Past and Present, moving forward

So, this weekend was REALLY fun, since... we took a look at ANCIENT THAILAND!!

WOO WOO~!

After consulting with one of our trusted research colleagues, our group of 8 U.S. Chemistry students rented a van to drive about 1 hour north of Bangkok to Ayutthaya! (The places to see in Ayutthaya are a bit spread out, so I'd definitely recommend renting a van for the whole day, like we did - or, perhaps taking a bus there, then renting bicycles, or tuk-tuk-ing it!)

Just for a little background information, Ayutthaya was the old capital of Thailand, during the Ayutthaya period which lasted from 1351-1767, and was known to many foreigners as 'Siam.'

The city is actually a sort of island, since it is located at the junction of three rivers, and has the rivers surrounding it, like a natural moat - thus, apparently it is sometimes called the 'Venice of the East.'

Anyhow! I was super excited about seeing this particular site in Thailand, since it's known to have so many ancient ruins, and I definitely wanted to see some cool, crumbling Thai buildings! Okay, fine, that doesn't sound that cool, but, believe me... although there were tons of temples (that may have gotten a bit repetetive), we made some other non-temple stops, making the trip definitely above my expectations, especially...

because I definitely felt like I was living the life of Indiana Jones, and... that's pretty SWEET, I would say? :)

Let's get on with the photo's - and... I'll just show a few, here, and those of you who will see me in the states can just ask me for some more, in-detail shots that I took!

1. Wat Yai Chai Mongkol - This was a pretty cool temple, probably the one where I saw the most monks walking around! Complete with an outdoor reclining buddha, as well as this cool tall building (crumbling brick, of course!), that had a circular room with 5 or so golden buddhas at the top of it! And tons of buddha figurines, one after another...

2. Wat Tummickarat - More awesome than the previous one... This was more ruin-y, but you could definitely see the new-meeting-the-old. For example, this next photo, here. Firstly, I had some difficulty taking a really 'cool' picture of it, since there's actually just a normal 3-story apartment/office building right on the other side of the fence of it. Secondly, these stones lion/dog statues are crumbling (and indeed, some of the stone statue-heads fell off and were just sprawled on the grass!), but the people expertly (?) substituted some bricks to try to keep the statues together.

Hmm... I wonder who that weirdo is...?

3. Wihan Phra Mongkorn Bophit - Largest bronze Buddha image in Thailand.

4. Wat Phra Si Sanphet!! - Even cooler than the one before! This definitely made me feel like Mogli and King Louis from Disney's Jungle Book could just stroll in from behind a pillar and start singing their beloved jazzy jingle (my sister and I LOVE this song and at least try to sing even the jazzy scatting lyric parts...!!). It was AWESOME. we could walk all over the ruins and climb up the stairs... :D

Aww, why not? I love this song so much and feel the need to listen to it! hehe~ Here's fo you, Erika! :D

5. Wat Chai Watthanaram - the BEST site we went to!!! Not only were the grounds just huge, we seriously could climb up all over these ruins, too, and it was just... unbelievably beautiful and just, surreal that these ruins were still existing..

It was just, majestic, to say the least.

I was too scared to go up these stairs, since not only were they REALLY steep, there were apparently bats at the top of them!! haha~

We had a great time.

Chan, Kun, Rao, Kao - Me, you, us them

When in Thailand, do as the Thai’s do!

1. 'Wai' to people you know - see, even this McDonald has the right idea!
2. When in a public area, at 8am and 6pm everyday, the National Anthem plays on speakers. My friend, Mike, and I first experienced this when we happened to be walking around Lumphini Park at 6pm. I had heard of this strange custom from my sister, but hadn’t encountered it, yet, since I was always commuting/at university, and apparently they don’t really play it everywhere.

Anyhow!

While we were walking around Lumphini Park, the anthem started playing, and everybody…. I mean, EVERYBODY, just stopped right in their tracks, whatever they were doing, and stood completely still! Even if they were sitting down, they stood up! If you’re walking, freeze! And, those butch muscle-y guys that were lifting weights, all sweaty and probably preparing for muay thai practice? You betcha! They stood their ground, as well!

Funny thing was seeing everybody after the anthem as well, since once it’s over, everyone just resumes normal activity, as if nothing happened!

2. Toilets in Asia are just… a whole subject to talk about, and Thailand is certainly no exception! 95% of the time, I have to bring my own toilet paper or tissue paper into the stall with me, and like several countries I’ve encountered, you have to throw the TP into the small trash bin next to the toilet! Actually, I don’t really do this in the hotel/residence that I’m staying in… but… it’s making me slowly realize that perhaps more countries (*cough cough, the US?*) maybe should do this, too, since perhaps toilet paper is the main clogger of pipes in toilets? But then again, maybe plumbers would have less work to do if that were to happen, and I certainly don’t want plumbers to go out of business….

Another thing with Thai toilets, though, that we encountered on our weekend trip, were toilets that can only drain if you add more water to it! I forgot what this is called, but my friend Seham (from San Jose) said that she’s seen it in San Francisco, as well (of course! Since, Bay Area people are just SO eco-friendly/conscious, right? Hehe~!)! But, anyways, basically there were several toilets (both squatting and Western) that had buckets or sinks of water next to them, as well as a little water bucket/scooper. So, after you did you thing, you have to add water to the toilet (perhaps 2-3 scoops?), and everything pretty much drains down! What a good way to save water, eh?

3. Eat spicy and often! Pretty much, that sentence says it all. Everything is just varying levels of spicyness, here (yumm!). And everybody eats several snacks (kanom!) a day! Never have I taken so many snack breaks during lab J
4. SMILE all the time and don’t raise your voice!! This is VERY important. Everybody here just has such a jolly attitude, and even if your day is not going well, you don’t show it, or else, just say what’s on your mind, but with a smile on it. I find that I identify with this custom, already, since I’ve been trained with it so much since I was little, with my Japanese mother and grandmother. Sometimes I find it unfortunate that it feels like you have to conceal your true emotions/feelings sometimes (and bottle it up inside…), but… although it has this con, it does have a bright side. And, to me, this bright side is that, so far, it’s put me in a better mood, since everyone else seems to be in a good mood too. Like, things might be bothering everyone, but it kind of shows that there’s more to life to look forward to and live for, and you show that positive mentality with a smile.
5. Just some other taboo’s:
1. Don’t use your feet to point to anything
2. Don’t point your feet at images of Buddha
3. Wear proper attire in temples and in Palaces – collared shirts and long pants for men, sleeved shirts and long skirts for women. Closed toed shoes for both sexes. This is actually the reason that, when I went to the Grand Palace, 2 weeks ago, that you can see in my picture that I’m wearing a pretty long skirt!
4. No PDA – This is completely opposite of my experience in Shanghai! My wifee would definitely appreciate this, since she is often annoyed by couples overly-smoochy in public!
5. Never talk badly about the royal family
6. Don’t touch people on the head!! When I went to get my first Thai massage, last week, the masseuses actually asked me if I would like a head-massage or not, probably because some people are sensitive to this! Of course I accepted, and was VERY happy with my decision! :P

While my wallet… gently weeps

Although there wasn’t a planned trip for our research program, this weekend, us American students decided to take full advantage of our free time to explore Bangkok, ‘City of Angels!’ The Thai name for Bangkok is MUCH longer, but it basically condenses and means ‘City of Angels,’ which I find to be interesting, since the area that I grew up in is Los Angeles, which translates basically to ‘City of Angels’ in Spanish!

Anyhow! Going all around Bangkok cost a TON of baht (yes, now I’m thinking even cheaper than I do in the U.S., since I think in terms of baht, now!), but at least it equates to not too many dollars, and besides… it was well worth it, since I’m even more amazed by and in love with this city.

Towards the end of last week, we explored the Siam area (fancy shopping area, very metropolitan part of the city) and enjoyed a nice dinner at a fancy Chinese restaurant, followed by ice cream. The following night, after we had a program meeting with presentations, we went out with some of the Thai students to a 9-Baht-a-Bowl noodle place, which was uber GOOD, especially since we could try so many types of noodle soups, pressure each other into eating more, and not worry too much about the overall cost!

On the weekend, we braved the morning rains (it’s starting to be rainy season, here. Meaning, it rains/floods for an hour or more in the morning, then is pretty sunny but pleasantly cooler in the afternoon) and HUGE crowds to shop at Chatuchak Weekend Market, where there were TONs of vendours that sold EVERYthing! I went wild and crazy, here, since there were just SO many stores selling graphic tee-shirts, a fashion item that I particularly love to wear and have been severely disappointed by the LACK of variety of in the U.S.! Not to mention… all the cute shoes, street foods, ice creams…AH! Anyhow, there were SO many stalls, I don’t even think we covered half of the market grounds!

At night, even though we were exhausted from 4 hours of shopping, we went with some of the Thai graduate students to…. Our first Thai night club, MUSE!

This place was SO crowded with people, there was hardly any room to dance, but.. I guess that means that this place was just so popular, right?? What was really cool was that, although they had some familiar American Pop music playing, allowing us to scream the lyrics as if we were crazy American-College-Students-Gone-Wild (wait…. I guess we are… aren’t we…!), the majority of the music was actually played by a live band… BodySlam!!

BodySlam is actually one of the Thai bands that I put on my Playlist for this blog, before I came to Thailand and was searching high-and-low for Thai music! I was actually not really impressed by the one song I found on Playlist.com by BodySlam, and so started to give up on the quality of Thai music… but after hearing them actually play at MUSE and being surrounded by 20-something-year-old Thai people jumping up and down, ecstatically singing along with the band, I’m really enjoying their music, now!

Let’s just say that we had a fun time, staying at the club until 2 o’clock in the morning, and perhaps some people didn’t quite follow the advice that I found on the wall opposite of the bathroom mirrors :)

Today, although we were planning on being ULTRA-American by starting off Independence Day with a Continental Brunch at the next-door hotel (Pancakes and French Toast, oo!), we ended up waking up a little tooo late from the previous night’s activities, and so ended up having a Western-style LUNCH (club sandwiches and smoothies!), instead!

A pretty groggy lunch was followed by taking a couple buses to the Amulet Market, snacking on street food, fitting seven people into a taxi (the taxi driver was shocked, to say the least, and told us to pay 100 baht instead of even putting on the distance/rate-meter!) to Khao San Road (VERY touristy), cooling off with some beers at an Irish Pub that didn’t even serve Guinness (!!), then grabbing a bus to Siam to eat an AMERICAN dinner at Hard Rock Café….

Close to a 3,000 Baht later for the weekend? My wallet is hurting, but I figure that I’ve got to enjoy this City of Angels while I still can, to the fullest.

Chan mei ru~!

LT^3BMD - V : Signs that don't make sense or... are funny!

Chan mei ru = I don't understand/know!

So, I think that any English-speaking traveler encounters this when going to foreign countries, especially Asian ones. Walking along the street, strolling the mall, you finally encounter something that makes SENSE to you - i.e., ENGLISH. But, oh WAIT!

You look closer. And it don't really make sense OR... it's just, funny!

I find it really interesting when other countries like to use the Roman Alphabet to make things look cool, exotic, high class...

Here are some examples that I've collected thus far in Thailand:

1. The entrance to touring the Royal Palace:

At first glimpse, this may seem a bit too segregated... but, actually, Thai people get into all national attractions for FREE, while Foreigners (or, Farangs, as they call us, which also means Guavas!) have to pay a fee! Usually it's 300 Baht... or just around 3 dollars, but.. still! hm!

2. I saw this in the bathroom stall at the Royal Palace, and I just thought it was funny that this sign was only in English and Korean! Clearly... they think that they only need to address English and Korean speakers....

3. This is a pic of the mail posts! Apparently anywhere other than Bangkok is just... elsewhere! haha~!

4. So, one of the places that we've frequented is the ice cream parlour. And, aside from Haagen Dazs (which is a bit pricey!), there's only Swensens! This sign seems to state that Swensen's is SO popular in the U.S, but, can anybody tell me if they've even seen one, before?

5. This is one of the sundaes at Swensens. I just thought it was a nice tribute to SF :)

6. Sign from a Mexican restaurant... that chicken seems a bit too calm (and not to mention, EAGER!) about the potential of being in someone's stomach....

7. So, this wasn't really in English, BUT! I just found this sign to be interesting. So, it's a mixed nut/peanut snack advertisement, but... why does the guy have kiss marks on his shoulder??

8. And lastly, I thought that this was a good tribute to Bangkok. Though it endured a long struggle with the protests, everyone I've talked to so far seems to be really energetic about uniting, showing off that Bangkok is getting better, and to just think optimistically about this city's future.

Sanuk Weekend!

This weekend, we took a trip with some of the Thai Grad Students that we're working with!

June 26th, 2010 - Saturday

1. Siam Museum - Basically, a cultural and historical museum of Thai stuff!

This is the group of Thai REU students that I will be hanging out with, this summer! :)

This guy (basically) the Thai version of John Muir, was made out of wax!

2. Khao Bin Cave, which was HOT and HUMID! But, awesome, nonetheless!

3. Our Home-Stay Place, which was in traditional Thai architecture!

4. We took a river motorized-boat to Amphawa Floating Market (lots o' yummy munchies!), then to see the fire-flies on the river (not too many, they were mainly in the trees, and lit them up like tiny Christmas lights!)

June 27, 2010 - Sunday

1. Wat Bang-Kung (Buddha in a tree!)

2. These Random Muay Thai Warrior Statues that we saw right next to the Temple...

3. Sanam Chandra Palace

4. Phra Phatom Chedi (Tallest Buddha Monument in the World, but, unfortunately, we were unable to see the Buddha inside of it since it's under remodeling!)

Rod mea~!

I had forgotten about the LT^3BMD section of my blog for a couple posts, and as I was writing this, it ended up being REALLY long, so… I’m dedicating this entire post to….

LT^3BMD – IV

Commuting to and from work, though time-consuming, is pretty fun! I have to take the bus and metro, and while my commute-buddy (Mike) and I usually use the very pleasantly air-conditioned metro for flipping through our GRE Vocabulary Practice Cards (GAH!), the bus I think, is definitely a nice experience, as well.

Rod mea = bus!

One reason that I love buses is because I always love observing and meeting new people on the bus, and I could talk about that for forever, but.. let me just comment on the overall bus system in Thailand, which I'm still amazed by! :)

So far, we’ve encountered two types of buses: one being new, shiny plastic-y, with TV-monitors and air-conditioning. And the other being old, wooden-floored, windows open, a fan above only the driver, and a bit worn down.

The new bus’s fare is typically calculated by distance, so… in our case, it’s 14 Baht.

However, the old bus’s fare is at a constant… 7 Baht! How nice is that?

Being a cheap-o and fan of establishments that have gone through a bit o' wear and tear (as long as it doesn’t involve smelly-toilets!), I’m sure anyone can say which bus I like better…

The feeling of the air through my hair and the rustic character (spray-paint writing and cartoons on the wall!) of the bus… love it.

But that’s not the only thing I've enjoyed…

What’s really cool is that the way they actually give you your ticket on the Thai bus systems, here, is really interesting!

Basically, when you enter the bus (from either the front or side, it doesn’t matter), a bus-attendee walks up to you, and asks you where you are going (on the new buses). They then take your money and….

Put it in this SUPER AWESOME change collector, thing! Basically, it’s a cylindrical container that is partitioned into different values of change, as well as paper rolls of various ticket values. They hold the bills (folded quite nicely in an organized fashion) in the same hand that holds the cylindrical container.

With the paper roll of tickets, they then rip off a ticket for you, but then… tear the sides of it in a way the denotes where you’re actually going? I think that there’s numbers that denote the number of the bus-stop that you got on at… so the tears are made right where you got on?

Actually… THIS just IN! I just asked my assigned Thai-research-mentor, Top, about the bus systems, and here’s what she enlightened me on…

1. Although there are more stations than numbers on the sides of the tickets, the numbers basically say where around your station that you got on, was
2. Where the rip on the ticket is made based upon which direction you’re going in. Generally, in the corners of the ticket, there is also (in Thai) the name of the places that are at the start and end of the bus-line.
   The numbers on the ticket are divided in two (like, 1-7 and 8-14 or 1-6 and 7-12), and the rip is made on whatever number side that corresponds with the direction that you are going in. The direction of the rip matters, as well, as all the rips are made diagonally, and somewhat point in the direction that you are going in, too!

Let’s give an American example…

Say that life is grand, and there’s a bus from Los Angeles (Station 1) to Berkeley (Station 14). If I get on the bus at around Simi Valley (with one of my roomies!), then my ticket would probably be ripped at around number 3 on the paper ticket. If it’s Thanksgiving, I need to go home, so I get on the bus at Berkeley, my ticket would probably be ripped at 14.

3. There are so many types of buses! I was explaining to Top that this morning, I was worried when Mike and I didn’t pay for our bus, since no one came to us for our ticket-money, and we couldn’t locate a box for putting in money… but it turns out that we were fortunate enough to get a ride on one of the government-owned free buses!

Government-owned Buses:

Old ones:

Cream or red coloured – 7 Baht

Cream or red coloured with a blue sign on the front window – Free!

New Ones:

Orange coloured – Start at 12 Baht, and is increased, depending on your distance

Private buses:

Old ones:

Orange coloured – 6.5 Baht

Blue coloured– 8 Baht

New ones:

Any colour on the outside! – Starts at 11 Baht, and is increased depending on your distance!