I think therefore Siam

Bangkok - May 27-30

What an amazing, loud, busy city. It's like London or D.C. on crack and if they were into street carts and sidewalk salesman. The city smells of food all the time - people are cooking in restaurants, rolling out sidewalk cafes, setting up carts of fresh fruit, noodles, boiled pork (yum!) and some sort of weird hot dog thing that they call sausage, but IS NOT SAUSAGE and made me a little sick to my stomach.

We saw several temples (Sleeping Buddha – largest in the world) and the Grand Palace where the king still performs ceremonial functions, part of the palace area is a Buddhist temple where the Emerald Budda resides *Hint- Buddha is a big theme here*.

It was moving in a way I can’t explain to see people taking off their shoes, going in and kneeling to pray. I was moved, but at the same time was very aware of my own Christianity and didn’t join other non-Thais (read Americans and Europeans) when they kneeled before Buddha too. The beautiful murals and statues and architecture are so grand as to be almost overwhelming and I am still trying to wrap my brain around a place that dates its Historical (written word) period back at least 2,000 years. *Another hint* We Americans only date it back about 200.

It's hot, but not unbearable - reminds me a lot of Florida. The vegetation is more interesting out in the town where we are working out of (Lopburi), just because there is more of it to see. In Bangkok, like any city, it's more concrete than actual jungle. And sadly, I find out, there is no actual jungle. We are in the middle of the country where it’s maybe subtropical, but more temperate forests. The south has the tropical jungles.

Had to take a boat to get to The Grand Palace and the Sleeping Buddha - which was a good time. It sounded almost refreshing since it was hot that day, until you saw and smelled the river. Not as much trash as you would think, but lots of biodegradable refuse like plants and a dead baby pig. Not something you want to go swimming in…or have sprayed on you. It's definitely a bottled water city (and country for that matter) though there are no recycling bins that I have seen...it’s possible this is just done at the trash plants.

Food was a mix of Thai food, a few forays to McDonalds as I craved something familiar, and Thai pizza - which was delicious. Oven backed bread cooked on the thin side so was crispy with mozzarella and tomato paste put on top last. The food here is amazing I have come to find out.

The Temples were beautiful, you had to take your shoes off when you entered, out of respect - so there was a lot of removing of shoes and socks and I kind of wished I had brought flip flops. We also stopped by the Jim Thompson house which was close to our hotel, an interesting story - an American serviceman (served in the OSS during WWII) who liked Thailand and stayed on, building this beautiful conglomeration of several Thai houses into one main structure and making Thai silk what it is today - world renowned and wanted. And then on a visit to friends in Malaysia he just disappears while on a walk. Crazy. But his business continues and you can tour his house and gardens which are amazing. You have to remove your shoes – it’s customary to do this in Thai houses since they normally eat sitting on the floor and you want to keep it clean. Of course, I didn't see the signs initially and stepped inside and was about to take a picture when I was reprimanded by the staff. I hate making cultural faux pas like that.

Next updates will be about Lopburi and the dig - Bangkok was fun and interesting, but I'm no city girl and jet lag had me in bed by 9 or 10 each night.