Thailand notes from the road: glitter and schemes

Hello all!
Well, Jamie and I have been in Bangkok for 2 1/2 days now, and tomorrow we buy our ticket to Delhi... hopefully we can fly out by the 13th. Bangkok has treated us well. It is very hot and humid here, so sweat drips off my chin, pretty much from the minute I wake up until dusk. Reminds me of my lovely midwestern roots! It is the end of the rainy season here, so it has been cloudy during the day and then it starts pouring at about 5pm like clockwork. It is refreshing actually, because the air is so visibly filled with auto pollution, that the rain provides a slight relief. The city streets and public places are impressively clean however - it's just the air pollution that is notable. The Thai people keep themselves very clean and are always sweeping and straightening, making things look very pretty.

The night that we arrived, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice hotel after our 16+ hours of flying. $20 buys you a crazy luxurious, sparkling,
red carpeted mansion of a room - we had no idea it would be so extravagant
because we booked our hotel from the airport. It was nice to have such
comfy place for our first night, and then we moved to a little guest house,
which is very cute and plain but clean - costs about $2 a night. No air-con
but a powerful fan has kept us very comfortable. I am happy that I brought
a sturdy padlock, so we just pop it on the outside of our room door when we
leave for the day.

The Buddhist temples here are insane - too sparkly for my taste, but
impressive nonetheless. GOLD GOLD GOLD and SPARKLE SPARKLE SPARKLE. very
different than the Japanese temples I visited in Japan, which showed the
natural wood and blended in with the trees and mountains in a peaceful
style. Here, metallic blues, reds, and gold mirror-type mosaics cover every
surface of the temple walls and roofs. You might need sunglasses just to
look at the temple! The actual Buddha image is considered to be very
auspicious and important, so much so, that you are not allowed to take a
Buddha out of Thailand without a permit. THis is because the more Buddhas
in Thailand equals more good luck. So removing them from thailand is
strictly regulated.

On our first evening here, we wandered into a temple complex near our hotel,
and, being that we don't read Thai, we didn't realize that it was actually a
sort of Buddhist funeral home of sorts. A central temple housing the monks,
and then little rooms half-enclosed, arranged around the larger temple. It
was pouring rain, and we were poking around, wondering what people were
gathering for in the little rooms. Was it classes? Meetings? Prayer? And
then a sweet little man asked us who we were looking for. We asked him
where some good food was, and he violently motioned us into his gathering. "Come come! My mother pass away, and we are hold a 5 day cermony to honor
her, pray for good passage into heaven. We have many food - please please
- you okay with spice? " So we met all of his family members, and they
invited us to share their family food (the spiciest thing I have ever eaten
in my life)and learn about the funeral activities. It was very sweet - we
looked like drowned rats after walking around in the rain, and were happy to
have warm food and a friendly face. The first 5 days are in the Thai
tradition, and then one day is for the Chinese traditions. There is an
elaborate altar set up around the casket, and then four cushions set off to
the side, where the monks come every night to pray. Such an expanse of
beautiful exotic Thai flowers... I don't know any of the names of them.
Such a special experience and so generous of this man to take time to
welcome us. He is an architect outside of Bangkok, and gave us his address
if we visit again. So sweet!

The next day we took a boat down the main riverway, to the Grand Palace,
which shelters the famous Emerald Buddha. The buddha itself was only maybe
15 inches high? But the alter holding it is maybe 20 feet high? Crazy
elaborate!! And the whole complex is insane, housing beautiful extensive
paintings of the Thai version of the Ramayana (the rescue of Sita). Too
much glitter though. And we got majorly sucked into the famous swindling
scams - even though we had been warned. A nice guy started chatting with us
as we got off the boat, and said that the temple didn't open till 12 on
weekends (it was 8:30 then). So he suggested we go sightsee. He then
warned us not to pay too much for a tuk-tuk (an auto-rickshaw), and offered
to bargain down the price for a small trip, so we could see some things
before the Grand Palace opened. In fact the palace opened at ten, but that
is their famous scam. Arg! But he seemed to be on our side, bargaining for
a lower price for the tuk-tuk. The first stop was a beautiful market, with
flowers and food, but then the stops starting turning into all of these
shopping places-- where he would get a commission if we bought something.
They were of course lame places - and by the time we realized the scam, we
had already wasted an hour or two. But it was no danger, just wasted time
and a slightly dented ego!! There were people set up all along the way to
talk us into the whole scam, get us farther encircled! Impressive scheming!
But now we are ready for India, which is also famous for scheming!! No
harm done at least.

Okay, I've been writing too long and we've got to get some grub! As
expected, the food is awesome. Today we spent the day at the famous
Chatachuk market and tomorrow we may head to Delhi! More updates later!

Love to you
Mandy