Bangkok, Thailand - The second time around

I arrived in Bangkok and made my way in a taxi to my hotel. I booked this hotel with hotel points. Wow, did I ever feel like a country bumpkin! After spending eight days in a place where monks ring the temple bells at 5am and you flush your toilet with a bucket, this was amazing. I stayed in the Plaza Athene. I got settled in my room, that had a fantastic view of the Bangkok business district. Housekeeping showed up to lay out my slippers and turn down my bed. The hotel was a novel experience by all accounts but it really blew my country bumpkin mind.

I went for a walk around the area and saw a street vendor cooking an awesome Pad Thai in a huge wok, so I sat down for dinner. For 30 Baht (or $1USD) I had the best Pad Thai ever, sitting at a sidewalk table, watching all of Bangkok race by. After dinner I got on the Skytrain and went to the Siam Square area. I went for a walk through the malls and parked myself at a nice little internet cafe.

Interesting observation, all of Southeast Asia seems to be obsessed with music by R. Kelly and Snoop Dogg. The unedited versions are piped through the mall speakers. It is a surreal experience.

Nong Khai, Thailand

Monday morning I packed my bags again and headed to Don Muang International Airport for my flight out of Bangkok. After an hour long flight, I arrived in Udon Thani and took a van for an hour long drive to Nong Khai. Nong Khai is a town in the Northeast of Thailand right on the Mekong River.

Our first stop was the Friendship Bridge, which is the border crossing to Laos. With the exception of the driver, another girl and myself - everyone got out at this stop. The girl, Rachel, and I introduced ourselves to each other and proceeded to find out we were both staying at the same place, doing the same yoga course. Rachel and I finally arrived at the Mut Mee Guesthouse, a lovely place at the end of a lane consisting of some thatch roof bungalows, some little houses and some patio areas overlooking the Mekong River and Laos in the near distance.

It was an intense week. Four of us, Jesse & Mical from Canada, Rachel from Ireland and I, signed up for a 7 day intensive yoga course. I ended up doing this course at Pantrix based on the recommendation from my friend Teba. Our days were long, yoga practice twice a day, theory, meditation and more. At times it was difficult both physically and mentally but I am so happy I did the course. Pancho and Beatrix, who run the course, are incredibly special people and I am blessed that I could spend some time learning with them.

So along with lots of yogaing, it was a fairly quiet week. Breakfasts and dinners overlooking the Mekong, strolls along the river and through the markets, and a few nights hanging out at Gaia, the floating bar and lounge.

We celebrated Loi Krathong Festival. The festival is to venerate the river goddess and for good luck. It is also to venerate Buddha and symbolic of letting go of one's grudges and anger so one can start life again fresh and new. Very interesting. Rachel and I made our own Krathongs. Krathongs are little shrines out of pieces of banana trees that are decorated in banana leaves, flowers, incense and candles. The Krathong is lit, a wish or prayer is made and then the Krathong is launched into the river. It was a full moon and a magical night with all these shrines and candles floating down the river and the smell of incense permeating the air.


We finished our course on Monday and on Tuesday it was another day of sad goodbyes. For me it was time to go down to Bangkok again and off I went.

Bangkok, Thailand - Part 2

Sunday I got on the Skytrain and went down to the river where I caught a tourist ferry boat and took a bit of a tour. We passed the luxury hotels, Chinatown, some Wats (temples), lots of dilapidated looking buildings and the Memorial Bridge. I got out at the stop for the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo, where the sacred Emerald Buddha is kept.

I first stopped for lunch at The Fishermans Seafood Restaurant, where I had a fantastic seafood curry while overlooking the river. After lunch I went off towards the palace, I walked past hundreds of street vendors, got caught in an afternoon downpour but I eventually made it to the grounds of the Palace and the Wat. The Palace buildings glittered with gold and the gardens had beautifully manicured trees and lawns. It almost felt like being in Disney World - it was so clean!

I went to Wat Phra Kaeo first and I bought some incense, gold leaf, a candle and a lotus blossom. I have never prayed in a Buddhist temple but I sort of watched what the locals were doing and went for it - it is quite a beautiful ritual. One lights the incense and holds the incense, the flower and the unlit candle between your hands in prayer. After you have said your prayer, you take the gold leaf and stick it on one of the Buddhas in the prayer area. The prayer area is outside in an open courtyard or covered by a small roof, it is not in the main temple where these rituals take place for the common people. After saying my prayers I went to look around and saw the famous Emerald Buddha.

I strolled around the palace grounds and eventually made my way to Wat Po to see the famous Reclining Buddha. The Wat is the oldest Buddhist temple in Bangkok and the Buddha is amazing, it has to be way more than 40 feet tall and over 100 feet long and it is covered in gold. In the same room as the Buddha are 108 bronze bowls, you make a donation and get 108 coins to drop in the bowls for good luck. After seeing the Buddha and dropping my coins, I went to the main chapel, left my shoes outside (as one does) and walked in. About 25 monks in saffron robes were praying and chanting along with the lay people. A spectacular experience. After some prayer and repose I went to the massage school attached to the temple and got a foot massage. Quite the treat after all that walking.


I had wanted to see the famous flower market, so I hired a tuk tuk (sort of like a 3 wheeled motorbike contraption) to take me there. I saw dozens and dozens of roses, lotuses, carnations, orchids and a variety of other flowers I don't even know. I felt like the only Westerner for miles.

I decided to be brave and get some food from a street vendor. It was an interesting exchange, I can only say "thank you" in Thai and the cooks English was limited too. So I had her make me anything, somehow we managed to communicate soup to each other. I sat there in the middle of the flower market, among the locals, who were all eyeing this weird woman who had braved their sidewalk. The food arrives and initially it looked like squid but upon closer inspection I came to the realization that it was chopped up intestines with chili and vegetables. Wow - ok so I thought I better try it. And it was spicy, not the spicy of make my eyes water and my nose run, oh no, it went WAY past that. I managed to eat maybe about a third of the dish and then the cook presented me with some sort of a soup with something that looked like liver in it. Yum. I ate some of the broth but could not manage to choke down the liver.

I had always thought I was fairly brave when it comes to food but this experience proved, not so much. Hey, at least I tried it. It was pretty funny actually, all these Thais were watching me to see how much I would actually be able to eat! After downing my bottle of water, I paid up and caught a taxi to the Skytrain station. After the funky food, I had a major desire for something familiar and soothing, like ice cream. So I hopped on the Skytrain and and went to the mall.

I know, I know - for not being a mall person, I'm spending a heck of a lot of time in them. (Actually I'm not, it just seems like it sometimes.) Anyway, I walked around this super mall, I think it was even bigger and posher than Suria in Kuala Lumpur. I never made it to get any ice cream - I hit the internet cafe and got an iced coffee instead. After a long day, I made my way back in the direction of my hotel, stopped for a Pad Thai at The Copper, where they were playing an entire Jack Johnson CD and I could not have been happier.

Bangkok, Thailand - Part 1

First impressions. I arrived into Bangkok on Friday evening from Malaysia. We arrived into Suvarnabhumi International Airport which is the new international airport in Bangkok. I got in a taxi and proceeded to sit in the worst traffic I think I have ever experienced. Bangkok is renown for its traffic and pollution, amongst other things, as I would soon find out.

I finally arrived at my hotel, tired and hungry, the doormen referred me to a little restaurant next door called The Copper. I had my first Pad Thai in Thailand and it was delicious. I also happened to walk past the first Thai "massage" parlor for men only, that I would see.

The next day I got up and left the hotel in search of breakfast. Although it really was not that early, there wasn't much activity on the streets, the food vendors, the prostitutes leaving whoever they were with the night before and me. Interesting.

Back in NY I had been speaking to a friend about my trip and told him that i had plans to go to Bangkok. He made a face and told me Bangkok was a cesspool. I did not stay in a hostel, I was staying in a tourist area - not in a red light district but that day, on Saturday, I had to agree with my friend, Bangkok was a cesspool.

Desperate to find a bit of respite from the riot of pollution and the pervasive feeling of the sex trade being all around me, I went to have brunch at a lovely French crepe restaurant. I sat there for hours, in the garden, taking in the soothing environment. Eventually I went on my way again and got a massage and stopped in at an internet cafe for a while. I thought somehow I was safe but all of a sudden I hear this old American man talking to this young Thai women about the events of the previous night. Suffice it to say I was not that keen on hearing the rest of the conversation and decided to walk back to the hotel.

It was amazing to see the women hanging out on the sidewalks in front of the bars and restaurants, looking for their next client and all the Western men, young and old chatting up these women. I went back to the safety of The Copper for dinner and after dinner on my way back to my hotel, what do I see? An older Thai couple walking a baby elephant! Obviously I had the requisite reaction of "Awwww" but I quickly realized they wanted me to pay them to feed or pet the elephant. I wasn't about to do that.

I was so disturbed that evening by the little bit that I saw of the rampant exploitation of women and animals. I emailed some friends who have some extensive experience traveling in Asia and my mother, who had been in Thailand 35 years ago. My friends told me that it is often "normal" for country girls to enter into a few years of prostitution to help their families or they go into the city to become seamstresses and end up getting tricked into prostitution. Maybe some of these girls and women voluntarily have gone into this line of work but none of them looked happy to me, they all looked hard and sort of hollow, no matter how beautiful they were. My mom was understanding of my feelings and suggested I take a boat tour on the river the next day.

I never intended to post any social or moral commentaries on this blog. I really always intended to keep it for entertainment only but as one of my friends put it, it is only by bringing awareness to the problems that anything will ever change.

I mean have you ever been in a hotel that has a sticker on the safe that says "If you think a child might be at risk of sexual exploitation, please contact hotel management."???