We took it slow while we made our way to the car and took quite a bit of photos.

Two wild and crazy guys

Some of the crew

Same height!

We lumbered into the car and rode to the our first stop. Before we arrived to the temple, however, we all prayed. I am not pictured, but I got some of Kenny.

Deep thought

I think very deeply

This photo that I took really captures the intense heat we were experiencing as well as the majestic temple itself.

Photo of the trip

Here’s a nice shot of the line of Buddhas lining the temple.

Photo of the trip

Closeup so you can see the textures of the temple as well as the scarring from the fire (as this was burned by the Burmese).

Corner

Front shot

I really liked this particular shot because you can see just how detailed everything is.

The detail on the hair is amazing

I really had a great time here, and I really felt at peace as I was walking through the grounds. You can see it on my face here.

Cast and crew at the Wat

Up next I’ll post some photos of us walking up the steps as well as some more photos at the grounds.

A bit of a history lesson for the uninformed: Ayutthaya is the old capitol city of Thailand. It survived a very long and drawn out assault from the Burmese army, but was finally burned to the ground in 1765. The illustrious and famous Angkor Wat was captured and ruled by Ayutthaya. The Burmese did not stay long, however, as they were invaded at home by the Chinese. This is where we were going.

We drove by lots of rice fields on the way there. It was just like driving in Indiana, except replace rice for corn and lots of urban areas next to the farmland. Thailand has no sort of building codes, or zoning laws, so you’ll find interesting buildings all next to each other. Bangkok is no exception.

Once we arrived there, we got out and set to visit the floating market. First up, I needed to buy a hat. I came plenty prepared with sunscreen. I spent literally $60 dollars on SPF 100 sunscreen. I was not going to get burned. By contrast, I spent $1 on my hat.

Just taking a walk

Hat purchased, fully caffeinated

Compadre

I’m on a boat

We floated around on this boat and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the market for a while, and then we went walking looking for food. Kenny actually ran into a friend on this trip, which was a major shock for everyone. We chatted with him for a bit, and then settled down to eat things.

The entrance to buy food!

Need food in here

Food purchased, water acquired

As we were eating, I saw some guys sparring with wooden swords and shouting. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was seeing. I thought nothing of it and continued to munch. After we ate, apparently it was time to watch a play! The reenactment of the Burmese invasion of Ayutthaya!

I did not understand the words, but I could gather what was going on through the costumes, demeanor of the actors, and then the action. The Burmese were acting pretty macho, and pushed people around. Then the Ayutthaya forces arrived and it was time for an epic battle. The fight lasted 20 minutes. This was not some rinky dink fight with wooden swords. They were using real weapons and you could see sparks fly off of the blades. I captured most of the fight on video, but it’s way too big to post (around 270 meg). Perhaps you could ask to see it privately!

After the fight, I took some photos with the cast and crew.

I’m amazing

The man

This was a really good show and opened up my eyes to some of the history and culture of Thailand. Thais have a lot of pride, I’d say even moreso than Americans, in their history. Even though I was with a large number of English speakers, I still felt like my American upbringing screwed me over on this trip. I attempted to learn some Thai before I came, but it all flew out of my head once I landed and my senses were overloaded.

Next post, I’ll detail leaving the market and the first site of ruins we covered.

We ended up moving hotels to the Imperial Queens Park Hotel on Soi Sukhumvit. This is a quite luxurious hotel. I did not take a ton of photos from inside, but the few that I did will give you a very different vibe. We made this our base of operations for about 3 days.

Munching after the taxi ride, waiting for our room

The main entry way into the hotel

For the ladies

Me eating some rambutans

View from the hotel room

Full view

We actually got into the room, dropped off our stuff after showering up, and ventured back out into Bangkok. One thing to note about traffic here: there’s literally no discernible rules from what I could gather.

It’s quite common (and I did this numerous times) to just walk out in the middle of the road, and slowly inch your way across the street. Now, granted, this was not a highway of any sort; but these were not two lane roads. We also did this across 4-6 lane roads as well. I can imagine trying this in America. I think there would be a number of four letter epithets lobbed in my general direction among a large number of car horns. Quite common to do here.

I found Citibank

I found the major intersections to be way more complex and tough to navigate than any road I’ve ever been on in my life. One road we were on, cars could come from five different directions. I am kicking myself at present that I don’t have any examples of this. Drivers beware, you live in a fantasy land! I couldn’t survive on the road. I’m glad there was a BTS.

Up next…I visit the ruins of the Old Kingdom, Ayyuthaya. There are so many photos I might break this up into three to four separate posts.

Sports Club from the BTS line

We might be a bit late!

Silom Line, South

Silom Line, North

We met Kitty for lunch at Au Bon Pain, a small little French bakery near her work. It was a good working stiff lunch – in and out, fast. I opted not to take any photos on the way there and during meeting Kitty to instead focus on the conversation. She’s a pretty quick witted girl, very westernized. Hi Kitty!

After that we went to the US Embassy to link up with Kenny’s friends there. We spent a good 40 minutes chatting with them. After that, we made the trek back from the Embassy to the BTS line. With not a lot going on, we opted to head to Terminal 21 to catch a movie. The first movie I saw here was The Raven, with Jon Cusack. I went in expecting nothing, I came out pleasantly surprised. It was quite good!

Something to note about seeing a movie in Thailand. First, movie times are prominently displayed outside. Not just the time of the film, but the time of the commercials, trailers, anything before the movie, with a grand total at the end showing you just how much time you’ll invest going to the see the feature. This makes so much sense it will never happen here. Advertisers love to sucker people in. A second thing to note: at one point in the previews, everyone must stand and pay respect to the king. It’s not a big deal, a small three minute promotional video showing the king growing up through archival video footage. I had no problems with it, but I bet there are some political types here that would. Oh well, that’s why they live here and don’t travel anywhere new.

After the film, we headed back to the room to get ready for hanging out with Diaw and company at Indy Treehouse Bar. I was most excited about this because:

• It was a nice, relaxing restaurant/bar to go to
• There was live music
• I don’t think I was awake enough for busy night out since I was already a bit tired

Indy Treehouse Singer

Diaw has an idea

Planning!

I had a really good time here, and would go back again if I actually lived there. After this, we all turned in for the night. I was glad because while I had fun, I could always use some sleep!

The locals were not impressed by a farang

We started out on the left side of the street and walked down a ways, notating everything from the merchants that we could. Diaw joked around a lot and asked me to try and pick out the สาวประเภทสอง (ladyboys) walking around in the crowd. I had my arm grabbed quite a bit here from locals trying to sell me things.

A lot of people walking around

Not only is t here clothes and things to buy, but food. I opted to try some local fruits you can only eat in Thailand: rambutans and mangosteens. Rambutans are a very interesting looking fruit.

Rambutan

In order to eat them, one must twist and rip open the protective encasing. Once open, your finger must poke up the fruit from the skin and then eat. The easiest way to describe the taste is a not as juicy watermelon but more texture, somewhat like a cantaloupe. That’s actually a terrible explanation, just go to Thailand and try some. That’s better.

Dumb American

Mangosteens were much more to my liking; but I do not have any photos of me eating them. They were much sweeter and again not a very juicy fruit. They were definitely my favourite of the two. After this, we finished walking around and headed back to the hotel. It was a longer night for me…you know, it was about 11:30.

Atmosphere

Coming up….Robin goes the wrong way on the MRT, meets up with some of Kenny’s friends, a movie theatre, and a relaxed bar!

Ganesha

Some of my entourage

Diaw was kind enough to walk me through the proceeding and explain it all to me. In order for Ganesha to grant my request, I would need to make an offering. Sections of the offering were free but higher quality offerings/certain elements cost money and would help insure your request was granted. Thais are naturally Theravada Buddhists, but do not mind taking influence from other ideas such as animism or, in this case, Hinduism.

Purchasing the basic marigolds

As Diaw explained, the next step of the process was to light some incense and purchase some fruit. It came in liquid form. This was all part of the ritual. The ritual was done without shoes on, in order to not bring in dirt into Lord Ganesha’s shrine.

Making my initial offering

After setting my offering, down on the ground, I took the burning incense sticks in my hand and concentrated. Diaw was mucking about and was having fun. Silly guy!

Focus Mode

I then placed my incense at the foot of the shrine, and continued on to the next section.

Incense Offering

I placed the marigolds and fruit I purchased at the foot of the shrine, and then I was ready to ask for assistance once I had paid respect.

Incense Offering

It’s at this stage I will, as you can see, whisper my request into the ear of this mouse. You’ll see that I errored and did not cover the second ear of the mouse so no one would hear my request. Beginner’s failure!

Request entry!

I then proceed back to the foot of the shrine and do a good old fashioned roll of the dice. Except this time it’s a bit like zodiac. The fate of the stick I pick (which has a number on it) determines my fate.

1-2-3 Roll

After reading my fortune (which is very generically written just like zodiac in the paper here in USA), I’m finished! I’ve made my offering (request secret) and it may be answered, it may not be. We’ll see!!!!

Was it as good for you as it was for me?

We first started by meeting a friend at Terminal 21. This is a mall themed around it being a big giant airport. It’s actually a fairly neat place. Each floor has its own Terminal and appropriate theme. The London floor has a fish and chips restaurant for example.

Anyway, we went to the basement floor to the food court to meet outside of a restaurant. Here’s a nice image of part of that area.

Food Court

It’s pretty standard, except that it’s much more complex and packed than an American food court. American food courts are laid out on the back wall with seating in the middle. In every mall we visited, the food courts are laid out packing as many shops into the area afforded to them.

Surprise, people drink coffee here!

Another view of the foodcourt

Japanese Terminal

London Terminal

After a fair bit of walking around, we were a bit tired, so we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit. I found this being a large part of my trip here – catching little power naps in order to get enough energy for the next activity. Thailand tires you out that much because there’s so much to see and do – it’s sensory overload. Unofficially, the city has around 15 million people in it. There’s a lot to take in everyday. Even something as relaxing as heading home on the subway is not a restful or relaxing experience.

Bangkok MRT

After taking the MRT from Silom (where we were staying) to Ratchada, we met up with Kenny’s friends Diaw and Megumi to go to a beer garden and visit the night markets. This would be my first experience into a number of experiences that are quite normal here. We had to address how thirsty we were first though.

Wolfpack

Most places we went during the course of my stay there played live music. This is a stark contrast to my experience in Dallas, which either has music over a jukebox, or a dj, or perhaps the radio. Most places we went involved a live singer, live instrumentation, and nice songs. They were all in Thai (not playing American covers), but I was fine with it! It ended up being very nice and enjoyable music. What’s not to like?

See I’m not making it up

I remember the music and food at this place being really good, but it was a little out of the way so we had to take Diaw’s car. Driving in Thailand is not for the faint of heart. If you want to survive, it’s best to not pay attention and let the driver do that. Instead focus on what’s going on in the car, or your phone.

Part two of the 24th to come, where I make a prayer and offering.

The wall of heat that hits you as you exit the airport is not really anything the US can prepare you for. Houston is nothing compared to the heat here. Having been here 8 days already, I’m getting more and more used to it and sweat a lot less than I did the first few days.

Home Base – Furama Xclusive

Day One – we rode a taxi to the Royal Bangkok Sports Club to meet Kenny’s aunt for lunch. This is a private, closed membership club. The only way to become a member is to wait for someone to die. It’s a green oasis in the middle of Bangkok.

RBSC – Robin

RBSC – Thai Man With Glasses

RBSC – View From Skytrain

The food was good here and we met Kenny’s aunt, an SVP at a bottling company here in Thailand. It was a really nice lunch and we spoke with her about Bangkok and this being my first trip.

After that, we walked around Paragon, a mall here. It’s much more than a mall though. American malls are essentially bare minimum in terms of what can be done – there are shops and a foodcourt. Sure, you may have some occasional malls with things like roller coasters or whatnot (thinking Mall of America here), but in this one mall there’s:

Lamborghini, BMW, Audi, and Jaguar dealerships
A gym
A movie theatre with the biggest screen/seating capacity in all of Asia with IMAX screens as well as “regular” digital screens
Two food court areas with food units interspersed throughout every level
An efficient use of space (since that comes at a premium in this city)
Convention centre
Hotel
Aquarium
Art Gallery
Opera Hall
Bowling lanes
Underground/sky train access

 To say it’s a playground is an understatement. Mall shopping in America can’t really touch this because there are so many activities we can do outside. Since space is tough here, the mall environment is built around being an oasis of sorts – one stop shops for everything outside of sleeping or a grocery store.

A Wild Kenny Appears!

There’s not much after this photo; I fell asleep pretty hard.

I just wanted to give you an update to those who are checking!

The first course

The first course.1

The second course

The main course

The dessert course

Post Gourging Tea (They are getting ready to turn the lights off)

The oh did you want some fruit and other things? course

Climax

You can see by my earlier post, after all that food, I needed some workout. Well, things are definitely looking up here. The sun is setting, and we’re getting ever closer to Hong Kong!

We’re close!

The Sun is Setting

By the time we land, I am ready for a clean shower. Cathay Pacific has a private lounge for first class and business class travelers that you can access and use free of charge. I b-lined to the shower and was greeted with a pleasant oasis: room to move, a hot shower, and some towels.

Quiet time at my favourite place

Shoes are proof I’m actually here

Don’t let the photo fool you, there were people here

There are no photos for the flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok, I was delirious, sleepy, and narcolepsed into a dream. Starting with the next post, you’ll get some great Bangkok experience!