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Published: September 18th 2006
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Buddhas with offerings at Wat Bowon Niwet
This is where I got the Buddhist water blessing from the sweet Thai woman! Hi everyone! This is the start of what I hope will be an interesting blog, a great way for you to follow me and virtually keep me company on my travels over the next 10 1/2 months. Just a note before I get into the details of what I've been up to: I was nowhere near the recent terrorist attacks in the south of the country, and I have no plans to spend any time in any of the southern provinces that have been affected by the insurgency, so providing it doesn't keep spreading northward, there's no need to worry about me at all. If there is, I'll be the first to let you all know! 😊 Anyway, enough of that depressing stuff! Behold, my blog!
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Never did I think it was possible for a city to be at once everything I expected and completely different from what I expected, but Bangkok is precisely that. After a brutally long day of three flights (Vancouver - San Francisco - Tokyo - Bangkok), and trying mostly in vain to sleep on the planes, I touched down in the city also known as
Krung Thep, or the "City of Angels" (I
thought that was LA?!?), and entered a world totally unlike any I've known. Well, except for the Starbucks, and Burger King, and ubiquitous 7-11 stores, anyway. My journey to my guesthouse on Khao San Road (
khao san actually means "raw rice" - sounds better in Thai!!) from the airport went quickly on the express bus I caught, and when I arrived at the loud, seething, colourful travellers' ghetto, mind reeling, I quickly found my guesthouse along a quiet
soi of KSR and checked in. I tried to do a bit of exploring that night, but was too tired and went to bed. Because I was severely jet-lagged, though, in spite of my fatigue I couldn't fall asleep for the longest time. But of course I did (and slept too long the next day!)
Even after four days in Bangkok, I'm still trying to get used to the smells. I'm still trying to figure out how to describe them, as well, as they're so foreign and don't really have many Canadian analogues. The best way I can describe how it smells here is a potent cocktail of sewage, exhaust, sulphur, and jasmine, with periodic aromas of roasting corn-on-the-cob and charred
meat on open street grills adding a sometimes-tantalizing, sometimes-nauseating garnish. The heat, humidity, traffic and congestion are also extraordinary. I can't remember sweating as much in my life as I have since I've been here. But the food is, for the most part, pretty good (and so cheap! Pad thai and skewers of meat are usually 15 baht - about 50 cents Canadian - and a big chunk of delicious pineapple from a streetside stall is only 10 baht), and many of the people are extremely friendly. I love making a fool of myself trying to speak Thai to the Thai people, and they love it when I do, too! They are almost invariably tremendously appreciative of sincere efforts to communicate with them in their language, and greet even the most mangled
farang pronunciation with smiles. I do kind of wish now that I hadn't planned to travel for so long, as the reality of nearly 11 months is hitting me, but my main problem so far is loneliness (so I would love to hear from each and every one of you, anytime - it helps so much to be reminded there are people who care about me and are
Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho
It's huge - 15 metres (50 feet) high and 46 metres (about 140 feet) long!! there for me, emotionally speaking). I've met a few people, but not as many as I thought I would. Maybe it's just the guesthouse I'm staying in, or the rainy season, or the reduced traveller camaraderie of big-city Bangkok, but hopefully it gets easier to meet lots of fellow travellers once I leave the city (which I shall in a few hours, for Kanchanaburi). So, yes, send me your e-mails, or even leave comments on here to let me know that y'all care. If you don't know me and just stumbled onto this blog, feel free to disregard that last sentence or two, but anyone I sent this to, just know that I miss and love you all, and being away from you has sharply brought into focus how important you are to me and how much I value having you as a part of my life.
OK, so what have I done during my time in Bangkok? Well, my sleeping has been erratic because of the sharp schedule change, and the anxiety I've felt has sometimes made it difficult to get out of bed, but make no mistake, I've had some good times and seen stunning things here
already! I've seen many
wats (Buddhist temples), including the phenomenal Wat Phra Kaew (and the Emerald Buddha contained within), the astounding Wat Pho (extremely huge reclining Buddha, has nothing to do with Vietnamese soup), and watched the sun set over the magnificent Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn). I have seen an ancient fort, strolled down countless
sois, taken boats down the Chao Phraya River, had water gently poured over me in a beautiful Buddhist blessing by an incredibly sweet older lady at Wat Bowon Niwet, have taken a tuk-tuk ride and ridden the local bus system, have had cold Beer Chang and yummy food while watching English Premier League football with genial Aussies and Irishmen, have had my first Thai haircut and my first-ever shave with a straight razor (the barber was amazing!), and just tonight, went with a Belgian friend up to the observation deck and bar on the 83rd and 84th floors of the Baiyoke Sky Hotel, the tallest building in Thailand, and saw the staggering panorama of the megacity laid out before me. It was absolutely amazing. Beautiful views, luxurious surrounds, and our 200 baht (C$6) entrance ticket got us a free alcoholic drink in the
bar (which is a great deal considering that when we were brought the drink menu, the per-drink price was 200 baht!!). It was so relaxing that I didn't want to leave! But that's what I've done so far. You'll forgive me if this paragraph is a little short on details, but that's going to be generally the style of this blog - I don't want to bore everyone who hasn't been here with the minute details, and plus it takes a looooong time to write everything out, anyway. Now, as always, if you have any questions, just ask me.
Take care everyone, keep safe, and I miss you all!
Del
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Drew
non-member comment
Thrills!
Sounds like a serious adventure has just begun. Of all the wonders you're sure to see, I'm currently just reeling at the cost of food... Thai food for so cheap! I'd even be willing to deal with the fact that I am allergic to coconut. I'd probably but on 5 kilos the first day!