You talk Thai?

We arrived in Bangkok yesterday afternoon, asking people in line at
customs what day it was and feeling entirely sleep-deprived, confused,
and above all, really god-damn hot.  Neither of us has stopped
sweating since.

In this altered state we bought ice-cold
cokes in glass bottles on Koh San Road and wandering through the
vendor-choked streets.  Birds on spits and birds in cages, cold
beverages of all sorts, underwear and dresses and strange spiky fruits
in piles.  People on top of people, everyone eating noodles or rice in
broth out of bowls and by and large ignoring us.  Both of us had
aching backs from the astonishingly lengthy free chair massages that
we'd gotten in the "Green Relaxing Room" at the Taiwanese airport
(officially the most soothing airport I've ever been in).

We wandered away from the crowds and found ourselves in an enclosed
area of white buildings with intricate gold designs on the trim and
windows.  A young monk in a gold robe passed by, not meeting our eyes.

"Are we supposed to be here?"  Dana asked.

"Until someone tells us to leave," I answered, as we rounded a corner
and found ourselves in a small, green square.  A tall black Buddha in
front of a smaller gold one, both dressed in gold cloth.  A sign nearby proclaimed that we were on the grounds of a Buddhist University.
A mob of young men in sports jerseys and shaved heads, dyed gold, walked past, some sneaking glances at us.

"Sawadhi Kap," a man approached us, who we found out was a university employee, "Today is a holiday of Buddha.  Tuk-tuks are 20 baht for city tour of Buddhas.  Government pays for gas.  See big buddha, lucky buddha, black buddha..."

He continued, and convinced us that this was the right decision. A tuk-tuk is basically a motorcycle with a cart attached, kind of like a really fast golf-cart, with a reputation for ripping tourists off.  But hey, it sounded like a good idea.  We climbed into a fast moving tuk-tuk, roaring through the streets.

"I feel like I'm in Epcot," Dana said, and I laughed.  A rooster crowed on the side of the street, stray dogs slunk out of the way, and motorcycles with three people on them roared past us.

We managed to see all the Buddha's and make it out of the tuk-tuk without too much damage - we only paid 20 baht (less than a dollar), but were dragged to a sketchy travel agent, who we said no to, and ended up getting dropped off at a Buddha, trying to walk home, and ending up walking in circles.

At this point, the sun was going down and we'd both hit a wall of sleeplessness and heat.  We sat down at a restaurant, next to a fake waterfall, and ate noodles, drank Chang beer, and felt the life return to our bodies.  Exhausted, we drug ourselves home, to cold showers, 10 hours of sleep, and (on my part) terrible bed-head. 

Tonight, we are bound via overnight bus and a ferry to Koh Panang, to start our month-long yoga program at Agama.  After hearing today about the bombings last night in the financial district here in Bangkok, I am glad to leave.  This new life has really begun.

-Mary

(Enjoy the pictures!  Sorry about the preponderance of photos of myself.  Dana is the photographer, so she gets me mostly, but I'll try to fix that for next time and sneak some shots of her)


I'm full of jitters as I sit here in this relatively cool internet cafe...after a breakfast of tea, yogurt and fruit I'm satiated and ready to explore.
I'm going to let Mary do most of the writing in this blog, but of course I don't know how to keep quiet and I'll be posting from time to time as well.
What today holds for us is unknown at this point, maybe a bike tour through the city...lots of water, maybe a Chang here and there for spirits. One of my missions for today is to find a pharmacy that sells some sort of sleep aid.  This 10-hour bus ride will be best survived by some p-groove and shut-eye.

Until next time, Namaste friends.

-Dana