Thailand - Nov 12-15

...that was a wonderful vacation. I have never felt more awakened. The country is very strongly and devoutly Buddhist. It's awesome to walk amongst their beautiful temples and architecture. Unfortunately, my photographs of the Emerald Buddha were just terrible blurs, but I was able to get many many photos of other jaw-dropping Buddhas.

My first day in Thailand was a bit of a bust. I had actually gotten the flu the day before, and, though able to fly, I was not up to much physical activity. I ended up going to sleep very early that day.

My second day I took a day trip tour to the old capital city of Ayutthaya and got to see amazing ruins and temples. The temples and palaces had been destroyed in a war with Burma. A lot of Buddhas had been beheaded, and one head even became a part of a growing tree!
In one temple, I bought a care package for a monk, and he gave me a blessing. We took a boat back to Bangkok and got a ride back to our respective hotels. Being in the boat with a bunch of other tourists, I felt a little canned. However, I did have the opportunity to weird out an Italian man when I preferred to eat my meal with chopsticks :P By the time I was back in Bangkok I'd been feeling much better. I walked around a market that night and again went to bed early.

The third day I did a fun blitz of seeing the Emerald Buddha and the Grand Palace an hour before they were going to close it to the public for a 5 day funeral service for the king's older sister. I was soo lucky! Then I went to the reclining Buddha, Wat Pho. I was there at a good time and was able to get a meal at the temple. It was very homey at Wat Pho and I felt welcomed. I walked toward Chinatown. On the way, I talked to a Tourist Policeman eating an interesting Chinese ginger and soy dish at a street cart.
He helped me order a bowl of the tasty food and we talked a little. I talked about the different places I had travelled to and kind of a brief small chat version of what I was up to. He told me I was very lucky. I took a moment to reflect that, yes, I am very lucky. He finished his food and offered to pay for mine and was on his way. What a nice guy :D

I continued to China town and encountered another tourist going that way, but looking for the Indian market. I can't recall his name anymore, but he was perhaps a Eastern European guy working in Hong Kong on vacation. We walked together for a bit, and found a vast, endless Indian cloth market. We walked for several blocks worth of packed alley filled with every fabric imaginable. For those who enjoy sewing, I recommend a trip to Bangkok! After my friend had to go, I ended up wandering through a kind of a backstreet of Chinatown that was littered with semi precious beads and other jewelry. I had a wonderful time. By the time I finished walking through the market, I was close to the train station. I met an expat who gave me advice on where to find local food in the train station. Unfortunately, it's not as tasty as street food. But, the Thai ice tea was still wonderful.

I took the subway back to my hotel, and wandered again in the same market as the night before. I went to get a thai massage. It's interesting because you are massaged in a little outfit, and it's more like guided yoga than massage. It really helped get the sick out of my muscles.

The next morning, I switched to a cheaper hotel around the back of my other hotel for my last night. It was basically exactly the same as the more expensive, on the main road number, but not as fancy. I wasn't at the hotel much anyways, so I didn't care at all. Save some money so I could go do more cool things or buy more delicious Thai food! Oh my! Thai is so expensive in Korea, like $30 if you go cheap. (In Thailand, you are overpaying if you pay $4.) It was enough to make me cry when I ate Tom Yom Gung so tasty and so cheap! Sometimes I even just picked a food randomly to see what it was. It was always fresh and tasty. Well, not when I ate at the train station, BUT I can't win them all.

My last day I saved the Temple of the Golden Buddha and Wat Sakhet. The Golden Buddha's in a relatively tiny temple, but they are making a much larger one for it right now. It really is made of solid gold! It was hidden for a long time as a concrete statue to protect it from destruction when the Burmese attacked. Then, once when it was being moved, it dropped, and the real Buddha underneath was discovered.


Then I headed up north to the famed weekend market. I was able to get a bunch of lovely and touristy things, and eat a lot of tasty stuff. I have really gotten over the bargaining jitters. It's pretty easy now to just go up and talk down the price with a seller and make it into a pleasant conversation. I heard that it's a requirement in some places, like in Africa, else you are dismissing the seller and being rude! After the market, I rested in the park that's alongside it. I met some friendly Thai university students.
Then I went back to my hotel and got in one last Thai massage, then got a cab to the airport.

At the airport, I had one last Thai meal, and another pleasant conversation with one of the wait staff. It was like an island food bar, so he was technically able to work while we were talking.

When I got on the plane, there was also a really nice flight attendant who spoke perfect English. I talked a bit with him before I crashed asleep in the night flight. A funny thing about the flight. I got a really cheap flight because it was based on a tour deal. Koreans LOVE to travel in packaged tours. It's a huge bore if you ask me. Most of the time they eat bad Korean food and stay at the hotel pool. Regardless, since this was not regular ESL teacher vacation season, I was the ONLY white person on board. I didn't mind, but every now and then I'd notice that some Koreans also noticed that I was the only whitie. By the way, older Koreans when they travel are totally like children. Not in the being brat kind of way, but the being silly, teasing each other, just short of yelling matches because they can way. Endearing and bizarre at the same time. Because it wasn't flight season, I was also able to nab the middle three seats to myself, for both going and return flights, so I was able to stretch out and sleep very comfortably the whole flight.

All in all, the trip was invigorating and I am still reaping the personal growth benefits of the trip. So that brings me now to five countries since I've left Canada. I'm quickly filling the pages of my
passport! *^_^*

My picture blog has many months worth of other photos, if you wish to peruse: from Sept.22/08, to Feb. 9/09.