Thailand: Bangkok

Day 1

Arriving in Bangkok, I decided to take the local transportation to downtown, so I strolled over to the train, bought a ticket and hopped on the train. I had noted on the map where the train got into downtown, and it didn’t seem too far from my hostel. I, however, was mistaken, especially in the Bangkok heat. Always up for a walk, I had a nice little walking tour on the way from the train over to the Khao San district, and if you ever want to know where to get a Motorbike fixed in Bangkok, I can recommend a few places.

Having such a short time in Bangkok, I headed off toward the historic district. Walking past the clusterfuck that is Khao San road, I caught a tuk-tuk that took me to a couple of minor temples (one government temple, one that was closed, and one that had a 43m high golden Buddha). Walking back toward the Grand Palace, I arrived to find that it was about to close, so I decided to grab a drink and wait to catch the sunset from the Golden Temple (one of the highest in Bangkok). Heading back down one of the major roads in old Bangkok I caught an amazing view of the Democracy monument and stumbled into a cultural performance at a local art gallery. The way that these dancers were able to manipulate their bodies was truly incredible, and while I didn’t understand much (it was in Thai), the combination of the music, dancing, costumes, and performance made for a lively evening!

(tall Buddha, like...really tall)

(sunset over Bangkok)

(Money laundering?)

(cultural show)

(different sort of cultural show...Khao San Rd.)

Day 2

Waking up early, I know that I have a lot to do before meeting up with my friend Siamnat at 5pm: the Grande Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun, and a canal tour. All of these places were spectacular in their scale, but also in the number of people they attracted. While the buildings were incredibly magnificent in their design, construction, and decoration (as you’ll see in the pictures), that was certainly dampened by the hordes of people who were there.

(walking selfie)

(grand palace)

(ain't it grand)

(well would you look at that)

An interesting note was the difference in construction at the Grande Palace, the older parts of the Palace are classic Thai temple architecture, but once we reached the newer parts of the complex, there was this interesting blend of Thai and European influence brought in to “modernize” the look in the 1970s (I believe). Strange to see a very Thai roof on a more classic, Italianate building, but hey, the strange things are what keep architecture interesting.

(one of these is not like the other)

(hunh, makes ya wonder)

Feeling “watted out” after the last couple of days of temple viewing, I was excited to meet up with my friend Siamnat from UNC for a visit to Dusit Palace, parliament, some other government buildings, and capped of with the Asiatique market. Being such a gracious host, Siamnat let me stay at his place (significantly closer to the airport). So after a little rest, we got up and watched an AMAZING world cup final, and then Siamnat was nice enough to drop me off at the airport (at 4:30 in the morning…). Siamnat, I can’t express how grateful I am for everything!

(Outside Dusit Palace)

(Temple with Siamnat)

And with that, I my brief stay in Thailand had come to an end and I was headed off to Vietnam! I was left with a sense that there was so much more to see in Vietnam, from the jungles of the North to the Islands of the South, I can’t wait to get back.

Aside:

Three types of Bangkok Tourist

During my brief time in Bangkok, I noticed three distinct types of Bangkok tourist: the family traveller, the strange-seeker, and the lazy backpacker.

The family traveller: the family traveller is interested in seeing all of the historic sites, taking all of the pictures, and going to all of the museums. They are often moving slowly, part of a tour group, and often buying sodas/ice cream from street vendors. This sort of traveller is also afraid to cross busy streets.

The strange-seeker: the strange-seeker is interested in what he (usually white males) might say is Thai culture, but is some perversion of Thailand culture. By “culture” he often means ladyboy shows, strip clubs, and sex tourism. Strange-seekers may even be accompanied by a younger thai mistress or wife (not to say that every white man / Thai woman couple is put into this category). Yep, it’s a stereotype, Yep, they exist.

The lazy backpacker: pretty self-explanatory. You’ll find these guys probably lazing about some Khao San road picking up a Henai tattoo, buying a fake ID,  getting a foot massage, or just sitting in an Irish pub drinking shitty beer. They’re probably wearing baggy “temple” pants (affectionately labeled “pantaloons for white people” by some friends in Vietnam) with an elephant motif and a tank top. They have a VERY limited travel radius within Bangkok.

Thailand: Chiang Mai

Night Market

Upon landing, we stumbled into the weekend market near our hostel at Thapae gate. This market was no joke, the further we went into it, the further it seemed to go; every cross street that we passed was jam packed with other vendors, selling all sorts of things. Actually, we never made it to the other side, after walking for a while, we just had to give up, turn around and grab some dinner. Impressive Chiang Mai, very impressive.

(Just the beginning...)

Cooking Class

After landing and making it to the hotel, the first thing on the schedule for Sandy and I was a cooking class! We quickly enrolled in the Baan Cooking School of Chiang Mai (using my phone on the flight over…), and were signed up for the morning after we arrived. Yay for travelling during the off season, when you can make snap bookings!

First thing up were a quick introductions to what we’d be doing and who we’d be doing it with. In our cooking group were a lady from Australia, a lady from Germany, two young ladies from the Reunion Islands (North of Madagascar), and their Mother. To make the day a little more interesting, one of the daughters and the mother from the Reunion Islands didn’t speak much English!

First thing up was a trip to the market, where we were guided through all of the different ingredients that we would be using, several of which were normal for the States, but several of which were pretty specific to SE Asia (but could probably be gotten from an Asian food store…)

(kinda like a lychee, but fuzzy)

Over the course of the next 6 hours I learned to cook the following dishes (each course we could select one of three options):

Thai-style noodle (Pad Thai)

Papaya salad

Red Curry Paste

Panang Curry in with Coconut milk

Mango Sticky Rice

(my official apron)

(headband to match my shirt = crucial)

After each meal, we sat back down at the table, and since there were three options for every course, we had three things to try (cooked by everybody at the table).  With the help of the staff everything turned out REALLY well, so we had a great sampling of Thai food. Although, after sampling three separate dishes for five different courses, we had certainly had our fill!

In summary, the day was amazing. So much good food, a great company and experience, and good people.

Meditation Retreat

The next day, Sandy and I had signed up for a meditation retreat that started at noon and lasted until noon of the next day. So, at noon we caught a tuk-tuk from our place (also massively overpaying because we didn’t know how far it was…oh well, call it my contribution to the development of Thailand) showed up at Wat Suandok, and were given our official white clothing for the retreat and received a crash course in Buddhism. Hopping in a Songthaew to the retreat site (basically a pick-up that has been tricked out with seats in the bed, windows, and doesn’t run a fixed loop, but picks people up in a general direction).

(still don't know how to pronounce this...)

Arriving at the retreat site outside the city, once we had gotten changed into our all-white attire, it was time for some silence and meditation! The remainder of the day was devoted to inward thinking and concentration meditation. I can’t explain how refreshing it was, after traveling for almost a month and a half (always with people), to step back from travel planning and talking with people to focus on deeper personal thoughts and work on concentrating on the present. That said, with everything that had been going on, it was pretty hard to push all of that out, control my mind, and concentrate on the present! Hard, but deeply rewarding. The overnight ended up being more of a workshop than a retreat: learning about all of the different meditation techniques and getting a little bit of time to practice each of them. But, while this was only an introduction to meditation, I would love to do a 4 or 5 day retreat once I get back to the States. I think that it would probably take that long to finally be able to clear my head! Here are some pictures.

(meditation)

(giving alms)

(the class!)

A Night out on the Town

Feeling so refreshed and mentally detoxed from the retreat, several of  the people on the retreat decided to go out after getting back for some dinner and to explore the night market. We ended up being the only people on the balcony of this restaurant in the newer section of Chiang Mai ( Name HERE), and after enjoying some MORE amazing Thai food and beers, we decided that we needed to sample some of the Thai “Whisky.” Now, I’d been introduced to Thai “Whisky” the other night with some of Sandy’s friends and thought, “hmmm…that’s a pretty sweet whiskey…wonder how that make it?” So, we order the Thai whiskey, and what shows up, is a 750ml bottle of spiced RUM. Really Thailand? I thought so much of you. You can’t just call rum whiskey. It doesn’t work like that. Minus ten points. Anyway, despite this gross mislabeling, the five of us sat around discussing the world and finishing off the whole bottle. Because why not? Needless to say, we never found the night market, but I did find my bed, and it was very, very comfortable.

(Thai "whiskey")

Temples and Temple and Temples

After a day of meditation, what better to do is there then go around and look at temples, right?! So, after a late start to the morning (see previous section for why), I headed off on a temple tour. For the morning I wandered around to several of the temples within the old city:

(Buddha on buddha on buddha on buddha...the meta buddha)

(just a nice picture)

(candles!)

Having not had enough temples, I headed up Doi Suthep nearby to get to Wat Phrathat. And when I say, headed up, I mean hop a tuk-tuk to the zoo and a songthaew up the mountain. But OMFG, that was quite a trip up; there were several points during which I felt like I might lose it. Who knew, riding in the back of a jacked-up pickup truck, with out air conditioning, going up miles of hairpin turns isn’t good for you? Probably didn’t help that I hadn’t eaten in a while and was probably dehydrated. Oh well, life goes on.

Once at the top, I was treated to a spectacular, golden sight. Not only were there great views of the city, there was a lovely (but over-run with tourists) temple. The contrast of the brilliant gold against the blue of the sky was stunning. Add to that the intricacies of the surrounding temples and I was quite impressed.

(Wat Phrathat on Doi Suthep)

(decorative arrangement)

(the view from above)

<rant> What I was not impressed with was the people. So, here’s a secret about me, I don’t really like people who blatantly disobey signs (as long as the rule on the sign makes sense, and I’m the arbiter of that). So when some lady walks by the Buddhist bells (traditionally used to call monks to prayer and sporting a sign that says in bright red letters, “Please don’t ring the bells,”) and proceeds to walk down the line and ring EVERY FRICKIN BELL, a little bit of me dies. I get it; it’s fun to ring bells, but most of us gained the self-control at some point in life to respect common sense rules. Join the club. </rant>

So, capping off a day of peaceful temple-gazing I needed to keep the balance in my life, I went out for a traditional Thai Boxing (Muay Thai) match. I do have a deep respect for the martial arts: the strategy involved, the control and awareness of body, and the mental toughness it takes. I realize it’s not for everybody, but I respect it. So, it was fascinating to watch as they put together a mix of experience levels, from what appeared to be teenagers to two very professional boxers (a match that had to go to points).

(wonder what he's thinking)

(this is suitable for kids...right?)

Elephants! And Buddhist Holiday

After a night of boxing, I had to make it home quickly because the next morning I had to awake early to play with elephants!!! I have serious reservations about keeping animals ,especially elephants, in captivity and performing for humans (hints there not being a post about Tiger Kingdom), but after some research, the organization I chose (Baan Elephant Park), seems legitimately committed to the rescue and humane treatment of elephants who have already been domesticated. So, one can never be sure, but I felt that these elephants were being treated pretty humanely.

Departing my hostel at 6:30, we made it out to the elephant park (Baan Elephant Park) by 7:30 and suited up in my “mahout” suit shortly after. The day’s activities included the following: Feeding the elephants, learning how to “control” the elephant through verbal commands, a 45min stroll through a forest loop atop my own elephant, and bathing/scrubbing the elephants in a local watering hole.  The elephants were generally well behaved, although mine (which seemed to be pregnant) certainly took a couple of detours to chow down on some of the grasses…good thing those ears are so tough, cause I gave them a tug once or twice just to not fall off!

(Feeding time!)

(mmmmm...sugar can)

(elephant kisses!)

After a morning of elephants, I went back to one of the major temples of Chiang Mai, because it was the start of a major Buddhist holiday (Asalha Puja). Walking around, it was amazing to see how many people were out at the temple laying down flowers or burning incense; it seemed like the whole town (including some of the military :-/ was there).

(special flowers)

(more flowers)

(holiday for everybody)

Feeling like I had gotten a pretty good sampling of Chiang Mai, I called it a night to wake up early the next day for a flight down to Bangkok!

Cambodia: Siem Reap

Day 1

After a long night at the KL airport, I had a great couple hours of sleep on the plane and was ready to hit the ground running in Siem Reap! Fresh off the plane at 8:00am on July 4 (happy independence day!) and immediately the heat and the humidity (after being in 0deg C a day earlier in New Zealand) hit me. It felt like I was drinking the air. Trying to adjust to the change in weather, I  quickly located my tuk-tuk driver and hopped hopped in for a ride to the hostel. The ride from the airport into Siem reap was an amazing adjustment period: just sitting back as the wind kept me cool and I gazed at all of the green fields and new construction taking place. Refreshing.

Arriving at the hostel, I met up with my friend Sandy and hired a cab driver and tour guide for an afternoon of temples! Touring around, we saw temple after temple, and the tour guide gave history and meaning of each one. While too long to retell here, the stories and the shear magnitude of the temple complexes was staggering.

(temples)

(more temples...)

(ruins at temples...)

The heat and the jet-lag soon caught up with us, and by the afternoon we were more than ready to head back to the hostel for some air conditioning, water, and a quick nap.

Feeling a little refreshed, we had drinks dinner with a friend of my friend Sol (Megan) who’s been working in Cambodia for the past 4 years with an education non-profit. While enjoying hearing about her work, I also got my first taste of real Cambodian food. I enjoyed a red curry while sipping on a coconut. The heat of the curry and the coolness of the coconut was delightful.

However, with jet lag catching up with both of us and Megan headed off to a July 4^th party, we decided to call it an early night and head back.

Day 2

The next day we awoke early to catch sunrise over Angkor Wat and was immediately caught up in tuk-tuk rush hour…at 5am

(Siem Reap really need to work on this traffic)

However, it was all worth it as we sat on the outskirts of the temple and slowly watched as it brightened and brightened. While there wasn’t a magical moment when the sun crest the temple complex, it was still pretty magnificent.

(sunrise at Angkor)

Since we had arranged to go around the temples with another friend of my friend Sol (Dany and her son), we headed back to the hotel for some breakfast. Also, at some point during our tour yesterday, I mentioned to Sandy that I had never seen the movie Tomb Raider (completely unacceptable, I know).  Evidently part of it takes place in Cambodia (and the people of Siem Reap still love her), so before heading out to the temples with Dany and her son, we decided that a quick Tomb Raider primer was in order. So, over the exceedingly slow internet, we were able to rent a copy of Tomb Raider of iTunes, and watch it all the way until the pivotal moment where Angelina has to decide whether to save her kinda-sort beau and give all of the power to the evil illuminati emperor, and then…the internet ran out and the rental period for the movie ended. So……I guess I’ll just never know. What a shame.

Dany arrived on a scooter just past noon and we headed out to grab lunch by the temple complex, where had some more authentic food (fish omelette thing, , soursop soda, and some other sort of tasty dish) all while learning more about Dany and being serenaded by her son with the classic cambodia song “What does the fox say?” Honestly, it was amazing, the kid new all of the words, noises, timing, everything.

Tearing ourselves away from good food and karaoke, we headed back into the temple complex…

Heading back to the hotel, I dropped a very jet-lagged and worn out Sandy at the hotel for recovery and headed back out for a tour of the night market (so many cheap things!!!) and found a nice irish pub to watch the Argentina vs. Belgium match. Obviously, I was rooting for Argentina to knock out those Belgians who stole the US’s chance at immense underdog glory.

Day 3

Our final morning in Siem Reap we woke up to an unpleasant surprise: a power outage! Woohoo developing country! Walking around to find a place for breakfast, we meandered through a good half of the city looking for any place that would have power or some sort of energy to cook something up. Finally, after giving up and heading back to our hostel a good 2 or 3 hours later, we passed by a soup shop literally 200m from our door. I mean, really? Really? At least we didn’t have to walk far to get back to the hostel.

Packing up and taking the tuk-tuk back to the airport, I’m again impressed by the level of development and construction that is happening in/around the area and certainly hope that it continues!

Also, special thanks to Sol for giving me a laundry list of things to do and connections with people to see! I wish that I had more time to do everything that you mentioned, but I’ll just put it on the list for next time ;)