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Published: January 11th 2012
So I realized that I am VERY far behind my posts and I am sorry for that. I find that when I have too much to do it's hard to fit writing in and when I have nothing to do I don't manage to get to it either. Funny how that works. My new year's resolution is to catch up with all my December blogs and to keep it on track from then on. I was reminded by a friend through a compliment what goal I had for my blog. I'd love to have my blog be read by other travelers so that my stories can help in their travels. I write so that my family and friends can have insight to my life in Asia. I write for myself so that I may one day be able to remember and relive my experiences. My ultimate goal would be to have my blog lead me into a career in travel. That would be an amazing dream job.. Working for the travel channel or discovery channel!
Back at the beginning of December, was the King's birthday. In Thailand this is also known as father's day because the King is seen as
the father of the country. So the King and all the fathers in Thailand are recognized on this day. The King's birthday fell on a Monday and is a national holiday for all Thais, that meant a day off for us!! The color to wear is pink! Just my color! Pink means good health in Thailand and because the King isn't as healthy as he once was the people of Thailand hope for good health for their King. All around Bangkok there were floods of crowds wearing pink. As they say, "real men wear pink!" The Friday before all schools in Thailand have some sort of ceremony to honor the fathers of Thailand and the King. Our school held an extra long morning assembly that lasted 3 hours. That meant us English teachers got to just hangout till it was done.
My Thailand family, Erika, Ben, Lauren, and Mike (the other English teachers in Samut Sakhon), and I headed into Bangkok for the festive weekend. We found ourselves a very nice place to stay in Bangkok, Cozy Bangkok Place. It is by far the cleanest hostel I have ever had the opportunity to stay in. The beds are very
Home cooked food!
Our first meal cooked on our own! so yummy!comfortable and they even have a stocked kitchen available for use. We were so excited for the kitchen that we cooked a pasta dinner and a full breakfast while staying there. We officially have Cozy as our Bangkok home from now on. It is very near a mrt stop and just down the highway from Sala Daeng BTS. Cozy is nestled in a quaint Thai neighborhood so it is very hard for taxis to find so if you ever want to stay it is a must to have a map/mrt stop handy. Taxi drivers will know the mrt and it is just a short walk from there.
On our first day in Bangkok for the weekend we headed to the famous Jim Thompson's house. Jim Thompson is a famous American expat that moved to Thailand after experiencing it during WWII. Jim Thompson was a very clever business man and he saw the value of the Thai silk. He promoted the Thai silk to the western world and created a demand for Thai silk putting Thailand back on the map. Thai silk is now one of the major industries for Thailand and it's mostly all thanks to Jim. Jim loved
World is spinning round and round
Erika and I on the ride at the carnival the culture of Thailand and saw the value of it's ruins. He was an avid collector of Thai artifacts and they are all still to be seen at his house. The house costs only 50 Baht to see and you even get a free tour (less than $2 usd). It was such a beautiful house. Jim Thompson mysteriously disappeared on a holiday trip in Malaysia in 1967 after living in Thailand for almost 22 years. He has yet to be recovered and the result of his death is still a mystery (insert dramatic music here).
That evening we ventured down our main street to a carnival. It reminded me of my last American state fair and the Oktoberfest but on a much smaller scale. The rides were pretty pricey but we splurged on one and had a blast walking around the grounds. We were the only white people there! (that's surprising in Bangkok, not so much in Mahachai, Samut Sakhon)
On the King's birthday we headed to the main event area via boat taxi! There are boat taxis that go down the river and pick up/drop off people around the city. It cost only 15 baht to ride
Wat Arun from boat taxi
cheapest city tour you can find (unless it's free!) (about 50 cents). If you are ever in Bangkok this is a neat way to get around and to see the city from the riverfront for very cheap. We were able to get glimpses of Wat Arun and the Grand Palace from the boat. You could of course also take longtail boat tours on the river but that will be much more expensive. Boat taxi's are the way to go if you are on a budget. We wandered around the Grand Palace area but there wasn't much going on just yet and things were still being set up. So to "waste" time we wandered back to the boat taxis and crossed the river and headed to Wat Arun. We walked the whole way not really knowing just how far it was but we had time to kill so it was no problem. Wat Arun only cost 50 Baht (less than$2) and you must wear proper temple clothing. That means shoulders and knees covered. They provide sarongs to cover up for about 40 Baht though so no worries if you are underdressed. The Wat was absolutely gorgeous!! Now one of my favorite Wats in Thailand. It is entirely encrusted with porcelain
and seashells. No two pieces were the same!! The porcelain pieces were used to make flower designs and other neat patterns. Some pieces were solid colors and some had beautiful designs. I could have spent hours just examining each design. You can climb up the stairs to the very top but it is a very steep inclined staircase!! This is not a climb for the height fearing but if you can get over your fears the view is spectacular. The view includes the city skyline, the Grand Palace and all the boats going down the river. By the way, the climb down is much scarier but there are railings and you can take your time!
We then headed back to the main area for the festivities and my how the scene drastically changed. People were shoulder to shoulder moving along the sidewalk in both directions like a herd of cattle!! It was the slowest pace and we were packed in like sardines (lets see how many more animal references I can make! Jk) We made our way to the gates of the palace. It seemed like someone, maybe even the King, would come out an make an appearance. After
a good 30 minutes of being squished and pushed by passerbys and no one to see we surrendered our prime spots and headed towards the main field. There was still plenty of space to find a nice spot on the grass. We were only able to stay till 7 pm because we had left our bags at our hostel and that was our deadline. Unfortunately that meant we had to miss the firework show that we had been waiting for all day. We had hoped that just maybe we would be able to catch it before we had to head back. I love fireworks so I was disappointed but had to remind myself that I was able to see them last year here in Bangkok. Note: the fireworks display for the King is by far the best fireworks display I have ever seen.. Even better than Singapore's 45th birthday fireworks and that's hard to top!
Leaving the festivities was much harder than entering the festivities because we were now going against the flow of people. Traffic was pretty much stand still when we reached the main road and taxis very hard to come by. We finally managed to flag
down a tuk tuk and we piled the 5 of us in. Little did we know that this tuk tuk ride was going to be one of the scariest rides in Bangkok we have yet to experience. We wove in and out of traffic, speeding past cars, cutting in front of them, stopping abruptly, it was an experience! On the way back the fireworks started to go off as well so we were able to catch glimpses along the way. We reached Cozy in time to retrieve our bags and then we headed back to Mahachai. Can't be fun and games all the time, we had work the next morning!
So to end this blog I'd like to give a shout out to the King! Without you there would have been no fun holiday and pretty fireworks!! Happy Birthday and may there be many more to come!
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Sharon
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Thank you, Gypsy!
Beautiful pictures! Beautiful people! So happy you have American friends with you. I imagined you being all alone with your Thai students. Not a bad thing, but not so lonely this way! Much love.