the next chapter: Australia: Ko Si Chang Palace

Three friends came to visit this week, as our school had midterms and we were only required to sign-in in the mornings by 8 am. Their schools were closed to swine flu, (for which our English camp, which was supposed to be this coming weekend, was cancelled). Liza (from South Africa) and Denise (from Canada) both teach in a village about an hour and half outside of Khorat (in the northeastern part of Thailand - Nakhon Ratchasima, Isan), and had the week off due to swine flu, so came to Sri Racha to spend a relaxing week with Jacqueline and I. Bridget (from Connecticut) is a teacher in Takhli, Nakhon Sawan (where I did the English camp about a month ago), and had Mon-Wed off due to swine flu, so came down for a visit, as well.

We did a day trip to Koh Si Chang, the island about a 40 minute boat ride from Koh Loy Park, which is the pier about a 10 minute walking distance from my apartment. Jacqueline and I had been there before, but were more than happy to go back, as it is an awesomely and perfectly Thai island, non-touristy, perfect for exploring, nearby, beautiful, and apparently, we missed the main site the first time around. After we docked, the five of us managed to get an awesome tuk-tuk deal for the whole day for 250 baht! With starving bellies and after a few attempts at finding food, we finally came upon David and Pan's restaurant, which is mentioned in the Lonely Planet Guide. Amazing, and I think we couldn't stop smiling during our entire dining experience. I had crab in a spicy black pepper sauce - enough said.

Having spent more time there than we had expected, we headed off to spend the rest of the afternoon at the palace, of which we knew very little about, and still know very little about. Our tuk tuk driver dropped us off in front of some random, modern, museum-like building, which was closed. Puzzled, we walked around for a bit - where was this palace? Well, we never actually came across a palace, and from what I've researched since, it's actually no longer there!

We were at Hat Tha Wang Palace, which was once used as a summer palace by Rama V (King Chulalongkorn), until it was abandoned in 1893, when the French briefly occupied Ko Si Chang. The main throne hall is Vimanmek - the incredible teak mansion that I had previously visited in Bangkok! The mansion was moved to Bangkok in 1910. So, we spent the afternoon wandering around these random palace grounds, which turned out to be absolutely magnificent in its beauty, randomness, mystery and historical feel among nature unfettered by touristy crap.

The first, among many, odd things we came across was a massive, bulbous pool of sorts. It had a decorative trim and inside were the remnants of a pond (or pool) surrounding large, cement, bulb-like hills (man-made of course). The only other tourists that we managed to come across informed us that it was once his swimming pool! Well, we could not stop laughing at how dangerous this pool must've been! Was he trying to re-create an ocean-like feel, albeit, the palace grounds were right on the ocean!?!? Then, still confused by this so-called 'swimming' pool, we moved on... only to find many other such 'swimming' pools throughout the grounds, which seemed never-ending (and possibly could be, as we didn't have time to finish exploring). Each pool was just as random at the next, and each had a set of more than necessary staircases leading to and from nothing to these pools. Some stairways ended in the jungle, others ended into each other. The further on we went, the more we felt like we were in a labyrinth. Among the maze-like staircases, jungle-clad paths and bulbous 'swimming' pools, we also came across a fare share of random caves. Some of them had stairways leading into them... of course, I had to go exploring further. But, one in particular, ended up as just a cave at the bottom, with no outlet. In trying to make sense of this randomness (and there are no signs or explanations; mind you, we kind of were all along here), I decided that they were caves for slaves.

The dangerous 'swimming' pool...

Explorers from left to right: Denise, Bridget, Jacqueline, Liza and I

Explorers find... yet another random pool

The labyrinth of stairs leading into the jungle, or somewhere else unknown

The "slave cave"

We kept on walking and came across some random shrines, parts of archways on tops of cliffs, which we could not get to, and then from a distance, I saw a white spire on a hill-top. I texted my friends and told them to follow the trail and then look for the white spire! We could actually go inside this incredibly, European-style building, of sorts! Inside was a golden Buddha statue - and that's it. But, you must look at the photos (to the right and in the album) to really give this random spire building justification. After researching it later, I now know that this stupa, known as Wat Atsadangnimit, is where Rama V used to meditate. Just beyond the stupa was the Bell Rock, called such because it actually rings like a bell when struck! And just beyond that in the distance, we could see some ruins of another random-looking building of sorts, of which it seemed many paths led to, and yet, it was a matter of finding the right one amidst this labyrinth. Unfortunately, time was ticking, and we had to make it back to the last ferry by 6:00 pm. Another time...