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Published: December 19th 2005
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Wat Phra Khaew figures
Life size figures holding up a building in the Grand Palace Complex. Sawatdee ya'll!
So, we are officially in Asia. We made our way to Bangkok via plane from NZ on the 8th of December. We were up for about 24 hours which, by the way, is not the best way to enter Bangkok - the lack of sleep makes things that much more surreal! Suprisingly, we had very little trouble getting to our guesthouse that evening. We found a room, but only after a hilarious incident in which Keif called a guesthouse and asked if they had any rooms available using the Thai phrases we have been practicing and the lady on the other end replied with a number of Thai phrases that meant nothing to Keif and he looked panic stricken, said Thank You, hung up and we both started laughing. Eventually we were able to find a place with someone who could understand us over the phone, but that hasn't stopped us from trying our Thai.
Our first day there we were swept up by a little man who spoke some English and he explained to us that there was a public holiday (coinciding with the King's birthday) and that many temples that are not normally open to tourists were
Bangkok aerobics
Hundreds gather to partake in the Richard Simmons-esque aerobics along the river each night. open for the day. We spent the next three hours being run around by a tuk tuk driver in a sort of awed state - wowing over the incredibe wats we saw and thinking about how it is no wonder Thai people visit wats to pray so often with traffic conditions like those in Bangkok!!
Bangkok had its ups and downs - it was really, really hot, and this is the cold season over here. It definately took a little time to acclimatize! Also, we got a big dose of car exhaust and fumes driving around seeing the sights from the relative comfort (ha ha, thats a joke) of our tuk tuk. The "quiet" little street our guesthouse was on has a resident CD salesman that favors Black Eyed Peas albums at 3 AM. At 4:30 the roosters start, but I think we prefer that to the American Pop!
The upside, however, is that there are some incredible things to see in Bangkok! The Highlites: Wat Prae Kaew and the Grand Palace house the Emerald Buddha and have some amazing architectural features. Everything is covered in gold and vivid mosaics of red, green, and blue. We were also impressed with
Reclining Buddha
Wat Pho houses the huge 46m long and 15m tall reclining buddha. Amazing! Wat Pho that houses a 46m long and 15m high reclining Buddha, the largest in Thailand. It was a great way to escape the chaos of Bangkok and once you step into the Wat, all you here are hushed whispers. We also figured out local water taxi system - taking boats from pier to pier along the river, thus avoiding the chaos of traffic!
One of my favorite things in Bangkok, however, was the activities in the park around the corner from our guesthouse. After eating a delicious dinner of noodle soup one evening we heard techno/pop remix music coming from the large park along the river. Heading over to investigate, we found about 150 people (maybe more) being led in aerobics by the Thai version of Richard Simmons!! It was so great! Everyone was doing aerobics there on the banks of the river - grandmas, teenage girls, 20-something boys, and old men who would yell every so often!
After spending a few more days in Bangkok than we would have liked (waiting for our Lao visas), we headed up to Ayuthaya to check out the ancient capital and some of the ruins. There is a HUGE seated Buddha in
Bodhi Tree Buddha
The head of a Buddha engulfed in a bodhi tree. a wat that we visited and we walked around the ancient ruins, a veritable Buddha graveyard with sandstone sculptures disintegrating after wars, weather, and time. Funnily enough, as we were exploring the ruins of one wat, we happened upon the remains of what must have been some sort of celebration or event (bleachers, lights, etc), rounded a corner and found a huge disco ball hanging above the grounds. I must say, I did not expect to see disco balls in ancient Thai Buddhist ruins. This, however, was not to be outdone by the Ronald McDonald statue we found later down a street in Ayuthaya outside a Mickey D's. Turns out Good Ol' Ronald McDonald is paying attention to cultural sensitivities - the statue is posed in the traditional "wai" (hands together in front of face, sort of bowing - done when greeting people with respect). Made me wonder if McDonalds hires anthropologists, etc, for marketing!
Ayuthaya was really fun though - we spent quite a while outside at the train station waiting for our sleeper train. It was a great place to people watch - old women napping on the benches, school kids coming and going, teenage girls fussing over
their hair, everyone snacking! I was even interviewed by a pack of students practicing their english - one girl with questions and a tape recorder asking me about where I come from, what I do, etc, while the rest of the group giggled and discussed my answers!
By the evening, everyone was crowded around the outdoor TV playing bizarre soap operas and we all stood when the King's Song was played. After that, a very attentive station master made sure we got onto our sleeper train and we had an overnight ride to Chiang Mai. Note to self: After the heat shock experienced in Bangkok the AC sleeper train feels like a Montana winter, make sure to bundle up next time.
Here in Chiang Mai we have been staying with our friend Dave from Missoula, he is a 2nd grade teacher at an international school. He and his friend Kate have been amazing hosts - showing us the night market, taking us to a dinner with traditional Thai dancing (everyone had to sit through that to appease me!!), etc. Staying here has been great - more layed back than Bangkok (and a lot smaller), with lots of great restaurants, book
Som Tum
Blythe making Som Tum at our Thai cooking class. shops, markets, and really friendly people.
Thai food gets better and better and thanks to a cooking course yesterday, Keif and I are pros! We went out to the teacher's house, his name is Sompoon and he has done television cooking shows, etc. We would watch him and then he and his staff would supervise as we all tried to recreate what we had witnessed. I must say, I was pretty surprised with how well we did! We made 7 dishes and got to eat all of them...it was a lot of food, even for people that love to eat! One of my favorites is the som tam - green papaya with garlic, fish sauce, peanuts, tomato, and chillies (our teacher put in 7, we put in 2 and our mouths were still burning!) served with sticky rice. Even when it is ridiculously spicy (I had tears brimming in my eyes at one restaurant) it is still sooooo good! Another favorite is fresh mango served with sticky rice that has been mixed with coconut cream - heaven!! After our class we met Dave and his friend Anna at a big market in the downtown - Chiang Mai has long been a center for trading (and I must admit, it has been really really hard to supress my shopping instincts - earings for 10 baht!! - but we have no room in our packs!!).
So, now we are getting ready to head to Pai, a little village farther north, then meeting our friend Coty before heading into Laos.
I think we are both starting to feel more comfortable with many of the realities of life in Asia - we are getting good at bartering and hailing sawngtaaw (local bus taxis), etc.
Our next entry... The Christmas experience in SE Asia.
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Elizabeth Fricke
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ODP
Hey you two. I am psyched for you both to be living a dream. It is one thing to day dream of traveling around the world, and another to actually follow through with it. It's fun to read your entries. Have fun and be safe. Nice hair cut, Keif! Happy Holidays, Elizabeth