Back in Bangkok

arrived back in Bangkok via third class rail yesterday. It's a universe apart from the second class. No goats or chickens like I imagined, but plenty of dogs and shoeless folks. Squid-on-a-stick seller and pineapple peddlers a plenty. It was only a 3 hour trip, so i fared well enough to live another day.

Happy Halloween! Will somebody please eat a handful of candy corn for me? I love that stuff once a year and would really dig a nosh on it tonight! The holiday is celebrated here, but it's a little different than we do back home. Candy isn't a hugely consumed item here. The fruit is so sweet and fresh and everything can be fried if you want, so the kids typically snack on these items. (fried unripe papaya is particularly delectable)
A trip to the ultra modern and ultra posh Siam Paragon shopping centre was made this afternoon via a self-guided skytrain (elevated subway) tour of Bangkok.(a really nice way to avoid the heat and see the skyscrapers) They have a cinema complex there and let me tell you, we are treated like dogs in American theaters! Every detail is tip-top. The seats are wide and recline. They are made of super soft leather (the real stuff...like in a BMW or a Benz)They whole thing reminded me of a $2000 barka-lounger(?) Plus, a movie is only 140 Baht! So that's less than $5.00. There are towel attendants in the bathroom, and each toilet is sanitized immediatly after use! It's amazing. If you every come to Bangkok and want to get out of the heat I cant speek more highly than to take a trip on the subway/skytrain to the Paragon shopping complex. You can buy a Cartier necklace, a Maseratti and a mango shake all within the same 7 floor shopping center! You can find the best of anything you want! They even keep Mobil 1 Motor Oil and Mr. Clean behind halogen-lit glass cases!
It's quite a treat!

Tonight will be the last full night I have in Bangkok, which is ok with me. I have seen what I needed to see, and maybe someday in the future I will return. But for now..it's finis! The city is a zoo, and if people say NYC will give them a heart attack, they can put that plan into overdrive living here. If the smog and the noise doesn't get to you, the open sewers and fish stench certainly will!
The situation in Cambodia is mellowed down enough that it should be safe to cross the border. It's really just the Thai nationals they have problems with, but best to keep on your toes. Machine guns and a mafia-run government are nothin to mess with!

Lemonade

It just lit up and was perfect!

Nice pink and blue clouds, with just the right amount of light!

If you cannot capture details, capture what you can that makes every moment in life worth living!

Almost as spectacular as it gets!

A different set of ruins, but very nice and restored indeed.

Do you see the stone Buddha face wrapped in the Bodhi tree? It's unknown how it got there, they believe the body of the figure is beneath the rest of the tree! Very magical!

A better photo of the Ayuthaya tuk-tuks from a sci-fi movie!
The drivers speak 2 words of english: "Hello!? - - Taxi?"

The old saying speaks with clarity today. On 2 fronts this adage spoke to me clearer than words themselves.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade

Yesterday when I was sitting enjoying my breakfast a phone call came in on my cell. The unexpected kind that we all fear and cannot bring ourselves to answer...but we are forced to. The person on the other end of the line doesn't even get a word or a breath in and the vacancy in emotion explodes around you like some cosmic supernova of dread. It was my sister, she had called to tell me my dad had been in a bike accident yesterday and was pretty roughed up. A collapsed lung, busted pelvis and maybe a fractured vertebrae. I will be calling to talk to him shortly, but needed to get some feelings scribed before the phone call. Stabilize my situation.
Lemons. Sour and bitter, and they leave and electrified sensation in your body. Somtimes good, somtimes not. I feel so helpless so many thousands of miles away. A distance it seems no hug can travel. Keep your thoughts and prayers with my dad for a speedy recovery. We are planning on riding the Triple Bypass next summer and he needs a clean bill of health for that!

Lemons: Part Deux
I hired a rickety boat to take me along the river to see some ruins of the ancient city that were beyond walking distance. The boat driver was obviously drunk and the craft was far from sea worthy (insert pirate joke here). There was no swimming involved and so in that sense all is well and I'm safe. However the sales pitch for the boat trip indicated that we would see the ruins lit up in all thier nightly splendor so one might be able to snap a few pictures to look like postcards. This was not the case...well...almost not. Through some divine intervention of cheap Thai whiskey and a 2 stroke motor that really should have been a 4 stroke we arrived at the last and most spectacular temple about 30 minutes later than planned. Just in time to witness a glorious pollution induced sunset and then the lights came on to make what could have been a horribly bitter experience turn out wonderfully sweet and electrifying. (sorry for the pun)

An illuminating (sorry again) end to an otherwise bittersweet day. Sometimes as seen in the photos above when you cannot capture the vivid details life gives your, its better to capture the moment as you lived it. Never force a false reality upon yourself, it only leads to false memory.
Back on the train again today to head to Bangkok. Send you thoughts to my dad. He's gonna need them!

Ancient Ayutthya

Caught sleeping on the job!

Cows mowing the lawn. I'm serious. It's easier than hiring day labor.

Biggest Buddha yet!

Old ruins

Arrived in Ayutthya safely on the day train. Which is much speedier than the sleeper train at a whopping 13 hours. Better than an airplane though, at least there is room to get up and mosey around if you want. It's a pretty small(ish) town, not much for nightlife or lodging or places to eat. In addition to this, the few guesthouses in a decent price range are pretty far from the ruins so you have to hire a tuk-tuk to take you. These tuk-tuks look like they were lifted from some Phillip K. Dick novel or the movie total recall. They have a distinctly retro look to them from the 1940's era Hollywood. I'll try to snap a photo before I leave! Super cool!

You will have to live with my generic captions for the photos. I don't have my notes with me on what each of these temples is named. Give it time....
I'm off to Cambodia on the 1st, and then to Vietnam. Keep your fingers crossed that the situation in Cambodia cools off a bit during our visit! I will be back to Thailand to meet Nicole and Mike around Thanksgiving. Oh the beach will be so nice!

Thai Cookery

Fresh Veggies...Thai Eggplants are the little green egg shapes things in the upper right.

Fried banana's...oh man...these are a keeper. If you are nice, i'll make them for you some day!

My Favorite food now. Khao Soi.."Chiang Mai Noodles"

Chicken w/ coconut milk...simple and nutricious

Stir fried chicken with cashews and curry! A quick and flavorful treat.

A small representation of the varieties of rice for sale.

Dried goods of unknown orgin

Our fruit seller. She looks thrilled to be selling fruit. But now i know there are 2 types of dragon fruit available.

First of all I need to make a correction to a previous post. Our jungle trek was not near the border of China. In fact, after looking at a map and re-schooling myself....Thailand doesn't border China. Only Myanmar and Loas in the north and Cambodia and Malasia in the south. So please forgive my geographical oversight.

I took a one day course in traditional Thai cooking. Being the "slight" Gastronome (is that the right word?) that I am it was a great way to spend a last day in Chiang Mai learning the secrets and tips to make Thai cooking much easier. We started our day with a trip to the local market to purchase the produce and meats and fish we would need to cook for the day. Typically most good restaurants and households will go shopping daily. It's the only way to ensure the freshness that is critical in the cuisine. It was fascinating to learn about all the bizzaro fruits and veggies, and also get to try them in-situ. Seeing the fish get yanked out of a plastic pail and them get brutally clobbered by a woman with a mallot and then gutted in really somthing to see. The fish guts just get washed into the street at the end of the day when the dogs come and eat whatever the birds havnt already eaten. It's the great circle of life around the market. Only the dogs dont typically get sold for consumption here....thats in Vietnam and some other countries.
As results depicted in the above pictures, the food is simple and delicious and really isnt that hard to make with the right ingredients. Assuming you have an asian market in town you can get most everything you need. So look forward to many a yummy meal with me when I return!
I'm off to Ayuthaya on the train Monday. It's a city with lots of old ruins similar to Ankor Wat in Cambodia. Will spend a few days there seeing the ancient temples and stone Bhuddas before returning to the madness of Bangkok and then the trecherous roads to Cambodia. Thankfully someone else will be doing the driving!
Au revoir!

Wat U Mong

"...light breaks through in a world darkened by man's egotism and lust for domination over his fellow man and nature." Q. Beatrix of Holland

A beautiful stone staircase coexisting with forest moss.

Stone carvings that are gracfully falling back to earth after centuries of worship and prayer.

WOW!

What-a-wat! A Wat is a temple in Thailand..no you know. They are everywhere. There are 100's and 100's in Bangkok, 1000's in the country, and the concentration of Wat's in Chiang Mai is intense. You can walk to 5 or 6 within an hour!
One of the most visited is Wat Doi Suthep, which I think I spoke of the other day. Its VERY visited, and thus is very beautiful and well maintained.
One of the NOT SO VISITED Wat's in Chiang Mai is U Mong..."The Forest Wat with a Tunnel"
It's set just outside the city in the forest at the base of the mountain. Its very lush, and very overgrown and there were maybe 10 other people we saw while we were there. Which is really refreshing. The temple is not well maintained like so many others and consists of the ruins of yesteryear!
Its a beautiful, quiet and cool escape from the heat and noise of the city.
Oh heavens. It's just started to rain...and when it rains...well I need to get home. I'm only wearing flip flops and the streets have very poor drainage. And what with all the dogs and cats running amok, the lack of trash cans....well I have about 5 minutes!
Gotta run...

Survived the Jungle

,The local sticky rice plant...used for eating, animal feed and fermenting!

Our morning coffee...ahhh...dehydrated Nescafe, dry milk and sugar. (Along with us thats Kevin & Sven from Holland)Cute little village girl...a little camera shy.

Big bad Jungle...Actually it's quite nice when you get used to the bugs and the spiders... the noises that go bump in the night

Moonshine... Our fearless guide "Oh My Buddha"

7:15 am, a Stroll through the village

No electricity...so it's dinner a-la candlelight!

Oh these kids are like monkeys! They love shiny things and grab onto anything!

Night 2, our hut next to the river

Meet "Mojo", our Elephant...he just wants a banana!

Our hut in the hills...it's surreal looking at this again.

Hello again.
I survived my jungle trek. Ate some weird fruit, shat in some REALLY funky places and drank some hallucinogenic rice whiskey made by the locals. It was hard to tell what they were saying, but I think "take a shot" is pretty standard in every culture.
It was a crazy uphill battle the first day for about 8 kilometers. A VERY VERY steep mountain through very dense and humid jungle and my love affair with bamboo has been forever changed due to the intense heat and density of the jungle. I have always thought of bamboo the way that Hollywood portrayed it. Lush, cool and elegant. It's not. It's a real part of the jungle, and its thick and unforgiving and more of a pain in the arse than it's worth.

The first night we stayed with a village hill tribe near the border of Myanmar and China. About 90Kilometers away i thinkThe Hmong people belong to no country, bow to no king and cannot get passports to any neighboring country. They live on Thai soil, but technically don't belong to any nation. They are an agrarian culture who have lived in these hills for hundreds of years. Contact with people from the city pretty minimally. It was an interesting first night sleeping in the bamboo and thatch hut far above the tree line of the jungle. It was worth it to wake up in the morning with our hut completely shrouded in a cloud. I had always wondered what it would be like to swim in the clouds. Aside from dreams, this was as real as it will ever get.
The second night was a little different than the first as we camped on the big bad jungle floor with the BIG bugs and the unseen monsters lurking only a few feet from the hut. Our guide, "Moonshine", told us... "If you see me run...you better run too!" Safety briefings in Thai are so different. You don't quite get a clear picture of the situation and just kind of go with it. See what happens. Hope that the Boy Scout in you kicks in when you need it to.

The trek went well, and with minor incident. I can honestly say that the bugs in the jungle were not as horrific as I had imagined in my nightmares. Emily close you ears, but the spiders WERE the size of dinner plates. Moonshine told us they don't go after people, just whatever lands in their web. Thats why you don't get up to pee in the middle of the night. They build webs at night. I am suffering from a bit of the Thailand tummy torture this morning. Too much swimming in rivers and eating fruit that resembles insects I suppose. Its not so bad that i wasnt able to get a Thai massage last night. 500 Baht for a 2.5 hour full body massage.(about 30 bucks) The good thing was that the money went to recently released prisoners from the Chiang Mai Women's prison. A rehabilitation into society program if you will. Yes, my massuse WAS a former criminal, and by lethal death grip she had (but it fel so good) she must have been in prison for murder.
But hey, in a place where "Thai massage" can have SOOOOO many connotations, its nice to know that this was strictly medicinal and had no "happy endings".

I am in Chiang Mai for a few more days, and then its back on the train south to Ayyuthaya (uh..thats not spelled right) I think I'll head to Cambodia around Nov. 1st. Ill keep y'all posted.
Until then! Happy trails!

Weekend In Chiang Mai

One of the Cats at the Monastary at Doi Suthep.

Beautiful scene inside a Temple in Chiang Mai.

A Monk overlooking Chiang Mai...at Doi Suthep

Chiang Mai is such a great place. Its got all the city feel of Bangkok without the horrific traffic and oppressive heat of the city. Plus it's nearer to the mountains, which is a nice reminder of home. (even if the snakes are super deadly and the tigers are not caged)

We have arranged a 3 day jungle trek with elephants to a hill-tribe jungle village near Myanmar and China! I met a guy in Bangkok at the guest house we were staying at and he used to be a guide for them. T.I.C. Travel in Chiang Mai...in case anything happens! It should be fine, it's actually a very common thing to do while in the Golden Triangle area...I cant wait!

Weekends are filled with Markets and Bazzar's and good food, so Tonight we will venture off to the southern tip of the city to see the local silver smiths doing what they have done in the region for 100's of years!
I could live in Ching Mai, but Juno would not fare as well. It's just too hot for northern dogs here. The dogs that DO live here are small and super short haired. They lay in the gutters and in the side streets waiting for the shadows to cover them so they can sleep! Life in Chiang Mai will just have to wait for some other reincarnation of life!

Thai Trains & Chiang Mai

Tonights sunset in Chiang Mai! It's good to be out of Bangkok!

Mmmmm....more delicious Thai street food!

Nightime...Shh.....its so peaceful in Thailand's 2nd largest city!

Temple across from our rented apartment.

Sunset from our front porch! Not too shabby for 250 baht / night (less than 10 bucks for AC, hot water and cable)

A nice hidden alleyway off the main street. I wish bamboo would grow like this in Colorado!

A little overwhelmed with getting to the train station in Bangkok!

Which train is ours?

Took the overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai...Northern Thailand near Burma (Myanmar) Laos and China. What was scheduled to be a 12 hour train took 15, but we were delighted that the seats we had bough were also beds! Ahhhh... rest for the wicked! (finally...)
From my journal:

"ratcheting down the rails away from the heat and bustle of Bangkok we rocked. Left to right. The motion was set and tonight i would be rocked back to sleep after a 25 year hiatus. Pickup up sleep where I could the pre-dawn light enticed me with misty mountain fog and lush, but still sunless rainforests. The mist veiled canopy of the moonlit yearning for the morning light to replace the night. Mountains of vine covered limestone peered up from their soft pillow of sleep and midnight dreams. Clicktey-Clack, Chang, Chang, Chang we ambled along through villages and towns. Slowly up we rose into the emerald canopy, thick with bamboo gently bowing to greet the the new day. Ravines and waterways pass underneath as we roll onward, fuled by diesel and dreams. "


We arrived in Chiang Mai safely. Unharmed by the possibility of wild Bengal tigers and railway thieves! Have you ever had to use the toilet on the 2nd class (or heaven forbid, 3rd class!) trains in a 3rd world country?! ITs a delight! Thankfullymy buisness was limited as a I was gifted with the hardware which allows me to pee while standing! The toilets really are not...they are simply holes welded out of the bottoms of the train car floor which allow your deposits, waste etc... to fall directly to the train tracks below. No flushing, no rinsing...no NOTHING! No pictures even... i feared the loss of my camera too much. Perhaps on the way back to bangkok in a few weeks i will brave the photo op.

Chiang Mai is gorgeous. The old city is surrounded by a moat, and the best temples and hidouts are inside! The clubs, discos and commerce areas are all outside the moat leaving an old world charm within. As we have just arrived this morning and have been negotiating our way around in the back of a Suakonthong (SP?) (pickup truck with a cage around it) I haven't been out to explore. My photos are limited to today only!

More to come im sure! We have arranged for a 3 day trek in the hill tribes that live near the border of Burma (Myanmar) which will allow us to see a side of Thailand rarely experienced by most. Part of our journey will be on the back of an elephant to a remote camp in the rain forest! Let's hope I brought enough bug spray!

Off to Chiang Mai

Typical Street Vendor cooking meat.
Everyday life in the neighborhood near the train station. (and everywhere else) A young girl preparing an offfering of boiled eggs for the Buddha.

We will be off to Chiang Mai this evening via the overnight train. It should be an adventure, the railway had no more first or second class seats and so we are left with what we get. I dont know what that was, but it was cheap. About 20 bucks to get to northern Thailand. I'll of course do my best to let you know how THAT goes..we are looking for a guesthouse with FREE internet. Keep your fingers crossed for that!

In an attempt to be financially frugal, we spent yesterday walking around aour neighorhood. No matter your location there IS something to see! Bangkok has hundreds of temples and many are not on the maps. After having stopped of at Wat Traimat, the temple known for having a 5.5 ton, 3 meter tall solid gold Buddha, (I will have to check the spelling on that) we ventured into the heart of chinatown to see what was to be seen. It seems every large city has a chinatown and Bangkok is no exception. To our surprise, Bangkok chinatown is more or less precious gem sellers and machine shops. the Smell of kerosene and burnished metal mingling with roasted meats and the general smell of street is somthing unique to Bangkok. We wandered down toward a little garden at the end of an alley and stumbled upon one of the temples

that DOESNT exist on any map. Not sure where we were or if we are allowed to be here, we kinda poked around wating to be scolded and shooed out. This wasnt the case and within 10 minutes of our awe-struck gazing, a lone monk emerged from within the temple with smiles and a gesture to join him inside. A truly rare situation as monks typically do NOT interact with tourists. Our luck had been spared by venturing down an uncharted alley and we were rewarded with an intimate encounter with this monk.



Alone with him, and 2 dozen golden Buddhas he handed us some Joss sticks (temple incense) to light and give to the Buddha. For our choice to share this time with him, the monk offered us a bottle of chilled holy water...another extremely rare offering to tourists.

There was nobody else in the temple during our time, and sharing this time with the monk was emotional beyond words. Tears did come to my eyes, as they are coming now recalling this.

I still dont know what the name of the temple is where this divine experience occured, and chances of me finding it again would be simply that. Chance.

Photographs were not taken then (as they are not allowed inside the temple) but they will not be needed for me to relive this experience.

Lupini Park & Bangkok NIght Bazaar

One of the few HUNDRED Soi's in the maze of the night Bazaar! Yikes! How I found my way back to the subway is still .unknown to me

Can you see the duck? It's like a Where Waldo. This is the night food market @ the Bazaar. Tasty treats for a buck or two!

You'll have to forgive the atrocious spelling here and there.
We took the subway to Lumpini Park today...a kin to NYC Central Park. It's really beautiful, but the striking thing is the wildlife....Monitor lizards and turtles rather than rodents and pigeons. It was a refuge away from the heat, noise and madness of Bangkok streets. If you want to come to Bangkok, you need to prepare yourself for something you cannot imagine. Its madness. Get with someone who has been to have a gameplan, cause you simply cannot just wander. Well you could...but its not really something I'd do again!

Later that evening, we hopped over to the Bangkok Night Bazaar. A market really filled with cheap crap from around Thailand. They did have some beautiful silk which I will try to pick up on my home. I had some delicious duck off the side of the street....one of those greasy birds that's been hanging in the window all day! Mmmmmm