Bangkok

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We loved Bangkok, it's vibrant, interesting, funny and even relaxing. We spent some time in the markets and waiting for the river ferry just looking at peoples' life and behaviours and we agreed on one thing: the Thais seem lively and funny people and we really like them.

We feel relaxed in Thailand. Although it's very different from home, we still feel we can a bit recognize the behaviours and communication seems easier than for example in India, which is really another world. Even if we absolutely loved it we felt a bit uneasy from time to time because we had no points of reference.

I absolutely wanted to try a tropical fruit called durian which is quite big, a bit bigger than a coconut with a strange nobbly cover but both in India and Nepal it was still unripe. For some reason I believed it would be really tasty (Paul had no faith in that) so as soon as I saw it on a market stall I bought it. We found a nice bench by the river to savour this tropical fruit. We opened the bag and and were immediately hit by a disgusting smell. Something similar to rotten onion or rotten vegetables. I put it a tiny tiny bit in my mouth just to be sure my nose was not lying but it was really, really horrible. A man next to us who was eating other kind of fruits (lucky him) made a gesture as if to mean, give it to me I will eat that too so I gave him the piece I hadn't touched. He seemed happy so when he stood up and smiled at me I asked him if he wanted the other piece too and he banged his hands on his belly like: I'm full I can't eat anymore. We all three of us laughed.

Anyway apart from horrible fruit and funny men we visited loads of Buddhist temples, of course. We even saw the longest reclining Buddha in the world, something like 46 m long. Amazing. We saw sitting Buddhas, meditating Buddhas, lying Buddhas, walking Buddhas, Buddhas in the subduing Mara position (pushing away the ocean), big ones, tiny ones, in gold, stone, gems... we feel we are really Buddha experts now!

But the thing we really really love is....(guess what Yuichi??) foood!!! Oh my....Buddha, it's addictive. Tasty but at the same time light so you never feel full (unfortunately) with really fresh vegetables and lemon grass and ginger and sweet basil and coconut milk. Fantastic. We are determined to do a Thai cooking course either when we will be in Chiang Mai or on the beach, for surely sure.

One sad thing we actually saw in Thailand, we knew we had to expect it but before we actually saw it...We went so see the district of Patpong in Bangkok for curiosity. Apart from when we replied "No thank you, Tennis?" - to men asking us if were interested in seeing ping pong shows...(hope you understand what I mean, don't feel like explaining it now....) we were struck by the obscenity of the sex industry. Not so much the fact of one hour or one night "rent" but more the "be my girlfriend for a week" fake relationship. So many men walking around sightseeing with their girlfriend for a week by their side. A bizarre and disturbing sight for sure. A.

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