Buckle up, it's only the first day...

Coming into Thailand was interesting, more so for internal reasons than anything else.  I currently have a client who was refugee with his family for a time in Thailand before coming to Minnesota. Several weeks ago, he told me his experiences of how the migration process worked for he and his family, and how they came to the US. The were smuggled into Thailand as part of the process and just as they crossed the boarder, the van that they were in got into a wreck and turned over. There were some injuries that should have been treated in the hospital, however, they could they had to pretend that everything was okay. If they were taken to the hospital, and it was discovered that they didn’t have any documentation, they would have not only been sent to back to his home country and probably jail. He spoke of his fear, and how after everything that he’d been through (I wish I could say more) that was the scariest moment of his life. This kept playing over and over as I, with my little blue passport was let into the country so easily, as I have to every country that I have visited. This little book allows me to travel more freely than anyone from any other country (for the most part).  The concept of power and privilege was again brought to my attention. 

 

Later that morning (we got in at 12:30 am, and after showers and a few hours of sleep), we got up for breakfast. Breakfast here, is like most countries where you have very different types of foods that are not considered breakfast in the U.S. I had a noodle dish that Cathy (professor) recommended as well as some veggies and chicken.  And then some toast. The juice was okay; it was sort of a tangerine-ish tang type, not my favorite, but okay. They also had pineapple juice, which I think I’ll opt for (although this morning it was really sweet).

We were then off on our “get to know Bangkok” day.  We took the bus over to the area where the Grand Palace is, and the bus was really funny. It did have a roof, but it was still very open-aired (all the windows were open).  And it had fans in the ceilings. The ceiling was also quite low and I will constantly be watching out for my head. They aren’t quite equipped for such tall people. J On our way to the Grand Palace we came across this man who started talking to Cathy, I’m not really sure why he picked us out, although there weren’t many other foreigners there so I’m sure that had something to do with it. He told us that the Grand Palace was closed that morning (which I’m not really sure it was), but we ended up taking a Tuk-Tuk (motorized taxis) that are meant to hold 3 at best, but really probably just 2. We ALL (four of us, Cathy, Kari, Matt, and me) piled into one and the driver took us to a boat to ride through the river and canals for a few hours.   

The bus. Notice the fans.

Typical Bangkok road. The one in the middle towards the bottom is a Tuk-tuk.

The water was really dirty, and I’m not sure how much of it was from pollution and how much was sedimentation (probably combination), but it was pretty gross. Nonetheless, we were off on an adventure. We saw many wooden dwellings that were on stilts and a lot of people hanging their laundry out for the day.  Most of the time we zipped around and all of a sudden our guide stopped our boat and started going backwards. He stopped completely and started pointing excitedly at the rocks at the base of a house. We looked, and were confused, not realizing for a little while what he was pointing out. But it was a huge lizard (he said alligator, but a non-biting one), it was definitely a lizard.  I was amazed that he saw it so well. This happened a couple of times, he must always have a look out for them for the tourists he drives around. In other places people were feeding the fish and they would all be up at the surface, so many that some were half way out of the water, flopping around. It was quite a spectacle.  I didn’t think anything was living in the water, but clearly, I was wrong.  At one point, he slowed down and a few ladies came over with their little paddle boats filled with their wares to sell, they were really cute. This was the first time I heard the distinction between the “Thai” Buddha and the “Happy” Buddha. It’s funny to me that he’s called the “Happy” Buddha.  He also let us stop at a temple area to take pictures. There was this HUGE statue of Buddha with some other buildings and figures that were in the Thai temple style. It was fun to walk around and see things. I’ve seen a lot of places where you can burn incense for luck (and of course places to donate money for luck as well).  And usually in these areas there is a floor that is raised up above the ground level by just a few inches, and it is considered respectful to take of your shoes before walking on it.  

This is the type of boat we road.

Our Driver: Master at picking out lizards as we flew by.

Typical houses on the river/canals.

Can you see the lizard?

Fish flopping around. 

Women coming up to sell their wares.

Thai Buddha near the river. We stopped here to get more pictures. This helps you to see more of a scale of how large it is. 

Incense burning at the feet of Thai Buddha.

He let us off at Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn), which had spectacularly steep steps to climb to get to the top level of the structure.  There were a few levels to climb up and the whole thing was covered with ceramic mosaics and designs. We got to see beautiful panoramas of the city from up there.  On the top level the ground was flat except for the 5 inches closest to the edge (up against the wall) that dipped down. At one point I leaned forward to look over the wall that was about 3.5 feet high and my foot tipped into the lower part, even though I knew I was behind a wall (and not going anywhere), my heart still skipped a beat and it was a little jarring. 

Wat Arun

An attempt to capture how steep the steps are.

Showing off some of the intricate decor.

Next Cathy took us over Wat Pho (the Reclining Buddha). It is just how it sounds, it’s the Thai Buddha in this side-ways position laying down, and it is MASSIVE!  According to Wikipedia (the source for all truth and wisdom) the statue is 15 m high and 43 m long, for all of us who don’t regularly think in terms of meters that is almost 50 feet tall and 141 feet long. It’s all covered in gold leafing except the soles of his feet which are some sort of black stone and mother of pearl decorations.  Cathy didn’t go inside with us (she’s seen it a million times), instead she met a monk and started conversing with him outside. According to him, the Buddha was built first but it kept getting too dirty so they then build a temple around it.  The certainly planned for space for people to walk around in there, but not so much for the height of the Buddha, because if you look closely at the roof, the point of his had/crown almost touches a corner of it. The monk was really nice and wanted to get pictures with us (I’ll have to get those from Cathy) but we had to keep a respectful distance (at least Kari and I did), Matt could stand closer because he’s a guy. I can only imagine how awkward the photo looks. J On a side note, our tickets also got a free bottle of water which by this point was very necessary; have I mentioned how hot and humid it is here? It’s a little crazy. It’s in the mid-90s (which isn’t so bad), but it is the rainy season so there is about 95% humidity (except when it’s raining because then it’s 100%).  Anyway, water was a must. 

Reclining Buddha

By this point, air conditioning was preferable also, so we stopped to get lunch. The food here is pretty much amazing! I haven’t tried anything that I haven’t liked, and I’ve managed to stay way from the super hot stuff (I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to spicy things).  I’ve noticed that for the most part, Thai’s seem to like their flavors strong, so if it’s spicy, it’s super spicy, or sweet, it’s super sweet (you get the point). 

After lunch we went to the Grand Palace to see the Emerald Buddha. In size comparison it’s a bit of a let down after the reclining Buddha, and it’s made of Jade, not Emerald. But it was still a spectacular site. You walk into the main temple on the grounds and it’s this huge room full of gold and sparkly material (mostly colored glass and gem stones). They wouldn’t let us take pictures, so you’ll have to look this one up.  The grounds were extensive and in order to be respectful, they made me put on this rap to cover my capri-pants. Which was a little funny, and made me even hotter (in temperature). The grounds had several buildings and it was interesting to see all the details that went into each building.  The moldings and the sparkle of it all were really incredible, and everything is so colorful.

Me inside the grand palace. And a little bit of a shot at my "modesty wrap."

Outside of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

Giving a sense at some of the intricate carvings. The flowers reminded me of the ones in the SLC temple celestial room.

After that we took a taxi ride to a mall to pick up a phone for Kari while she’s here an extra week without everyone else.  The taxi driver asked us if we could do him a favor: stop at a shop and look around so he could get 5L free in gas. Apparently this is a common thing, bring tourists to our shop and we’ll give you free gas.  So we did and it was a funny thing. They took us through a pretty fancy jewelry store. First we saw the men at work carving and shaping the rings. Then this room full of all the products (rings, ear rings, pendants, etc.) where they had all the sales people. One lady seemed to be convinced that if she followed me around long enough, I’d buy something.  Poor woman. She kept at it though taking me through the next room with all the pearls and textiles.  She also kept telling me that my mom would love some pearls (little did she know that she actually would! Sorry mom I didn’t buy anything).  I’m sure they all do that, pick a customer and stay with them to pick up the commission, but in my case it wasn’t very effective, I just felt stalked rather than being helped. 

After that it was on to get a phone, and plane tickets for when we go to Chang Mai and Chang Rai. We took Tuk-tuks for this, but opted to take two rather than our smushed adventure of that morning.  Then it was on to dinner and the cab ride home. Driving here is a little crazy, but seems fairly comparable to what I saw in South Africa and Russia.  Except their nicer to pedestrians here.  By this time, as you can imagine I was EXHAUSTED. We hadn’t been in Bangkok for 24 hours yet, and all of that was one day.  Very fun! But I did fall asleep on the cab ride home.

Anyway, I warned you, I get long winded.