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2011 Korean Thanksgiving Holiday - Part One

Our princess Chloe on the porch of a beautiful house inside the Summer Palace
     A 5-day holiday away from Korea without school work and stock would be a perfect family day.

     So, the family has decided to go for a short-fun trip nearby Bangkok to experience being in a foreign land. It might be absurd to write the phrase foreign land but you must understand that I've been living in Bangkok for 9 months but where I am is no different from my Korean life-- I speak in Korean and English, I deal with Koreans, I dine in Korean restaurants and make Korean food at home. See?

Hua Lamphong Train Station
    We basically planned of going to Kanchanaburi to visit some poignant WWII landmarks in history-- the Bridge over River Kwai and the Death Railway. I, in particular, was excited to see them since I've read quite a few articles about the place and felt  mournful for the thousand of people who died for the railway project. But as we planned our 2 days 1 night trip in this historical place, all hotels in the place were fully-booked. The plan was immediately cancelled.

     The most depressing thing when the original plan didn't work as what you have planned in a dream holiday was not to have an alternative one. That actually what happened to us. So, rather to feel sorry and turn this long holiday into the monotonous life we have, we agreed to go on a train ride to Bang Pa-In Summer Palace.


Once a daddy's girl, always a daddy's girl
     We first took a cab and drove to Bangkok train Station (Hua Lamphong Station) and from there we purchased ordinary train tickets to Ban-Takhli (Where the train would stop at Bang-Pain Station) It was roughly an hour and a half ride from Bangkok. The train was very ordinary. When I say ordinary, I mean hard seats, open windows and standing people along the aisles.  Who would expect much from a 12 Baht/person ride anyway??? (much, MUCH cheaper than BTS)

    
     So we got off Bang-Pain Station and hired a Songthaew (similar to a Philippine jeepney) to Bang Pa-In Palace. It took us only 10 minutes to get there and the fare was actually cheaper than what we expected, 20 Baht per person.

    
     The Bang Pain Palace has a history dating back to the 17th century and was revived by King Rama IV of the Chakri dynasty. The place was wonderful! The restrooms located at the gate entrance were superb... and the weather last Saturday was just perfect to take a stroll on the compound. Wait! We actually never walked ...we rented an electric golf car (400 Baht/hour) for two hours to save our feet from aching later.  Chloe was exhilirated to drive the caddie with her daddy!

The Sages Lookout next to the Chinese Mansion
The Divine Seat of Personal Freedom

     The entire palace was serene and peaceful. There were many tourists from different countries that day as well as locals. Our eyes feasted on the beautiful structures inside--- the Aisawan-Dhipaya-Asana Pavillion (The Divine Seat of Personal Freedom) which sat on the middle of an artificial ornamental pond, the Chinese Mansion Phra Thinang (Royal Residence) Wehart Chamrin (Heavenly Light) that was filled with delicate fretwork on the columns and the windows, and the Ho (Tower) Withun Thanasa (The Sages Lookout) where we had a good look of the entire place. We never ran out of energy (thanks to our cart)  to go over the whole compound.

The Chang (Elephant) Family

  
     We left Bang Pa-In by Samlor Krueng (tricycle) around past 3 o'clock to catch the 4:20 train in Bang Pa-In Station. However, the personnel told us that the train would be delayed until 6:00 p.m. That left us to go to a nearby Station (by Songthaew again) and got in a 12-seater passenger van (50 Baht/person) that travelled back to Bangkok (Chatuchak Weekend Market) for about 2 hours.

Inside the Chinese Mansion
Bang Pa-In Railroad


     It was pouring hard when we got off the van but our thoughts coalesced at the first sight of shelter, "Thanks Heavens there is the market!" We treaded carefully the covered pavements of the market all through Mo Chit Station where we took the BTS to Chit Lom Station. We had our cozy dinner at Nobu Shabu, CentraWorld.

     Everyone was dead tired but satisfied with the day's itinerary. It was like experiencing Thailand from a local perspective. We are actually all looking forward to another long holiday on Christmas, after the intensive classes. Three adjectives to decribe this trip: unforgettable, fascinating, and arduous.*



* Part two coming soon...

Comments

bittersweet said…
I love travel posts like this. you give a brush of history plus good photos. am looking forward to part two.
September 15, 2011 at 9:20 AM
Nhemskie said…
Thank you;) It took me a while to put what happened in order after a long hiatus from writing. I haven't started the second sequel yet but it should be up in the next few days (hopefully).

Have a great day Emma!
September 15, 2011 at 11:13 AM
jehan said…
waiting for part 2.. thanks for bringing us there with you.. or bringing thailand to us, kkkk...
September 16, 2011 at 12:44 AM
Nhemskie said…
Thank you Cheryle;) Give my hugs to Zach. Chloe still remembers him.
September 16, 2011 at 1:55 AM
Nhemskie said…
@Jehan: It's been a long time since I've written something "decent" here in my blog. Thank you for always being there.
September 16, 2011 at 2:02 AM
anney said…
Such a beautiful country! Wish I could visit it someday!
September 19, 2011 at 8:58 PM
Nhemskie said…
Hi Anney! You sure can one day;) Thanks for droppin' by.
September 20, 2011 at 11:52 PM
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