Siam Paragon, World class Shopping Phenomenon, Bangkok

This is the most amazing place to visit while in Bangkok, a must see.

Open Daily 10:00 am to 10:00 pm
991/1 Rama 1 road, Pathumwan, Telephone # (662) 610-8000 or www.siamparagon.com
The easiest way to get there is by BTS Sky Train exit Siam Station.

AMAZING. Plan to spend a considerable amount of time as there is much to see. Jaguar showroom, Jimmy Choo, Chloe, Bose, Bottega Veneta, Porsche showroom, Gucci, Georgio Armani, Versace, Valentino, Lamborghini Hummer, Marc Jacobs and the Beautiful Aquarium. Just to name a few.

Beyond Paradise, Facets of Devine Dining
Beyond Prestige, Paragon Department Store
Beyond Premium, Gourmet Market
Beyond Pride, a retail complex and Entertainment, The Jewel of Asia
Beyond Performance, A superior show of incomparable expectations and powerful technology.
An enriching experience at the spectacular state of the art Paragon World of entertainment.
The Jewel of Asia

A Must See

Enjoy

Pattaya

Pattaya is a convenient beach to go to but it is not the best beach as far as litter goes. Certain times of the year the beach water seems dirty. I have swam there several times, it is shallow, and not to many large waves.

The best part is the service and the excellent Thai food you get on the beach. If you sit down under the umbrellas you will be served like Kings for a reasonable price. The umbrellas are beautiful, colorful and overlapping so you won't get wet if it starts to rain.

There is a lot to do there. While you relax and enjoy the scenery there is paragliding, boat rides, small watercraft to run around in. They take your picture and sell it to you later or even the next day. It is reasonable also.

Hotels right across from the umbrellas are reasonable and accommodations, even though we had checked out we could enjoy the beach and come back and use the restroom shower to clean up before returning home. We used latestays.com to book our room the day before we left for the beach.

If you want a wonderful day of relaxation this is a nice choice.

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Hotel Rooms, last minute or otherwise

There are two excellent sites excellent for booking rooms in Thailand,
latestays.com , and
Sawadee.com

They are both discount sites that book rooms that have not been filled at the last minute or shortly before your arrival. I use them all the time when booking travel in Thailand.
They work
Enjoy

Trekking Continued/Rafting

The last day of our journey was spent rafting the river, not sure of the rivers name but it was a large one.

Preparing for the trip was tricky, we had to put everything in plastic bags so they would not get wet in the rapids of the river.

You definitely want to wear something you won't mind getting wet. The rapids are sometimes large enough to come up over the raft.
Our belongings were on sticks constructed above the waterline at about 6 feet. Rafting was a blast. You got to watch the guides construct the raft as you waited to get on. There were six of us and two guides to steer the raft with long poles. There were no seats so the floor of the raft was it. Your seat for the day.

I swam beside the raft some of the way, they said it was fine as long as I didn't go in front of the raft. The raft could have run over me if it was going faster than I was swimming. So along side only.

The trekking trip was the highlight of the month. I would do it again in a second. Wonderful people, good food, clean accommodations, the only drawback was the bathroom situation. Showers were cold, the toilet a typical squat ceramic, it was a bathroom and an adequate and private. Just not your usual garden variety western bathroom.

Trekking Continued/Elephant ride

The first part of our journey through the Jungle while trekking was great. An inspirational in site on a life we are certainly not a part of.

The next part of the journey was the elephant ride. Interesting, we watched the boys go to the jungle and collect their elephants, take them to the river and wash them, harness them with the baskets we rode in. We climbed aboard with their trusty handlers to begin our ride.

As we were going through the jungle, and through the river we noticed that there was a baby following one of the elephants. He made for much excitement as we watched him play, nurse, and try and keep up with the larger elephants. The elephant river ride was much longer than expected. Jungle beauty all around us, absolutely fabulous. River raft guides were busy taking our gear downriver on rafts for us to collect at the next tribal village. Here were fed a wonderful lunch, all things we recognized because of the time we spend in Thailand.

That night we again spent the night at the village in about the same nice accommodations. Comfortable and clean. Same sort of restroom and shower facilities. Not bad but certainly not a western bathroom.

Bright and early the next morning we all boarded rafts to ride and swim in the river if we wanted. Swimming in the river was easy, warm you just had to keep up with the raft as they cannot come back for you if you fall behind. We rode two and one-half hours listening to the sounds and looking at the beautiful foliage In the next addition I will tell more about the rafting trip. Hope you enjoy these postings they are certainly fun to do.

Trekking

One of the memories of traveling around Thailand was our experience with Trekking.

It started with the person at the Hotel helping people with reservations with exciting activities. The next day we met the people we were to travel with and our guide.

None of us knew what we were in for. The experience was absolutely fabulous! We were told to pack light. Very light for four days. We were given a basic list of articles to be sure and bring along in your backpack.

The van came to the Hotel and picked us up early the next day. The other people outside out of our group obviously in great shape, we thought we were too. Reality was soon to come. After a long ride to the drop site our guide led us to a crude road. Most of the road was straight up. Every time we went around a corner we thought it would be flat, not so, all uphill . It wasn't long before we realized we picked the wrong thing to do. I was ready to give up as was the rest of our group. Our guides gave us an option for extra money to ride motorcycles the rest of the way. Saved our trip completely. The motorcycles arrived about a half hour later. All but two of us were happy to get on and go to the village ahead.

Arriving at the village we were welcomed graciously by quite wonderful people. Actual village people, no fakes. We were shown to our sleeping quarters and the toilet facilities. Primitive but wonderful. The cook had already started to prepare our meal for the evening.

We purchased sodas, water and beer from the guides, at every stop. We sat and rested with a much needed rest. Wonderful conversation with people who from Italy made the trip much more interesting.

After dinner we still visited but all retired early as the next day we visited another village. Village people are very welcoming. Quiet, curious, completely happy people. The motorcycles saved our trip. We were fortunately to have such wonderful guides.

Visiting the villages was only part of the trip. In another posting I will tell about the elephants and the rafting trip. Wonderful, exciting, and actual, nothing but the real thing. No artificial anything, nothing but the real thing. The best experience of the trip.

Look for further postings. I will post pictures to go with this article soon. Watch for them.

Samphran Elephant Camp and Zoo/Bangkok

This is much more than an elephant camp. It is a Zoo with Tigers, Shows with Snakes, Alligators and Elephants. The picture on the upper right shows a young Thai boy with his head in the Alligators mouth. On cultural side they have an excellent Thai dancing show. The image to the right below shows the Northern Pole Dance, as the bamboo poles are clicked together by the people on the end dancers carefully step between them. Fun to watch.

The thing that makes this so unique is the many activities that go on throughout the day. You can wonder the Rose Garden and all the other shows listed above. It is a full day activity. The Elephant show is much more elaborate than the others I have seen. Much of it depicting the history of Thailand. Very interesting.

The location is a way out of Bangkok but not that far. There many tour places you can go and book a tour. I used EBC Tour & Trans Co.,LTD, email:ebc@ebctour.com. These people did great for me on two tours for 1,7oo baht each. All day Tours, including lunch and a guide to show you around. The guide spoke perfect English. Enjoy!