I'm writing this now, in retrospect, sitting at my computer on a balmy Seattle night. I'm going to try my best to complete the journal to the best of my ability. I used a little yellow notebook to jot down notes during my travels, so now I'll try to piece together a narrative.
I spent the first night in Bangkok in the "Hi Joe" (?) Motel with my new Indonesian friends. I split a three bed room with two other girls, one of which was a devout muslim. It was really interesting to see how she loosened up once we shut the doors on the boys and were surrounded by only women: the hijab came off, and her body language became looser. We got ready for bed by taking a shower in the bathroom which was one of those combo toilet/showers (the shower head poured over the toilet and just got everything in the bathroom wet - designed that way). I had to admit to my new friends that I was unfamiliar with this style of bathroom and that I was nervous about soaking everything. They seemed to think the set up was totally normal, but didn't make fun of me for being squeamish.
The more religious of the two women I stayed with asked kind of sheepishly if I minded if she prayed before bed (jeez - why would i mind?). I said of course I wouldn't mind, and tried to give her some privacy by averting my eyes. She did show me her prayer hijab, which was separate from her daytime one. It was distinctly different: it was very large and was designed to emerse her whole body while praying.
The next morning we got up a little later than originally planned (9am) and took yet another shower. (I should mention that the room was totally adequate, even if a bit bare bones. It had a fan but no A/C, so we got a little sticky in the night. As there is no malaria risk in Bangkok, I didn't care if I had A/C or not). We decided to do a tour of the local temples via tuk-tuk. All five of us once again piled into the tuk-tuk and took off to see The Standing Buddha, The Lucky Buddha, The Marble Mountain, and a few other sites. The tuk-tuk driver, as par for the course, took us to several places where, if he brought tourist, he would receive a coupon for several litres of gas. So, I got to see two jewerly stores (fine by me) and two tailoring centers. We politely looked around these stores, but didn't buy anything. BUT since we were willing to go to these various stores, the tuk-tuk cost a grand total fo $1 for hours worth of transportation. It's a scam that I'm fine with - and benefits both drivers and passengers (more on this in tomorrow's post).
The temples were pretty amazing - everything is guilded: bright gold against a beautiful blue sky. My favortie was the Marble Mountain, where you walk up a hill to be presented with a seemingly endless series of bells to ring (ring each three times) - and several gongs as well. At the top of the mountain is a georgeous view.
I had noodle soup outside one of the temples for lunch, but only one other of my new friends decided to eat. Most of the food stalls sell pork, and as the soups are cooked with the same pots as cooks the pork, the muslim kids couldn't eat there. They could, however, eat at KFC - which, I think we went to a total of 3 times in 2.5 days. SInce KFC only sells chicken, muslims can eat there without worrying about religious restrictions.
After the temples. we went back to the hotel where my new friend picked up the luggage to head up to the weekend market before heading out to see the "long necked people" (a tribe) in the northern part of Thailand.
The weekend market was so large, I probably only saw 30% in the 4 hours I spent there. It was also ridiculously cheap - many nice trinkets to bring home - if you had the space (which, I really didn't have in my pack). I did buy some coin purses for people, and a nice bracelette for Kathryn (my friend who is looking after my cat). I walked around the market with my friends, who went crazy buying t-shirts that said "I HEART BKK" on them. We found a stall in the midle of the market which served halal food and we ate our dinner - all five of us together. The food was good (could have been spicier), but it was especially nice for the gang to eat all together.
After dinner, my new friends got in a taxi to take them to the trainstation - off to their next destination. I waived them off - seriously almost tearing up. What amazingly nice people - and I feel so lucky to have met them. I really hope our paths cross again.
I walked around the market a bit longer (but it started closing up), and then I took an "expensive" cab back to the hostel ($5). I bought some goodies at the 7-11, ate some mango stickie rice on the street as dessert, and then returned to the hotel. I booked an individual room at the same hotel after looking around at a few other places (which really might have been cleaner, but my place had a balcony!). So, for $12 I had a private room with private bath, fan, and little balcony looking out on backpacker's row. I opened a beer, sat on my balcony, read my book and wrote in my journal. Pretty fantastic.
One note about 7-11s: they really are everywhere and are sort of fantastic. The 7-11s in Thailand have full service espresso stands and have decent middle-of-the-road food you can buy. The beer is cheaper there than anywhere else - the stores are clean, well A/Ced, and super bright! 7/11s in the DC area were always a bit sketch, so this was a new experience for me!
