Bangkok: City of the Angels

Hi all! I'm here in Bangkok, which is sometimes referred to in Thai as Krungthep, or "City of the Angels." For the past week we've been staying in a guest house in the suburbs of Bangkok. The guest house is associated with a volunteer organization called Cross Cultural Solutions, and is very modern and western inside. We've been staying at the guest house for a good portion of each day, doing a number of different health and safety orientations. But we've also had a lot of flexibility to venture out into the city.

The first time we walked down the street to go to the local market, I felt like I was literally in another world. The heat is all-consuming; muggy, dense, and tropical. And everywhere you turn there is something new and exciting to look at. All the houses in this area are gated, but as you walk past them the lives of the inhabitants inside seem to spill out into the street in a colorful array. There are roosters in small cages that look like overturned baskets, dogs in varying states of shabbiness, kids, motorcycles, clothes hanging on lines, and trash that smells like it's fermented in the sun just a little too long. 

Last Thursday we set off early to visit some of the Buddhist temples in the city. We visited Wat Pho, which apparently houses the most Buddha images in all of Thailand.

     My group from left to right; Julia, Will, Grace, Anna, Madi, and I. And in the back; Graciela, Cameron, and Zander and Jaci (our program leaders)

The scale of it was absolutely amazing, and the incredibly intense heat made it somewhat surreal. The only thing I can think to compare it to is a giant, glittering city of Oz.

                                                                                                               
We took a water taxi on the way back from the temples - although you could hardly call it a taxi because all it did was cross the Chao Phraya river. The few short minutes that we were on that churning, brown water however, we got a totally different perspective of Bangkok.

                                                                                                                      
One of the other highlights of this past week was the Thai boxing lesson we had. When we first walked in to the small, half outdoor boxing "shack," the noise and heat were a bit intimidating to say the least. We all sort of gave each-other that "oh no" look. But the boxing instructors ending up being really nice.

We also had a lesson on how to give a traditional Muay Thai massage. We all set up mats on the dining room floor of the guest house and partnered up. It was a bit more like acupuncture than an actual massage.

Just as an update, none of us have gotten any food related illnesses yet, despite eating at a couple of questionable restaurants. (The one we went to yesterday was literally a raw meat buffet, where you boil/grill your own food on a steaming wood-fired water grill at your table). I tried to boil some raw veggies, but it didn't go very well. So I just ended up eating fries :)

Other than that, we've just been doing a lot of exploring. Fresh vegetable markets.....

Cement overpasses...........

And crowded streets.

Bangkok certainly has it's charm and excitement. But I think I'm ready to leave the bustle of the city and move into our host families. Tomorrow we'll be taking a plane ride to the Nan province and driving to the village of Kun Sathan to move in with our host families, who we will live with for the next 5 weeks.  (See pink province in upper right.)

From here on out, we leave the role of tourist behind, and become truly immersed in Thai culture.

Until next time!!

--Emily