a recent history of sightseeing around town

disclaimer: i think my videos were too big...the only one working is the re-shoot of the apartment...


so in the past couple days we have been doing more walking and exploring and sightseeing after a few days of relaxing.
sunday was wat day. we took a pickup truck taxi (you sit on benches in the bed of a truck inside a cap!) to the biggest wat in town, wat phra sing. it turned out to be community monk day there and they were having a get together of sorts. lots of young monks, little baskets where you attach money to a stick and stick it in the basket as an offering, and music and dancing. it was very hot in the sun. this wat seemed really neat because it was more like a community center atmosphere instead of just a pretty place where tourist go. there were tourists and people praying as usual, but there was also food vendors and such. below is a video of the music and dancing.



then we adventured to a couple other wat's in the area, where amongst other things, a lady was selling some paintings on cloth (i bought a small one with elephants) for very cheap, and an angry wat dog was barking its head off at us! inside the one wat there was this really cool grid-like web of string that all went to the front and tied to the buddha's thumb. the web was about 1 foot over our heads.

luke and i got our second thai massage of the trip after lunch. amazing. and $4.50.

then the moment we have been waiting for - the sunday walking street! sunday is the popular market day here and they close off a large street in the old town along with a couple of side streets. it is absolutely filled with vendors. anything and everything and bargining and junk and handmade stuff all pretty cheap compared to prices back home. i bouught and adorable hand made purse that i love and we got some stuff for the apt. lots of food everywhere too for about 30 cents a stick! many pictures of this are posted, including an amazing rooftop view that we had. we went to this super rasta bar (the outside is painted yellow, green, and red!) it is called thc - tribal heritage conservation. we got there earlier than most so we had the best seats near the edge of the roof. soooooo cool!!!! when it got dark you could see a little light on the hill for the temple and all the umbrellas of all the vendors were lit up below! then it started to pour and they closed the retractable roof for us - yes that is correct, retractable roof!!!! the only down side is that most of the people there were foreigners. the rainstorm was amazing though. it was our first real downpour here in chiang mai and we got to watch it from the roof. people were riding their motorcycles with ponchos! there were also bats flying around the street lights. and i made my way through the spiciest dish ever - luke was proud of me!
here is a view from the roof:


monday morning we took a truck taxi to the river and went on a scorpion tail boat tour up the river. we had a very funny and very friendly tour guide. after seeing the sights up the river we stopped at this little bungalow and fruit farm for a snack of mangoes, sticky rice, and lychee juice. so good! our tour guide showed us around the garden, showed us handmade toys, cobra whisky (yes, there was an actual cobra in the bottle!!!) and snake traps. the snake trap is like a chinese finger trap made out of bamboo leaves. the snake can get in but when it tries to get out the trap tightens on it. so clever! their very nice dog rode back with us on the boat.

then we sat through another thunderstorm in a cafe. after it cleared up (the weather changes very fast here) we went in search of this very tall ruin that we saw from the rooftop bar. after much walking, we found it. it is a huge old stupa which houses buddha relics. in the 1500's an earthquake destroyed some of it.
at this same wat, there is a thing called monk chat. monks hang out at these tables and as part of their english language training they chat with you. it was very cool. it is nice to feel like you can approach them and just talk. not that they normally snub you or anything, but they are so high up on the social ladder that sometimes it seems unclear how to approach them. so we chatted with a monk for a good while, and it was like a philosophy lesson. he had a way of not directly answering questions that seemed to fit his role well and shed so much wisdom and calmness on the situation. we are going to go back there for regular chats.

we have an address now, so email me if you want it. this is what our place looks like:


tidbit for the day:
in thailand it is the year 2551, because their calendar follows buddha, not jesus.

our first day in chiang mai

yesterday, we successfully looked at and chose an apartment! we will get to move in on saturday.
so as not to be redundant, i will direct you to luke's blog for more details on this expedition. (see the link on the side to get to his blog). we had a very helpful guide.

we walked around town a lot yesterday and got a feel for it here. there are many trees and already more grass and parks than bangkok! we found a couple book stores. the next order of business is for me to find a bike, because i still refuse to ride the motorcycle at our work. this city is definitely bike-able, although it could be a sweaty endeavor.

we ate dinner at the hotel last night and one of the waitresses started talking to us. she was very nice, and it turns out she lives in philadelphia and has a restaurant there! she has driven through vermont, gone to quebec many times and loves lake champlain! what a small world. we chatted with her again at breakfast. our first friend in chiang mai.

so today we are off to register with the us consulate and discover more things around chiang mai. nick is coming here on a flight and has a three hour layover, so hopefully we will be eating lunch with him since we are all done apartment hunting.

oh and the tidbit for the day....
thai toilets: there are many western toilets around in nice places like our hotel and apartment building and the airport. one difference though is that you cannot throw toilet paper in them because the sewer system is not set up to handle it. so the solution is to have a sprayer, similar to your kitchen sink sprayer on the wall. you spray first, then wipe to dry, and then put the paper in the garbage. but a thai style toilet is different. it is kind of like peeing in the woods except that it doesn't spray all over your feet. there is a white porcelain bowl that is really low to the ground. the sides have tread on them and this is where your feet go. you stand on the bowl, and then squat. the angle of the bowl prevents most backsplash. the only problem is that there is never any toilet paper here. and instead of the sprayer, there is a big bucket or basin filled with standing water with a bowl in it. you are supposed to rinse off with said bowl. this water also gets poured into the toilet to 'flush' (there is no actual flush). i have not been brave enough to use the ladle method yet, and still carry toilet paper everywhere!

2 videos from bangkok

i am trying to keep things in order, but here are 2 videos i forgot to put up from bangkok.

video 1: the grand palace, the biggest wat (temple) in BKK, houses the emerald buddha (very important, you cannot take pictures of it). there are over 100 buildings on the grounds. all the edges of the buildings have bells, which you can hear along with the monks chanting (people go there to worship in the midst of all the tourists).



video 2: the temple of the dawn, wat arun ragwararam. very tall and made of broken pottery mosaics. it is in the midst of a monk village and directly across the river from the grand palace. you can climb almost halfway up these very steep stairs, which provides a great view of the city.

we are in chiang mai

this morning at 5:15 am we arrived in chiang mai. we took the night bus, which was paid for by our jobs. they also paid for two nights at this pretty nice hotel place. on the bus we sat in the front row of the upper deck, so we had a good view. even though it was dark, we had a pretty good look at the roads and highways because a lot of sections had lights. all the road signs are in thai and english even when you leave bangkok.

there is a big hill in chiang mai. it already seems less mungy and smelly than bangkok here, and we have only been here for 2 hours. we are staying in the old town and there is a moat around it.

in a few hours Yim is going to pick us up to look at apartments. more on that soon. and i hope to label some pictures soon. maybe after i sleep tonight, since sleeping on a bus is not really sleep.

in other good news, we were told that the heat in bangkok was about as hot as it gets. which is good, because it was pretty bearable, just really sweaty.

modes of transportation

as of the past couple days we have experienced a few new forms of bangkok transport, with different degrees of death defying stunts. i have read that the lack of traffic laws is directly proportional to the degree of spirituality and belief in karma. thai's are not afraid of much because they believe very much in fate and when it is there time to go they will go. so it is with that attitude that they drive. especially the motorbike drivers. at traffic lights they all cut up to the front in a swarm. their lanes consist of the dotted lines and anywhere they can squeeze. there are also motorbike taxis, where girls on cell phones ride on the back side saddle at high speeds! it is like a video game to watch the traffic here. we got to witness this all firsthand from inside a taxi today. the older drivers are nicer and more experienced at this bangkok road video game.

another mode of transport is the river taxi. the river is a lovely shade of brown goo, but the view is very scenic. if you sit near the front you have to be sure to close your mouth, because you never know when you might hit some wake! today i actually saw a man in one of the shanty town stilt houses along the river scooping up water with a bowl and bathing himself! there is a lot of poverty here, but i was semi-prepared to for that. the stacks of houses piled on top of one another with clothes lines and shutters and plants all jumbled together are actually kind of beautiful.

a couple days ago (i seem to be losing track of time since we are doing so much!) we discovered a park (there are not many here in BKK) thanks to the help of Nick, a contact through VT networking. there is a big pond in the park that had 4 foot long lizard dragons! so cool! there was also a path where so many people were running - and all in the same direction. also saw some outdoor aerobics! then at 6 om the megaphone went off and played a song. suddenly everyone stopped in their tracks and stood up. it was a salute to the king! thai's love their king and very patriotic and love to wear yellow - the color of the king.

amongst other exploring we have also seen the grand palace, king rama IV's teak mansion, and the temple of the dawn - in a monk village, a huge temple made of mosaic broken pottery!

some tidbits:
long ears and turtles = long life.
there are these cute little wreaths of flowers strung together everywhere for offerings to spirit houses and buddhas.
thai's always drink out of bottles with straws.

sensory overload

so bangkok is a big city - a really big city! and so far we have navigated well. this morning we got a very early start at 6 am, but that is what 29 hours of travel will do to your sleep schedule...
for breakfast we had rice porridge with squid and boiled eggs - the thai way to start a day! luke called our work contact mike about meeting us, and he recommended a stop in the sky train that we explored. so we successfully navigated our way to SIM cards for our cell phones, a mall with AC to escape the rain and mugginess, skytrain tickets (public transport systems - at least trains - are pretty universal), an outdoor photo exhibit, and found a map in the mall bookstore. on our quest for lunch we found a crazy outdoor market. the place is packed shoulder to shoulder with vendors selling all types of wares - esp clothes and food - for very cheap. jeans were about $5US. i am trying to refrain from buying anything until we get to chiang mai so that i don't have to carry it!
after lunch we went to the tallest building in thailand - an 84 story hotel with a revolving lookout tower. for $6US you can go to the top and get a free drink at the 83rd story cafe. the view is crazy - this is where i became really amazed at how HUGE this city really is. tons and tons of skyscrapers and rooftop pools and trees and mungy gross rooftops too. the taxis are pink or yellow and green. it rained a little bit today, but not too bad until right now, which doesn't matter because we are at the hostel.
so i may be rambling, but afterall this is sensory overload! so after the super tall building we met up with mike at his office and he gave us a bit of a low down, gave us suggestions, answers to questions, set the record straight, etc. very cool and very helpful and AC which was much needed! so after that we went on a search for massages per his recommendations....and what a massage it was! traditional thai massage is more of a workout for both parties than anything else. we went to this spa place, had our feet washed, went up into a curtained area with a personal bed and changed into pjs. then this really strong lady came and wailed on me. legs, feet, back neck - she even massaged with her elbows and feet and all her might and cracked me a few times too. holy smokes, it tickled, hurt and was amazing and only $7US for an hour!
then we took the train back to our hostel to eat and chill out. the funniest thing happened. luke ordered pad thai, and the guy asked something we did not understand. we finally figured he said 'with bananas?" and were confused but said yes. then he brought our 2 pancakes with bananas for lukes dinner!!!! we were in hysterics! pancakes instead of pad thai! the guy laughed it off though, luke ate the pancakes cause he was starving and re-ordered pad thai as seconds! ahhh language barriers....i impressed several people today even with my very little thai. it pays to study up a bit.
pics will be posted soon once i get a couple days worth.
no more elephants but i did see about 5 stray dogs and one rat! and no tummy aches yet.
xo

we are here!

so over 24 hours of airports and planes isn't as bad as i imagined. i am alive enough to type this! although i am going straight to bed after...
no glitches on the flights, all bags made it safely and we have a bed! it is raining, we did not have to fear for our lives on the taxi - and he didn't even try to rip us off!
and the coolest part...we have been here for an hour and i already saw an elephant roaming the street at night in the rain!
more later....

it's almost time!

it is hard to comprehend that it is almost time for our flight. i feel like until right now i have barely had time to even think about it! this summer has been so busy - in good ways, sucking in all the beauty of vermont summer, but especially so in the past few weeks.

luke and i have left our first apartment together. packing was well paced except for the last week - packing the 'lasties' is so difficult and i find packing depressing in general. it was hard to be excited during that time. then we spent a couple days at his dad's house, a couple days at his mom's, and a couple days in southern vermont. luke's brother is now married, and the weekend was also a good time for us to visit and have fun (dancing!) with everyone once more before our adventure. it was sad to say goodbye to vermont (at least for now), and weird to think that we don't 'live' there anymore....although all our stuff lives there!

so now i just need to prepare myself for this long plane ride, since i am not the best at sitting still. and then we will actually be there! i feel like there is no way i can mentally prepare for that and i am trying to not even picture what it will be like because i know it is beyond my wildest dreams! there has been some unrest in bangkok as of late, but it seems like it will settle down by the end of this week (hopefully), as they are choosing a new PM on friday. we shall see! everything is exciting and nerve racking and there is a flock of butterflies in my belly.