I am adding another update to capture our quick time in Bangkok, Thailand. I also want everyone to know most of the blogs have been written by Eli and he is way better at detail than I am. Thanks honey.
Bangkok wasn't one of our original desired destinations during this trip but I must admit that I am pleased that we decided to stop here. It is a booming city with what seems like 2 cities in one. It has the clean, modern, highend shopping centers and it has the gritty, stray dogs, traffic infested parts as well.
Overall, we liked it alot.
What we have seen thus far in SE Asia has been amazing and I find it hard to accurately describe everything. I recently received an email from my brother, Silas and I quote him "Asia - is such a different world, words can’t truthfully describe the mentality of the beautiful people, cameras can’t capture the colors, words cant truly describe the smells and taste of the foods..." So true brother.
To follow the path of many tourists here in Bangkok, Eli and I choose to room up on the infamous Khao San Road.
In between tuk-tuks and cruising the many markets, we of course ate great food. I can't tell you exactly what we ate because I am not so sure myself. We took ourselves off the beaten path to try new food and all we did was smile and point to what we wanted on our plates as the menus were in Thai.It is a long street that is blocked off to cars and is lined with hundreds of venders, bars, massage parlors, and cheap accommodations. All pretty much for the whiteys. We didn't think we would get sucked into the crowd but we did, and we loved it eventhough it was exhausting. We made the most of our 2 days here as best we could by leaving first thing in the mornings and staying out until our feet couldn't take anymore walking. Our first afternoon here, we hired a young tuk-tuk driver to take us to a couple of different temples.
Tuk-tuks are 3 wheeled open backed vehicles that read "taxi" and are excellent for weaving in and out of traffic. And for fuming exhaust like crazy.
We went to Wat In and Wat Sampaya to see some famous Buddhas in temples. The Buddhas were larger than life and covered in gold paint.
We got to witness Monks in prayer which, no matter what religion you are, you can't ignore the feeling of peace and love. We also stopped at a couple of suit factories to check out the silks and fancy materials that go into making designer suits. The salesmen sure worked hard on trying to convince Eli that he needed to by a suit in case he ever has to wear one to a party back in America.
I didn't work, although Eli was half tempted to get one made and stuff it into his backpack. The driver of the tuk-tuk informed us that if he took us to one of the suit factories, then the owner would give him gasoline. Of course we obliged and walked in like we were big spenders until we confirmed that the tuk-tuk driver got his gas, then we jetted out!
For me the highlight our time in Bangkok was watching a traditional Thai boxing match. 3 matches actually. My dad highly recommended we try to witness this unique sport as he has spent some time in Bangkok himself. We were worried that we wouldn't find the time to see the boxing, but, as luck would have it, we walked right next to an outdoor ring that was being set up for a FREE show. We love free. We waited around, had a Singha beer, some dinner and then got right up to ringside for the show to start. It ended up starting about an hour later than scheduled due to rain but once the rain died down, we quickly saw that it was worth the wait. The rain did make the ring slippery which made for an interesting show as the boxers fought to stay upright. My favorite fight was the girl fight.
This little tiny Thai girl was up against a taller meaner looking girl from Greece. Before the match, I was seriously worried for the safety of the Thai girl with her innocent smile and all. She fooled me. In round 1, the Thai girl came out strong and after a few punches and kicks, she knock-out her bigger opponent. I clapped and cheered along with the eager crowd. I never liked boxing/fighting until now. So cool!
Eli and I leave Bangkok first thing tomorrow and head of to Cambodia on 2 different buses. One will take 4 hrs to reach the border, then once we cross into Cambodia and buy our visas, the 2nd bus will take us about another 4 hrs up towards Angkor Wat. It will be very weird for us to be in vehicles driving on the right side of the road again.
Thanks for all who read and support us. And Thank you God for showing us your amazing Creation. Stay tuned....
No comments:
Post a Comment