On the first day we awoke early... feeling refreshed for some strange reason. In this alert state we took in the view of Bangkok from our window. Directly below us we saw a number of apartment houses... four to ten stories high. We noticed that on the roof tops, people are doing their laundry... by hand! They wash and rinse in large, colorful, plastic washtubs, then drape the wash on drying racks. Didn't I tell you Thailand was amazing?



The hotel cafe where we had breakfast was lovely. A full buffet of American dishes as well as Asian dishes set at another buffet. Throughout the trip we found Asian dishes along with the American breakfast foods. I examined these foods closely and I could never differentiate between and Asian breakfast and any other meal of the day. Yes, they do indeed have rice three meals a day. I did notice, though, how many Asian people were at the American buffet. They especially seemed to go for the fried eggs and toast. This probably seemed very exotic to them.



The fresh tropical fruit selection was absolutely heavenly.... as it was for every meal throughout our trip... pineapple, mango, papaya, tiny finger bananas, cantaloupe, honeydew, and several unknown fruits as well.   Here with the tea/coffee choice, we selected coffee. Thereafter, for the remainder of the trip, we selected tea. Thailand will never be known for its coffee.



We met with our guide and the rest of our group for a trip to the Teak Mansion. Thais have long unpronounceable names, and always greet everyone, including each other, by their first names or nicknames. There are 22 vowels in the Thai alphabet, so you can imagine that every word is a tongue twister! Our guide's nickname was Nu, pronounced like the "noo" in the word "nook". So to us, his name mostly sounded like a grunt. Another interesting thing about the Thai language is that they don't use plural nouns. Many tourists wore tee shirts proclaiming, "Thailand, Land of Smile"

Anyway, the Teak Mansion, built in 1901 as a palace for the then King Rama something.... was gorgeous; fit for a King! Yes, I could live there; just ask me. You sure can see where the rain forest went when you see these incredible teak buildings, with their large stately rooms and wide, shady, shuttered galleries, all of golden teak.



Our afternoon was free so Nu took some of us... the adventurous, the conscious, the lucid... to the shopping mall, Siam Center, in downtown Bangkok.  He showed us how to buy tickets for the new sky-train... a modern elevated train system... and away we went.   The Siam Center is SO huge it is mind-boggling.   About six floors of crowded shops and stalls with wall to wall people... it was harrowing. You can see why Oriental people have no concept of personal space, it is something they rarely can experience.

It was here at the shopping center that we spent 20 agonizing minutes trying to get an email out.... no luck... we finally had to give up.



We love supermarkets, the Cuz and I, and in this tangle of commerce we saw the only one we were ever to come across. A grocery store as we know it. As we entered, we wrinkled up our noses because the whole store smelled like rotten meat!

But fear not! No rotten meat here! It was the dreaded Durian! Thailand's beloved King of Fruit! It looks a lot like a breadfruit but more spiny. A breadfruit, if you don't usually buy them, is about the size and shape of a watermellon, with a brown skin with bumps all over it.

The smell in the store was so putrid that we made our visit there much shorter than it would have been if the Durian had not been in season. Incidentally, there was a notice in our hotel room NOT to bring a Durian into the room. If you MUST have one... call housekeeping and they would store it elsewhere for you... probably in the garbage.



Let me say this now... and I promise not to say it ever again: There are three seasons in Thailand, Hot, Hotter, and Hottest. Of course we were there in the Hottest season... even the Thais were moving in slow-mo. People were taking it easy and no one was in a rush to do anything. People even lie around on the sidewalks and in shops sleeping... perhaps they were unconscious, it was hard to tell. Our bus driver fell asleep once while we were away from the bus and we all had to beat on the windshield for him to let us in.  It was well into the 100s in Bangkok and the humidity was unbearable. Even the dogs and cats were lying around... with barely enough energy to scratch, which (besides reproduction) was their main goal in life.



On the next day, our first visit was to Chinatown to the Flower Market. This was exciting! I have seen crowded street markets in pictures and films... but to be there in the middle of it is something I find so hard to describe.. the sights, sounds, and smells!

The Flower Market had more flowers than I have ever seen in one place... well, maybe with the exception of the Rose Parade... but maybe not! You could buy an armful size bouquet of orchids for the equivalent of $2. Many people were making beautiful garlands and decorations for adorning Buddha images and images of their beloved King Rama 9. They were also making HUGE floral arrangement sets of about six gigantic ones plus one super-gigantic arrangement for hotels etc... the whole set selling for about $100.

We then walked through the food market... wow!   I have never seen such a variety of foods in my life! Many people selling cooked foods... some selling the raw ingredients.  











Nu tells us that people in city apartments are forbidden to cook in their rooms. He said his apartment house had a cafeteria when he could order food sent up... I suspect he didn't mean a real cafeteria, probably a take-out kitchen. So therefore.... urban Thais buy food on the streets or eat out all the time. The Thai food is very complicated to make and requires an endless number of ingredients... so I am sure this is much more practical for working city people anyway.



In the street market we saw lots of fish... spices... veggies... and unknown and unrecognized items.   But except for the odors of spices and cooked dishes and flowers... there was no odor about the market... it was that clean... and I guess there was no Durian for sale today.



We taxied across the river to visit Wat Arun, The Temple of Dawn. It was lovely and gave us a sample of the beautiful things that were in store for us on this trip.

There were many interesting things to learn about Buddha and Buddhism. I was surprised to realize that Buddha is not perceived as god... only a great teacher.   But all images are revered and respected as though they were Buddha himself. Buddha images appear in many forms and positions with different hand positions.... they all have different meanings. There is a Buddha posture for every day of the week... and Thais favor the Buddha in the particular posture representing the day of the week on which they were born.

They show the same respect for their king. They honor the the king's throne as though the king were sitting there... as it represents his power. We visited a throne room in the Teak Mansion, and the Thais waied and knelt as though they were in the presence of the King himself.



Off through the Bangkok canals on a water taxi to our home-hosted lunch. Our host family greeted us warmly and invited us to see their home. Hey! No furniture! What belongings the family had were on shelves along the walls... even their computer... and they sat and slept on the floor.   There was a meditation room and the family's children showed us how they pray and meditate to Buddha twice a day. We each received a blessed saffron ribbon which was tied around our wrists to banish evil and bring happiness. The first of the many blessings we were to receive in Thailand!



Our hostess then demonstrated the making of the lunch we were to enjoy, which would be five dishes, and we got to examine, sniff, and nibble the raw ingredients. It was a lovely time, a wonderful meal... and a beautiful, hospitable, and gracious family.



In the afternoon, we visited Wat Pho where we saw the famous Reclining Buddha. Let me tell you this was something to behold! I wish a photo would do it justice... you cannot picture anything that large and that gold and that beautiful. This was one of the highlights of the trip for Gypsy! I wish you could have been there.



When we returned from an outing, our bus boy was always waiting with a cold cloth and a cold bottle of water for each of us. He was such a sweetie... we all wanted to adopt him! I think another of our tour group had something other than adoption in mind... but that is another story.

Dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant completed this very busy and fascinating day.

I really liked Bangkok. I had read that this was one of the noisiest, dirtiest, most polluted cities in the world, second only to Kathmandu. But a lot of clean-up must have taken place, because I have seen much dirtier cities right here in the U.S.