Five things from Bangkok

Wandering the alleys of Bangkok......



1. The Tuk Tuks – cheap taxis which Adayla calls the tricky motorcyles and loves to ride

2. The Grand Palace with the Emerald Buddha Temple - definitely the place to see here

3. The food!!

4. The river taxi

5. The boat ride on the canals

Bangkok definitely isn't Shanghai, duh, but it is kind of fun for us to compare cities and countries. China also has many Buddhist temples, but the government has done a good job in making these temples just for show, and you get a sense that few people who do go aren't very sincere in their worshipping. We read that 90% of the Thai are practicing Buddhists and they take it very seriously. Temples are all over Bangkok and the most random places have these small shrines set up (gas stations, building entrances, where ever). Many of the shrines have a Strawberry Fanta with a straw in them. Not sure why, but I will update you when I find out.)

The food is great here and everywhere. We have tried so many good things! Most importantly they like sweet things and COLD drinks. Tim loves curry dishes, especially green curry chicken. I’m happy with Pad Thai. We have had so many fresh fruit slush drinks, they are very good with great fresh fruit, and very cheap! We are really going to miss those when we leave!
So to briefly explain the above: The little Tuk-Tuks were just fun to ride, the girls just giggled and giggled every time we rode in one. It is really safe I am sure to put five people in the back of this vehicle a little bigger than a golf cart and weave in and out of traffic, what the heck! One travel book we read said for a real kick, split up into two Tuk-Tuks, pick a destination on the other side of the city, and offer a bonus to the Tuk-Tuk driver who gets there first. These drivers are crazy enough without such an incentive, I can only imagine the ride with the incentive.

The Grand Palace was home to the king for many years. On the grounds there is a temple built to house Thailand's most sacred Buddhist artifact, a small green jade Buddha (it was originally thought to be emerald, hence the name Emerald Buddha). He sits on top of all sorts of fancy things, and the current king of Thailand actually changes its clothes three times a year depending on the season. Anyways you can go inside, but you have to take your shoes off. Then as we were walking in, Tim snaps of picture of this sign. We all wondered what it meant.

Then we go in and I realize that what was meant by not pointing your feet towards the Buddha statue was that you must kneel so as to point your feet away from the statue. There were about 100 people, both foreigners and locals, inside kneeling so that their feet didn't face the Buddha. Tim sits down and stretches out....until the guard immediately came over and yelled at Tim, letting him know that was not okay.

Meanwhile, I look over at Adayla and she is immitating all the Thai people. She has her hands put together and is bowing up and down to the floor on her knees. I did my best not to bust out in a giggle, but I had to tell her we don't do that. She quit and then a helpful Thai lady on her way out showed her how to do it again. Then as we were leaving, people take a white rose and dip it into water and then touch someone else's head. I am not sure what this means, but there was this guy beating another guy with this flower, he just kept hitting him. Tally wandered close by and he was able to get her on the head a couple of times. All very interesting....

Lastly we took a boat through the side canals of Bangkok. Homes on stilts at the water's edge. It was fascinating. Many people sat out and waved. The girls loved it. This is also home to the famous Bangkok "Floating Markets," where vendors in their boats sell their products to you in your boat. Again, since people in Bangkok used to live on the river, this is how business was done and is still done to some extent. After an hour of navigating the canals, we were just thankful we arrived safely back to the dock. In the middle of the ride, Tim said I hope this isn't the part where they take us hostage and nobody even knows we are missing. Those were the highlights of our days in Bangkok, along with the below story of Tim speaking with the Germans on the river taxi.


Tim took this picture on the river taxi. He liked it because of the sign in the top of the picture that reserves an area for monks on the river taxi. We saw lots of monks throughout the day. Bangkok is an interesting contradiction - one the one hand you have a very religious population, with lots of temples, monks, and practising worshippers. On the other hand, Bangkok is widely known as the wildest place for "night life." We saw multiple ads for "special" of "full service" massages. Besides the prostitution, there are many "Ladyboys" that are quite creepy to see. They are guys, in various stages of operations in their transformation to become women. Many of them you couldn't quite tell if it was a guy or a girl you were looking at - the big give away, however, was the feet. You can't help but wonder if perhaps the religion actually fosters such behavior, as reincarnation basically believes "if at first you don't succeed, try try again." So what's the point in trying for "zen" if you can do it in the next life, or the life after that?


Being in Bangkok, Tim looked up a song from the 1980's (yes, he's old and remembers the 80's!). After looking up the song "One Night in Bangkok" and being in Bangkok, he understood what was meant by the lyrics he sang as a 10-year-old. Here are some of the lyrics:


One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me


Siam's gonna be the witness
To the ultimate test of cerebral fitness
This grips me more than would a
Muddy old river or Reclining Buddha (we liked the river, and the Reclining Buddha)
(Here we are at the "world's largest reclining Buddha" - it depicts Buddha entering Zen)


continuing with the song...

One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
And if you're lucky then the god's a she (he was talking about Ladyboys - that was 20 years ago)
I can feel an angel sliding up to me

Looking back, that song has a whole new meaning now...

Here are some other pictures from Bangkok:

Tally set herself apart as the daring one - she has no fear of water, which gives us some fear!

Tim happily waiting for a traditional Thai massage! Yes, this is a "legit" Thai massage!!