Off to SE Asia--Savadee (hello) Bangkok!

Early on November 14, Julie, Nava, and I left on an Eva Air 13-hour flight to Taiwan to start our tour to Bangkok, Angkor Wat (Cambodia), and Vietnam. with Gate 1 travel.

We enjoyed our time at the beautiful Taiwan airport with cultural displays, greenery, kiddie play areas and wonderful locally made music boxes on display for sale.

Below:  live plants growing on a wall garden

After a three hour flight to Bangkok, we were taken to our hotel, the Ramada Plaza. We slept, and the next morning  we checked in with our local guide Piangtip (Tip for short).  She had us fill out several forms (and checked our Vietnamese visas with our passports to make sure everything was correct.  As we sat down to fill out the forms, we laughed when we realized that the three of us were left-handed!

.

Tip suggested that we walk to the Asiatique mall about 6 blocks away and mentioned traveling on the modern Sky Train, which costs about $3 each way.  Since the average may for many is about ten dollars a day, it's too costly for most Thai.  But since  tourism is the main income in the country (as well as manufacturing by big international companies which offer livable salaries, the train is used a lot .  

Savadee (hello) Bangkok: The three of us took a quick walk to that mall and also discovered a recommended massage place  which Uma and Nava took advantage of later.  Our hotel, the Ramada Plaza, was situated on the Chao Praya River,  the main river through Bangkok, with lots of skyscrapers near the banks.

In late afternoon, we met up with our mini-group of 8 inside our larger group of 29, Haia, Jimmy (from Seattle), Uma (from Seattle but via a cousin's wedding in Thailand), and Havazelet and Ofra (from Modi'in, Israel).

The eight of us later walked back to the modern Asiatique outdoor, riverfront mall with a combination of modern higher end items as well as more local items.  We watched a young girl dancing with a sign asking for donations to help pay for her school tuition.

Jimmy took the photo below of the 7 women!

 After eating at an OK Thai restaurant that Tip recommended, we headed home to sleep.

Jimmy  set up with Tip a private trip  for the eight of us to the  Damnoen Saduak floating market about 90 minutes to the south for Saturday, our free day before meeting up with our group.  For $37 each we got a private van with driver and our great guide Darah.  She explained that there are  69 million people in the country, of which approximately 5 to 6 million are Muslim.    There are different languages in the country.  In the NE, the language is similar to Lao.  In the South, it's similar to Cambodian.  Darah speaks a language similar to Chinese. The Thai language is taught in schools and is mostly spoken in the central area of the country.

On the way, we saw a lot of above-ground wires smushed together.  They were for electricity, cable TV, and cell phones, since the water table in Bangkok was too high to put them underground.

We passed a number of rice fields on a busy highway.  Thailand and Vietnam are the top rice exporters in the world.  

We soon went through the town of Samot Sankorn (where the famous Siamese twins were from) with the local Train Market, so named because the market is on the tracks and the stands have to move quickly twice a day, one being at the height of the market time  8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. when the trains pass through.

Close to the market,  we stopped at a coconut farm, where a lot of products are made from the coconuts.  Whole ones are sold on streets for people to drink the delicious milk from. All parts of the coconut are useful: shells for bowls and ornaments, leaves for brooms, lotions, and the coconut syrup for sugar, for example.  Locals do not often eat the coconut meat fresh but dry it, grate it, or use it for other purposes.  Coconut meat is high in protein and can produce for three generations!

Darah offering us some of the meat to try.  It was delicious.

The coconut flower is huge and the largest "seeds" are used for planting.

Darah holding a coconut flower

Coconut sugar cubes.  Some thing this is better for one that refined cane sugar.

The syrup is made from the nectar of the coconut palm flowers.When the tip of the flower is cut and then the flower squeezed, the nectar comes out.  It is then boiled for 1.5 hours to make the syrup and then pure coconut sugar.    It didn't look like something I would want to try.  But since I do use coconut sugar at home, I wanted to see what this coconut sugar tasted like.

Thailand has had a number of royal dynasties.  The Chakri dynasty, which began in 1782 is the current one.  The kings in this dynasty are referred to as Rama.

It was fascinating to learn that Thailand was never colonized.  Rama IX, who died three years ago and ruled for 70 years, was revered by his people for all that he did to help them.  He helped modernize Thailand while preserving the culture.  His son Rama X was officially crowned about six months ago.  He was the only son and had 3 sisters.  He has yet to gain the respect of his people like his father had.

The two kings before Rama IX, were close to the British monarchs, so the first car to arrive in Thailand was imported in 1902 from England.  As a result, the Thai drive on the left side of the road to this day.  Rama V, King Chulalongkorn, was taught for five years by Anna Leonowens, the "star" in "The King and I."

The van took us to a man-made canal off of the Chayo Praya river, and from there we went in two covered motorboats along the canal, seeing homes and businesses in villages along the way.

This river started south of the Chang Mai mountains in the north, about 500 miles (K?) away.  This river was known as the river of the king.  The movie "The Man with the Golden Gun"was filmed partly in this market and along the river. 

A motorboat similar to ours

From 1866 to 1868, by order of King Rama IV, the 20-mile (32 K) long Damnoen Saduak Canal was constructed to connect the Mae Klong and Tha Chin Rivers.  It was mainly dug by Chinese to connect the local Thai and to provide transportation to the main rivers.  These laborers were given land in the are for their work.  About 200 ancillary canals were built by Thai villagers to better connect them.  First produce and necessities were delivered by boat along the canals, and then the market was started over 100 years ago.  Many smaller  floating markets developed.    When a road was opened into the area in 1967, many of the markets disappeared.  In 1971, a market was developed by the Tourism industry and then expanded into this market ten years later.

 Along the way, the other group saw this giant on the side of a canal.  It's probably a Monitor lizard, sometimes called a Thai Komodo dragon, which is a close relative.

Shrines such as the one below are found in front of businesses and homes for respect and protection.

The Damnoen Saduak floating market is probably the oldest, largest in the area, and the only one open 7 days a week.  In the early morning, the vendors are at the market, and then the ones in boats go out to villages along the canal and river to homes to sell their fruit, vegetables, cooked meals, and housewares.  We got there at about 11 so many of the boats were already gone.

The older section is to the back and the newer section to the left and right

A fruit vendor

A floating restaurant

Another cook selling meals and patrons behind her in the "restaurant" area

Picture taken from the bridge.  Earlier in the morning it would have been filled with boats.  Permanent stalls were on both sides of the canal.  Uma was the best bargainer of our group and gladly helped us.

Washing Dishes

Below is a web picture showing how busy the market is earlier in the morning.

Uma and I were delighted to find custard apples (chirimoya, seethaphalamu in Telugu) in the market and bought a bunch.  We also found yummy longan.

A man and his son (playing on his phone) waiting for tourists to have their picture taken with one of these snakes.  This definitely is a hub for tourists!

We traveled back to our hotel on the road, then met a few hours later to walk to go to the new IconSiam multipurpose development  (hotels, residences, a museum, and a high-end and also main malls) across the river, with our focus being the mall, which opened in November, 2018.  We took the free Ramada hotel river shuttle to a main stop, and then took the IconSiam river shuttle across the river to the mall, which is one of the largest in Asia.  It also includes the two tallest buildings in Bangkok, 52 and 70-story tall residences.  We arrived after dark, and the lighting was spectacular.

Entry to the Mall

Inside on the main floor were a number of restaurants around the sides, small open stalls to sell clothing, desserts, street food, and much much more.  It was overwhelming.  Julie got a blue batik blouse that she wore on the trip!  The pictures below will give you a taste of this place---no pun intended.

Dried fish for sale

Noodles plus for sale, pick your additions

 Julie found some vegetarian pastries; Uma tried the tasty, spicy noodles,  and the picture below of chicken feet at a small restaurant fascinated me, as I loved them as a child in my bobae's fricassee, so I got the hot pot soup--about $3.30 US, and the restaurant  manager brought it to the tiny table half way down the market with squatting level stools where I joined the others.

We walked afterwards, and saw the more exclusive stores on the next two levels.  Below is a picture looking up to the other floors. The museum is on the top floor.

On the second floor, we saw this beautiful (laquered?) painting on the wall

As we left the mall, we were greeted by a beautiful water, music and light show, a lovely way to end the day.  I fell asleep with the lights of the water show playing over and over in my mind.

The next day, November 17, we  met the other 21 in our group and start our adventure with them. 

Tanzania part 3: Off to Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater--WOW!!

Mid-day, Wednesday, February 6--still windy

Just before lunch, we arrived at the Naabi Holl Gate, the main entrance to Serengeti National Park.

First we saw a solitary hyena near the road.

We soon saw another one in the distance.

And then saw it was a pack of six!

We next stopped at a beautiful rest area for a gourmet lunch and also went for a short hike up a hill to get a view of the area.

Roast chicken, veggie kabob, and more

 A lot of superb starlings waiting patiently for crumbs to drop

This group of travelers were more interested in their phones (with WiFi reception available) than the beautiful birds.

 A small reptile greeted us at the top of our climb.

We saw more superb starlings before heading back out into the park.

Our first big sighting was over 100 zebras spread out near the road, the largest group we had seen in one place.

Then we started to see some big volcanic rocks....and many more.  Some have caves under them where leopards hide their babies.   

Fitiael told us to look at a distant tree, and with effort we spotted an elusive animal.  See if you can spot it in the first picture.  It's legs are hanging down from a branch.  You may have a better chance in the second photo, and hopefully you will find it in the third!  In the latter two, the photo is taken from the reverse direction.

 Leopards often take their kill up a tree to avoid another animal stealing it. They often eat gazelles and impalas.   Leopard babies at 3 months can climb trees so leopard cubs are safe from lions and hyenas, who kill leopard cubs to reduce competition.  The leopard mothers leave their cubs when they are a year to a year and half old. 

 Then, a bit down the road, we saw four warthogs.

  A bit later we saw 6 banded mongoose on termite hill, plus two babies.  They eat termites and small reptiles.  You can see the two babies in the lower left of the termite hill.

Dark clouds but no rain in the area.  It was supposed to begin in another two to three weeks.

Some baboons passed by..

Cute tush?

On the way to our lodging for the next two nights, the Serengeti Sopa Lodge, we saw several Topi.  (Several of us missed the luxury tents and the special feeling from being in nature.)

We enjoyed a visit to the cold pool followed by a hot shower, dinner, and bed.

Goat cheese bruschetta

A Taste of Tanzania

Tropical fruit salad in a chocolate-flavored tulip basket

Thursday, February 7:  

The flowers around the lodge were labeled, including this one.

And this beautiful tree was on the grounds too:

We headed into the Serengeti savanna and first saw an impressive group of male impalas.

We then saw a lion and lioness, almost hidden.  They usually would be in a pride, but it is mating season, so they eat and then pair off to mate.  They are alone for 3-4 days but they have just eaten and their tummies are full.


Next we saw more than ten water buffalo grazing. They are very aggressive, so our driver/ guide keeps his distance.   When lions attack them, they can often defend themselves with their horns and severely injure the lions.

Our next viewing was of Kirks' dik dik with huge eyes, one of the smaller animals in the antelope family.  The adult weighs an average of 5 kilos (12 lb.)  His eyes look big because of the black around them and then the white to make them stand out more.  They were
so-o-o-o very cute!

followed by a small wire-tailed swallow.

This was the day to see hippos--our first sighting was of six or more in a very stinky river.  The smell was from their urine, and it was overpowering.  

Hippos cannot sweat so they stay in the river during the day to keep cool. The red mucus spots on their backs are protection from the sun. At night they venture out to eat grass, as they are vegetarian.  They run fast, but they also are too big to have predators.

.
Next we viewed this Great Crowned crane:

A juvenile martial eagle:

2 more hippos wallowing in shallow water with  Grey headed crane behind them.

A Grey backed shrike nearby

And superb starlings at the top of a tall acacia tree.  Notice how pointy the thorns are!

We saw 7 zebras close nearby with their heads move up and down as they move.  It looks awkward to us but is natural to them. 

Hundreds of water buffalo in the distance. Some wallow in mud, so look slimy when the mud dries, Ticks and other insects on their skin  suffocate after the mud dries.

A Water buffalo carcass is pictured below.  It probably was a solitary, weakened animal so a predator could catch it.  Lions killed it and ate their fill and were resting nearby.  Vultures also had eaten their fill and are on a nearby tree.

LOTS of water buffalo babies were seen in the large group.  They are  born brown but between 3-5 months change to black.  Two plus hours after birth, the babies can move with their mothers.  They don't walk long distances in one day if they have enough to eat and drink. Water buffaloes need drink two to three times a day so have to stay near available water.

 They don't consider humans or Land Cruisers a danger to them, but if we were to have gotten out of the vehicles, they could have attacked.

They push-stab with their horns and can kill lions who often kill water buffalo babies.
Cattle egrets and yellow billed or red peckers are on some of the water buffaloes. They help remove insects as they eat.  They eat soft green grains,and  also are four- chamber rumen  animals

  We soon found a huge school of hippos, more than 100 in a pond. Black birds on the hippos eats parasites on these huge mammals.

.
Black birds on the hippos eats parasites on these huge mammals.

We stopped for lunch at a beautiful oasis-like area, the Serengetti Visitors/ Center, where we saw hyraxes and yellow spotted barbets.  Hyraxes are small vegetarian mammals and are closely related to elephants and manatees.  They are definitely not afraid of humans.  We were advised not to feed them as they are wild animals and need to fend for their own food.

The yellow-spotted barbets were underfoot but not as close as the hydrax!  They were actually brighter than in this photo.

We then went with a walk with a guide-in-training named Noela who took us through the visual history of the area and of the animals who reside here.  

First we saw bones of different animals and tried to guess whose they were.  I was most fascinated by the giraffe bones.  I knew their legs were long, but to see the bone next to Noeli really helped me to understand how long they were....and how heavy!

 Part of a giraffe's spinal column:

Below are skulls of different kinds of antelope.

We then walked up their trail, with Noeli explaining parts.  Each sign was in Kiswahili and English.  The signs were interesting, but you are welcome to skip them and get on with more photos of animals.  

Animals that migrate together, wildebeest, zebra, and Thomson's gazelle:

We human animals, climbed the stairs around the path.  Notice the animal tracks embedded in the cement.

We also read about President Nyerere's goal to protect Tazania's wildlife and his work with German  Bernhard Grzimek, famous for his work on conservation of the Serengeti.  Nyerere was a controversial figure internationally but beloved by his countrymen.

We left the center and headed back out in the Serengeti

And saw our first Hartebeest, which is larger than an Impala but smaller than an Eland, and abut the same size as a Topi.  All are in the antelope family.  But the picture below is a topi.

Notice the bands on the legs.

We also saw a cheetah almost hidden under a tree.  Hunting goes by size, so cheetahs do not hunt Topi as they are too big.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8

Our first sighting was of a few giraffes close up with a small impala in the background

Giraffes spent 70% of their lives eating.

Soon we passed a large group of male impalas.

Females are in a harem system with one dominant male and up to 20 females.

A rare sighting for us:  a Serval (small spotted cat), which is rare to see during the day as it usually is active at night. It is the size of a mini-cheetah.  It has huge ears that stick up and jumped like a kangaroo.  It eats small reptiles, guinea fowls, mice, and newborn impalas.

We came upon another example of big volcanic rock, with big cracks and trees growing in them.  Big cats like lions and leopards like to give birth here and hide their cubs.  

Candelabra trees, which fascinate me, grown among the volcanic rocks.

We saw a Ficus tree in the distance. 

We chanced upon an elephant family with several younger ones including a youngster which had no tusks so it might be just three years old.

Tushie photo!

Below you can see a crowd of giraffes of 25 or more relatively close together, where they spread out to eat.  It was the largest group of giraffes that we had seen. There were two younger ones on the the main road. 

We spotted two lionesses on a huge rock, thanks to Fitiael's great eyesight.

After lunch and before we left Serengeti Park, 

Fitiael spotted a cheetah under a tree. This photo was was taken with my zoom lens.  Can you spot it?

We stop to see a tourist bus which is stuck as its steering fluid pipe  had broken.  They repaired the pipe but needed more fluid.  We could not help but Fitiael said that he would notify people at the next place, over an hour away.  Meanwhile, they were caught in the hot bus, hoping for help soon.

We traveled down the dirt road, which is the main route for public buses heading from Arusha to the south.

And arrived at El Arai, a Masai village with 120 residents.  We paid $50 for the visit directly to the Masal.

The men welcomed us with song and dance.

 The women enjoyed watching from the side. 

Notice the shoes they wear on their feet.  Some are made from recycled tires but others are from cow hide.

Later we four women joined the women in  a dance.  

They men showed us how they make fire from flint, special branches from the white acacia tree, and stems of the yellow acacia, and mixing the ash with dung to start a larger fire.  

You can definitely see the tire tread on the shoe below on the right.

Their homes are made from bamboo poles, with the middle support from the Acacia tree.  Mud and dung are used to cover the bamboo. Homes take three weeks to build and are built by the women though the men gather the wood. The homes last for ten years. Cow skins are used for sleeping.  They share many things with each other.

A fenced area for goats, etc. at night

We divided into two groups, and Helen and I visit a one-family home wither five people slept one three beds.   They mainly cook beef, goat or lamb.  They drink a lot of cows milk and also milk from sheep and goats.  Only the men  drink a mix of cow's blood (which they bleed from living animals) and milk. They seem quite healthy and live long lives.  The homes are low, so the residents have to bend down to get in and most cannot stand up straight inside as they are tall people.  After ages 8 to 10, boys go to sleep in the boy's house and girls to the girls' house.   They very much want to preserve their way of life as they also work and study in the outside world.

Below are interesting faces of women.  They wear lots of earrings (men wear some too) and necklaces.

And the earlobes can get distended

After leaving their homes, the women had booths set up to sell their wares.

  They had very nice bead work.  I bought this lion from the woman below, who had made it and paid her directly.

A very serious little girl:

We were shown the separate structures used as bathrooms, bathing, and laundry.

We next went to the classroom for young children through about age 12.  Then they go to a high school in the Ngorogoro area. The teacher carried her baby as she taught. 

 One boy on the left carried  his  younger sibling..

  They learn very basic English and Kiswahili--the alphabet and numbers and a small girl led them in recitation.  

Nava tried to talk to the teacher in simple English but was unsuccessful in having a conversation.

After a very enjoyable hour long visit, we headed out to our lodging for the night, the Ngorogoro Sopa Lodge, at 7,800' above sea level.

Below is the path to our room.  Unfortunately, we did not have a view of the crater.  We were walked to our room after twilight as animals do approach.

 This was the view from our room's front door...the lush forest.

Lodge center and pool

Monkey eating discarded apple on ledge near our room.

We left for the crater at about 5 a.m. going down a steep hill to get into it.  Giraffes cannot walk down as the path is too steep. We have been very lucky not to have any rain.  We went down the west entry by Sopa lodge (where people can exit also)  and exited via the east Arai (steep) road, for exiting only.

There are three roads in the crater, and on the way down in the darkness, we saw water buffalo, zebras, and wildebeest.

15 minutes later around a curve

We saw three young lions brothers (about 1.5 years old) with short manes, two about six feet (2 meters) from the road grooming and another a bit farther away.  The group is called a coalition.  

The solitary brother below

We soon saw a huge group of Egyptian geese,  Abdim's storks, and zebras.  This protected crater was FILLED with animals!!

We also saw a Kori Bustard, the largest flying bird native to Africa, 

 and Heartbeests, also known as kongoni, an African antelope. 

We soon saw a mother-and-child black rhino in the distance and then another at  a much closer distance. Although it is called "black," it is either  brown to grey.  Black rhinos are solitary animals, not like the the white rhinos in South Africa.  As a result, although poaching has almost been eliminated, the black rhinos are not growing in numbers while the white rhinos are.    They are fast runners and can travel 35-40 MPH.  

The baby is three or four years old, and in a year or two, the mother will leave the baby.    This is the closest Fitiael has been to  these creatures in months.  We watched them quickly trop past zebras and Thomson gazelles.  

The black male can weigh up to a thousand kilos while the white male can weigh more than twice that.  

Below the two rhinos withe a zebra and gazelle in between and flamingos in the lake in the background:

Until five years ago, Masai grazed their cattle in the Ngorogoro crater, but a new rule forbids combining domestic and wild animals in the same area. 

There are two to three big swamp areas in this caldera, and in a very dry season, many wild animals from the upper area come into the caldera..

We soon saw a big, fat hyena lying down close to the road.

And a bit later with saw a jackal with her four cubs in the distance.

The one below was crossing the road just beside us.  It was very dusty.      

 Golden jackal with two cubs

It was calving seasons for both zebras and wildebeests but zebras give birth first so we saw a lot of baby zebras.

A jackal checking out the scene--looking for a vulnerable baby wildebeest.

The zebra below was quite young and still light brown.

This one was so-o-o wide from behind that we thought that she might be very pregnant.

We also saw two male zebras, kicking and biting each other.

A lone warthog passed by.

 and lots of baby wildebeests in this area.

A really tiny one below:

A very young lion checking out the scene below:

And below, five babies with their moms together

We stopped at our final rest area before heading back to Arusha.  Several hippos were in the water, and we took a nice group picture under a tree.  Several of us wandered down the road and were stopped as it was dangerous to wander away from the vans.  Oops!

Grey-crowned cranes

Kori Bustard below:

Just out of the crater, we saw Masai girls carrying wood to fix roofs:

We said good bye to Helen (who was heading home) and took one last picture of the three before we headed to the airport and our flight to Zanzibar..

Our ten-day Safari was coming to an end--an unforgettable trip that will remain with us for many years.