Hello in thai, although I'm unsure of the spelling. Ahhhh...arriving back in a cheap country was a pleasant surprise. Although...from all the generosity we had through NZ and Aus...we've managed to come close to our budget there too!! However...now, curry, pad thai, som tam, taxi rides, hour long massages, clothing, music, and so many goods at our fingertips for so small a price. The hardest thing is not to buy too much, and for me...not to feel sorry for some of the merchants and ALL of the beggars. It's funny that we now bargain with people to reduce the price of something even my 30 cents...where as just days before, we were paying at LEAST 10 times as much for the same thing, knowing that was normal.
Our first thai experience this time around (we've both been to thailand before...6 years for Julia, 15 for me) was the CRAZY bus ride from the airport to Kheo San Road. Traffic is insane here...they say NOT that Pedestrians have the right of way, but that they have the right to DIE!! Motorcycles seem to swarm the roads, and dominate the small spaces, then tuk-tuks (a thai, 3-wheeled,open-aired taxi), then cars, then busses and trucks...but of course, if you're driving the bigger item, all others must look out for you. Size does matter...in all aspects of the road. I can't believe how few people DON"T get hit here...let along the stray dogs that will sleep on off ramps to highways, expertly dart through traffic...and live to tell the tale.
We spent Friday to Tuesday at a basic hotel (10$/night) just behind the temple off of Kheo San Road. This is the main tourist hot spot...lots of youngsters, lots of white boys (old and young) with YOUNG thai girls...who of course, will love them 'LONG' time. However...despite being all touristed up, it's a neat place to spend a few days. The shopping is fair...no inflated prices compared to other places in thailand, the food is AMAZING, the beer cheap, and the thai massage places plenty! So far...I've tried Chang beer, Leo (or some leopard beer), Singha, Beer Lao, Anckor, Bayon, Tiger, Black Panther, and perhaps a few more. They've all been quite good...lagers, simple and refreshing...nice taste with little difference between most of them. We have walked and sweated our way through the markets, planning for thousands of kilograms worth of stuff we should ship home for our future home...and bought nothing but a CD, and a few items of clothing. All we needed really. We've eaten copious amounts of fresh fruit, pineapple especially...kenom chan (my mother's favorite), pad thai noodles, curries, som tam (green papaya salad...delicious!) and our favorite desert...Mango and sticky rice! The nights were spent much like the days...but on 2 occaisions, we finished with a thai massage. At 1hr for 5$...it's hard to resist!!
My first thai massage experience was a funny one. I was getting poked, proded and manuipulated...quite expertly...by a heavy set woman named Jo. I was at her mercy...and decided to try to let the experience be what it was supposed to be. The first hurdle was allowing her to massage my feet. Sometimes, I can take it...but if it gets too ticklish...I feel like lashing out. It took all my focus not to wiggle or burst out laughing in the room full of relaxed massage-ees. Next, Jo practically yanked all of my toes right off of my foot...supposedly what all thai massages involve...but to me, quite a painful detail. The funniest part was when we pressed the nerve right near my groin. First...she searches for it. If you happen to 'be in the way'...she moves you (and I hope you know what I'm talking about) out of the way. Unfortunately, through my thick shorts, Jo hadn't moved me fully, and so pressed down HARD with some skin caught in between that didn't need pressing. WOW...I almost pissed my pants, with laughter and pain. All was pretty smooth until I had to flip on my belly too. A major piece of advice...if yoú get a thai massage...don't do it on a full belly. We had just stuffed ourselves before going here (at a restaurant overlooking the river)...and when JO got all her weight on top of my kidney/belly/intestinal area...I wasn't sure if I was going to puke, piss myself, or fart all over her. She was literally walking on my body...just because I'm larger than most people they massage...they seem to think that my inner organs must be made of different material too. Whatever...I jest...but all in all, it was a VERY pleasant experience. I specifically asked for Jo the next night too, and armed with my new information, I had the best massage of my life, and recommend them to everyone!! They twist and crack you until there's no way your body pain can do anything but submit! Julia started off with a foot massage, then went to a swedish...and I'm still trying to convince her to try the Thai massage...although, they can be a bit rough.
What else...we spent a morning at a HUGE market called Chatuchak...15000 vendors, about 200,000 people there...all small stall vendors. Very neat, but all the SAME SAME stuff. IT's all amazing stuff...but so MUCH of it! You can only look at so many T-shirts, woven place mats, etc. before you need a break. It was very neat to walk around there though...and besides seeing the small child laying a HUGE log in the middle of a walkway...it was a typical day at the thai market.
Another day, we went to some museums at a local hospital...the museums of human anatomy and forensic science (recommended by Dan and Peta). Very interesting, and very real. Containers filled with preserved body parts, bodies, sections of bodies (some skinned to see the interior anatomy), and many MANY fetuses...including several siamese twins and deformities!! That'll do wonders for a persons' desire to have kids!! The museum of forensic science had many pictures and bone fragments from victims of murder or accident, some preserved bodies of executed criminals, etc. It was a tough morning really...but, it curbed our appetite for a while...which we likely needed. From there, we headed off to Siam Square...the HUGE shopping mall district. It's strange to see so many good things being sold for a few dollars or pennies, and then seeing the same things being sold for hundreds of dollars...and not wondering what's up with people who might have so much money to waste. PArticularly since there is a decent amount of poverty around. However...many thai people will not shop at these malls...it's another way of keeping tourists with the big bucks in thailand rather than flying to singapour for the same thing. During our walk...we stumbled upon a narrowly opened gate near a nice pond...but we were quickly ushered out of there by a few armed guards as the King was apparently paying a visit to that place later in the day. The main purpose of our trip to that part of town however was to meet an old friend of mine from VIDO...a vet and scientist named Sanny. When we finally found the right Starbucks place to meet her at (the one near the green bank at Siam square...different than the one near the green bank at siam centre or place or...whatever haha)...we went and dined on some VERY nice thai food, had sparkling conversation, and re-united after a long time since we've seen each other. It is SO NICE to be able to meet friends in far off places...and to introduce Julia to Sanny was a treat too! We then walked through other parts of the HUGE mall we missed (Paragon Mall)...including a display of lamborghini's, ferraris, etc., the food court (where we bought some intricatedly designed jelly balls of bean paste made to look like tiny fruits), and up to the huge movie theatre's where the thai film festival was being hosted. Sanny left us, as the poor girl has to work 6.5 days of the week (youch...), and we went in for a 'free' game of bowling. After renting shoes and buying socks...we did have a good game, Julia bringing out all the guns and starting off with 3 stikes in a row...and took the local bus home.
The next day (we were here for so long as we needed to get our Vietnam Visas...and having arrived on a friday, and it takes 2 working days...we were there until tuesday) we relaxed, took a long boat ride along the rather polluted river...counted about 100 shoes pass us along the way...to another district of Bangkok called Pat Pong. This is apparently where all the strip shows are, but unfortunately, we had to leave to collect our visas before any strange forms of 'ping-pong' began.
We left Bangkok on our way to Cambodia the next morning...Julia is taking over from there. The only real frustrations we have here are first...ALL the people swarming you to buy things you don't want and don't need. They think you're made of money...and there is never an end to the heckling you get. Second...being near the poor...wanting to help, but you can't help them all. We've given SOME of the more pathetic people some money...more often a bit of food. I don't respect begging much...I think they should take some pride in getting work...but, you never know the circumstances. I just wish it would be taken care of! Hard to see.
Talk to you all soon,
Tyler
