Raina’s blogging. Ovation HK to Syd Nov 2017

[ellie1145]

Loving your report but I can't see your photos! There's nothing there.

Help! I'm so disappointed.

 

Hope someone can help!

[Clarea]

Loving your report but I can't see your photos! There's nothing there.

Help! I'm so disappointed.

 

Hope someone can help!

I have the same problem. Last photo I csn see is on post #64.

[suzyluvs2cruise]

Loving your report but I can't see your photos! There's nothing there.

Help! I'm so disappointed.

 

Hope someone can help!

 

I'm able to see the photos. Using a laptop with Google Chrome.

[Biker19]

I have the same problem. Last photo I csn see is on post #64.

They work for me.:confused:

[Clarea]

They work for me.:confused:

I see them now too.

[ellie1145]

All I can see are very small empty squares!

[Clarea]

All I can see are very small empty squares!

I think the photo hosting site is very slow, because it takes quite some time for the pictures to fill out on my screen.

[PCWalton1]

Raina, I missed seeing this till today but so excited to follow along. Marie and I will be on Ovation in April from Singapore to Tianjin and I was planning to do a report as well. About time we cover some of Asia. :D;p

[suzyluvs2cruise]

Raina, I missed seeing this till today but so excited to follow along. Marie and I will be on Ovation in April from Singapore to Tianjin and I was planning to do a report as well. About time we cover some of Asia. :D;p

 

Same for us. We're excited to be cruising in Asia and sailing and touring with you and Marie. :)

[PCWalton1]

Same for us. We're excited to be cruising in Asia and sailing and touring with you and Marie. :)

It's so nice that Raina is giving us a sneak peek to some of the places. :D

[datolim]

Raina, I missed seeing this till today but so excited to follow along. Marie and I will be on Ovation in April from Singapore to Tianjin and I was planning to do a report as well. About time we cover some of Asia. :D;p

Agree. Don't want this forum to be dominated by others in another time zone and wait for them to wake up before we get a response.

[AussieVisi2r]

All I can see are very small empty squares!

Can you see them yet?

[AussieVisi2r]

OK.

 

I shall get back on with it.

 

Welcome aboard all.

 

Raina

[AussieVisi2r]

Sunday 19th November

Laem Chabang, Thailand

We docked at Laem Chabang, Thailand. The port Laem Chabang – 125 km south west of Bangkok. That can take anything from 2 to 4 hours to drive. Last time I was here it was over 4 hours to get back to the ship.

But today I was not going to Bangkok. I was off to Ayutthaya – 85 ks north. Another hour and a quarter.

 

I was doing a ships tour again. Another 12 hours on a bus - YAY. Seven buses were doing this trip! We were going to three attractions. The Summer Palace and two temples.

 

It was a lovely drive. The roads are massive. And have tolls every 25 or so minutes. You seem to always be stopping to go through manual tolls.

 

A lovely drive with much to see. Our guide was pretty funny and talked about thing like how jealous the Thai people were of our (Caucasian) huge noses. She kept saying we had huge nose and that they couldn’t wear sunglasses as they slipped off! LOL.

 

We only had to go into the edge of Bangkok – luckily as it has horrific traffic. We went ast some of the international schools with fees or tens of thousands of US a year (in a country with such low wages. And saw lovely top of the line Mercedes etc. Very much a “The have, and the have not” society.

[AussieVisi2r]

Sunday 19th November

Laem Chabang, Thailand

A lovely drive with much to see. Our guide was pretty funny and talked about thing like how jealous the Thai people were of our (Caucasian) huge noses. She kept saying we had huge nose and that they couldn’t wear sunglasses as they slipped off! LOL.

 

We only had to go into the edge of Bangkok – luckily as it has horrific traffic. We went past some of the international schools with fees or tens of thousands of US a year (in a country with such low wages. And saw lovely top of the line Mercedes etc. Very much a “The have, and the have not” society.

On the way she made one announcement. We couldn’t got to the Summer Palace. The new King was going and I guess he trumps tourists. They would take us somewhere else.

A bit later she announced that we couldn’t go to one of the temples as they had sold out. You would think a company taking seven buses f tourists would have a rep at the ticket office when they opened. Oh well. They would take us somewhere else.

We did stop at a lovely toilet though.

Ayutthaya was the ancient capital of the Siam Kingdom. It was built around 1350 and was the second capital.

By 1700 Ayutthaya had become the largest city in the world with a total of 1 million inhabitants. And a major trade port for most of the world. (Arab world, China, India, Japan, Portugal, the Netherlands and France). Merchants from Europe proclaimed Ayutthaya as the finest city they had ever seen. Dutch and French maps of the city show grandeur with gold-laden palaces, large ceremonies and a huge float of trading vessels from all over the world.

 

That ended when the Burmese invaded Ayutthaya in 1767 and almost completely burnt the city down to the ground.

The ruins are amazing. They are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and are my kind of temples. Old, ruins with amazing brick work – orange, intricate and stunning.

Wat is the word for temple (as in Ankor Wat). In Thailand the Wat is a prefix.

First one was Wat Kluay. It is still being used and has a monastery. Being a Sunday it was very busy. People pay to be able to replace the gold clothes over the Buddha’s.

There was huge Reclining Buddha, being draped in fresh cloth. It looked amazing as large groups of people were puling this ginormous cloth over the state that was probably 6 meters high and very long. A massive piece of material.

It is important for temple to have a very high point, so as to look out on the people. The steps up were savage. Always straight up and a tall step up. But worth the climb.

Then there were the rows of Buddha’s. Absolutely beautiful. These two were being covered in gold clothes.

[AussieVisi2r]

Sunday 19th November

Ayutthaya - Wat Kluay.

 

Plenty of people were there to worship, others to look. The grounds were immaculate with the stunning topiaried plants.

 

 

 

 

 

Stunning.

[AussieVisi2r]

Sunday 19th November

Ayutthaya - Wat Mahathat.

Second stop was at Wat Mahathat. This was part of the original city that was destroyed. The building were of the most amazing brick work.

The colours was sensational. The ground and the foundations had suffered in the fires and the centuries since. The buildings (prangs - Khmer-style stupa, more longer, finger-like appearance) were leaning and twisted. The brickwork was originally rendered and covered in gold. The render had cracked off as the gold was removed.

Absolutely stunning.

The rows of Buddha’s we saw at the first place were damaged in the attacks. There were rows headless Buddha’s. We also saw the famous tree that has grown around a Buddha head.

 

 

 

 

There were of course the Temple Dogs in situ. And they looked like temple dogs for all around the world.

[AussieVisi2r]

Sunday 19th November

Ayutthaya - Wat Mahathat.

 

 

 

 

 

[AussieVisi2r]

Sunday 19th November

Ayutthaya - Wat Mahathat.

 

I ate a local Ice cream. There was a purple one and a yellow one. He handed me the purple. I indicated that I would like the yellow one as everyone knows yellow tastes better then purple. “No – Durian!” trusted him. I didn’t want the one that smelt like rotten meat! And it was beautiful!

 

The drive to the next stop went thought some of the villages. Very tidal.

[AussieVisi2r]

Sunday 19th November

Ayutthaya - Chai Watthanaran

 

 

Third stop was Chai Watthanaran, also extensively damaged. And also absolutely stunning!

 

We arrived at the same time as a group of Monks. Looks awesome to see the orange robes and shiny heads walking around. Very atmospheric. They were more then happy to have photos taken – mind you many got carried away with the selfies with them.

 

 

[AussieVisi2r]

Sunday 19th November

Ayutthaya - Chai Watthanaran

 

 

 

 

 

[AussieVisi2r]

Opps.

Ice cream photo is missing.

Deicious.

[ellie1145]

Can you see them yet?

 

Sadly, no, although one photo of road signs above a motorway DID appear momentarily, but it,too, has disappeared again.

 

I shall have to make do with the word pictures you are painting!

 

Many thanks

[Clarea]

Sadly, no, although one photo of road signs above a motorway DID appear momentarily, but it,too, has disappeared again.

 

I shall have to make do with the word pictures you are painting!

 

Many thanks

Photos are missing for me again too.

[Biker19]

Photos are missing for me again too.

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