I Have Wings

Pirates, Snakes, Oh My!

The past couple of days in Vietnam have been amazing. I've added pictures from Halong Bay and pictures from a very different type of dinner we had last night (details below).

On Thursday morning, Eric and I woke early and joined an overnight tour to Halong Bay. Halong Bay is in the Gulf of Tonkin and was about a 3 hour drive to the east of Hanoi. When we arrived, we boarded a ship that would be our home for the next two days.

The boat was great (I will admit to be a little nervous ahead of time since the whole trip only cost $35). It had three stories and Eric and I shared a room with hard, but pretty comfortable beds and our own bathroom. There was a large area on the top of the boat with sun chairs and a covered area where we ate all of our meals. The boat had its own kitchen too and the meals were pretty good, considering we where we were.

Speaking of our location - it was beautiful. Halong Bay was about 10-15 degrees warmer than Hanoi (so it was probably mid 70s), but it was very misty and overcast. The whole bay had a very ominous look to it - it was very gray and foggy and the islands that fill the bay appeared as shadows in the distance. For some reason I thought of Pirates of the Caribbean and I was waiting for a ship of cursed pirate ghosts to come out from the horizon. I can't even imagine what it would have been like under the bright sun. Despite the weather, it was all very beautiful - there are over 3,000 islands in the Bay and they are very small and tall with sheer cliffs. I'm not sure my pictures will do them justice...

When we returned from Halong Bay on Friday night, we showered up and embarked on a very strange evening. In my parent's guide book I had read about snake restaurants that exist in a town called Le Mat, which is a few miles outside of Hanoi. Needless to say we were a bit intrigued and decided to check it out (along with a couple we had met in Halong Bay). Since we were going to eat snake, I donned by AC/DC t-shirt - it felt like it would be appropriate attire.

Getting there proved to be part of the adventure. The first few cabbies we asked had no clue what we were talking about. Finally I approached a guy and said "Le Mat? Snake? We want to eat snake." He got a little twinkle in his eye and that wicked smile that told us he knew exactly what we were talking about. We piled into his cab and he called "his friend" on the phone. Pretty soon Eric was using the skills he picked up in the negotiation class he took in Bangkok to get the price of our meal to $5 per head (down from an opening offer of $20).

Le Mat turned out to be a dirty side street about 6 miles outside of Hanoi. As we turned down it, we quickly came upon a motorcycle gang wearing jackets with cobras on the back (it was all very Cobra Kai). When they saw us in the cab, they quickly converged on us and started grabbing on to the cab and shoving business cards through Eric's open window. Our cabbie sped away as Eric rolled up his window - as they ate our dust, our cabbie said "That's marketing" and we all had a good laugh.

We arrived at the restaurant and the owner was soon showing us cages with different snakes. He took a few out and knocked them around with a stick. They were certainly snakes and they were most definitely alive. None of us were very brave, we all stayed well away from the hissing and squirming and let the owner pick out a snake that would meet our needs. They quickly decided on one and then without any warning the owner smacked its head on the ground and they started cutting it open. The drained the blood and bile into glasses and then cut out its heart and liver. The heart kept beating and continued to beat as we took it upstairs while the owner prepared our drinks.

The drinks turned out to be whiskey with bile and then another that mostly consisted of snake blood and a little whiskey. He didn't say anything about it putting hair on our chest, but we knocked it back anyways. It basically tasted like very strong whiskey and we soon had a nice little buzz going. Then over the next 45 minutes or so, the owner brought out a succession of 8 dishes all made from the snake. Definitely check out the pictures to see everything. The snake mostly tasted like slightly rubberly chicken. Most of the dishes were dipped in a mixture of salt, pepper and lime so they also had a very salty taste. It was good, not great and I'm not rushing out to have it again, but it was definitely an adventure and a lot of fun (in that taboo type of way).

Good Morning, Vietnam!

Pretty much everything I know about Vietnam is from movies and a couple days of class time thrown in during high school history class. When I was about 9 or 10 I went to summer camp in Maine for the summer and one of the few cassette tapes we had was the soundtrack for Good Morning, Vietnam - it had a bunch of Robin Williams' lines from the movie and we all memorized them ("It's hot! Damn hot! Real hot! Hottest thing is my shorts. I could cook things in it.") And for a long time (longer than I should probably admit) Rambo, First Blood Part II was my second favorite movie (behind only the classic Red Dawn)...

This is all a long-winded way of saying my Vietnam knowledge is probably a bit too Hollywood and I don't have a great base to compare things to - with that said, it definitely won't prevent me from creating some new experiences while I am here, which is exactly what I've been doing for the past couple of days.

Currently, I am in Hanoi, which is the northern capital of Vietnam. Its a vibrant, but dreary city (largely due to the weather I think - its always overcast) and actually seems to be the most European place I've been (which shouldn't be a surprise given the French used to run things over here). I'm staying in the Old Quarter and I love it. The streets are very narrow and they twist and turn all over the place. Motorbikes seem to be the only form of transportation and they are everywhere. Crossing the street is an adventure - if you wait for the traffic to stop you could be there all day, you just need to take a deep breath and go for it. For the most part the bikes cruise around you. For the most part. Cambodia was similarly overrun by the motorbike, but here while they are weaving in and out they are also constantly honking their horns - one of the first things you notice is how loud the city is!

I've also noticed that for the most part the people leave you alone a bit more than they did in Bangkok. There are defintely tourists milling about, but certainly less than in Cambodia and Thailand. Hanoi doesn't seem to be a tourist city, the people go about their lives and for the most part don't take much mind as you walk down the streets.

The food is very different from Thailand, but fantastic. This may seem like a small thing, but they have great bread here! It's been awhile since I've had a nice baguette... Last night I went to a small hole in the wall place, called Cha Ca La Vong, where they served a Hanoi specialty called cha ca. It was the only dish the restaurant served and you sit down and they bring over a small fire and you cook little white fish fillets in a frying pan with peanut oil and greens (including a lot of dill). You eat it over white noodles. It was delicious, greasy, but delicious all the same.

For lunch today I had pho, which is kind of a beef and noodle soup - it warms you up pretty good, which is perfect because IT IS FREEZING HERE! I know I have no business complaining, but going from 100 degrees to 60's has been quite a change. I only have one sweatshirt with me, so you will probably see a lot of pictures with me wearing it! Luckily, as we head south it will warm up again.

Today I went exploring the city - I met a cool motorbike taxi guy in the morning and he stayed with me all day for 100,000 dong (which is about $6 - 15,000 dong = $1). He took me around to all the museums and would just wait outside for me. I'm definitely starting to enjoy the motorbike taxi rides - definitely a bit dangerous, but its a great way to see the city up close and personal.

The Army Museum and Hoa Lo Prison (a.k.a. the Hanoi Hilton) were pretty interesting in their descriptions of the American War (which is what they call the Vietnam War here). I noticed they used the word "puppet" a lot to describe both our administration during the war (i.e. "puppet president") and the American troops (i.e. "puppet soldiers") - I never did figure out who was supposedly the puppeteer. The Hoa Lo Prison was actually used by the French to hold the Vietamese revolutionaries and then later by the Vietamese to hold the Americans (including John McCain). According to the exhibits, the French tortured the Vietamese inmates by the hundreds, but although the Americans "committed untold crimes on our people, ... [they] suffered no revenge once they were captured and detained. Instead they were well treated with adequate food, clothing and shelter." A quick search on the web seems to indicate that there is a <slight> difference of opinion between the official Vietamese version of events and the experiences of the Americans that were held there. As you learn early on, there are two sides to every story...

Tomorrow, Eric and I are heading to Halong Bay for an overnight stay. Halong Bay is just off the Gulf on Tonkin and is supposed to have beautiful islands and caves to explore. I'll tell you all about it when I return!

Best of Angkor Pictures Have Been Added...

Once again my dad and I went a bit overboard with pictures in Cambodia and especially at Angkor (I think my dad alone took over 600 or something -- which means I'm pretty sure there are some people in Swampscott that just changed their phone numbers so they don't get the "hey come over and check out my pictures" call ;-)

Lucky for you, I narrowed things down to about 40 that are among the best - or at least give a good overview of the trip. Check out the pictures here...

Jill Koidin, Tomb Raider & Adventures in Angkor

Where to begin? We've spent the last two days in Siem Reap and Angkor - and they've have been absolutely fascinating. Many of the people I have talked to who have traveled in this part of the world have said that Angkor is one of the most amazing places they have ever been. I can now say that unlike most things (with the notable exception of In N' Out), Angkor has definitely lived up to the hype!

Once again this isn't area typically covered by the history books in the States, so a bit of history is in order. Angkor is an ancient city built by the Khmer civilization between the 9th and 13th centuries. In their hey day, the Khmer ruled a vast territory that extended north all the way to China and included much of Vietnam. The ancient city is enormous and the ruins of the many temples, walls, and buildings are scattered all around the jungle outside of the modern (term used loosely) city of Siem Reap. The city was "lost" for many years, but was rediscovered in the 1860s - ever since the temples have been dug out of the surrounding jungle, preserved and more recently become a huge tourist attraction. Some of the guidebooks call it the Disney World of Asia, and although it was crowded at times, I find the comparison to be pretty unfair - Disney could only dream of creating something this magnificent!

The temples themselves are massive and they cover an enormous expanse of land. At times it seems like every piece of rock is intricately carved detailing some story of either Hinduism or Buddhism (although Cambodia is now predominantly Buddhist, the Khmer civilization was heavily influenced by Hindus from India). When I post my pictures (hopefully tomorrow night), I'll include some of the stone carvings - I can't even imagine how long it must have taken to build these temples. The temples themselves are in pretty decent condition considering how old they are, but a lot has been looted over the years. Walking around you can't help but imagine what they must have been like in their hey day.

We arrived yesterday morning and spent most of the day hiking around the temples with our guide. After a quick introduction to the temples at Preah Khan, we spent most of the day at Angkor Wat, the main temple (and the one you would recognize if you've seen pictures of Angkor). Angkor Wat is the world's largest religious building and we spent our time exploring a good chunk of it. For me, one of the coolest parts of Angkor is you can pretty much climb all over everything - they don't like you to climb on the actual statues, but everything else you are free to explore. I had a blast finding different nooks and crannies and freaking my parents out a bit by getting too close to the edge at times!

Speaking of my parents - I have to say my mom has been a true tomb raider. I know I make fun sometimes, but she hasn't shied away from anything and even conquered a long standing fear of heights by climbing an almost vertical stair case to the very top of Angkor Wat! And this morning, she said "screw it" and jumped on an elephant with my dad (smashing tobits the previously mentioned "two trunk lenghs at all times" rule). All in all an inspring effort put forth!

Angkor is hard to write about - it is definitely one of those "you gotta see it to believe it" type places, but hopefully some of the pictures I upload later will do it some justice. It is a truly remarkable place and for me, an experience that has made me think long and hard about the real differences between "ancient" and "modern" - the people who built these structures were incredibly advanced, uniquely talented and extraordinarily creative.

One random tidbit, according to our guide, Siem Reap means "Siam Lost" and refers to the fact that the Siam (or the Thai) lost a war to Cambodia. It's kind of like having a city in Massachusetts called "YankeesSuck."

In any event, tomorrow is our last day in Cambodia - we fly back to Bangkok tomorrow night. After that my parents head home and I continue on to Vietnam for two more weeks before I head back to the States myself. My time is quickly coming to an end, but I know experiences like the past couple days in Angkor will be with me for quite some time. Hope all is well stateside!

Phnom Penh: Warts & All

Yesterday my parents and I left Thailand and flew to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. A lot of people I have spoken with have skipped Phnom Penh and flown straight to Siem Reap (where Angkor Wat is). I'm glad we decided to detour in Phnom Penh for the day, it wasn't the most beautiful or scenic place I have ever been, but it is certainly striking and I think it is an important place to see in order to understand Cambodia's past, present and future.

The drive from the airport laid the scene out well - this is by far the poorest capital city I have ever been in. The streets buzz with motorbikes (often with entire families on the back of them) and cars, but there didn't seem to be many traffic lights and everyone seemed to just go with the flow, switching lanes and sides of the street at will, passing, speeding up, slowing down... There are very few tall buildings (3 stories max) and the street was lined with small shops and shacks - and this is the main road in the capital city of the country! I learned from our guide that there was no public transportation system and no taxis (those guy who hung out at my hotel in Bangkok should try coming over here!)

I did not see the amputees that I had heard so much about. In fact, I have been here for 2 days now and I don't think I have seen any amputees. In fairness, I haven't hit the markets yet, so perhaps I will see that there. There are some beggars (mostly children) at the various tourist sites, but nowhere near as many as I thought there would be. In fact, everyone I have met is incredibly nice (no surprise for Southeast Asia), helpful, and most actually speak pretty good English. As I found last year in my travels to China and Japan (where the Chinese in Beijing spoke better english than the Japanese in Tokyo), the poor seem to have better english skills - perhaps because such skills can take them so much farther. One other thing I noticed is that from casual observation the population seems very young - there are A LOT of young people and children everywhere. Which leads me to the next section...

After checking into to our hotel (another beauty) our guide picked us up to see the sites. The very first place we went was the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (called S-21 by the Khmer Rouge). I imagine a bit of a history lesson is in order (I know I never learned any of this in school...). I'll keep this brief, but if you want to learn more, check out this site. The Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975 as the Vietnam War was winding down. Their leader was Pol Pot and between 1975 and 1978 he unleashed a horrible genocide on the Cambodian people that eventually killed close to 2 million people - or, put more starkly, 1/4 of Cambodia's population. Similar to the Cultural Revolution in China, the educated class and politicians (not that the two are exclusive of one another) took the brunt of the Khmer Rouge's punishment. Beyond the genocide, the Khmer Rouge closed all forms of industry and forced the people to move out of the cities and to the country side into forced agricultural labor camps. Pol Pot called his plan "Year 0" and his hope was to create a "new people" to bring Cambodia into the future.

The Tuol Sleng Museum, or S-21 during the Khmer Rouge regime, was one of the torture prisons. Ironically, prior to being a prison it was actually a school. Of the 200,000 people imprisoned there between 1975 and 1978, only 7 survived. The prison we saw was left in much the same condition as it had been when it was in use. The torture beds and steel rods and chains were all there and the rooms were divided by bricks into tiny cells. Several of the rooms were covered with wall after wall of photographs of all the people who came through the prison. Interestingly, every prisoner was photographed by the Khmer Rouge and a detailed biography was kept of their life up until imprisonment. I found it interesting to compare this level of detail to the nameless numbers given to the victims of the Holocaust. The Holocaust victims seemed to be herded like cattle and dehumanized as much as possible. The Khmer Rouge seemed to permit the humanity to remain, but tried to break the men and women who came through the camp. There were no gas chambers here, the prisoners were mutilated, tortured, and starved ... and photographs of it all were on display.

After the prison we drove to The Killing Fields, which was one of the mass graves used by the Khmer Rouge. It was down a long dirt road, the ride was uncomfortable and it was extremely hot out, but the conditions only made the trip more poignant. The Killing Fields are essentially pits that contain anywhere from 100 to 1,000 dead Cambodians - they were not shot, bullets were too expensive, instead they were smacked in the head with a sharpened bamboo stick. Many of the victims fell into the graves and were buried while still alive. There were actually many mass graves all over Cambodia, the one we saw was at Choeung Ek and contained 8,000 bodies. It also has a memorial with a large Buddhist stupa - from the outside it looks like a normal wat-like structure, but when you walk up close you see that it is filled from top to bottom with human skulls. Real ones.

Obviously the visits to these two sites were difficult and considering that there isn't much else to see in Phnom Penh (in the afternoon we went to the Royal Palace which is certainly grand and beautiful, but nothing that really blows your mind), it might be hard to justify the trip. However, as I said in the beginning, I think it was entirely worth our time. The reality of the Cambodian people today is that they have an amazingly rich past (one that I will learn all about at Angkor), but in their recent history they have faced great adversity. Although not necessarily successful, the Khmer Rouge reign was indeed a "Year 0" - the Cambodians have spent the last 27 years rebuilding and only recently have begun to have a somewhat stable government with which to build upon. To be sure they have a long way to go, foreign investment is virtually zero - this is a part of the world that even the ubiquitous McDonald's hasn't touched yet. BUT, I was impressed by the directness with which the Cambodian people are treating their recent history. I have no idea what it was like to visit Germany in the 1960's - had they already come to grips with the horrors of the Nazis? I wonder if they would have engaged a tourist, such as myself, as honestly and directly as I was here in Phnom Penh. This is a city that is not afraid to walk around without its makeup on - and I think that bodes well for the future - and has certainly earned by respect.

Sorry for a post that is a little bit more of a downer than usual - I imagine my thoughts on Angkor will be much more uplifting!

Pictures Have Been Added!

I've added about 20 pictures from our trip to northern Thailand (Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai). There are a ton more, but I didn't have time to write about all of them and I think these are the best of the lot. Plus, for those of you in and around Swampscott, I have a feeling my dad will have a few to show you when he returns (he's already taken over 500 pictures and we haven't even hit Cambodia yet!)

Cruising Down The Mae Kok...

(NOTE: This post is actually from February 16th, but unfortunately I couldn't get the hotel computer to submit it for some reason. I'm back in Bangkok now for the night and tomorrow we are off to Cambodia. I have an early flight so I'm not sure if I'll get any pictures up tonight, but I'll see what I can do.)

Today was definitely one of my top 5 favorite days in Thailand thus far. I'm currently sitting at a computer in the beautiful Anantara Resort & Spa in Chiang Rai. Chiang Rai is in the north west corner of Thailand, called the Golden Triangle because it borders Myanmar (Burma) and Laos. In fact, tomorrow we will be going over the border to Myanmar to check out some villages and markets.

Before I get to today's events, I have to tell you a bit about this hotel - it is set on a hill overlooking the jungles of Chiang Rai and Myanmar - the view is spectacular. The hotel itelf is only 2 stories tall, but the grounds are enormous and every aspect of the building is exquisitely detailed - lots of beautiful Thai and Burmese (is that what it is called?) art all over the place. My room is definitely one of the nicest I have ever stayed in (although considering that my travels consist mostly of Holiday Inn stays, that might not be saying much!) I have a huge bed, a patio with a crazy view, and an enormous bath tub that could comfortably sit 3 across (although admittedly, any more than two might be a bit weird...) The pool is one of those fancy deals that "falls off" at the edge and they have musicians playing live Thai music all over the place. And while the hotel is certainly expensive by Thai standards, it is all much less than an average hotel in NYC for the nigth ($116 per night!)

So how did we get here? Well, it took awhile, but the trip was well worth it. We woke up this morning in Chiang Mai which is about 8 hours to the east in a more central part of Thailand. Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand (and a former capital I believe). We had been there the previous two nights and had a very nice stay. It was a little more "city" than I think my parents and I were expecting, in the sense that its still pretty crowded with a decent amount of traffic and built up (although not really with tall buildings). We checked out some wats (I'll save the descriptions for when I upload the pictures) and did some shopping at some pretty cool shops where they actually make the goods we were buying. For example, we went to a silk shop and first stopped by a factory where we saw them actually producing the silk. We did the same for a wood carving shop, a ceramics shop, an amazing jade shop and a few others. It was nice to see some actual artisans at work vs. the people in the markets that just hawk the things from god knows where! We'll actually I guess I figured it out, they're from the workshops we visited!

But I digress... we started off in Chiang Mai and drove for three hours north. Normally I'm not a fan of 3 hour drives, but this one wasn't bad at all. There was lots of interesting things to see along the way and it was nice to finally get into some of the countryside of Thailand (vs. the cities and islands I've been spending most of my time in). When we reached the Mae Kok River, we boarded a long tail boat. The boat had four seats, one for the driver, one for our guide, one for my parents and one for me. It was kind of like a tuk tuk boat with a large outboard motor on the back. The boat rode very low in the water and went along at a pretty good clip. We rode the boat all the way to Chiang Rai - about 4 hours in total, stopping along the way to visit some hill tribes and an elephant camp. My dad made fast friends with the elephants, but my mom was not very amused. Apparently, her motherly instincts do not extend to enormous elephants!

The ride was a long one and I can't say the long tail boat is the most comfortable form of transportation in the world, but it was an amazing experience to fly down the river. The river was relatively narrow and the tide was low (because we are in the dry season). The driver weaved in and out of the rocks like he had the route memorized... he would come inches away from some of the rocks, but never hit them. The breeze felt wonderful (especially in the heat) and the stops along the way at the remote hill tribes only made the experience seem more remote and special. We saw a few other boats along the way, but for the most part we had the river to ourselves and I fully appreciated it after the hustle and bustle that was daily life in Bangkok. I think today is one of those days I'll remember for quite some time!

Tomorrow we will spend the day in the Golden Triangle (where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet) and at night we head back to Bangkok for a quick layover before heading over to Cambodia for the weekend - I'm hoping that I'll be able to upload some pictures tomorrow night at the hotel. I hope all is well!

Bangkok with Mom & Dad...

I should have posted a message sooner to say that my parents arrived in Thailand safe and sound, but between their arrival and finishing school, its been a busy couple of days. Mom and dad arrived late Friday night - I met them at their hotel, the Peninsula, on Saturday morning for brunch. The Peninsula is a beautiful hotel right on the river (I'm pretty sure it won some awards this year from the travel magazines for being one of the nicest hotels in the world) - definitely a part of Bangkok that I hadn't spent much time in before! Apparently when they arrived they no longer had rooms with king-sized beds, so they upgraded them to a suite for free... the room was ridiculous. My dad was quick to point out the toilet that looked out over the city from the 27th floor.

After breakfast I took my parents over to the Chatuchak Market to give them their first taste of Bangkok. We walked around for a few hours, but it was really hot, so we escaped around lunch time to one of the indoor markets. I guess I hadn't mentioned it before, but the weather has definitely gotten progressively warmer since I've been here. The afternoons are now almost unbearable - high 90s and pretty muggy. Speaking of hot, at lunch my dad went a little overboard on the spice in his soup and definitely paid for it. Welcome to Bangkok!

For dinner, Marc joined us and we went to a restaurant called Baan Khanita, that was recommended by some Thai friends and expats. It is known for having some of the best Thai food around, and it was definitely excellent, but I still think the best stuff is from the random places you find along the streets. After dinner, we took my parents to the State Tower where there is an open air bar, Sirocco, on the 64th floor. For those of you into views, its one of the better ones I've seen, although the drinks are expensive (NYC prices) and actually pretty bad.

On Sunday, my parents traveled around with a tour guide and I spent most of the day packing up my stuff and running some errands. Actually, I really spent most of the day sleeping since Marc and I were out quite late. We had some bottles left over at a few bars we attend regularly, so after dinner and drinks with my parents we went around to polish them off. Needless to say night quickly turned to morning which quickly turned to lunch time... "Fat, drunk and stupid" may be no way to go through life (at least according to Dean Wormer), but the drunk part is a pretty good way to say good-bye to Bangkok!

Sunday night, Marc joined us again and we went to a new restaurant called Mahanaga, which was serving up delicious Thai Fusion. (Marc and I were definitely enjoying eating dinner with the folks!) After dinner we took my dad to check out Bed Supperclub (the futuristic-looking night club I wrote about before). It wasn't very crowded, but we got a few drinks into my dad and he danced around a bit (yes, I have pictures, but you'll have to wait until I upload them.) Seeing my dad dance around, I realized I truly am my father's son. My parents left around 11 PM, but before they left my mom pointed out two girls that were checking Marc and I out. A little while after my mom left, the girls saunter over and one of them points to Marc and I and says "Gay?" and then points to herself and he friend and says "Lesbian." Turns out Bed on Sunday night is gay night. Good times.

Right now I am in Chiang Mai - my parents and I arrived here this morning. We are staying at a beautiful hotel right in the Old Quarter. This afternoon we went to check out some wats and a place where they made jade sculptures. I have a bunch of good pictures, but I don't have time to upload them all now, so you'll have to wait. I need to go get ready for dinner, but for those who were curious: Mike and Jill are safe and sound, staying away from the ice cubes and having a blast!

Fuqua Times Article

The Fuqua Times, our student newspaper, released an issue today with articles from a bunch of the people who are abroad. In addition to Thailand, there are students in Cape Town, South Africa, Chile, and number of other places. I wrote an article for the issue and I thought I'd repost it here. Not too much new for those who have been reading the site, but I thought it was a nice summary of how I would describe Bangkok without going into a ton of detail.

Bangkok: Hard on the Outside, Chewy on the Inside

When I first arrived in Bangkok, I have to admit I was a bit intimidated. The exterior is certainly rough. However, after a few days, I learned that lurking just beneath that tough outer shell, was a welcoming, safe and, most of all, friendly city.

I am living off a main drag called Sukhomvit, where the city pulses night and day. Just walking down my street is an adventure. Vendors are everywhere, selling everything from t-shirts to knives to $1 DVDs of movies still in the theaters to all types of Thai food. Ahh, the food! The food is wonderful, but it takes some Pepto and the realization that you’re “not in Kansas anymore” to get comfortable with ordering it on the street. And as you order the food watch out, because weaving in and out of the throngs of people are motorbikes, cars, an occasional elephant, and more stray dogs than you can imagine. The smells alternate from wonderful to disgusting and there are random puddles every so often even though it hasn’t rained once since I’ve been here.

But the people are amazing. Always smiling and helpful, they are genuine and exude a friendliness that is unmatched (at least in my travels). The city is beautiful and eclectic, in a jumbled, busy, crazy kind of way. One moment you are walking through a section of seedy hostess bars with sketchy men older than your father cuddled up close to Thai beauties still working their way through their teens. The next you are exploring the lavish Grand Palace, the most decadent you have ever seen with a thousand colors sparkling in the sun. In between lies everything else. As you walk the streets and see the wats (i.e. temples) and skyscrapers rub against each other, you realize that Bangkok isn’t just a place where the ancient and modern have met, they have completely smashed into one another and the fascinating debris has been left for you to explore.

To be sure, you will curse the first time you are trapped in traffic at a light that literally hasn’t changed for 5 minutes. And the bizarro world that is a Thai club, where the women chase the men and the men can never really be sure if they are really talking to a woman will throw you for a loop. But at the end of the day, every turn brings a new sight, something you probably have never seen before, and every time you leave your room you can expect an adventure of some sort.

I couldn’t possibly fit all I have experienced and learned into the 500 hundred words the powers that be (in this case, the editors of the Fuqua Times) have allotted me. If the brief introduction above has left you intrigued, I invite you to check out my web site (www.ihavewings.com) where I have been chronicling my various adventures since I left the States in December. On it you will find tales of tigers and elephants, bamboo rafts down the River Kwai, bellies full of food and other food best left alone, all night parties on the beaches of Ko Pha-Ngan under the full moon, buddhas and waterfalls, fire throwers and crocodiles… and whatever else tomorrow brings.

Birthday In Bangkok

ihavew

For those who didn't know, my birthday was on February 7th. If you're keeping count at home, that makes 27 years. I don't real feel like 27 is a big milestone or anything, but Christine was kind enough to remind me that I've now graduated from my "mid-20's" to my "late-20's"... so I have that going for me.

No birthday would be complete without a birthday celebration, so on Tuesday night we decided to make our first foray into Pat Pong, one of the most notorious areas of Bangkok. (At this point, I think I should note that the MPAA is still reviewing the contents of this post. We were initially gunning for a PG-13 rating, but then realized we would pretty much have to stop writing here, so instead we're going full bore into R-rated territory. Only the lack of pictures is saving us from NC-17. If you happen to remember any of my birthdays prior to age 5, that probably means you are related to me somehow and you might want to consider reading something else. Might I suggest a book?)

Earlier in the day I received an email from a girl (Shannon) who is friends with some of my Stanford friends. She was traveling through Southeast Asia and was in Bangkok for a few days. I invited her out with us (what better way for her to meet me for the first time than to take her to sketchy sex clubs?). Everyone else was busy for dinner, so Shannon and I headed to this place called "Eat Me Art Restaurant" - while the name sounds pretty in line with the night's activities, it was actually an excellent restaurant that was in a house full of modern Thai art. The food was the same type of Asian fusion you find in the States, we had a risotto and a spicy roast chicken - both were excellent.

After dinner, we headed over to Pat Pong to meet everyone else. The night started innocently enough as we went to a place called Radio City for a few beers (or in my case several, since everyone was buying them for me). Pat Pong is half strip clubs and sex shows and half night market. So if you get tired in one of the clubs, you can go buy $8 jeans or some Thai silk. Genius.

Around 11 PM, a man came up to us holding the following card:

I have to admit we were curious! We started to follow him, but quickly realized that he was probably going to rip us off, so we consulted with one of the older British guys on the street and he pointed us in the right direction for one of the "really good clubs." I know I've spoken poorly about all the sketchy old guys with the young Thai ladies, but in Pat Pong its like consulting a sommelier in Napa - you know they are going to lead you to the good stuff!

So we walk into this place, its sort of like a strip club with one big stage in the middle and 4 or 5 Thai girls dancing in various stages of undress. About 5 minutes after we were there, a white girl (who we later learned was from Seattle), got up on the stage and started dancing. The Thai girls soon managed to take off all of her clothes (including underwear) and she was just dancing on stage butt naked for about 4 songs. She was a much better dancer than the Thai girls and we later found out that she was, in fact, a stripper. Needless to say that was an interesting way to start the evening.

As the night progressed, the girls on the stage would perform "tricks" - much like the ones described on the card above. Since it was my birthday I was asked to catch the ping pong balls in a bucket - I think I caught 5 and dropped 2... I was standing about 10 feet back, so she, um, had some good range. Unfortunately... er FORTUNATELY!... we couldn't really take pictures, but I think its safe to say I saw some things I had never seen before.

We snuck the picture above and I know it isn't great, but it actually captures what I remember from the night quite well -- i.e. everything was a bit blurry! All in all, it was a memorable birthday and another new experience in Bangkok!

My time in Bangkok is quickly coming to a close. I had my last class today and tomorrow I have one final and then that's it! My parents arrive tomorrow (Friday) night and after spending a few days here we leave on Monday for Chiang Mai. I can't wait to introduce them to Bangkok (and especially see their reactions to everything!) - I imagine we'll steer clear of Pat Pong, but you never know!