3 nights in Bangkok...

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Thailand!

We thought that we would be missing out on Christmas Carols and decorations while spending a Christian holiday in a Buddhist country, but the Thai people sure have embraced the idea! Every morning for the past two weeks our guest houses have been blaring loud Christmas carols sung by Thai children. Deck the Halls with balls of holly- fa ra ra ra ra! Many shops and restaurants have christmas trees and a Santa Claus. Other than missing cold temps, snow and our mothers' home cooking, we aren't missing the Christmas season at all!

We started our adventure in Bangkok on the famous street for Backpackers- Khao San Road. It is a bustling street with eager vendors selling everything from pineapple on a stick to Thai-style clothing. You can even get a foot massage or your hair braided for just a dollar or two. In Bangkok we stuck to the main tourist attractions, like Royal Palace, the famous Wat Po (home to the huge Reclining Buddha) and the National Museum. We have learned that Buddha has several very meaningful positions. When he is sitting upright in the Lotus position with the fingers of his right hand pointed towards the ground, he is dispelling Mara, the evil tempter. Buddha achieved enlightenment (Nirvana) while he was laying on his side, hence the reclining Buddha. We have seen hundreds of Buddhas around Thailand, and we are getting Buddha'ed out. But it is still impressive to see the devout Thai people praying and the monks performing services to their favorite god. Also while in Bangkok we visited the zoo which wasn't very good. Many exhibits were closed so we just stared at empty cages and pretended to see something cool. It was funny to see how many other people would come over to see what we were making such a fuss about. We also took in the favorite sporting event in Thailand- Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) Since Andy has learned quite a lot about Thai Boxing while in Houston, we found it very entertaining. It was also pretty brutal because the boxers can kick as well as punch. Ouch!

After three days of exploring the current capital city, we hopped on a train headed north to the former capital of Siam. Ayutthya was the capital for over 400 years in the 10-14th centuries. The old Palace is now in ruins because of repeated attackes by the Burmese. Many of the Buddhist temples, called 'Wats' are also in ruins, but they are still majestic and beautiful. Many of the statues of Buddha were left without heads because the attacking Burmese knew that would cause a greater disgrace, than destroying the entire statue. Buddhists don't believe in destroying anything related to Buddha, so the eerie headless statues are worshipped just as much as the complete Buddhas. In order to visit all of the sites in Ayutthya, we hired a personal tuk-tuk driver to show us around for a few hours. A tuk-tuk is a motorbike coverted into a two person taxi, and the loud noise it makes gives the contraption its name. We had fun at several of the temples because there were many Thai school children on a field trip. They LOVE getting their picture taken. Any time I would focus the camera in a particular direction, gangs of these kids would rush into my field of view and jump up and down waving madly and shouting 'hello! hello!' They would squeal with delight when we showed them the photo on our digital camera. It was more entertaining than the scenery.

We had the extreme luck to stumble into Ayutthya during their annual festival commemerating their status as a World Heritage site. We went to their laser and light show which told the history of the city (all in Thai, of course!). It was a fun festival, not much different than any other festival in the US, except for some of the interesting types of foods you could eat. A popular crunchy snack you could buy was dried grasshopper or round larva worms on a stick. We took a few photos of these interesting looking snacks and then the vendor offered Andy a free taste. Not wanting to offend the man, Andy picked up one of the dried larva and crunched it down. He managed a weak smile and said 'yum!' Then we had to go find some water to wash down the taste. You'll all have to ask Andy to describe it, I can't do it justice.

After three really fun days in Ayutthya, we took an overnight train ride to the far north of Thailand to our next destination. The city of Chiang Mai is nestled between three National Parks. It is a popular destination for adventurous travellers who are looking to do some trekking in the mountains. The first day we arrived to snatch up the last room at a fabulous Guest House called the 'Gap's House.' It had a beautiful tropical courtyard and the rooms are huge with antique Thai furniture and hard wood floors. All that luxury for about $14 a night. After the long train ride we were both exhausted, so while Andy took a nap I wandered out to find myself a Thai massage. It was a very unique, if not brutal experience. The tiny Thai woman used every extremity to slowly beat me up. At one point she had one foot, one hand, one elbow and one knee on me all at the same time. I felt like she was playing Twister and I was the floor mat. But after two hours and only about $7, I had one of the best chiropractic adjustments/massages ever! The next day I enrolled in a Thai cooking class while Andy roamed town around interviewing Trekking companies. I learned how to make 7 different Thai dishes and also how to cut vegetables into intricate garnishes. It was really fun, I hope I can retain everything I learned so I can share with friends! Make your reservations now :)

Andy chose a 3 day, 2 night trek through the mountains for our next activity. There are many Thai people who live up in the hills in very primitve societies. Each night, we would stay with one of these 'hill tribes' so we could see how they live. Our group consisted of 8 trekkers and one Thai guide. It was fun to get out of the city and do some hiking, but at times the hills were really steep (both up and down) and I ws beginning to hold Andy responsible for every blister. When we arrived at our first tribe, we were shown our 'hotel.' It was a thatched roof hut and our beds were on raised platforms with no mattress-just wood flooring. It was a very cold night and all through the night we were disturbed by roosters crowing and hogs snorting. There were probably 30 roosters in the village and when one gets going, they all let loose. What ever happened to waiting for sunrise?? They cock-a-doodle-doo ALL night long! So, exhausted and freezing, we woke up the next day to continue hiking up and down for hours. We had a fun break when we got to an elephant camp. We got to ride elephants for two hours so our feet could rest. Luckily our elephant was in front, so we could be spared the horrible gas one of the elephants had. They are huge, but gentle creatures, and we were really sad when the ride was over. It also meant we had to get back on our sore feet and continue walking. We had another 90 minutes of downhill walking (or in my case-sliding) before we stumbled into our second camp. We stayed in the 'Karen Village' where the married women wear bright red and pink scarves and dresses and the unmarried women wear white. It was a lot of fun seeing how the villagers reacted to our presence. They were all smiles when we gave them some candy, so then we were accepted. We also were a big hit with our digital camera, when they saw what they looked like on a mini-tv screen they too kept insisting to have their picture taken. That night around the campfire, a few of us felt a rumbling on the ground. Since we were so far from any machinery/vehicles we excitedly concluded that we had felt an earthquake. Of course we couldn't confirm that until we got back to the city the next day. That night in the Karen village wasn't as cold, but the roosters still jump the gun by several hours. I don't know how the villagers can stand it every night. The last day was much easier on the feet and we had a fun time by rafting on bamboo rafts for a couple of hours. Our group has to split into two rafts so it made a perfect opportunity for rafting wars. We spent more time splashing each other than rowing. It was a great end to three days of hiking. And by the way, when we got back to Chiang Mai, we saw on the news that there was a 4.3 earthquake at precisely the time we felt it in the mountains! Pretty thrilling for us people from the midwest who have never felt earthquakes before!

After Chiang Mai we hopped a quick flight back south towards the town of Kanchanaburi. This is where thousands of WWII POW's were forced to build the 'Death Railway' which connected Burma and Thailand. The Japanese were horribly brutal and many 1000's died while constructing it. We are staying on a floating hut on the river Kwai, just 20 minutes or so from the famous 'Bridge on the River Kwai.' We walked over the bridge today, and we visited a couple of museums and POW cemetaries. Now we need to go and see the movie to refresh our memories.

Tomorrow we are going to ride on the railway and go to see 'Hellfire Pass', a particularly grim section of tracks that was the site of many, many deaths. The POW's were forced to carve through huge cliffs with nothing more than basic tools in the hot summer months in 1943. They say that one man died for every foot of track there.

We have a week left in Thailand and we are trying to figure out where to go next. We have loved every minute of this country and we will be sad to see our time here end. The people are so friendly and the food is incredible! We will be thinking of everyone back home while we eat our red and green Thai curry on Christmas!

Love to all!

Jennifer and Andy