July 10- Chiang Mai, Thailand

We are having such a great time that we haven't been posting as often as we should, but we will try to catch you up to speed on the last few days. We last talked about Wednesday, July 5. That night we met up with Julie Kurr, Jillian's old babysitter who has been living in Bangkok for 10 months. She took us to a trendy restaurant in the Sukhamvit neighborhood- one of the newest and nicest areas of the city. We had lots of really delicious food (this seems to be a trend throughout most of our trip) and then caught a cab back to the less posh neighborhood of Khao San Road where we were staying.


On Julie's recommendation, Thursday we got up and made our way to Wat Pho, one of the biggest temples (and tourist attractions) in the city. This temple contained the reclining Buddha, and while Julie had told us that it was the size of the room, we didn't realize just how big the room would be. The reclining Buddha was truly awe inspiring. It was on a platform that was about one meter high, and about 60 meters long! The Buddha was reclining over the entire platform, and was about 6 meters tall! It was covered entirely in gold leaf, except for the soles of its feet, which were black lacquer with inlaid mother of pearl. The other buildings and statues in the temple were also beautiful, covered in ceramic mosaics, much like Wat Arun that we saw the day before.


For lunch we tried heading back to Sara Jane's (the restaurant owned by Ari's friend Jared's aunt), but we hadn't accounted for the hurrendous traffic. We got to the restaurant just a few minutes after she had left for the afternoon. Not to worry, though- we spoke with her and were able to meet her at her other restaurant for dinner. That afternoon we walked around the Silom Road area, checked out some cute shops and hit up the Patpong Night Market as it was getting started.

A few words about the Patpong Night Market: Number one, the place is overrun with "lady boys" as the Thai call them. While they are socially accepted here, it is still a little akward to have them help you pick out a purse as they clomp around in high heels and makeup. In New York, we often see them going out on a Friday night to a club or something, but here they will be behind the counter in the drug store or 7-11 in all their splendor. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but it is worth noting.

In addition, the Patpong Night Market is also the home of many a "ping-pong" show. If you are not sure what that is, you probably don't want to know. Let's just say it's for mature audiences only. These shows are quite creative, and not only do the performers use ping pongs, but they write letters, smoke cigarettes, smuggle razor blades, and somehow make flowers grow all from their nether regions. We didn't actually go into any of the shows to see if the claims were true, but as you walk down the sidewalk, touts and lady boys try to get you to come inside (both Ari and Jillian were approached numerous times) and show you a list of the girls' "talents." We will leave the rest to your imagination.

Back to dinner. We were finally able to meet up with Jane at her restaurant and we had an Esarn feast! (Esarn is the word used to describe the culture in northern Thailand.) She personally picked out all 15 of the dishes that we ate, and explained how they are cooked and how to eat them. We had a great time talking to her and rolled out the front door long after all of the other customers had left. It was funny to hear someone with such a thick Boston accent speak flawless Thai.

Since we had been so lucky the day before with Julie's sightseeing recommendation, on Friday we decided to follow Jane's advice and seek out the gold Buddha. It should be said that Thailand has a bazillion temples, each containing at least one image of the Buddha, if not several dozen, all covered in gold leaf.

About 40 years ago, an image of Buddha was discovered in some ruins, but this statue appeared to be made of concrete. Many temples in Bangkok were approached to see if they wanted this Buddha, but they all declined because he was so ugly. Poor Buddha. Finally, they asked a poor temple in Chinatown if they wanted the Buddha, and they happily accepted because any Buddha is a good Buddha. While the Buddha was being lifted by crane into the temple, the cement cracked and revealed a glimmer of gold. Once it was in the temple, the crack was widened to show even more gold. Soon all of the concrete was removed to reveal an image of Buddha that was three meters tall, made of solid gold. Big Pimpin. Historians surmise that the Buddha had been created in the 1300s and covered in concrete to protect it from the Burmese who often came over the border to pillage Thailand's riches. Buddha sat in concrete for about 700 years but he looks pretty good today.


After a long morning of walking around, it was time for another big meal. This time we decided since there was a Chabad House on Khao San Road, we had to eat there just once. We gorged ourselves on borekas, schnitzel, hummus, falafel, baba ghanoush, and challah. It was quite an experience. They even had a little commissary where you could purchase Bisli, Israeli pickles, and kosher meat. The place clearly catered to Israelis since there were no bagels on the menu, but we didn't let that stop us.

After lunch we lost our independence but gained a whole lot of comfort. It was time to leave the backpacker world for a while and join up with the rest of civilized tourist society. We took the ferry up the Chao Phraya River to meet up with our organized group, which we will be spending the next two and a half weeks with. We checked into the hotel, which had clean sheets and real pillows (quite a switch for us, but we quickly got used to it). We took a dip in the pool, and then it was off to meet the other group members for dinner. Everyone in the group is really nice, and it is a diverse group- 1 Canadian, 2 Dutchmen, and 7 Australians, plus our tour guide who is Thai.


Saturday we began with a tour of the grounds of the Grand Palace. Because she wears such short shorts all the time (not really, but you could see her ankles) she had to rent a sarong to go inside. The palace grounds were totally packed with tourists! The temples were beautiful and reserved for the king's private use. (And of course the three million tourists that come each weekend). It really was beautiful, though, and everything was in pristine condition in the temple compound.


Then we walked over to the Palace itself. It is closed on the weekends due to the high volume of tourists, but we were too hot to really care. Noi, our guide told us all about the royal family and the ten homes they have all over the country. We have told you a little bit about how highly the king is regarded here, and it is for good reason. He has several thousand projects going on around the country (all that he personally initiated) that directly benefit the people. He actually uses all 10 of his residences as he is on the road looking after these projects 300 days a year. (He works all the days that Bush takes off).

We had a quick lunch, highlighted by the airconditioning in the restaurant, and then we were off for a ride through the khlongs (canals) of Bangkok. We floated through kilometers of neighborhoods that were built along the intricate network of canals that make up a small area of the city. The clean drinking water is brought to these homes through pipes that run along the edge of the canals, one meter above the water. At each "driveway" the pipes are raised for the boats to pass beneath without too much difficulty. (Insert your own joke about Thai people being short here).

Saturday night we boarded an overnight train bound for Chiang Mai, the second largest city, found in the north of Thailand. You are just going to have to wait for our next post to hear all about our adventures in Chiang Mai because we need to get some beauty/handsome rest.

Lots of love,
Ari and Jillian