First few days in Bangkok before heading South

It has been a rich trip so far, and it is only just getting started! I knew that I needed a few days to land on the other side of the world, and had booked myself and my friend Maureen (hereonin dubbed 'Mo') a room not far from the famous Khoa San road in Bangkok at the Shanti lodge, as mentioned in my first blog. Mo wound up being about 2 days late so I spent my first two days with the aforementioned Julia from LA, which was a great unexpected surprise.

On day two, Julia and I visited the Wat Po (Po Temple) where a Traditional Thai Massage school resides, and we got the most amazing Thai Massages there in a large room with about 30 beds, recipients, and Thai practitioners. This was a very healing atmosphere and experience. Before our massages, we explored the Wat itself, and saw the Reclining Buddha, which is a MASSIVE Golden Buddha that reclines on its side, and the bottoms of its feet are a beautiful and intricate mother of pearl inlay. We found ourselves on the canal boats about 4 or 5 times that day, back and forth seeing many sights. That afternoon I was on the fence about going back to the hotel or to continue sightseeing with Julia, and since I didn't have the energy (or knowhow) to navigate my way back 'home', I rode the wave of Julia's energy to THE MALL, which, was not on my list of sights to see, but I am glad I experienced it just to see how similar Thai culture can be to America.

I have never been in such a large and crazy mall in all of my life, and I can not begin to describe the overstimulation that I was feeling while there. I was also feeling my jetlag catch up with me, as well as it being an incredibly sticky hot and humid day. But, we made it, and rode Bangkok's brand new 'SkyTrain' which is new public transportation in the city. When we arrived to the hotel, I found Mo, and we were excited to catch up and reunite. Early to bed again.

The next morning, I woke up at 5:30am and visited the fish market down the street from our hotel, and I am so glad that I went when I did. I had been there already, but apparently 6 in the morning is the rockin busy time, and there were Monks leading prayers to the day and to the food, mopeds driving through the not-so-wide aisles, and local Thais galore buying and selling their fish goods. It was the first time I had wandered alone in Bangkok in my first 48 hours, and the first time I felt the reality of my location in a foreign land. It was quite beautiful.

When I returned to the hotel, I joined Mo, Julia, and David (an American from Cape Cod who spends 5 months a year in SE Asia) for a second breakfast, and after connecting with Manuel, a German-Colombian, we set off again to Wat Po for yet another gorgeous massage, and more exploration. Mo and I parted ways with Manuel and Julia as they had other destinations to head off to, Mo and I visited Wat Arun and scared ourselves silly trying to come down from the high and steep climb up many steps. (Photos soon to come). We made our way to near Khoa San Road to buy tickets for the Floating Market for the following morning, and came back to our hotel for another mellow night (still jetlagged despite getting on the schedule quickly).

The next morning, we left our hotel at 6:30am to go to our pickup for the Floating Market. We spent an hour and a half in a minibus getting to a market that exists entirely in small boats and on floats! Food was handed up to us from the first dock, that you could negotiate the purchase of by a person set to that task. There was thai coffee, soup, coconut ice cream, pad thai- you name it. We then rented a small boat with a driver for 150 baht (about 5 dollars) to go shopping.

This was quite exciting and fun at first, especially when we bought some tasty treats of unknown origin- it seemed like some sort of rice-coconut cake, about one-inch circles grilled in little divots by an older Thai lady from her boat. Mostly we were taken at a leisurely pace around the canals by our driver (who Mo bought a beer for at one of the stops) to see all of the different wares being sold by the local people- photo albums, statues, trinkets, purses- anything you can imagine, really. This experience quickly took its toll as the people urged us to 'buy buy buy!' and we said 'no thank you' to vendor after vendor (with the exception of lots of food vendors).

We did make one deliberate stop as I wanted to inquire after a small Buddha statue to buy for my parents, and got into a high-pressure (or so it felt) bargaining stint with the seller- I bid low, and he bid high, and I wasn't even sure if I wanted the statue but just wanted to know what we were talking about if I was interested. He took any sign of positive interest as a sure thing and kept almost selling it to me but I needed more time to think. I felt actually quite uncomfortable as he seemed to think I was backing out of an arrangement, but I was glad to have waited as I was just starting to browse!

By the time we were boarding our minibus, Mo and I were both ready to go back to Bangkok and find respite in our peaceful hotel. We stopped through Sri Ayutti Rd (I think that is the name) near Khoa San Road where we booked a flight for the next day to Kho Phangan an Island (we leave this afternoon) where we plan to experience all that the beach has to offer in Southern Thailand. We had both overdone it a bit on the food, and are both quite sensitive to caffeine and sugar, which, left us feeling quite delirious and a bit ill, and far more prone to overstimulation and overwhelm. I learned that lesson quick- that even though I am in Thailand and want to experience all that it has to offer, I still need to honor my body and its health and balance. In fact, I ESPECIALLY need to do this while on my travels! I knew this already, but, sometimes I need to test the waters to get the same feedback. :)