and we were looking for a japanese sushi restaurant we were in years ago. Unable to find (moved to next street…) we had local food to an reasonable price. Next day we sleept a little bit longer so our plan to be the first at Grand Palace failed. took BTS to Saphan Taksin and Mandy and me were surprised that there were no longer public boats available. Instead of the cheap boats we had in mind we must take a tourist boat to go to Wat Phra Keo. Anyway 25 bath for each is not a big deal. And during the week it is definetely better to take public transportation instead of taxi. The Wat was amazing but overcrowded. Lots of russian tourist and I thought by myself that for them the only thing what counts is to take pictures to prove that they were here. Afterwards we went to Grand Palace and it happend again that an official-looking persons told us thatthe palace is closed today because of a buddhist holiday. We walked on and entered the Grand Palace. Sabine was impressed but i am on the same page, it was like a kind of overloaded impression. The room of the jade buddah image was full (as always…) and after 2 hours we had enough and took a taxi to Hua Lampong where we jumped into MRT. Back at the hotel we treated ourself with a massage, bought some beer at 7/11 and had one more hour on the roof top.

Kandy – City of tooth relic

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That’s was Kandy is famous for. A temple where a tooth of Buddha is inshrined. And a nice lake with a lot of birds. Mandy felt scared and of course it remains us to that famous Hitchkok movie….. first night we went out for dinner to a muslim hotel (hotel in Sri Lanka means mostly a food court…..) So a “friendly” Singhalese who worked before in Germany and is married with a german woman gave us a introduction in “how to cheat foreigners”. Well, such things happen. After the dinner my stomache crashed and I was sitting at toilet half of the night. But with 2 pills and coz of my private nurse it was better next morning. Big topic next day was “how to find a laundry”. Easy going in Thailand or Malaysia. Not in Sri Lanka. Boss of the hotel recommended the Queens Laundry and for sure, best laundry in town. And finally it is, I guess but they don’t wanna clean underwear. Well, we bought washing soap and Mandy will do washing by hand :) We visited the botanic garden which is 2nd largest in Asia and it was really nice. Beautyful orchids and huge trees. After that we have been dropped of close to tooth temple. Security check 2 times at entrance points, as usual in Sri Lanka. The temple itself is not an architectural highlight, if you’ve been in Angkor Wat or Schwedagon Pagoda before. It’s more a religious issue of faith, coz in my mind (behold I tell you a secret…) there’s no tooth. *g* After back at hotel I asked the guys how much would it be to hire a car to Nuwara Elia. The hotelboss offered us during our chat a package for next days. First I thought will be much too expensive but it’s about mathematics. 5 days by private car and driver , accomodation with breakfast, safari to national park incl entrance fee and drop off at a place of our choice at southcoast for 520 bucks. And that’s fair and ok, so we agreed. And he told us, that walk-in rates for hotels and guest-houses in Sri Lanka are the highest rates, so better book online in advance. But for this you have to no exactely where you wanna be next days. Anyway, for next days it should be stressless and more comfortable. And after the highlands we’ll go to the beach……
Next hop is Nuwara Eliya. Will keep you updated.

PS if you find mistakes feel free to keep them :)