Highway Robbery

Prices for food and clothing and really...most goods in Korea are very comparable to prices in the U.S.  HOWEVER, there are a few services that Korea offers at a price that feels like highway robbery compared to prices at home.

One such service is going to the hair salon.  My guy friends are unimpressed when I tell them that I pay a mere $10 for a good hair cut and $15 for a more expensive one.  Men, I’m sorry, but most of you will probably never understand the lengths women go to (or the price we’re willing to pay) for the upkeep of those long/short/curled/spiked/straightened/dyed locks of ours.  I’m sure that all of my fellow women who have paid $30+ on a haircut, hear me when I say, I ONLY paid $15 on a haircut and style! It’s also a lot cheaper to dye, chemically straightening, or curl your hair as well. 

Prescriptions, going to the doctor, and going to the dentist are out of this world, cheap.  Of course, the price depends on what you get done.  From my understanding, a visit to the doctor and a prescription should be no more than $10.  A friend said he paid $20 for a filling that included the anesthetic-everything. Can you imagine?  It’s still really hard for me to fathom. I’ve been so trained to pay $100+ for the equivalent services in the U.S. that I feel a streak of guilt when I hand over my 10,000 won bill (about 10 USD). 

Laser hair removal joins the "incredibly- less expensive-services-that I almost feel guilty paying so little for” list.  I’m having some work done in this area.  Underarm laser hair removal cost me something like $50 for all 5 treatments and the bikini area cost me $270 for the same number of times.  To give you a point of reference, bikini laser hair removal in the States costs anywhere from $350 to $500 **per** treatment.  Foreigners joke that if you’re going to have any work done, get it done in Korea.

Today was my first bikini treatment.  I was a little embarrassed when I saw the male doctor enter the room as I was lying on the table with a small medical skirt around my waist. “Oh, grEAt.”  Thankfully, he came in to explain the procedure for the next 5 months and was out the door again.  Doctors, having more education, tend to speak the most English. 

A female technician came in to apply a cold gel and zap the area I wanted treated.  I was still a little mortified and squeezed my eyes closed during the 5 whole minutes it took. ( A good friend of mine said that when her college roommate was changing in the same room she used to tell her to look away unless she wanted to see all her “goodness.”) Let’s be honest, there was no modesty in that room. My “goodness” was very much exposed.



I have to say that in all of my mortification, the whole thing was really no big deal.  I was in and out and there was little to no pain.  Occasionally, I felt a prick from the laser, but it was very mild. 

Worth it? I think so. 

A Run Away Train and the Quest for Taco Bell.

I would like to say that last weekend's trip to Seoul was more than a quest for the most sacred, Taco Bell, but ... it really wasn't.  A group of about 7 of us made the 2 hour train ride to Seoul on Saturday morning.  When we got to Seoul Station there was a procession of decision making. "Where are you going? Where do you want to go? What time will we meet back up?" Some wanted to go to the War Museum, others to the English book store, others to an art museum.  The one consensus was that we would be meeting up for dinner at Taco Bell that night.  Taco Bells around Korea have opened very recently, within the last few months, making it the newest taste of home.  They are scarcely found so it requires some planning.  The real mission: Taco Bell.  Everything before it felt like time killed.

The girls ventured to Insadong, a neighborhood in Seoul that sells traditional Korean goods.  We perused the shops for a bit and found refuge in a small coffee shop for a couple of hours.  Then we did my favorite thing of the day, second to Taco Bell, of course. There is a completely English book store called, "What the Book" in the foreigner abundant neighborhood of Itaewon.  I could have spent hours there.  I love book stores-not because I'm a particularly avid reader.  I like book stores the way I love watching the trailers when I go to the movies; except a bookstore offers an endless row of previews into what could or could not be the best book I've ever read.  The possibility excites me,  the pretty covers lure me, the idea of owning one thrills me.

Then we reached the pinnacle of the day. Yes, that flower tortilla filled with meaty goodness, mildly resemblant to low quality beef, topped with shredded lettuce and artificially flavored cheddar cheese sauce. It's hardly Mexican.  Yet it's like crack to my taste buds! yUUmmmm!  I think I said, "I'm so happy" at least 5 times during that meal.

Sunday I met a friend in Chuncheon and decided to try my hand at skiing.  In all reality, it was very close to my first time skiing.  I got the briefest skiing instruction from a friend a year and a half ago.  That day only amounted to sliding down the slightest grade for a half day and I couldn't have really called it a hill or even skiing for that matter.

Sunday, again, I got the briefest instruction.  This friend had me practice turns and stopping on a hill. So far so good.  After a few tries on the beginner slopes, he convinced me that I was "ready" for the intermediate route.  This might have been a tad premature.  Lets just say that I found as I was rocketing down the slope that I hadn't quite perfected slowing or coming to a stop.  I was, as this friend described, "a run away train."  "Get out of the way children! Move children!" I could have prayed and probably should have, but instead, a stream of profanities ran through my head as I tried to find the clearest route, unobstructed by other skiers and snowboarders.

The irony is that earlier that day I had chuckled as I put on the most vibrant yellow ski pants and jacket.  The guys at the ski shop probably sized me up immediately.  "That's a novice, if I've ever seen one. Give her the neon caution suit, Park Min Choi."   Now I thank those guys for giving me their most visible ski suit!

"Pie, make a slice of pie! Big 'A,'  Big 'A'!  This isn't working!!" 

Somehow I made it to the bottom unscathed and managed not harm anyone else in the process    either.  I decided it was best to practice my stopping technique a few more times on the beginner route.  With a bit more practice under my belt, I braved the intermediate route 3 more times.  I was no Olympic skier, and I certainly didn't look graceful doing it, but I got to the bottom, lived to tell about it, and had a blast.

I had actually pictured my end looking something like this

Thailand Trip: Finding Nemo

The third leg of my trip (I think I can call it a leg) landed me in Phuket.  Phuket is an island southwest of Bangkok.  I took a one hour plane ride Sunday night and spent 3 days getting scuba certified and laying on the beach.

Monday morning was a wild goose chase. First, I over slept. I had planned to be picked up at 7:30 by my diving instructor and it was... 7:30.  I threw on my bathing suit, brushed my teeth, put in my contacts and was out the door. It was just as well because 7:40 rolls around, 7:50, 8:00, no sign of anyone. I started to wonder if I had missed my pick-up. I asked the man at the reception desk if he had seen anyone that morning, but I'm not sure he understood me. "Internet?" He handed me an internet code on a piece of paper and I quickly hopped on the internet. My ipod kept sending me distressed messages, "low battery."  "Nooo!" Thankfully, and very fortunately, it had enough oomph for me to read an email from my diving instructor saying that 1) we would be meeting at the shopping center in Patong and 2) instead of 7:30, we would meet at 8:00.. and it was.. as you can guess.. 8:00.  So I ran out to the main road.  Tuk Tuks (the oversized motorized bikes with cabs in the back ) and taxis lined the road, but they both overcharge a tremendous amount because they know they can find some tourist who will pay their rates.  Everyone I asked quoted me at 200 Baht for a distance that was 2 miles away, if that!  (200 Baht would be like paying 6 USD.  I wouldn't pay that in Korea! I wouldn't pay that in New York City! There was no way I was paying that in Thailand.) But I didn't have time to dicker with these guys.  I did have time, however, to hop on the back of a motorbike taxi (you won't find many tourists doing this, which is why I could get him to accept 50 Baht to take me to the shopping center. 50 Baht would be like $1.50. Much better!) I got there a little late, but my dive instructor, Josh, was still there.

The first day was split into too parts.  I spent the morning in the swimming pool for the "closed water dive" part of my certification.  The swimming pool is to get you acquainted and comfortable using the equipment.  They put you in "what if" scenarios and show you how to get out of them and then ask you to repeat the scenario.  "What if a shark were to come and rip your mask clear off your face?"  (I took a little creative liberty with this scenario) "Okay, now take your mask off your face underwater, with your eyes closed put it back on, and clear the water out."  It felt a little unnerving.  Your mask plugs your nose for you so it eliminates the option of breathing through it, which is what we all do naturally.  What is strange is that you have to consciously breathe through your mouth not your nose when you take it off. It feels unnatural.

The second part of the day, we spent in a reef 20 meters off this pretty, little, secluded beach.  We didn't go very deep or out very far, but the water was so clear and the visibility was great.  I've been snorkeling a time or two, but snorkeling doesn't give you the range in color nor the perspective that scuba can.  It was my first time in the ocean with scuba gear.  What a surreal experience! How beautiful the corals and the tropical fish were! I was ecstatic, and I had just gotten my feet wet (so to speak).

The small beach from where I had my first sea dive.

It was just my diving instructor and myself diving together the second day, but we were on boat chartered for 3 dive sites that was full of other divers.  I could describe a lot of the divers as big, middle aged, European men, chain smokers, with tattoos, super nice, with deep bellowing laughs.  Not what I would have pictured-- most dive videos tell you that being overweight and smoking put you at a higher risk for decompression sickness (also known as the bends), but .. whatever. 

They served us breakfast that morning and set off for the Phi Phi Islands.  Josh told me I had to take another quick written test, do some paper work, and go over the dive sights before we got to our location.  We found a room towards the bow and knocked it out.  He pointed to the dive book, "See the shark icon?  That's what we hope to see, black tipped reef sharks."  I laughed, "That's what we hope to see?" "Yeah, but they aren't so big."  Hmmm, some how that wasn't comforting, "Smaller mouths for biting, right?"

I'm not one to get sea sick, but rough waves in combination with a closed, warm room and reading and writing was enough to just about do it. The dive director, noticing that had a death grip on the railing and my sights set on the horizon, nudges my instructor and says, "I think she doubts the ship." (har har)  I was in no mood.  I can ardently say that my doubts were not with the boat, but with my constitution and whether my breakfast was going to make it with us to the dive site.  I remember at one point thinking, "Should I run to the trash can or run to the side of the ship??  The side of the ship is clearly closer and I have to dodge some tables and people to get to the trash can, but if I have to vom all over the place would it make it to the water or cover the lower deck? Though, if it were to hit the dive director, I wouldn't be entirely upset by that either."

Thankfully, I didn't have much longer to think about it. Next thing I knew we were all on the (proud to say, still pristine) lower deck getting geared up and ready for the drop off.  It's chaotic on a diving boat 20 minutes before the arrival to a dive sight.  People are swaying back and forth, trying to get in wet suits, putting on weights and goggles and flippers, trying to strap into cumbersome BCDs and air tanks. 

Then, moment of truth, the "giant stride" off the boat.  It is exactly that, a giant step off the boat, into the water.  I was anxious.  Josh told me about this girl he once saw do a belly flop, tank and all, into the water.  See, I am exactly the kind of person to make that kind of mistake.  ( A few summers ago, my dad tried to teach me how to do a high dive off the cliffs at Fontana Lake.  He instructed me on the technique and showed me it's application several times.  I spent 30 minutes working up the nerve and practicing on small cliffs. I finally mustered up the courage... and did a huge belly flop.)  So, see, my anxiety was well founded, though I'm happy to say, that I did not join that poor girl in the scuba "giant belly flop" club. 

We went to 3 dive locations that day. They were all 50 minutes long with a maximum depth of 18 meters (That's roughly 60 feet, my American friends.  My sister complains that I'm switching to the metric system, though I swear, I have no choice).  The first two dives were still instructional dives. I had to practice skills for about 15 minutes and then we could explore for the remaining time.

The first dive was at a place called Palong Wall.  I was in the presence of 2 black tip reef sharks, though I didn't see them. Josh said they were coming right towards us, then split in opposite directions.  I did see many variations of colorful fish, clown fish in an anemone, blow fish, and star fish.

The second dive was the best, Bida Nok.  Here I did see a black tipped reef shark.  I remember holding on to my regulator and screaming, "SHARK!!" while pointing frantically (and in vain.. no one can hear you talking through a regulator) at this bad boy. We saw a seahorse (my favorite thing, by far), a blue spotted sting ray, several colorful sea slugs, a lion fish, and a scorpion fish.

This is the main Phi Phi Island, the location where they filmed the movie, The Beach. It was unseasonably over cast this day. Normally it's clear blue skies.

This is the location of the first dive on day two. It's a smaller Phi Phi Island.

The third dive was at a place called Koh Doc Mai.  The visibility was poor here, but apart from the general fish I had been seeing, we saw 3 moray eels and a couple of sea slugs. The pictures are from the 3rd dive:

It's me!

I'm checking out a sea fan here

Moray Eel

Nemo!

Sea Fan

Sea Slug

It was sunset when we finished the last dive

The last day I spent mostly in relaxation on the beach. I'll admit, I did have a little bit of a scare when the owner of the guest house saw me walking in from the beach and said, "So, are you going to pay now?"(I need to note now that this man looked like a member of the Russian mafia. He was this huge man with tattoos from Hungry, though he sounded like he had a Russian accent)

Long story short, when I had booked the room, I thought that I was paying for it then.  Turns out, what I thought was a payment confirmation, was only a booking confirmation.  This would have been no problem, if I hadn't planned to bring just enough cash for food and whatever gifts I wanted to purchase in Thailand.  I was a single, female traveler, I didn't want to carry a lot of cash on me.  It was made worse by the fact that he did not have a card swiping machine and my card was not a credit card and wouldn't work in the ATMs.  So then he suggests using paypal. Perfect! Except paypal takes 2-3 business days to link your checking account.

So here I am, crying (I'm picturing one of two outcomes a) missing my flight or b) worse, my death).  I explained to the Russian mob man my situation. As I was explaining he looked at me and threw glances left and right with this look of horror on his face, "Listen," he says, putting he's hand on my shoulder, "You just need to take it easy."  My chest is still heaving, "But, my plane leaves today! And I can't pay you now!"

So Kalle (That's his name. We had a nice conversation on the way to the airport. Would you know it, he has a 10 year old daughter) reassured me that I would not miss my flight and that he trusted I would pay in a few days when I got my bank account linked. So as it turns out, the Russian/Hungarian mafia is pretty understanding.

Thailand Trip: River Relaxation

The next section of my trip was a short 3 day tour in the jungles north of Bangkok on the River Kwai.  I was picked up from my hotel early Friday morning and driven 3 hours north of the city.  Our tour started by visiting the famous bridge over the River Kwai, which is actually a movie.  I had never heard of this bridge or the rail road prior to visiting the museum that explained in depth what had occurred here.  I’ll give a short explanation to those, like myself, who are unknowing. 

This picture is of the bridge over the River Kwai and two South African guys, Sibou and Doriaux (I'm taking a stab at the spelling), who were on my tour.  The tour guide didn't do a very good job taking this picture, but I still really like it.

The famous bridge over the River Kwai

A long tailed boat ride down the river to the River Kwai Jungle Raft Hotel

During WWII, the allies imposed an embargo on the Japanese.  So in order for the Japanese to still have access to necessary war time supplies they forced thousands of British, Australian, and American POWs into labor camps for the construction of a railroad through Thailand and Burma.  The conditions in which the POWs worked were unthinkable.  Thousands died from starvation, malnutrition, infection, exhaustion, and disease.  The RR was completed in something like 17 months. 

We visited one of the worst sections of the RR called the Hell Fire Pass.  POWs had to drill (by hand: chisel and hammer) into the deepest and longest section of rock on the railway.  The Japanese were anxious to have the RR finished and ordered a “Speedo” period in which quotas were increased from .5 cubic meters to 3 cubic meters of excavation per POW.  They had to keep working until they reached their quota each day.  This often meant working long into the night.  The way the torch light hit the gaunt faces and skeleton like frames of the POWs working at night gave the Hell Fire Pass its name.  What is really quite devastating is that today only a small section of the railroad is functional.  The majority of the RR line has been stripped of all RR remnants.  It was all for nothing… 

The Hell Fire Pass:  You can see the rock on either side that the POWs had to chisel and blast through.  You can also see that the railroad just ends. 

After a very sad, but enlightening tour through the history of the railroad, we took a 45 minute long tailed boat ride down the river to the River Kwai Jungle Raft Hotel.  I would seriously recommend anyone going to Thailand to stay at this hotel.  It was such an exotic and unique experience, so beautiful and relaxing. 

First, it’s a raft; there is no getting around that point.  To give you an idea, the wakes from passing long tail boats caused the hotel to bob in the water.  You could jump in the water from your room’s pier, float to the end of the raft hotel, get out, run down to the other end, and do it again. It was fun! 

Breakfast at the Raft Hotel

I was camped out right here most of the weekend... reading, writing, napping, swimming = bliss

My room: that's mosquito netting over the bed

So the bathroom.. this was interesting. I'm pretty sure that all of the water came from the river. The toilet was a self flusher. That rectangular box to the right of the toilet was filled with water and had a dipper in it.

This is the hall to my room. My room was the raft on the end. The rooms are on the right, the river (obviously) on the left

The hanging flower planters were pretty, but I think this was more for practicality's sake.  As I said, the raft hotel swayed with the wakes and currents in the river and so did these planters.

Raft Hotel:  taken from the reception desk; it's a view into the dining room

Each two rooms shared a pier. This was the point were you could jump into the river and float down to the end of the raft hotel.

It’s located in the middle of the Thai jungle and completely secluded.  At night I saw the most stars in the sky than I’ve ever seen.  You can’t hear any noise besides the murmuring of the river’s current and occasionally of the Mon women coming by to water the plants or fill your lantern. That’s right, your lantern. There’s no electricity, which made getting ready for bed at night a challenge. 

This whole hotel is owned and operated by the local Mon Tribe.  They have a village that is a little hike from the hotel.  Sam, our guide, took us to visit the village on Saturday morning.  They have a school, a temple, monuments, and …an elephant camp! (I fed and pet them! though... no elephant riding for me. I decided not to. It seemed like a little bit of scam to me, plus I had gotten an up close encounter already).

Mon Tribal School. Kids go to Thai school 5 days a week and to the Mon school 2 days a week to preserve their culture and language.

Mon School

Mon Pagoda. Everything here was made by hand by the Mon Tribe Village.

Mon Village

Feeding the elephants sugar cane. They have quite a sweet tooth

Mon Village elephant camp

Mon Village: statues by the river

I woke up to a rooster calling one morning, but what got me out of bed in a hurry was a sound that was a mix between a semi hitting his brakes and a trumpet.  I knew it had to be an elephant!  Sure enough, it was! Two Mon people had ridden elephants down to the river for some water and a bath.  They were RIGHT outside my window.  I saw them down at the river every morning and every evening.  Their presence was always made known by that same call.  When I heard it, I simply moved myself from my hammock to the back porch and watched until the elephants were done bathing.  It was so amusing to watch them too.  They played in the water by completely submerging themselves and bobbing back up, spraying water from their trunks.  If those weren’t displays of elephant ecstasy, I don’t know what is. 

Elephants frolicking

My last day on the River Kwai Raft Hotel started at an easy pace (which could describe my whole time spent there.  It was a nice change from Bangkok).  I had time after breakfast to hike around the Mon Village. A map showed promise of cliffs and a Buddha statue on the outskirts of the village. The hike out was different from other hikes I’ve experienced.  The forest was primarily bamboo and teak and the vegetation was thick and green and lush. 

At 11am I packed my things into the long tailed boat and road out of the jungle.  Those boats had to be a favorite.  You practically sit on the floor of the boat, which rides low in the water. The speed and the mist from the spray felt great. 

I was joined with a larger group for the rest of the tour that day, but I seemed to “talk” the most to 2 older Dutch sisters from Switzerland.  They had difficulty because the guides all spoke in English.  I, being the only native speaker, became their intermediary for the guide.  Not that I speak Dutch at all, but if there’s one thing I’ve gotten good at teaching ESL, it’s eliminating unnecessary words – in essence, I speak darn good broken English. (hah!) Sure, this is not an ideal way to teach proper English, but for the means of simply communicating a point, it works like a charm.  We had lunch at a nice little Thai restaurant by the river and concluded our tour with a train ride through the country side. 

Train ride: This mountain is called "Sleeping Woman" in Thai. Can you see her?

Train Ride on the small section of the RR that is still functional

When all but I had been dropped off, I asked my tour guide about the social and political climate in Thailand after last summer’s turmoil that left 2000 injured and 100 dead.  As it were, our guide had been a member of the uprising and had the scar from a gunshot wound to prove it.  The scar was a HUGE gash in the center of this man’s gut.  He was lucky to be alive!  I asked him how he felt after such an event.  What he said (more or less and in broken English) was that he was so happy (And was he! He was one of the happiest men I’ve ever met).  He said that it felt like death, but because he survived, he could not allow himself to harbor feelings of vengeance because “how would that make my mind feel?”  In essence, I think what he was saying was that when someone injures you, it can really inflict 2 pains—one, a direct, physical pain, and the other an emotional pain.  While the first injury may or may not be within your control, the second injury is within your grasp to nullify.  He said, “You don’t have to forget, you can still know the truth in your heart.”  

Thailand Trip to be continued in blog 3....

Thailand: Part One: Bustling Bangkok

Back from Thailand! And a what a wonderful trip it was! I flew back to Korea yesterday and was greeted with snow on the ground. This feels wrong. My bathing suit is still wet.. my back pack is rubbing my sunburn.. (Mom, I swear, I wore sun screen. One of my parents' mutual soap boxes: wearing sunscreen. I like to tell this story because I think it's so darn funny.  My beautiful, and yet very fare skinned red-headed sister was made to wear a hat and shirt IN the public pool when we went swimming as kids.  She was easy to spot. I can still see her jumping into the pool, one hand on her red 101 Dalmatians hat, the other on her nose.)  SO why, oh why am I in freezing weather and not still wearing my flip flops and reading on the beach?  It was undeniably hard to get on the plane leaving from Phuket, knowing that in 24 hours time I would be 2300 miles away from this paradise.

It seems to me that every country has it's own pull for visitors-- something that can, if not make you fall in love with it, then certainly entice you to do so.  That pull is particular to each wandering traveler.  The key: allowing yourself to experience it.  So easily we (myself included) slip into a tendency of simply sight-seeing for the sake of having said that we've seen it.  It's easy to miss the essence of a country and its culture and really the people that make a country what it is because we have a list of destinations that need tending.  I had a friend wisely advise me to really "experience" Thailand.  That became my goal. There were times, as I'm about to explain, where I slipped away and when I did I tried to slow it down. 

My trip preceded in three segments. Part One: Bustling Bangkok.

I guess I should actually start with the flight down, which was longer than expected. In total, it was about 6 hours in flight time, but I spent 7 hours in the Beijing airport.  That was a long connection in a fairly empty airport.  It was made easier by an acquaintance that I made with a fellow English teacher, Norma Jean.  I suppose after 7 hours she became something more than an acquaintance.  Conversation wandered from our families, to traveling abroad, to future plans, etc as we watched planes land and take off from the runway.

I got in late to my hotel the first night, slept in the next morning, and made day one designated to seeing 3 major temples and had no real plans for day 2 in Bangkok.  I didn't want to fit too much into a single day, so I planned on seeing the 3 big ones: The Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha (they are in one complex, and while you can take pictures within the Grand Palace, you can't take pictures of the Emerald Buddha), Wat Pho (also known as the Reclining Buddha), and Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn).  Wat in Thai signifies any place of worship.  Thailand is a strongly Buddhist country, in fact, I saw countless monks walking down the street.

Here are just a few photos of these temples, but I've uploaded a whole album of Thailand pictures on Flickr. There's a link on the right side of this blog.

This is a Pagoda within the Grand Palace.  I heard from a one of my guides later in the trip that each King adds a new outer layer to the pagoda, making it larger with each new king since King Rama made Bangkok the capital city of Thailand.

I was standing behind the camera view, waiting for this man to finish taking this shot, when he saw that I saw standing there and motioned for me to join him.  I handed the photographer my camera to take a photo with my camera too. I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but he's holding my hand.. haha!

Wat Pho also known as the Reclining Buddha

When I walked into Wat Pho, the first thing I noticed was a tinking sound coming from behind.  It was this. You pay about 1 USD to get a cup full of coins and then put one coin in each bowl as an offering. I did it.. touristy.. I know, but I thought it was cool.

The Grand Palace

This is a picture of Wat Arun, Temple of the Dawn from across the river. The boats are long tail boats,a traditional Thai method of transportation. People used to live just along the river.

Wat Arun: you can climb to nearly the top of this temple, which made it my favorite. It has a really great view from the top, but be careful! These steps are very steep.

Wat Arun

Wat Arun: From the top. I spent about an hour and a half on the top overlooking the city. I met a guy from CA, Mike, a Korean American who had been in the Marines and was now contracted by the government and was on vacation for 3 weeks in Thailand. He had been over most of Bangkok and down to Phuket too so he was able to give me some pointers. 

What made Bangkok really attractive to me were the vibrant colors- not just within the temple complexes, but along the streets.. in the clothing, in the monk's orange robe,  in the tropical flowers, and flower offerings, in the fruit that was displayed by street vendors. 

Oh! The food! I love trying new food and I lOved Thai food, which is quite spicy, but always fresh. You can get some pretty excellent street food for dinner for merely 1 to 3 US dollars.  You can get a more elaborate meal for roughly 7 US dollars. Food is cheap! I tried to stop at places where I saw the most Thais congregated. That was typically a good indicator of the superior places to eat. Some of my favorite foods? Papaya salad (shredded green papaya in a spicy lime dressing served with peanuts, tomatoes, and green beans- sticky rice on the side. It was delicious!), green curry, and, honestly, the fresh mango, pineapple, guava, and watermelon that you could buy cut up in large bags and served with a skewer. On many a hot day, I savagely (and without qualms) devoured a bag of fresh fruit while walking down the street.

I was so entranced by the vivacity of Bangkok that I let myself be pulled by my impulses.  Bangkok had a life about it that I think I could have tried to fight by making a list of things to do and checking them off, but I think that would have only misrepresented a city of it's type and ultimately it would have been to my own disadvantage. So I stopped to eat when I passed food that smelled good. I sat in a meditative yoga position in the shade at Wat Pho for a half hour because it felt right. If something looked interesting, I'd wander towards it with no real agenda. I sat in Lumpini park during sunset, writing and people watching.  I bought a pretty flower offering and wore it as a necklace for a day just because it was pretty. And when I got tired of wandering, I stopped for a Thai massage.

Here is the flower offering that I wore as jewelry for a day. I ended up giving it to my taxi driver at the end of the day. I saw that he had a picture of Buddha on his dashboard and already had one flower offering around his rear view mirror. We had an interesting conversation the the way to the hotel that went like this: Driver: "You have baby?" Me: "No baby. No husband." Driver: "You are young." Me: "Yes. You have children?" Driver: "No. No. No Lady." Me: "No lady! Why?" Driver: "I am young." We both laughed. Driver: "No money, no honey! Good money, good honey! You know?" Me: "haha! Yes, I know" 

This was a sign I saw in the same taxi driver's cab. No Rams? No guns. No sex. No dogs. No alcohol. No bombs. No smoking.  Shoot! my ram had to stay at the hotel

These are some of the colors I was referring to. Those are long tail boats.

This was the spot at Wat Pho where I sat in the shade. It was nice. I'm sure I got looks, but mine were closed.

Suan Park: I spent some time here the first evening.

Thai massages are of a different nature than western massages. Small Thai woman, or in my case, Thai men, who weigh no more than 75 pounds, jump on top of you, twisting your limbs and rubbing sore muscles. It feels great, but there is a degree of pain to every Thai massage. They are also incredibly cheap. One hour costs roughly 7 US dollars, 2 hours costs about 14. 

I learned a valuable lesson during one said massage. Never open your eyes while getting a Thai massage! It breaks your suspended disbelief.  This small Thai man had positioned my legs into a butterfly position while I was lying down. I felt an uncomfortable about of pain as he was pushing my knees to the floor and I'm sure that I was grimacing.  I heard an "Are you okay, Miss?"  I opened my eyes to find his eyes meeting mine and his body perched on top of mine (mind you, my legs are spread in a butterfly position!) The blatant sexuality that this position evoked made me laugh.  So here I am laughing as this man is on top of me, which, I'm sure made him feel awkward, but the more I tried to stop myself from laughing, the harder I seemed to laugh.  I did regain my focus, but not without a struggle. I did leave feeling rejuvenated and ready for more wandering and exploring in Bangkok city.

Thailand Trip To be continued in blogs 2 and 3...