Wednesday, April 15th, day three in Bangkok
The demonstrations are over and so is the danger. The empty streets are full of people and heavy traffic.
The Government extended the Songkran water festival for several more days (since it was curtailed by the demonstrations and protests) so it looks like we are doomed to get wet here in this city and the festival will follow us for several days when we arrive in Chaing Mai. I must admit that it is totally amazing how much water is thrown at people from buckets and through hoses and water guns. We were very glad to have an all day tour outside of the city by private car and guide.
We got picked up at 7:30 and were also joined by a young couple from Barcelona, Spain who are on their honeymoon. It was fun to spend the day with them. Our itinerary today included a trip to the Floating Market, a stop to watch how the coconut is made into body oil, shampoos, hand lotion, sugar candy and bowls and spoons and purses made from the shell. Every part is used and there is no waste. It was interesting. Everything is made totally by hand and very primitive. We also stopped at a teak furniture factory where we saw workmen carving intricate designs into tables, art work, chairs, etc. It is very tedious work. We also made a stop at the Temple of the Reclining Budda with a similar experience to the previous temple by the same name. The Thai people are very superstitious, make lots of small donations every time they visit a temple, leave offerings for the monks and prayers to the Budda. The Temples haven't been crowed because of the holiday and the demonstrations though more people seemed to be venturing out to these sites than previously. Our guide said many people have been staying at home because of the demonstrations.
The Floating Market was so interesting. We drove about 45 minutes outside of Bangkok in a van and then transferred to a motorized colorful boat shaped like a very large canoe with several rows of seats on the bottom of the boat and a driver at the back. We went through a series of narrow canals which took about 30 minutes. People live in small houses along the water. Each house has their own shrine. We saw some people actually bathing in the canals, washing their clothes there, and who knows what else. Small children were also swimming in the water where we were told snakes and other animals were also there. Our guide Visa said that these people were born in these houses and know where it is safe to swim and what areas to avoid. People waved to us along the way and seem very happy. The floating market is exactly what is says – people sell everything you can imagine right from their boats – cooking meals on the boat, selling spices, hats, handicrafts, etc. If you want to buy something, you point to it and they send it to you in a net on a long pole with a tin can to put the money into and send it back to them. Then there are many stalls under a roof along the water with similar products which you can bargain for. We bought a miniature tea set for the girls and got it for half what they asked for. We were told that we probably paid too much since they accepted our first offer quickly. It is hard for us to know how to bargain.
We also visited a place called The Rose Garden where we had lunch, saw a small elephant show and we also rode on an elephant together. It was really fun. Then we saw the traditional Thai tourist show and from there returned back to the hotel in the van, not going back via the water. Now we saw what Thai traffic is all about and realized how really scary the protests actually were, keeping most of the cars and motorcyles and tuk tuks off the streets. In the slow traffic, once again, we encountered serious water
play and we were grateful to be in the closed van with locked doors and windows. The streets were full of drenched people with powdered faces. Our van got squirted and sloshed with pails of water – all in good fun and though it is amazing to see, it is not scary at all. We would like to ride in a tuk tuk but it is not possible with the water situation. Everywhere we look, we see drenched drivers and passengers but they seem to expect it and are dressed for the splashing!
Had a wonderful evening with Neissha Thaigie and Naresh Indhewat who own a Fast ForWord Practice in Bangkok. We met them this March in San Diego at the Scientific Learning Conference. They picked us up in their car and took us to a fantastic northern Thai restaurant. They did all of the ordering – 7 dishes – much too much food but they wanted us to taste many different things. We hope that they will come visit us in Florida and allow us to reciprocate. It made the visit to Bangkok so much more meaningful as we were able to get a local view of how they live, etc. This young couple has a very upscale lifestyle. As in many countries that we have visited lately, there does seem to be the “haves” and the “have nots” with little in between. They now own the franchise for Fast ForWord for all of Thailand and have also purchased the rights to develop the program in Vietnam. They were very impressive.
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