04.03.2008 Bangkok

Exploring Bangkok

I slept really well. But I had a bad night mare. I dreamt that one of my students called me telling me that she didn't receive a renewal of enrollment form yet. I realized that I had totally forgotten to send out the forms and it was only three weeks before the start of the new school term (Caroline: you know what I mean, terrible night mare!).

K picked me up at ten a.m. sharp and we went to have a noodle soup for breakfast. Though the food was good it felt a bit strange to have soup in the morning.

After that we went to the river and took a boat. I thought it was quite cool to use public transport on the river. While on the boat we revised my Thai vocabulary. K had already told me a few words while we were in Newcastle but unfortunately I couldn't remember a single one (shame on me!). There's a lot of work to do for I want to be fluent in two weeks (yeah right!).

Today we went to explore the down town of Bangkok. I was really surprised how clean and calm the city is. We went to one of the many shopping centers. At first it was really nice to get into the modern and air conditioned building coming from 30 C outside (feels so much hotter) but soon I felt like being in a fridge (not a big fan of air con).

While in the shopping center I had one simple task to perform. However, the task turned out to not be so simple at all. I needed to buy suncream and moisturiser. Very soon I found myself in front of a big shelf stocked with sun creams. Only catch was that all of these lotions contained whitening cream. I don't believe it's possible to be much whiter than me (no idea how many times I was asked during the last few years if I was feeling alright because I looked so pale - it comes naturally) so that's really not what I wanted. We had to go to a different store where K asked for sunscreen and moisturizer without whitening cream. The saleswoman just looked at me in disbelieve. Why would I want to have those products without whitening cream??? Right, I had forgotten, in Asia people want to be as white as possible - the whiter, the better! I managed to buy regular suncream but couldn't find the moisturizer.

After our difficult shopping K reminded me that he was about to starve. I didn't feel hungry at all but he said that we could have sushi so I couldn't resist having a lunch break... yummy I love sushi :)

Later on we sat down in the sun and did a bit of people watching in front of the Pra Prom Shrine. People are very religious here and there are loads of temples and shrines where they can pay their respect to Buddha. This is supposed to be the most popular one in Bangkok. While sitting there we started to play a bit with K's new digital camera.

It was then time to have a look at the street vendors displays. I was still looking for flip flops but no luck. However, I bought a nice birthday present for my mom in on of the shops we went to (can't tell here what it was because she didn't get it yet). Although shopping was K's idea (I'm not much of a shopping person) he soon got grumpy and tired and didn't want to walk anymore. He even insisted on taking a taxi because he didn't want to walk back. It really wouldn't have been that far.

We went to Starbucks to recover and get changed and enjoy a cold drink. Before we left we got changed in the restrooms. It was now time to go to Lumpini Park where K had signed us up for a Capoeira lesson (a martial art from Brazil - for those of you who don't know it can have a look here Capoeira ). We met in Newcastle at Capoeira class and he had always been my favorite partner. We had agreed weeks ago that we'd pick up our lessons when we see each other in Thailand. Although it was already 7 p.m. it was still hot and the class lasted two hours. We had last done it about two and a half years ago. I must admit we were/are really out of shape. Needles to say that we didn't feel to fit after class.

We went to grab a bite to eat and K suggested that we should have a Thai massage. We took a taxi back to the hotel, got showered and then went to have a massage. What do I think of my first Thai massage? All the dispersing and bending of my limps in the most impossible directions felt like having a combination of a really demanding stretching and yoga class. I didn't think it was as relaxing as I hoped it would be but maybe it's not meant to be. After all, what do I know about Thai massaging techniques?

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Part of trip: Round-the-World Trip Part I

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