Bangkok Day 1

It's Saturday morning and we're at the airport waiting for our flight to Chiang Mai. There is WiFi, so it's a good opportunity to blog. Our first day in Bangkok was Wednesday, which was a National Holiday - the celebration of the Buddha's birth. We visited cultural sites since most of the businesses were closed. (Also , I alcohol sales.)

The day started grey and pretty dreary. We took the SkyTrain to the river, where we got on a long boat for a cruise. The water was a bit choppy and also had a quite a bit of debris in it. I would call it dirty, but the guides seemed to claim it wasn't, really, and it's true that at each lock where boats can enter the canals there was a filtering/skimming system to clean debris from the river.

The river was interesting, with boats like ours, water taxis, and barge traffic. The area was lined with hotels and condos, but also smaller and older buildings - some quite nice and others run down. We passed an old fort and naval base, and some temples, and we saw the area of the Palace before turning off the river into the canals.

The canals were a fascinating mix of homes and some mom and pop businesses which represents what old Bangkok was like. These homes are now technically illegal, but the government has allowed people to stay as long as the homes remain in good repair. All of the houses are on stilts above the water, with many of them being in amazing states of disrepair. Some properties were abandoned, but others still showed signs of life including laundry hung to Dr, potted plants, small watercraft, etc. Of course we saw people, too, many of whom waved as we passed. Some houses leaned precipitously, some lacked windows, many lacked paint, and I was amazed they were standing at all. But mixed in - seemingly at random - were historical, we'll maintained examples of traditional Thai architecture, some very nice homes, and the occasional contemporary gem. For me, it was a fascinating but confusing place. A highlight of the canals, beyond seeing the way people live there, we're to water monitors we saw sunning along the walls and near the locks.

In the canal area we stopped at the Artist House for a puppet show. We had no idea what to expect. What we found were traditional style, elaborate, carved puppets each of which required three people to maneuver. There was a male puppet who seemed to dance and play mischievously, and a mermaid puppet. The actors brought the puppets to interact with the audience, and one of our students was invited up to help operate the puppet. Of course they made fun of him for not knowing what he was doing. It was a fun break and a nice diversion, but I was still not feeling well, and I couldn't shake the feeling that I didn't quite know what was going on.

We got back in the boat and headed back to the river. Along the way, there were some other extremely loud boats, and they didn't exactly have clean exhaust. Back at the river we stopped at the Dawn Temple which was bustling with activity on the holiday. We went in and climbed up to the first level of the very elaborately decorated structure, which was being restored. It didn't take me long to conclude that the environment was way too stimulating for this introvert. I did my best to appreciate the architectural detail, but before long I left the temple and walked briefly through the market stalls before sitting down by myself for the last few minutes before everyone gathered to leave. As we left, it began to rain so we all had to walk down the precarious, wet, metal, bouncing, floating dock to climb into the boat across the wet, painted wood bow of the boat in the choppy river. I was pretty sure someone was going to fall in, and I had to wonder what the hell we were doing there.

We took the boat back to where we boarded and then walked through the streets to lunch - literally the streets, as the sidewalks were too small or non-existent. We turned this way and that, wandering around as I wondered where the heck we were going and just what sort of high-stimulus he'll I had gotten myself into. When we finally got to the lunch place for pre-ordered Pad Thai , it was OK. I was content to sit there in relative quite and eat once my food finally arrived. It was pretty good food, and eating made my cold feel better.

After lunch we returned to the hotel where we debriefed - our students did an amazing job -  and then I went to my room for a brief nap. That evening we went with our local host Peter to meet my friend Channin for dinner. I've known Channin for 28 years since we marched together in the Colts -  but I probably hadn't seen her in over 20 years. She's had an interesting career teaching abroad, and she has been in the Bangkok area for about a year. At Channin 's suggestion, we met her and her friend Beatrice at a unique and delicious restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms. It's affiliated with a NGO that works in population. Control and HIV prevention with the Northern Hill Tribes, and the place has all kinds of interesting condom - related decorations. The authentic Thai food was delicious, and they brought condoms with the check. I don't think any of us took them...

It was great to see Channin again after all of these years, but I was quite happy to get back to the hotel for some sleep. It was interesting to see the posh shops along the street from. The taxi on the way back - it was a very different Tha and from. What we had seen so far.