Final Farewell

To say we were a bit travel weary when we left our guesthouse in Sukhothai would be an understatement.

We had been on the road for four and a half months, much of that time coping with crazily hot weather, moving every few days to a new location and taking buses, trains, cars and planes to get from place to place.

We had contemplated taking the train to Bangkok, but at the last minute discovered that Sukhothai had an airport and that we could take one final flight on Bangkok Airways, so we chose to fly instead.

The airport was almost an hour’s drive from the city, so we set off early to catch our 8:50 am flight.

We were returning the rental car at the same time and spent some of the drive trying to determine where we were supposed to drop it off, since the car had been delivered to our hotel a couple of days earlier and we had never been to the airport before.

The drive north on secondary roads and the relative lack of signage gave us a clue that we were not headed towards a large airport, but when we made the final turn and saw a cluster of small buildings fronted by a very small parking lot, we wondered if we were in the right place.

As they had promised, a couple of men from the rental company met us in the car park and without any formalities or paperwork, we handed over the keys, making this the most hassle-free car rental experience of our lives.

With luggage in tow, we walked towards the largest building and saw that it was, indeed an ‘airport terminal’. There was a check-in desk and scale just inside the door, a ‘departure board’ announcing the one and only flight leaving that day (ours) and a ‘security line’ just beyond—all in a space not much bigger than our living room at home.

It took about a minute and a half to check-in and clear security and we were shown into the waiting room—where we discovered a buffet table laid with an impressive array of free snacks including cakes, sandwiches, cookies and dried fruit, coffee, tea, water and juice, all compliments of Bangkok Airways.

We helped ourselves and sat down in the attractive open-air waiting area with the handful of other passengers to wait for the plane.

This was hands down the most pleasant, delightful, stress-free and surprising airport experience either of us had ever had—and cumulatively, the pair of us have taken many hundreds of flights in our lifetimes.

When it came time to board, we were ushered onto little open air trolleys and driven past beautiful landscaping to the end of the runway, where a small propeller plane awaited us.

Once in the air, Bangkok Airways came through as always, serving us a delicious breakfast (and mine gluten free!).

The whole experience helped us shake off our travel-weariness and ensured we arrived in Bangkok refreshed and ready for our final farewell to round-the-world travel.

We had booked a private room in a hostel that was close to the train station, as we had originally planned to arrive by train.

It did not look too promising when we checked in and were taken past a couple of rooms filled with random junk, and up a staircase that looked out on the garbage strewn rooftop next door, but the room was surprisingly nice and the view out its large window was unique.

Billed as a room with a ‘pool view’, we could indeed, if standing right next to the window and looking straight down, see the four foot wide lap pool on the ground floor.

At eye level was a  cute little yellow wooden house on stilts, with similar dwellings in front and behind.

We realized that we were smack dab in a very old neighborhood of Bangkok, surrounded by traditional two-story wooden shophouses, of which the hostel was also an example, though now converted into lodgings and a café.

It was, as usual, blistering hot when we checked in around noon, so we stayed in our nice cool room and plotted out our modest goals for the two and a half days we’d be in Bangkok, making a booking for the Grand Palace two days hence.

For some reason, I had a craving for pizza, and we found a place in the business district that offered gluten free crusts, so we took a Grab ride across the city and enjoyed a delicious, albeit stupidly expensive meal in what we both agreed was a pretty sterile part of town.

The expedition confirmed for us that though slightly gritty, we much preferred the neighborhood we were staying in to the concrete and steel wasteland in which we’d just dined.

Unexpectedly, we caught a break the next morning when we awoke to drizzly rain and the coolest temperatures we’d seen for more than six weeks, making it possible for us to do some walking and exploring along the riverfront near our hostel.

We really enjoyed our stroll through the neighboring streets and across the campus of Thammasat University (despite its slightly fascist sounding motto) in temperatures that never got over 90F/32C as we made our way towards the Amulet Market, where we hoped to buy (an affordable) statue of the Walking Buddha after failing to find one in Sukhothai.

Within minutes of arriving in the covered market, packed with stalls selling small amulet charms and tokens along with Buddha statues of infinite variety, we spotted a bronze Walking Buddha of similar size to the one we had turned down in Sukhothai.

We asked how much and the answer was 6000 baht—still too much but less than half what the ceramic shop owner wanted, confirming my suspicions that she had been trying to shake us down.

Buoyed by this find, we were sure we’d eventually find one at the right price in the vast market of many aisles and alleyways.

The next shop had a similar Walking Buddha and wanted 1500 for it, so we kept that one in mind and continued our search.

Eventually, we found one we liked the look of in a different stall and this time the price was right—550 baht, (about $15). Finally, success!!

Though it was relatively cool outside, it was stifling in the covered market, so Walking Buddha in hand, we exited onto the riverfront and found some interesting food shops, including one that sold nothing but durian products.

[Sidenote: while in Chiang Mai, we had finally decided to try durian and found a fruit stand that sold small enough amounts that we wouldn’t be too wasteful if we hated it and threw most of it away. The little chunk of pale yellow fruit was on a Styrofoam tray with a double layer of plastic wrap, presumably to keep the odor to a minimum.

The lady who sold it to us conveyed in very limited English that we should eat it right then and there in the open air market, and when we said we’d take it with us instead, admonished us ‘no eat in hotel!!’ She put the packet in a bag with plastic gloves, so we wouldn’t get the smell on our hands when we handled it and sent us off with a dubious look, certain, I think, that we were going to get ourselves in trouble with this stinky fruit.

We did not take it into the flat, but opened it in the courtyard and sampled it in the alleyway outside. It was slightly chewy with a somewhat strong flavor,  but not terrible smelling or tasting. We didn’t love it—it’s probably an acquired taste like Vegemite—but we didn’t hate it either. Neither one of us really understood what all the fuss is about with durian, but maybe the piece we had wasn’t especially ripe or fragrant. In any case, we were glad we tried it, but both agreed once was enough.]

A little further along from the durian café, we found a food cart selling what looked like tiny tacos. I quickly googled and discovered these were a Bangkok treat consisting of thin and crispy rice crepes with both sweet and savory coconut based fillings.

Using google translate, we confirmed that they contained no gluten and bought a couple of sweet ones—they were absolutely delicious!!

Walking on, we decided we’d go to see the giant golden reclining Buddha I remembered from my only other visit to Bangkok when I was sixteen years old. It was just as impressive and amazing as I remembered, and just as impossible to photograph in totality, except with a weirdly distorted panoramic shot.

This time around, I was especially impressed with the soles of the feet, illustrated with mandalas and stories from the life of Buddha, beautifully inlaid with mother-of-pearl.

The entire temple complex was fascinating and amazing and we spent some time there marvelling at the detailed and colorfully decorated temples and chedi around us.

When we exited, we were met by huge framed photographs of the King and queen, along with photos of his father and mother, fronted by elaborate shrines draped in bunting.

Two days earlier had been Coronation Day, a national holiday, and we assumed these were erected for the occasion, although we had been seeing huge photos of the king all over Thailand throughout our time there.

It led me to do a little research about the King and Thai political history in general, and what I learned left me unimpressed. The current monarch is apparently a profligate dilettante who has been married four times and after marrying his fourth, the queen, a few days before his coronation, he then revived the role of ‘chief concubine’, which had not been used for over 100 years, apparently unaware that this is the 21st century….

Thailand, like its neighbor Cambodia, is a military dictatorship fronted by a monarch who lends the regime legitimacy and demands the most servile obsequiousness from courtiers and the public. Everything I learned about Thailand in the last 100 years or so –the multiple military coups, the violent suppression of opposition and the monarchs’ collusion in dictatorship made me a feel a little bit queasy.

After returning to the hostel and at this point very tired of eating out every night, we found a little neighborhood Thai restaurant around the corner that was very popular with westerners-likely because the food was good and inexpensive and it was located in an area surrounded by hostels.

It was tasty enough that we ate there the following night as well, too unmotivated by this point to find a different place to eat.

Our respite from the heat lasted only one day. When it came time for us to tour the Grand Palace, temperatures were back in the 102F/39C range, and it was much more humid than it had been in central and northern Thailand.

We made the decision to walk there from the hostel—it was only about a kilometre—but by the time we reached the entrance point, along with huge numbers of other tourists, we were already baking.

We spent the first hour trying to stay somewhat cool by looking at the amazing 18^th century murals that line the walls of a covered walkway encircling the entire palace precinct.

Over 2km of murals depict the Thai version of the Hindu epic the Ramayana, the story of Rama, his wife Sita and a force of evil, the ogre called Thotsakan in Thailand.

While this Hindu story might seem a strange one in Buddhist Thailand, it has had resonance with the kings of Thailand who have all been named Rama since the founding of the Chakri dynasty in the late 18^th century (the current king is Rama X).

We didn’t look at all 2 km of the mural, and in any case needed to get out from under cover and see the Emerald Buddha (which is really made of jade), housed in the most elaborate temple in the precinct. Photos are not allowed inside, so the only photo I got of him was using extreme zoom through an open door outside the temple.

After fighting the hordes at the Emerald Buddha, we made our way around the complex, marvelling at and somewhat overwhelmed by the intricacy, eleborate detail and profusion of decoration and color on every surface we looked at.

Unlike the complex housing the giant reclining Buddha, most of the temples here were not open to visitors, so we just wandered around looking at their facades, eventually exiting to look at the exterior of the royal palace itself.

We briefly popped into the museum that documents the construction of the Grand Palace, not because we were particularly interested in it, but because it was air conditioned.

Thus, a bit cooled off, we walked back to the riverfront we had visited the day before, bought a few more of those delicious little ‘tacos’ and decided to buy tickets to the hop on hop off tourist boat that plies the Chao Phraya river that flows through Bangkok.

We rode up and down the river, enjoying the view of Bangkok from the water and only really hopped on and off once, at the Temple of Dawn, Wat Arun.

Another temple that you just walk around to admire, it was unique for its muted color scheme and the little bells festooning its façade. .

I was also quite taken with the three headed elephants peering out of four windows near the top of the spire..

We reboarded the boat and eventually made it back to our own neighborhood, where we remained for the rest of the day, hot, tired and needing a rest before packing everything up for our departure next day.

On departure day we were checking out at noon, but our flight did not actually take off until 1am the next day, so we left our luggage and made our way to the National Museum for a few hours until we could reasonably depart for the airport. 

I have come to believe that you can learn a lot about a country’s national narratives by visiting its state museums, and this one was no exception.

Housed in the former palace of a minor royal, it could have rightfully been named the Royal Museum, for apart from two galleries devoted to archaeological artefacts, the entire rest of the museum was filled with royal paraphernalia, from thrones and palanquins, to fans, puppets, musical instruments, war elephants, chess sets, China and inlaid enamelware.

In the ancient sculpture galleries, I did find two beautiful examples of the Walking Buddha.

One special exhibit displayed important documents from Thai history including maps and trade agreements with western countries including Britain and the USA that was both beautifully mounted and quite interesting.

I was especially taken with the early documents, all recorded on palm leaves, which brought to mind European early medieval illuminated manuscripts.

After a few hours there, we returned to our neighborhood where we killed another hour or so getting massages and mani/pedis. I wanted one last Thai meal before departing and was craving a glass noodle salad, so that’s what I ordered along with a final smoothie for good measure.

Then it was off to the airport at the height of rush hour, which caused the journey to take twice as long as it should have. .Even so, we were six hours early for our flight, but due to flying business class, were able to check-in early and ditch our big bags. As we made our way to the airport lounges we would be spending the next few hours in, we came across a life-sized sculpture of the Churning the Sea of Milk! It was kind of the perfect send-off from SE Asia.

The flight was a long one–twelve and a half hours—but we were both able to get a few hours sleep despite a lot of turbulence for much of the flight.

Of all the airlines we flew business class, Thai was not our favorite, either for the comfort or food. Comfort wise, our very first flight back in January on United was by far the best and food wise we both loved Singapore Airlines. The Air New Zealand business class seats were the worst but we loved that they provided free wifi to the whole plane for the entire flight.

When we finally got to Heathrow, we had a long walk and tube ride to get from terminal 2B to terminal 5 and then a six hour wait for our flight to Newcastle.

Fortunately, due to my having flown 1^st class once during the pandemic, I still have Silver status with British Airways and we were able to check in early and spend the waiting hours in one of their very busy lounges.

Finally, after nearly twenty hours of travel, we landed in Newcastle and were amazed to be met by warm and sunny weather.

Tom’s nephew Paul kindly picked us up and drove us home where, slightly dazed and very jet lagged, we were pleased to see everything in ship-shape, thanks to the ministrations of our wonderful neighbors ,Cliff and Linda, who had kept the houseplants alive, collected and sorted all the mail and made sure nothing was amiss while we were gone.

Unlike our return from Spain last year, when we were greeted by rain, snow and cold, the weather was gorgeous: 22C, light breezes, sun and puffy clouds.

We had kept an eye on the weather while away and knew we’d missed an exceptionally wet, cold, and rainy spring, but things finally took a turn for the better right on our return.

We spent the next couple of days unpacking, washing, putting plants back in place, tackling the foot-high lawn, reviving my sourdough starter (it lived!), re-stocking our fridge and freezer with a Costco run and getting back into the swing of actually cooking dinner instead of going out.

The third day back we took our first bike ride-one of our favorite 15 mile loops around and through Durham city–marvelling every few moments at the lush greens of late spring, the flowers and fields all bursting with life, the melodic sound of British birdsong– all under ideal conditions: about 22C, with blue skies and a gentle breeze.

At one point in our ride we met a red-faced and puffing older middle-aged couple making their way on foot along a fairly level part of the track.

They stopped to catch their breath, remarking on how hot it was, and complaining that the rain the previous night had made it unbearably humid. 

As they spoke, Tom and I just looked at one another with wry smiles and amused glances, not daring to say anything.

But the minute they were out of earshot we burst into laughter—heat and humidity was something we were all too familiar with and this gorgeous weather was anything but hot and humid to us.

As we rode along on this perfect English day, enjoying the farms, fields and forests around us, I was happy to be back home enjoying the best that northeast England has to offer, and grateful that our recent travels in distant lands so different from our own had reminded me of all that we have here and everything we gained by spending so much time on the other side of the world.