Thailand Annotated....Stop 3: Chiang Mai Part II...Elephants

Ahh...Elephants. Everyone loves elephants. There's no one in the world who hates them. Or so I thought before Dinah and I went to this elephant conservatory.

We were supposed to be picked up at 8.00 AM, so we were up and eating breakfast and ready to go and waiting at 8.00 AM. And at 8.30 AM. And right around 9.00 AM, the elephant people showed up in the minivan to take us around for our day. It turns out it wasn't really their fault. They had a lot of people to pick up that day, and one, Freddie (that's right, I'm not changing names to protect the stupid, his name was Freddie), didn't really bother to show up. And this is something I've learned about the people who run these tourist things--they will wait forever for you. They'll drive by and try to pick you up four different times. They'll call up to your room. They'll leave messages and they will be apologetic about it the whole time. That's one thing I never quite got, but enjoyed, was how everyone can be so so so nice all the time. No matter the situation, there's never yelling or confrontation (unless you're dealing with a woman who's birdseed you disbursed after she insisted you did-still a little irked).

Anyhoo. Once we got in the van and were on our way, we watched a documentary about the place we were going. It was really earnest. It was done by the discovery channel and the premise of it....was...well, the premise was the discovery channel sent two people to this camp to make a music video about the future of the elephants in Thailand.

Yeah. They had to travel to this conservatory to talk to Lek (the founder of the place we went who apparently has a mystical link to the elephants) about how elephants are being mistreated and then they're gonna make a music video to help people change their ways. Let's just say we learned way more about the way these two people feel about the elephants (they love them) than we did about how the elephants are treated (poorly).

They would tell stories about the elephants--horrific stories--and then we'd get about 5 minutes of the people emoting and telling us why it's wrong. I'm glad we were sitting in the back because it was silly. And it's the kind of silly that happens in a lot of places like this. For some reason they feel like they need to tell us how they feel and that'll give us a clue how we should feel. Anyway, that was a tangent.

So. The work they do at the conservatory is really good. In the 1990's Thailand outlawed logging because they figured out that the loss of their forests made the floods during the monsoon season worse. And because elephants were a big part of the logging industry, many of them were left to fend for themselves. Which, because the forests were in shambles, wasn't a good thing. So currently, there are a lot of elephants that no one knows what to do with. Some are being taken around the streets and nightmarkets (though we didn't see any) to beg for food. This is apparently really bad for them because the noise and the chaos, as well as the vibrations on their feet, freaks them out.
Not that the logging industry was good for them though. There was a story of one elephant who was pregnant and delivered her baby as she was lugging around some logs. The baby just tumbled out of her and down the side of a hill and died. Elephants are intelligent, sensitive animals, so this elephant stopped working. So, her owner used a slingshot and shot rocks into her eye. This blinded her in one eye, but apparently got her working. Sometime later, though, the elephant smashed her owner with her powerful trunk, so the elephant shot her other eye out with an arrow. (I'm pretty sure that elephant is the second one pictured here.) So, yeah, they do great work at the conservatory we visited.
So what they do at this place is take in elephants (they have 35 or so right now) and take care of them. For a small price they allow visitors to come feed them, bathe them, and just watch them as they go through their day. It was fun to be there doing stuff, but it got a little old. It was sort of like a petting zoo. They have other packages, I guess, where you can spend the night there and do more helping out. Anyhoo.
The one thing I need to make sure I say is: Elephants are fucking powerful beasts. You see that picture of me and the elephant, where I'm kneeling by him? He's a baby. And he was pushing me like a mack truck. Dinah managed to get this picture quickly before I had to hop up to avoid falling on my ass. And yeah, the little bugger is slobbering on my arm. He had no teeth, luckily, but he was a powerful little guy.
Here's a video Dinah took of someone feeding the elhants:

And this is my video of, well, this is my video.

In my defense, they had just been play-fighting and that was really interesting. I took three or four videos, but (sadly, very sadly) this was the most interesting one. But I think it does represent how I was feeling about watching the elephants by the end of the day.

Thailand Annotated....Stop 3: Chiang Mai Part I

Chaing Mai, as I said before was our favorite place. (Mine for sure, Dinah might be more on the fence.) It was such an exciting city and we were in the perfect part of it for us. We stayed at Baan Orapin, which was just west of the River that is considered the border of the town. That means there aren't a lot of hotels, hostels or places that tourists stay around where we were. But, because of the amazing views of the town from the river, there are a lot of great places to eat right on the river. Every night we were there we got good food (some of it western, as I this is where I started craving french fries and club sandwhiches) and amazing views.

The room we had at our place was a beautiful cabin that shared a wall with another cabin. The walls were thick enough that we didn't here the people next door, which is really nice. And the room (which turned out to be an upgrade from what we asked for!) was great. It was another room (like the one in Sukhothai) where we really had room to move about freely. (The first place (in Bangkok) was great. It was a split level room in which the bed was on the top floor and the rest of the living area was below. From the bed you could see Wat Arun across the river. They lit up the Watt at night and it was a nice view, but the room felt odd to me.)

We were in Chiang Mai the longest. Four nights, if my math is correct. But we had some activities planned for the last two days we were there. I'm gonna post pics/videos of those two trips separately, because I just want to emphasize here how awesome Chiang Mai is.

Now, the city itself is very cosmopolitan. There are places offering pretty much anything a tourist would want in a foreign country. Good food from any number of cuisines and countries, knick-knacks, postcards, sun tan lotion. It's tourist-friendly, but without seeming to be tourist dominated. Most the people on the street were Thai and the city and its sites were not separated, but instead were comingled. The same was true for Bangkok, but Chiang Mia is so much smaller that the chaos of being in foreign country (coupled with the fact that we'd been there for over a week now) less in your face.

Here's a picture of Dinah at the city gates of Chiang Mai.

Unfortunately, this is also where Dinah and I (mostly I, truthfully) became out-Watted. I think it happens anywhere you go that if you see a lot of one kind of building, no matter how interesting and beautiful they may be, you get sick of them. The appeal starts to be lost and you just see another Watt. The lone

exception was the Watt in the mountains that overlooks the city.

I think there was just one other Watt we saw the rest of the time we were there.

Thailand Annotated....Stop 3: Sukhothai

Sukhothai is were it all changed. Bangkok and Ayuthaya were ugly cities. Which isn't a knock on ugly cities. I love ugly cities. I live in an ugly city (for who knows how long, but still I'll probably move to a city that's only a wee bit prettier and it's not like it's the prettiness that's driving me). Sukhothai is also an ugly city, but it was different. Maybe it was just the end of jetlag, but I found this city much more enjoyable. It was smaller and everyone was nice. It was easy to get where we wanted to go. But the airport. My goodness, this is how all airports should be.

We flew into Sukhothai on a prop plane that, surprisingly, didn't kill us. Out the window we could see beside the one runway the airport had a group of waterbuffalo. (Is a group of waterbuffalo a herd? I want to say gaggle, but that's probably just because I like saying gaggle).

And the airport itself was an open-air collection of buildings. A small airport covered with plants and flowers. Just a green oasis in the middle of fields and grazing land. It was the first time everything felt different and exotic. Not only was I out of my country, I was a bit out of my element.
Of course, the city of Sukhothai wasn't so different from the others, but it didn't matter. I had been woken up, I think.
We decided to bike through town on free bikes the hotel gave us. We ate that night in a place (Poo, which means 'crab' in Thai) that was recommended by Lonely Planet and everyone inside was a tourist. I always take that as a bad sign, but the food here was actually really good. And I beleive this is where the love affair with banana fritters started. But, I'll hold my tongue on my lusty banana needs.
The place we were staying was gorgeous. It was called the Ruean Thai. It was on the main area, but not so much that we felt swallowed by the city.
It was here that I first tried a traditional Thai massage, which is like a cross between a regular relaxing massage and a boxing match. I knew going in that these types of massage were more vigorous than others, but this woman who "helped" me--this barely five foot woman of maybe 95 pounds--had hands like vice grips and elbows like machettis. And she apparently didn't feel merciful that day. I had to get up once to work out a cramp she gave me and twice I flinched and yelped, to which she replied, "Yap." I never got good with the Thai language, so I'm not sure my translation is correct, but I think that meant "Pussy." But after it was over and my bruises healed (and there were bruises) I can say I did feel more relaxed. Maybe just from the healing my body was doing, or the relief of knowing that one of the longest hour and a halfs of my life was over.

You probably noticed the pictures on the side here that I haven't talked about. This is old Sukhothai. A city of ruins that's actually a good bit away from the new town.
The ruins are much more extensive and in better shape than the ones at Ayuthaya. Which is odd because these are older, I think.
We took a sangtheuw to the old city. (Sangtheuw translates into riding in the back of a truck trying not to let the fumes overcome you.) We rented bikes and rode around for most of the day looking at the ruins. It was a really nice and relaxing way to get around and look at everything.
One thing that struck me was how much better the plant life was in Sukhothai as compared to Ayuthaya. It looked much more like a place that had a staff looking after the bushes and trees and mowing the lawns. Ayuthaya was grittier.
Anyway, after a pretty long (and boy are there pictures to prove we were there for a while) day, we took the sangtheuw back. On the ride there was a french couple who joined us as well as a Thai father and son. Of course the French couple started making out, making it much more imperative that as Americans, Dinah and I break from stereotypes and not talk loudly or act ignorantly. Thanks again France.
The Thai kid had a sword with him that his father had presumably bought for him. It was a wooden thing, the kind that 10 year olds long for on warm days away from school. And the kid was a little chunky and shy. The two didn't talk too much, but the father kept a close eye on the kid as he looked at Dinah and I and our weird shoes. (For most of the trip we wore what I call action sandals. Basically they were waterproofed sandals that strap on to your feet. They look a little odd for normal everyday stuff.)
And the weather was cooler. I think only in the 80's. This was a pretty perfect day altogether. I think once we made it home we swam in the pool for a bit, had dinner at the hotel and just enjoyed the vacation.
The next day we took a long bus ride (5.5 hours) to Chang Mai...

Thailand Annotated....Stop 2: Ayuthaya

Getting the bus out of Bangkok wasn't all that hard as it turned out. I was a little worried, given what I know of American bus stations, that this would be a bad idea. But, the people at the station were very helpful pointing out which bus we should get on. The drive was only an hour and a half and the first thing we did was find a hotel. After that we set out to get lunch and see the ruins. Here are some pictures of the ruins:

One of the things the guidebooks warned us about was the dogpacks. Apparently it was very common for the dogs of the area to turn into packs and attack poor stupid tourists like myself.

And there were a lot of dogs around the city, lying on the side walk, lying in the gutters, lying just about anywhere, really. But at the ruins we saw a mother and her pup. It was kind of nice to see something alive and moving around the ruins. (Something other than tourists.)

Ayuthaya was also the first place we tried to visit the nightmarket. This one was maybe a half-mile from our hotel. So we walked through the streets trying to avoid the dogs that would soon rouse themselves to take over the city and made our way here. Okay, so I'm something of a picky eater. I don't like seafood so much and I'm more than a little shy about trying food whose meat I can't quite identify, but I have to say the nightmarkets are the best. The food is super-cheap and super good. I think we ate a couple different meats served on sticks and it was definitely here that we tried the crepe-like banana thing, that I still haven't found a recipe for. (Note. This is different from the banana fritters which we fell in love with toward the end of the trip, but still so good. And yes, I did gain a bit of weight on this trip, how'd you guess?) The markets are a mix of festival, resteraunt and mall. You can haggle with merchants for just about anything.

Thailand Annotated....Stop 1: Bangkok...

Here's some photos from Wat Pho, which is right next to the Grand Palace and not far from our hotel. You can see Dinah in front of the Chedi dedicated to the Fourth Rama of Thailand. (I had to force her to hold up four fingers so I could remember. Clever!)

The Wat is famous for two things:

1. The massage school inside where they try to get you to take a traditional Thai massage and

2. The Wat is the home of the world's largest Reclining Budha:

It always felt weird invading the Wats. It is custom for everyone to remove their shoes and at bigger Wats, like this one, there's a bottle-necking line to get in. Once inside, there's a lot going on. There's the worshippers, who are quietly burning incense, or praying or looking reverantly at whatever paintings are on the wall. Jumping in on that was sort of weird.

This was our first stop on the trip and the plan afterwards was to go to the Grand Palace, which is right up the road. As we were heading up to the main gate, we came across a man who told us the Palace was closed for the morning. He flashed an official-looking pin that made me, in my jet-lagged and trusting mindset, believe this to be true. He told us of a trade expo that was going on and what luck we had, because this year was the first year the government had openned it up to foreign tourists. We should stop and buy some jewels or a suit. He helped us get a tuk tuk and we were on our way. The tuk tuk driver first took us to a place to get suits.
It wasn't until after I picked out the material for my suit and had paid that I realized that maybe this was a scam. Yeah. I'm a quick one. But, it turned out okay. My suit came in this week and looks pretty good. I mean, it is a scam (the driver is supposed to get a cut of whatever sales he brings in), but it's a scam where I got what I wanted in the end and really, I still paid a lot less for it than I would've here, so.

Anyway, next he took us to a jewelry store, which we had no interest in. When we popped out of the store a little while later empty handed, the driver gave up on us and took us to the grand palace, which was suddenly open. We wanted to go eat though and felt a little put out by the whole thing. On the way to getting some food, I came across a bird-food lady who shook me down for some cash because I was an idiot.

Anyhoo. Then we got some food and decided to save the Palace for the next day. Instead we went to Wat Arun, which we could see from the window of our Room. Wat Arun was the steepest Wat we saw. The stairs (no kidding) were twice what any normal stair would be and I assume it was some badge of honor to be able to climb them.
For lunch that day we ate at the pier before taking a ferry over. This is apparently how most of the Thai eat. They sort of graze carts all day and don't necessarily ever sit down to big meals. This, I'm sure is one of the reasons why there were not a lot of fat Thai.

A note on the ferry. I think we paid 3 baht to get over (which coincidently or not is the same price they charge at many of the public men's rooms--women cost 5 baht), and they filled the boat. It wasn't a big boat, but it was definitely full. We only needed to get across the river so we pulled out, turned midstream and parked at the dock across the river as another boat performed the same move. I wouldn't call it a well-oiled system, but it was fun to see.

Also, from all the Wats and such you could tell that Budhist monks are revered in the culture. And on the ferry about 15 people gave up their seats for 2 young monks (like 10 years old) before taking them back after they sat down.
After that we walked around a bit and headed back to our room to get ready for dinner. We had dinner at the hotel again, but vowed we would go somewhere different tomorrow. We knew of only one resteraunt in our immediate area, so we'd try that. For tonight though, we were content to eat the same great food we'd had for dinner and breakfast.

The next day we started at the Palace, which was gorgeous. The grounds are huge and green and even though they're in the middle of the city, you feel like it's miles away. The palace is a mix of classical Thai style architecture and classic Greek influences. Pictures:

As we were coming in there was a group of soldiers marching. It was pretty cool.

One thing I loved about the palace was there were signs and labels. It was more like a museum than the Wats. Many of the Wats would have plaque out front stating the most general of infromation about them, but it never seemed to be enough. The palace (at least the parts we were allowed to see) gave a wealth of information about the jewels, the royal court, the royal family. Interesting stuff.



It was a really hot day, I think in the 90's. Humid too. But so beautiful. It's really hitting me how much sunlight they get in Thailand and how little we get by comparison.

But back to the Palace. It was so gorgeous. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside, but they crown jewels and some of the artifacts were just gorgeous.
Despite the Grand Palace being right down the street, the Royal Family (which is still really popular in Thailand) has their own Wat on the grounds of the Palace. Here they house the Emerald Budha. After seeing the Reclining Budha and it's emensity, I was expecting a gigantic thing, but he's just a little guy. Of course, he's sitting on a huge altar of solid gold and they dress him in a gold in-laid outfit that corresponds with that season's needs (it was the cold season, so we saw him in a neat little shawl), so he's got that going for him. Which is good. You can't take pictures inside the Wat (because of it being a holy and sacred place and all), but you can kind of see him here:

Anyway, the Grand Palace was great. We sat down and had some ice cream at the Hagen Das they have there and that kind of seemed normal. Another odd couple of things about the Wats. We saw a lot more of them (and there will be more pictures!) but it seemed like they were making a lot of money off of them. Generally if there was an admission fee, it was either higher on foreigners or only for foreigners. It sort struck me as wrong, but not enough for me to really care. Just the principle of it, I guess. What I really thought was odd was that temples would have admission fees. I understand they are historic places and a lot of historic places the world over have admission fees, but something about the religious nature (and it was serious inside the temple for those who worshipped) nagged at me a bit. Still though, if there's money to be made, religions are generally the best at making it, so.

Also on the plan for the day was Jim Thompson house, which we were going to try to make before lunch. We decided to take a taxi, because we didn't want to repeat the problems of the day before. This was a mistake. We got in a cab knowing we shouldn't have to pay more than 60 - 70 baht for a cab ride. We ended up paying 100 and he wanted 140. This despite not getting us where we wanted to go. Not even close really. We were upset that in the two days we were in Bangkok we'd been hustled twice in pretty much the same way.

Dejected and upset, we turned to the only place that seemed like a reasonable refuge to wary travelers. BBQ Roadhouse. It wasn't good BBQ. It wasn't even passable, really. But I did enjoy my Coke. And we regrouped. We went to a place next door got directions and took the Sky Train to where we wanted to go.

The Thompson house is a traditional Thai-style home that's gorgeous.

After an afternoon of looking through the 8 buildings and learning about Thompson, we figured out how to take a water taxi and caught that to the Golden Mount, which is a temple built on the ruins of an older temple that was being built when it collapsed. The views at the top of the Mount are the best in all the city. Which meant a long walk up. Oh, and it was 5.00pm when we got there and it closed at 5.30pm.

This is one of the views from the Golden Mount. We got there a little bit before sunsent, but the light was so perfect. All along the path up, there are a series of bells that people would ring for good luck. The bells and the climbing and the jetlag and leftover frustration from the runaround made for a dizzying effect.

After walking down the mount, we decided to walk home. The plan was to stop at any resteraunt that looked good on the way home. On our way, we somewhat accidently walked by the Big Swing, which is one of Bangkok's most recognizable landmarks. We were looking for the Democracy Monument, but we'd gotten a bit turned around.

It was a long walk home and we walked by the one resteraunt we knew of, but it was closing. A lot of resteraunts, as we learned, were only open for lunch and early dinner. So for the last night in Bangkok we had dinner at our hotel again. To be fair though, it was good food, we never ordered the same thing twice and there were a lot of local people around.

The next morning we took a cab to the bus station (we had our hotel work it out so there wouldn't be any problems) and headed to Ayuthaya.

One (last) Night in Bangkok...or the thoughts of returning...

Just the last bit of the honeymoon remains. We're just bumming around our hotel and getting ready for the huge flight that awaits us, not to mention the jet lag and the resorting of everything for the work week that is about to come.
I thought I'd take this time to make a list of some of the things I'm thinknig about coming back.
1. the weather/lack of light: We're trading in sun burn for wind burn. It could be about 90 degrees of difference between temperature in Bangkok and that of Chicago when we land. I'm really freaked out that my body will reject the weather. And the lack of sunlight. It doesn't get dark here until 7ish. And it's light at 7 am...so...Chicago is gonna be hard to readjust to.
2. I'm gonna miss bananas. I really loved bananas before. I know they weren't fresh, but it never bothered me. They tasted good and they were good for me. But being here they were so much better. Fresher. Just lovely. And I got them in so many forms. Fresh. In shakes. In my cereal. In waffles. In fritters, oh Jesus am I gonna miss banana fritters. I can't get into this without crying softly to myself.
3. Bangkok. I didn't really enjoy the city, as you could probably tell from my posts about it, but...It's a big city. Full of people and things to do. It's no more ugly than St. Petersburg. It's just a hard city. A more hardy or prepared traveller could enjoy this city.
4. transportation. I'm really proud of the many different ways we got around. We took tuk tuks (in cities other than Bangkok, it's totally legit), Sang Tows, water taxis, regular taxis. We flew. We took buses and mini-vans. We did the Sky-rail in Bangkok. We arranged cars and got everywhere we wanted to go on time and without too much of a hassle. Mostly this is due to Dinah's skills at organizing, but it's still something I'm proud of. Going back to getting on the CTA and knowing exactly where I'm heading is gonna be nice, but sort of a let down. (This is however not an invitation for CTA to make it any more interesting.)
5. Dinah. She's great. I love her and she's the best Dinah ever. (I asked her if there was anything else I should write and that's what she came up with. It's not bad.)
6. Me. Throughout most of the trip I've been genuinely curious about the stuff we've been seeing. I've been asking questions and I feel like I've been more interesting. (Or I'm more interested in what's going on, maybe.) I really want to keep this going. I've been writing more. I've been reading more. These are good things for me and I need to find a way to, despite the comforts and distractions of home, keep it up. I like how this feels. I just need to remember that.
7. Gin and Tonic. Dear Gin and Tonic. I'm so happy I found you once again. My drinking life did feel a little incomplete without you. Don't get me wrong, I'm still gonna have fun with my friend beer, but you, sir, you have made the difference. Drinking you on a beach as the sun was setting over the mountains, the hotness of the day still lingering. You were there to quench my thirst and bring a smile to my face. Thank you. Let us never part like that again.
8. Anyhoo. This trip turned out for the best. I'm sure I'll have more updates with pictures and movies (if it's easy for me to figure out how to put them up, which I think it is. I mean there's a button on the task bar for this, so...). Maybe this is boring for everyone, but just think of it as a slideshow you can watch (or not) while drinking nice drinks.

Sort of an Omnibus of stuff...

Well, we're on the last stop before one more night in Bangkok and the fun plane ride home. We're at a lovely resort in the south Thailand area. It's on an island and it's very remote. I was surprised they had an internet connection, but such is the reach of the world wide web and the demands of tourists, I guess. It's pretty relaxing here. I spent yesterday and most of today finishing up Cormac McCarthy's The Road, which is a brilliant book. I'm not sure I'm ready to annoint it as the best book I've ever read, but that's only because I feel like I need to read it again to fully get at it. I do have to say that as far as honeymoon reading, or general vacation reading, it's probably not what someone would be looking for, but still. It's a great book. It's maybe hitting me harder because of my dubious relationship with my father, but I don't think it's really affecting how good I think the book is.
Anyhoo, I remembered that I forgot to mention the day we stayed in Krabi town, which came right before the last resort and after Chiang Mai. We rented motorbikes and drove to a beautiful Wat just outside the city. Then we joyrode around the coast until Dinah nearly crashed. Good times. Then we went to the nightmarket and had the banana-filled crepe thing again. And again it was good. I will be figuring out how to make those. I damn straight will.
We also did a cooking class the next day before getting to the first resort. We made like 10 dishes in 2 hours. How, I cannot really remember, but we did get some cook books and I think I remember some of the basics, so, yeah. My making MaSaMan curry is going to be happening at home soon. And I'm really glad about that.
I like the idea that I'm taking more from the trip than just the pictures and memories. But I know I am. I think travelling with Dinah for two weeks has been really, really good for us. Not that we didn't think we could, but to do it and to not fight too much (though I'm testy when I'm tired and cranky sometimes when I'm out of my element, and I'm getting better at dealing with that) and to have a brilliant time, well it's just great. It makes me feel closer to her, which I suppose is something a honeymoon should do.
And this resort has been gorgeous. Like I mentioned there's not a whole lot to do and that bothered me at first, but it's turned out to be absolutely perfect. The staff is nice, the island is pretty and the wind has been keeping me cool. So, it's 2 pm here and we've got tonight before we head into Bangkok tomorrow for a half day of lounging before we're back on the plane and arriving in Chicago (hopefully) around 9 am. It's gonna be a long ride. And it's gonna be weird going back. But good. Cause I know I've been down for a while with unemployment and all, but I'm feeling recharged and rejuvinated. Hopefully I can bring some of the trip excitement with me and continue to be as curious and happy as I've been throughout most of the trip.
Anyhoo. Take it easy. But take it.

Chiang Mai the Bomb...and other stuff...like boobs.

Chiang Mai was the best. Besides being a great city (much smaller and prettier than Bangkok and easier to get around in, but still very international and interesting) we did some fun stuff. The first day we did the usual touring of the city and all of its Wats, some of which were pretty interesting. But the second day we did this zipline adventure through the jungle in the mountains called Flight of the Gibbons. There's some great pictures and movies (we figured out how to make the camera do that). When I get back (less than a week away oddly enough) and I'm not jetlagged (more than a week away I'm sure), I'll post that.
The next day we went to an Elephant Sanctuary of sorts. It was a good experience and they seem to be doing good work, but it went on a little long for my tastes. But I have some nice film of that, which upon seeing you will know that I am the Quentin Tarintino of Elephant conservatory movies.
And now we're in Railay. Which is a resort on a beach. So, we suddenly went from being two westerners in a sea of natives to being Americans in a sea of whiteness that's divided by nationality and language. There are Thai people here, but not that many. They're all servants from what I can tell. Which is a bit troubling.
But what I've found more troubling is that this beach is top optional. I discovered this yesterday walking in, past a woman whose breasts were so tan I couldn't really make sense of it.
There's two parts of me on this. Part of me, the still 13 part is like, cool Boobs! But that part of me awakens the midwesern-puritan part of me that's like, look away, those boobs are not for you--in fact they're not for anyone. I don't know.
And it's not like there are a lot of topless women. I mean, I probably saw more boobs yesterday than I did in college, but that's a pretty low bar really. And really after a whole afternoon of it, I got used to it. But, it's a little jarring. And my reactions to it seemed a little less mature than I would've thought they'd be. But, whatever. There will be more boobs, I mean opportunities to prove my maturity today.

Sukhothai...

Sukhothai is awesome. First of all, flying in was tramatic. We were on a tiny little prop-plane that looked like it had been made in 1983 (which I don't think was a good year for plane-making, could be wrong). We get in, me very reluctantly, and I sit in my seat and it slides back a little. My seat was a little broken. Which makes me wonder what else is broken on the plane. But, I made it through, thanks to Captain America comic books and an alarmingly good ability to ignore the eminant death heading toward me.
Once we landed, however. Well, that was awesome. The airport is this tiny little open-air area with beautiful fountains and plants. The area the actual building tood up was bigger than my apartment, but not by as much as you'd think.
And the city itself is really what I wanted it to be. Bangkok and Ayuthaya are big and brown and dirty and chaotic. Sukhothai is green and growing. It still has a city edge to it, but it's dulled. And the ruins here (Sukhothai was the Thai capital before Ayuthaya) are so awesome. I think some of the pictures we took are going to turn out nicely.
Oh, and the place we stayed is heaven. It's called Ruean Thai, and it has a website if you want to check it out. But the people are awesome. They loaned us bikes to get to a restaraunt (some place called "Poo" that Dinah absolutely insisted on). They helped us figure out the bus schedule (we're on a bus to Chang Mai today). They're just super great.
Anyway. These two days have been great.

Day 4: Ayuthaya and table xenophobia...

We're in Ayuthaya today. Well, for a couple more hours before we head back to Bangkok and then take a plane to Sukothai (which I probably misspelled).

On day two, we toured the Grand Palace in Bangkok which was gorgeous. The Emerald Budha is so interesting. We'd already visited the largest reclining Budha (which is right down the road), but the Emerald Budha was...small. Gorgeous. I mean, of course it's gorgeous, but it's a wee little guy sitting up on a tall, ornate shrine. But it's just this little guy.

Then things went odd. After taking a break to get out of the heat, we headed to Jim Thompson's house. Or, that's where we told the cab driver we wanted to go. He decided instead to take us on a an unscripted, unspoken tour of the city. After a bit and even though we weren't where we wanted to be, we got out. When he demanded 145 baht, I instead gave him 100. Or instead of the $3.75 he wanted, I gave him $3.00. I was more than a little miffed. I don't like being cheated. I don't like people knowing they can cheat me and there's not a lot I can do about it. And the perspective of it being such a little amount of money to me helps. That's just how it is, I guess.

Anyway, we ended up taking the train. Thank to the help of a couple Thai people who were more than happy to help. (Sure, some cabbies and such are trying to game you, but a lot of people just want you to come here spend some money, have a good time and send your friends). It ended up being nice because we hadn't planned on seeing that part of the city and it was kind of neat.

Then we took a water taxi (again with help from people). And I gotta say, water taxi is the way to go. There's almost no other tourists (or obvious tourists) on the boat and it's super quick. There's little other traffic and it's really fun. Water spritzing you a bit. It's good.

We were going through the ruins of Ayuthaya yesterday (in 90 degree tempratures, plus humidity*), pictures of which will come after we get back. But it was weird. There's this dead city in the middle of this live city, which is live mostly because people want to come see the dead city. Don't really know what to make of that, but it's something I was thinking about.

We went to a night market last night and sampled a lot of good food. Many different meats on sticks and this crepe-like dessert filled with bananas that is apparently a Muslim treat. It was great. You could put anything in front of me and I would probably have eaten it. Of course...this morning there's rice and ginger chicken/fish of some sort alongside eggs and toast. And of course, I'm all eggs and toast, thank you. Sure, I made a nice attempt at the ginger stuff, but it wasn't breakfast. Xenophobia, for me, starts at breakfast.

Not sure when I'll be able to post again, but so far Thailand is great!


*Noted only to make people in the cold a little angry.

Bangkok

Well, it took 24 hours of travel time, but we made it here yesterday. Korean Air is the best. Simply awesome. First of all, the flight attendants were the best dressed flying folks ever (with apologies to Jet Blue and Captain Marvel). They all wear either cacky or powder blue outfits. Their hair is done the same and they're all super nice. I know a friend with an Asian fetish who would have a field day on a 13 hour flight with these nice ladies.
Bangkok, however, has been tough. It's partly the jet-lag, and partly the culture shock, but it's also true that it's a tough city. First of all, being a big white man seems to make people think I am a big white idiot. Which, I kind of am. I did make the mistake of taking a tuk tuk yesterday. Long story short (cause we're about to go to the palace), we went a couple places we didn't want to and were pitched many many things that are "only done in Thailand". Tip for anyone who comes here: If someone says a place is closed, they're lying. Tip two: If someone is offering you birdseed and you say no, when she insists you take it, well, don't throwk it down for the birds and then think she's not going to shake you down for cash. She got the equivalent of a buck fifty from me, but it was irksome.
But. I'm trying not to let yesterday's odd ball start taint todays. now I know and knowing is half the battle. Hee.