Spring Break Vacation to Thailand Part III

Tuesday we woke up a bit earlier and went to breakfast.  Then we ordered a taxi to take us to the Khao Phra Taew rain forest.  It is a national park that has a hiking trail through the last remaining rain forest on the island.  We had a hard time convincing our taxi driver that it was where we wanted to go.  Most people go to see the waterfall that is there, but the waterfall is about dried up at this time of year.  We told him that we just loved to hike and wanted to see the forest, so we finally convinced him and he took us. We had to pay 600 Baht (about 20 dollars) for entrance to the park and our taxi was 1600 Baht for the round trip and to wait for us while we hiked.  The trail through the park follows a stream and is about 2 kilometers.  The trail was quite rough in places and there were a few very steep areas where we had to climb up and down into the ravine where the stream cut through the volcanic mountain (inactive) where the forest is located.

Pond at the base of the trail into the rain forest.

A bird (ibis?) at the pond.

Starting into the forest on our hike.

Hiking up the trail and under the trees.

Reading about the fungus of the forest at one of the 14 information stations.

Some of the fungus we saw.

Large bamboo stand within the forest.

The girls had a fun time.  In general we do love hiking, and the girls learn a lot about rain forests in their books and school, so it was fun for them to see the forest up close.  We saw some fun wildlife on the trail.  We found a spider that looked like a feather or a bird poop.  It was white and feathery and could jump very far - about two or three feet!  We also saw three different large lizards, lots of different butterflies, ants large and small, and little fish and water bugs in the stream.  Probably the most fun thing that we found was a little red forest crab!

Forest crab - Nika spotted it first. 

The little white fluffy thing is a spider that can jump!

Trail of ants across the trail.

One of the three lizards we saw.  Two were like this, and one looked more like a snake.

One of the termite mounds we saw on our hike.

The trees in the forest are neat.  They have large skirts on their bottom to help buttress them against the wind.  Some of the largest trees are comparable to the redwoods that we saw in Muir woods in San Francisco at this time last year. It took us about two hours to do the hike from start to finish.  Our driver was waiting for us and dropped us off right at the doorstep.  When we got home we changed and swam in the large pool for a couple of hours before embarking on our next adventure.

Hiking next to a tree with a skirt.

This interesting vine that is embedded in the tree.

Large tree with a skirt. 

Making our way through the rain forest!

Showing the size of the trees. 

What's left of the waterfall in the dry season.

Lexa loved these palm fan leaves!

Emerging from the forest.

When we checked in we were asked if we would be willing to sit through a ninety minute presentation about the Marriott Vacation Club.  They would watch our kids and we could receive a free gift.  We figured that it would be a time share type of deal, but were promised that it would not be a high pressure sales pitch.

Jane took our picture while we looked at the JW Marriott Resort property.

We arrived and had a nice time getting to know "Jane" our saleswoman.  She showed us around the resort and talked to us about the various properties that Marriott owns around the world.  The high pressure part came when the manager came to try to seal the deal.  We had to say no a number of times.  They just couldn't understand why we didn't want to spend $50,000 dollars over the next five years to ensure an "inflation free" lifetime of vacations in the future.  We finally convinced them that no means no, and we left with our gift certificates for $130.00.

The evening shuttle (Jeepney) that is larger than the day shuttle. 

Filling up the shuttle.

Fire ceremony at the kids' pool area.

We shuttled back and forth a few times to find a place to eat.  We did get to see the traditional fire show.  We had dinner at our hotel's restaurant.  It was twice as expensive and twice as slow as the Thai place where we had been eating.  The kids had non-Thai food (fish and chips and Pizza) and we had Thai.  The dinner was free with our certificates.  After dinner we went to bed because we had our biggest adventure of the week planned for Wednesday.

Waiting for dinner to start (or waiting for what seemed forever)!

Wiping the kids out with our vacation fun!

Trip to Bishkek, Part 3

We’d seen enough of the city, so the next day we decided to explore some surrounding areas. I’d heard about Burana Tower just outside of little town of Tokmok (about an hour of driving from Bishkek), so we thought we would check it out. The tower, along with grave markers, some earthworks and the remnants of a castle and three mausoleums, is all that remains of the ancient city of Balasagun which was established by the Karakhanids at the end of the 9th century.  The tower was originally 45 m (148 ft) high. However, over the centuries a number of earthquakes caused significant damage to the structure. The last major earthquake in the 15th century destroyed the top half of the tower, reducing it to its current height of 25 m (82 ft). It was used as minaret, a watch tower, and a sort of a light house for those traveling along the Silk Road.

 

Burana Tower

Batyr, our reception guy at the hotel, told us how to get there by ourselves if we were up for a little adventure. We were! We were to go to one of the two bus stations in Bishkek and get on a little marshrutka (minibus) that said “Tokmok Express” on its windshield. Once in Tokmok we could get a taxi to Burana Tower. And that is exactly what we did.

Bus Station with all of the little marshrutkas 

We got to Burana Tower and asked our taxi driver to wait for us for an hour while we explored the site. It was midmorning on a Saturday, and we were the only visitors. We were told that later in the day the wedding parties would arrive as it was a popular destination for wedding pictures. But at the moment we had it all to ourselves. First we explored the little museum. One of the ladies who live there to watch over the site, opened it for us and showed us everything. I have to say that the little museum was much more impressive than the National History Museum in Bishkek we visited the day before!

 

Spencer at the entrance to the site

The red roof building is where the museum workers live/stay. The right wing of it is the museum. The yurt next to it is the souvenir shop. 

Then the lady gave us the keys to the tower, so we could explore it on our own. First you had to climb up the metal staircase to get to the little door leading into the tower, and then up the winding stairs to the top of the tower. The staircase inside the tower was super narrow and dark, and quite steep. I think Spencer felt claustrophobic in there, I think I did too. But we made it and it was worth it! The view from the top of the tower was beautiful! The tower was surrounded by Chuy Valley to the north (that goes all the way to Kazakhstan) and white peaks of the Tian Shan mountains to the south.

The metal stairs you have to climb to get to the entrance to the tower

The entrance to the tower

The steep stairway inside the tower. 

Tiny windows inside the tower

On top of the tower. Behind me are the Tian Shan mountains which you cannot see because of the morning fog.

A few minutes later, and you can see the mountains now.

I might be mistaken but I think this is one of the kurgans - an ancient burial place  for a warrior or someone famous. Either way it looks like one.

Then we explored the nearby site of headstones and landmarks. They were gathered from the surrounding area. The people that lived in the area were of different religions - from Pagan, Buddhism, and Christianity to Islam, so the tombstones were different as well.

The tombstones.

Spencer between two tombstones.

This one was pretty neat.

Another tombstone

These are mills that were used at that time.

While we were looking around the site, this group of local Kyrgyz went by.

A view of the tower with the kurgan on the right.

We decided that Bishkek itself was an ordinary post soviet era city but the nature around it is amazing. And if you are into hiking, camping, mountain skiing, or anything to do with the outdoors, then a trip to Kyrgyzstan is a must!