Being in Bangkok!

1/18/2008

Before leaving Laos for Thailand, we participated in Alms one last time. Then, while Jim got ready for the day, I visited the market. A commonly vended item in Laos is a little cage housing one or two small birds. You are supposed to buy the birds and set them free for good luck. Personally, I believe they clip the wings so that they are easy to catch and re-sell. This morning, as I wandered through the market, I saw an owl. For only $3 U.S. you could buy this magnificent bird and set it free for good luck. Unfortunately, I think the owl is probably no different than the finches and has probably had its wings clipped. I REALLY wanted to buy the owl and bring it home to Jo-Anne but I think having an owl would have made the rest of my international travels pretty much impossible.

Bangkok is a very busy city. I was warned to “watch myself” in Bangkok. Maybe those warnings were fair because as soon as we stepped out of the airport a big group of locals swarm you and try to get you to take their taxi. They shout at you that they have the lowest fair. They try to get pushy with you. Taking your luggage or stopping you from walking any further. Many of the cars are unmarked. We didn’t take any of those cars. Instead we got a ticket from the taxi stand at the airport and used the taxi they sent us in. It is a similar scene at the mall. This time when we got into a taxi and asked him to use his meter he refused and then when we tried to get out we saw that he had locked the doors! We got very loud and made a scene so he let us out. Other than that, Bangkok is just fine. Our hotel is very nice and I got to sing karaoke.

Karaoke here is nothing like the karaoke at home. Here, when you sit at a table you have to order food and drinks in order to get a turn on the mic. You sit at the table, while they pass the mic around to all the participants at the other tables, waiting your turn. When it is your turn, you stay at your table while you sing. Around the edges of the main room are small, private rooms. You and your friends can rent one of these little rooms and have your own little karaoke party. This seems to be the popular way to go at the place we went to. Personally, this whole sit at your table thing is not my style. But, I sang three songs anyway. J

1/19/2008

Today we lounged by the pool and took a city tour. Our tour guide spoke very good English. She took us to some temples and the grand palace. My favorite temple was the temple of the Emerald Buddha. The Emerald Buddha is carved out of a single piece of jade. The statue is about two feet tall and about 1 ½ feet across the lap. There are actually three of them but only one is displayed in the temple at a time according to the season. The Emerald Buddha is supposed to be the most sacred Buddha of all. You must be quiet when in the temple. You must also dress respectfully and you may not take pictures. Even though I had already seen so many temples and so many shrines to Buddha and I was pretty much all Buddha’d out…I was still glad we made time for this one last statue. The significance and the beauty of this statue was pretty impressive.

In Bangkok we saw MANY different temples with Buddhas. This one is made of gold!

Ornamental details cover the outside of the temple for the "Emerald Buddha".

The "Emerald Buddha" is in a complex of several temples. Each one is very ornate.

After the tour we went to get a genuine Thai massage. If you are a shy individual then this treatment is not for you. It is a message for the entire body. I did not realize so when she started on my chest it was a little awkward at first. But I just relaxed and went with it. After all the cracking, rubbing, hot compression and stretching, I felt better than ever! Those tough yet tiny girls know what they are doing!

1/20/2008

Today we left Bangkok for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. KL is one of the largest cities in the world with one of the world’s tallest buildings. So far, all we did today was rest and relax. We also unpacked and we are doing laundry. Not very exciting but we are tired from all the walking and stair-climbing in the hot weather. We might go out and enjoy a little night-life this evening but otherwise, we are saving the tours for tomorrow.

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