Na Aroon - A Vegetarian Restaurant in Bangkok

I found this restaurant through another American traveling in Thailand. She met the owner. A lady who is educated in interior design. And you can tell. This place is beautiful! And there are rooms available, some of which look out on the beautiful patio. The interior and grounds are just as artistically arranged.

I’ll send a few more photos so that you get a feel.

    

      Do you get the picture? Elegant, tranquil.

This a traditional Thai salad called

Pomelo salad. It’s made with a Thai type of large grapefruit, green onions, fried crispy onion rings, cashews, tiny red chilis, which you can remove if you like, and a tamarind salad dressing. The tiny red chilis are not super hot and widely used here in Thailand.

It is wonderful! 

My friend had a soup she orders frequently called “Kao soi Ariyasom”. I tried it this time. It has noodles, broccoli, coconut milk or crème, fried tofu, and you can add lime juice, bean sprouts, red onions and something else that I did not recognize. As with most Thai foods, it has some chili or curry in the sauce.

We ate outside, about sunset, by candlelight. This restaurant gets very busy. Since we came early we got a table. But by the time we left, it was packed.

Try to fit this in. You’ll LOVE it!

Bridge Over The River Kwai WWII historical place

So here we are at the Bridge over the River Kwai. A World War II historical site. The Japanese invaded Thailand and forced their prisoners of war to build the Burma Siam railway to connect Burma with their other trade interests in Malaysia and Singapore. The allied prisoners of war were forced work on this project which lasted 1 year, from October 1941 to October 1942. I took many photos in the museum near the cemetery but suffice it to say it was a grueling miserable existence for those prisoners.

I think this is actually one of the original cars on that train.

We took a short train ride to get a feel of riding on the train in this area. 

And had a nice Thai buffet lunch here by the river. This was a tourist district so lots of vendors, a walk on the train track

After those activities we went to our cabins got settled in then went to dinner.

We went to dinner at a lovely local restaurant with a beautiful view.

And excellent food!

I had pad Thai - a trusted favorite. 

Tiger, my tour guide, had a local, Spivey, fish. The green round balls on the stick seems to be a green peppercorn and they are too hot for even him - who is Thai. 

We stayed in “the jungle” which means undeveloped, natural land. I asked Tiger what kind of animals live in the jungle. He said snakes, monkeys, tigers and elephants - to name a few. I asked Tiger if he ever saw a Tiger. He said yes! In a zoo! 

Here is the cabin I stayed in, in the jungle.

Here’s the cabin Tiger stayed in.

And they are very nice inside. Here is a view inside mine.

Actually, my front door.

Nice, huh?

It was very comfortable. 

Then DAY 2

Talk about a great tour guide. Today we went to what Tiger called a “waterfall”. I think I would call it a water theme park. Take a look at this!

Local families, and tourists, come here to picnic and swim.

So, we saw people laying their blankets on a dry rock, in the middle of the stream! Or on the shore. Children got to play in the water all day, picnic and go home refreshed. What a nice 2 day trip this was!

The Michelin Man (on just about every truck you see!)

 

So, there was a commercial in the US selling Michelin tires. I saw it a long time ago. But now there are a lot of US businesses here in Thailand and one of them is Michelin. So, I guess, if you buy Michelin tires they give you a Michelin doll and lots of trucks here have SEVERAL Michelin dolls on their trucks. Here’s some examples 

  

 Just a funny post but as you can see, the Michelin Man is everywhere! 

                               Bye for now!

Chiang Mai - Old Town

 So, I got into Chiang Mai after dark, hired a Grab, more about them later but one of the things that they do is a taxi service, similar to Uber, and went to my Airbnb. It was in Old Town. 

This is part of the old city wall which dates back, in some parts, 750 years. In fact, part of the old wall recently crumbled during a heavy rain storm. 

I stayed at Le Canal. A wonderful little place. It’s like a tiny boutique hotel, in the heart of Old Town, within walking distance to the Sunday night market and lots of shops and restaurants. 

Just PERFECT for me! And the owner and staff are very nice and accommodating!

I met some new friends at the airport leaving Bangkok to Chiang Mai. I asked them a question as they looked like they spoke English and, subsequently, we became friends. So my new friend met me for lunch and we had the opportunity to get acquainted. What fun! So, the photos above are my 15 minute walk from my place to hers. Along the way I met a very handsome French man who was also vacationing in Thailand, and a tuk tuk driver named Somkid. Easy name for me to remember! 

After lunch Somkid came to my friend’s hotel to pick me up and he drove me around showing me the sights of Chiang Mai. 

The first place we went was a silk factory. 

I think they are a little out of order but, you start with the worms then they make a cocoon, then they boil them then they can pull a very thin thread from them and gather the silk threads. Then they dye them (the jug video) then they weave them. (I forgot how the moths play into this). Anyway, they had a large showroom of all the beautiful silk products. I bought a scarf.

Next we went to a silver manufacturing plant. I didn’t know Thailand was known for its silver. 

Then we went to a beautiful pounded silver Buddhist temple! I have never seen a Buddhist temple made of silver! So, here it is!

Pretty magnificent, isn’t it? And there was an artisan creating beautiful works of art from pounded silver. 

I bought a piece - a Buddha. This is an elephant but you can see how talented he is. Somkid told me that the artisans have to donate some of their profits to charity. 

Next, Somkid took me to a tour agent and I booked an all day tour up in the mountains - the highest peak in Thailand, which I will talk about in my next blog.