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Published: January 24th 2008
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Thai dancers
A grand night of traditional dancing. I WANNA SEE MORE!! (Dave) Well, I am outta here. This is my last night in this fantastic country, and what an adventure it's been. I've been through jungle, island paradises, and booming metropolis. I love them all!
Last night Riki took us out to a late night dinner theater with a delicious feast followed by traditional dancing. It was quite moving. The costumes and steps and especially the hand movements were magical. We had a sampling of different dances and costumes from different eras. It truly made me yearn for more. The next time I'm around here I will make time to watch an entire opera, it was so fascinating and powerful. Riki says the national dance company does ful shows on the weekends and BOY will I go next time. Who knew? The costumes really made me think of my Mom and how much she'd love the intricate stitching and shiny and bright and delicate and WOW! There was a troupe of traditional musicians who just made it more special. Many of them were playing a curved xylophony thing with wooden slats, like a high-range marimba. Did I mention that it was really something?
Oh, before the dancing we went to
Our new friend
These things were just swimming around and wandering the park. People barely seemed to notice, although one guy laughed when this medium-sized fellah came right up to us on our rice mat. an amazingly upscale uptown mall. It was breathtaking in it's beauty and sickening almost in it's wastefulness. Just SO over the top in what it was selling and how overpriced things were. It's right next to a bunch of upscale hotels and meeting places. Cool to see, but sorry, my friend the Earth.
After the mall we had YET another massage (one of the best) and went to a huge park in the middle of town. It was stunning. Temples abounded, people were friendly and nice, no motor vehicles, great birds, turtles and fish in and around the few lakes and ponds. And monitor lizards chillin' and swimming and minding their own business. After a long while of blissfull quiet the air suddenly shook with loud Western music. We looked across the lake where we were reading and there was ~ 300 people doing arobics! Annoying sound-wise, but very cool to see.
Today we wove our way through India town and it was it's own madness. Shops everywhere (like the rest of Bangkok, I suppose) filled with bolts of cloth, baubles, buttons, ribbon, tiaras, lace, egads it was cool. Especially if one is in to that. We had
Street madness
A picture cannot capture the politeness and madness combined of Thai driving. a wonderful Indian lunch for almost no dollars, and sort of met most of the family that was running it. It felt very Indian and very Thai all at once. And SO delicious.
And just now we've returned from dining with Riki and her husband Yik on the River called Mae Nam Chao Phraya, which is the heart of Bangkok and how we get around when we can. We had Riki and Yik order most of the food and we're so glad we did. A few fish dishes we'd never heard of, some amazing fresh leaves we'd make into wee cups and put in peanuts, lime, coconut, baked fish cubes, ginger, lemon grass and some delicious sweet sauce. Mmmm-mmmm. Heather then put a hurtin' on a huge crab in curry sauce with whipped eggs. Plus so much more. Al-oi' Al-oi'!! (Delicious)
For these last few hours we thought we'd wander around a bit, see the twinkly lights, feel the warmth instead of heat, and just drink in one last gulp of Bangkok magic. Oh, and I wanted to sign off with YOU all, too. I'll see some of you soon, others later, and still others MUCH later.
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William
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Sweet
I am so stoked for you, I am excited to someday get there. If not just for the food....