I know you've all been waiting with baited breath for my first "blog" post ;) Well, here I am, reluctantly pulling up a chair to the first real computer I've had access to since I left my cold, little city of Ithaca, NY nearly a month ago. I'm writing from the Royal Guesthouse in Chiang Mai, Thailand, but I'm going to go back over the last few weeks, to share a bit about our journey to date. As many of you have probably hear me say, this adventure has, for a long time, felt really important. Not just, "it's important to me that I travel, " because yes, that sounds really fun, but important in a more global, or even urgent sense. I'm not sure I can articulate it much more than that yet, but I can say that that feeling was very quickly affirmed as we set out. We flew from JFK to Abu Dhabi, and even just being on that flight, being in the Abu Dhabi airport where there were so many people from so many different countries, mothers and fathers shuffling through the chaos with their little ones hanging onto their hands, half dragged through the lines...it was so fresh for me and yet, so familiar. What I mean to say, is that even though 95% of those around us looked and sounded so different from what I'm used to in my daily life, I was keenly aware that we are not that different at all. And I take great comfort in that, especially coming from a country where we seem to make a national sport out of differentiating the other. More than ever, I'm saddened and angered by much our media deride Muslims, making the entire religion of Islam out to be a people of violence and radicalism - a crude rendering to put it lightly.
Anyhow, as we touched down in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, in the early morning light, I could really feel how far away from home we were, and it felt really good and exciting. As we deplaned and made our way towards customs, the first thing I saw was a giant display of flowers, sort of a composite. On some level, this felt like a little sign, saying something like, "Welcome, Katie, you've come to the right place!" Similarly, upon entering our cab, I noticed an ornamental flag hanging on the rearview mirror that had a Mermaid/Goddess/Dragon figure on it - flowers and Mermaids! As we entered Bangkok proper, flower boxes overflowing with pinks and purples adorned the bridges, welcoming us in to this hot, hazy, hustling city of 8.2 million people, 14,000 of them per square mile. This is on par with NYC, slightly less dense though. Getting through the airport and on the way to our guest house, I couldn't get over the ubiquity of Western culture. Everyone here speaks English, everyone! I guess I knew this on some level, but I started to question why. All the travelers we've met speak at least some English. It's like the common language denominator, but I'm not sure why that is...certainly not because there's so many of us, but perhaps it's because the U.S. wields so much power globally, and if it you want a part of it, you better get in the game...something like that? It's a little embarrassing, too, because it's almost like we're too arrogant and/or lazy to learn other languages. I maintain that making an effort to speak another's language is an important first step (more important than actually getting it right). And I've learned a little Thai - mostly vegetarian phrases to ensure that animals like my beloved squid do not end up in my meals - but man is it hard.
After zipping through the insanity that is Bangkok traffic (women perched side-saddle on the backs of bikes, their boyfriends/husbands weaving in and out around cars, careening through intersections with seemingly no regard for personal safety), we settled into our tiny, simple, comfortable room at the Shanti Lodge. We were in the thick of life, mostly travelers, turtles in fountains, celery/ginger/mint/passionfruit juice for breakfast. This is a place where orchids are so abundant they garnish our $2 breakfast plates. After 36+ hours of traveling, a good meal, shower, and change of clothes, we venture off into the streets. As Evan put it, 'it's all happening here.' And that's right on. As we lament the community-eroding impacts of Euclidian zoning back home (in other words, separation of uses, suburban sprawl, strip malls, etc.), we're now in a world where you can do just about anything, anytime, anwhere. I feel similarly about NYC, but few other U.S. cities measure up. The street vendors - selling everything from grilled bananas to buffalo horns to the knock-off Birkenstocks to the elephant-print shirt/skirt/pants/dress/sarong/hat of the moment. Walking down the street, I'm nearly knocked over the scents swirling around me. Meat frying in a precariously-perched wok at elbow/hip height mixes with toxic fumes wafting from the adjacent nail salon. We sit down for a beer, watching with the delight all the different travelers, backpackers and city-folk going about their days on Khao San Rd. This place is a tourist attraction in its own right. It's backpacker junction really, and I'm glad we only stayed for a moment. We politely declined the street hustlers offering us selfie sticks (the epitome of narcissisum in my opinion), elephant sculptures, and faux Ray Bans.
We wander some more, buy our tickets to Koh Tao (it's amazingly easy), and drink another beer. We wander down a back alley, which is filled with the refuse of restaurants and stores, people crouching to wash bowls and dishes, whose dirty water runs under our sandals. I pass women who are huddled in shadowy corners slicing raw meet with sharp knives, plastic cutting boards balancing on their laps. It is all happening here. We dash into a bank to exchange more USD to Thai baht. Evan is patient with me as I work through my conversions (100 baht is about $3). For him it takes seconds or less. Like my Dad, he has a built-in brain calculator.The bank is a nice one, with professional, uniformed employees (this is in contrast to the little mom and pop currency exchange storefronts we encounter later). I'm struck, however, by the loose, casual, playful atmosphere. There's lots of chatting and giggling and energy - not something I have ever really seen back home; it's all very buttoned up and restrained. As we make our way back to the Shanti Lodge, I'm baffled by the vendors who have emerged to sell vegetables to the post-work crowd heading home for dinner. Baffled because they were practically in the steets, the busy, dirty, congested streets. With the backs to the traffic, they had their goods spread out before them on tiny plots (2, maybe 3 square feet) of sidewalk or curb. I was worried; they seemed unphased. All day I saw little flower garlands being made and sold, and they adorn everything here. I learned the next day that they're called phuang malai (pong ma-lay) and they are part of an important Thai tradition of maknig offerings to spirits and sacred statues.
The following day, we seek out Pak Khlong Talat, Bangkok's largest, oldest, 24-hour flower market. After spending a solid 30 minutes looking for a toilet, I could finally focus on the flowers and take it all in. It was beyond imagination - the sheer abundance was unlike ANYTHING I have ever seen...and I work on a flower farm!!! If yesterday was about food and clothes, then today is for the flowers. Flowers for days, I'm telling you. Many of the stands were devoted to the creation and sale of phuang malai - sellers displayed huge plastic bags filled to the brim with the heads of mostly yellow marigolds, mini red rose buds, purple gomphrena, and fragrant jasmine. I, of course, could not help myself, and took lots of photos, always asking first, and sometimes showing the purveyours pictures of my own flower arranging and experiences back home. I think I wanted to share my flowers (Plenty of Posies flowers often) with people I presumed also loved flowers, wanting to create a connection. There were bushels and piles and heaps of orchids, orchids as if weeds. I purchased a small bouquet with some greens and pretty filler that looked like Sweet Annie, a nice, fragrant plant I know from back home. The couple selling were very gracious, and seemed to like the pictures I shared. They asked Evan if i was his wife, and not really being able to communicate, he smiled sweetly and kissed me on the cheek. These questions would continue by the way - as a man asked us if we were father and daughter the other day, referencing Evan's beard as a sign that he must be old! The orchids - by the way - were 10 baht, or $0.33! As I write this, the heady aroma of jasmine fills the air, coming from the phuan malai I purchased from a diminutive, focused woman working at a card table on the sidewalk. Hers caught my eye, filled with bright pink rosebuds, colorful orchids, gomphrena, and marigold. I gifted te orchids to the man and woman who made our lunch based on my ratchety-Thai request for vegetarian food (no meat!). I would have spent all my money if I had homes for the flowers. The phuang malai was left to the Shanti Lodge, and I hope they liked it.
...this post was a labor of love, my keyboard's delete button didn't work for a while, and at one point, I lost half of what I had written. Please excuse typos :)
