Bangkok 2

We began our day today with a boat ride up the river and a canal. We passed The Temple of Dawn which is the national landmark of Thailand, a magnificent pagoda. We passed the Grand Palace which we visited later. We passed other homes which looked like their first floor was underwater - the water was pretty high, interesting and beautiful buildings, Buddhist temples, etc. One really cool place was the Royal Barge Museum. We took a picture of the barges. Think "King and I". Amazing. We also say garbage barges picking up the debris in the canal, a floating bank that goes door-to-door, a hospital boat/ambulance. We didn't see one, but they have mail boats, too. We stopped by a small Buddhist temple where we were give bread to feed the catfish. They were huge, fighting each other, wow. Apparently they are safe from fishermen within the radius of the temples - guess where they stay!



We then walked through a many-blocks -long flower/vegetable/fruit market. It was incredible. So many of the flowers and really other things are geared toward the Buddhist religion. The flowers are used for offerings. There were tons of yellow flowers which the color for the gods taken from the Hindu tradition which has been mixed with their Buddhist beliefs.



We the rode in a Tuk Tuk which is a souped up golf-cart with a driver who weaves in an out of traffic with utter abandon. Our driver didn't take lane lines, trucks, or anything else into account. It was exhilirating!?!



We safely arrived at the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha Temple. Again, think of "The King and I" - lots of gold and colored glass. It is really breath-taking. The Emerald Buddha, which is actually made of jade, is not that large, but it is at the top of an intricate throne-type tower.



On our way to our next stop, which was the Jim Thompson house, we learned alot from our guide about the Buddhism that is practiced in Thailand. There are two kinds of Buddhism - the smaller vehicle and the larger vehicle. Thais generally adhere to the smaller vehicle which is stricted than the larger, which is more flexible. At 20, young men are encouraged by their families to become monks for a period of time - usually at least 3 months, but it can be shorter or longer. They have to be able to read the rules which are written in Bali. There are 274 forbidden rules for monks. They can eat two meals a day, but the last in between 12-1:00. They believe in reincarnation. That after death, the good and the bad sides of a person are judged. The soul then suffers in hell for the bad and then goes to heaven after which he/she is born again. The goal is to reach Nirvana, a state of rest and peace, after which there is no rebirth. Lord Buddha taught that to be born is to have sorrow, and the goal is escape that. I asked Lu how you reached that point, and she said that only the individual knows for himself, but you have to reach a point or enlightenment where there is no passion, jealousy, or anger - total peace.



There are young boys that you also see in the orange suits of the monks. They are novices and have 10 forbidden rules to live by. The nuns, who have to pay respect to any monk even the novices (I read an editorial in the paper that indicated that the life of a nun isn't so great), have 8 forbidden rules, and regular people have 5 forbidden ruled to live by. They are no killing, lying, stealing, drinking alcohol or using drugs, and being honest to your family (fidelity) - sound good and somehow familiar. Monks and nuns can come and go in their service - whenever they feel a need in their lives they can "reup".



Another interesting item has to do with their compulsory military service. All men at 21 are required to serve with some exceptions - health, family, etc., however, the military doesn't really have room for every one. If a man passed the physical he then picks a card out of a box. If the card is black, he is excused from service. If it is red, then the service date is listed. Interesting.



So--the Jim Thompson house...he came to Thailand near the end of World War II with the Army as part of a force that was chagted with helping restore Thailand's full freedom and independence. He decided to stay and was impressed with the hand-weaving of silk that was really just a cottage industry at the time. He took it worldwide and made Thai silk famous and sought after. They really admire him.



Last night, we went to a very nice Thai restaurant where we ate Thai food and saw a traditional Thai program of dance and music. Dad ate pretty much everything - and alot of it was very spicy. You would have been amazed, impressed and proud! The costumes were beautiful. One interesting aspect of the performers was that the way they hold their hands. It looks like they are double jointed because they keep their fingers bent way back all of the time - looks quite painful, but everyone is trained to do that from their youth in school, our guide explained.



One last thing for today that I forgot to write yesterday--- Thailand used to be called Siam. At that time it encompassed a number of other Southeast Asian countries. The name was changed for this nation because Thailand means free land, symbolizing that this country has never belonged to any other power. They are very proud of that. One of the members of our group asked about the origin of the Thai people. The guide said that it has been thought that they were a distinct group of people that were pushed out of Southern China, but then said that there has been research that showed their ancestors had been around as long as any in China. They are very proud of their heritage.

Bangkok 2

Bangkok Trip

Hello from Bangkok! We are here in this amazing place after a very long trip - but then, it's a long way away. Yesterday we went on an interesting tour of a number of places. Before we went to this floating market outside Bangkok, we drove by salt fields where they"harvest" the salt from the sea and to a "typical" Thai home (which had been opened to the public in a very commercial way). As we traveled our guide, Tim, told us some interesting information about a variety of things.

Thailand produces both white and brown sugar. The brown they keep for themselves because it is so good, and the white they export. We tasted some of the brown sugar - superior!

Thai families are traditionally quite large because they need lots of people to help with their farming. Tim is one of 10, and he grew up in a home without plumbing or electricity. The families, mostly, continue to live together even after children marry. They share one large communal living space which is used for everything. There is often a separate room for the grandparents - who are venerated (excellent custom).

It is interesting that the sand is white now as opposed to brown where the tsunami hit and the water is much clearer.

Elephants are very intelligent animals. They like to have only one owner and very loyal and sensitive. They are excellent swimmers and very fast. They eat 270 kg. of food a day and drink 70 liters of water. They are very useful and work hard in the jungles, etc. They even go to elephant school when they are 4 years old. There is a story about an elephant who saved a number of children during the tsumani. They are making a movie about it. They love to eat sugar can and apples. Normally elephants work in the fields and forests. They start at about 12-15 years old. They don't have more than 6 babies and wait 5 years between pregnancies. If the pregnancy lasts less than 20 months, the baby will be female. If it's 20-23 months, it will be a male. Why do you think that would be the case? Elephants live 60-75 years. They have such close relationships with the owner or trainers that frequently when one or the other dies, the other dies soon after.

Monkeys are also very useful and are much more than pets. They climb the trees to get the coconuts. Bananas are their favorite food.

They also have pythons and cobras. They have cobra shows where a boy battles 5 cobras at a time - we are not going to see one of those.

Crocodile meat is apparently quite delicious. The best meat is in the tail.

Thai people like to eat insects - particularly grasshopper and scorpion and something called cactu or sea worm - We won't be trying those, I don't think.

Outside the Thai home we saw a small shrine - there are similar shrines all over the place. This was called a spirit house and was dedicated to the spirit of the land upon which the house was built. Every morning, the older people put some kind of offering in the small house (which looks kind of like a bird house).

The family farm is almost totally self-sustaining. They use every possible part of the coconut. They make the delicious brown sugar from the coconut flower. Birds even build their nests from the fibers of the coconut. They used to use the fiber for toilet paper. Which reminds me, they call bathrooms happy rooms here!

Something, about city dwellers. They find it more economical to rent out every possible space, so they don't have kitchens. They buy all of their food on the street every day.

They are totally devoted to their king. Yo see pictures of the royal family everywhere. In their homes, they have a "rouge's gallery" like we have. The people who are the most revered are at the top - the royal family, then the grandparents (again, a good idea), and then the other generations.

The king was born on a Monday and his favorite color is yellow, so on Mondays aboaut 70% of the people wear yellow!

We went to the Damneum Saduk Floating Market. We got their by gondola type boats that went up their manmade canal system. Just about all of the country people have water front homes! We were bombarded at the market but resisted buying anything but post cards for Brittin, Ginny, Annika, Emma, Carter, and Gracie. They are in the mail.

As you will see in the postcards and in the pictures we took, they have all kinds of fruit here. They have 13-14 differnt species of bananas. Tim said the best are the fingernail bananas - they are the kind we made banana bread out of at the Roths. We saw a tapioca tree - I didn't know tapioca grew on trees!

We went to the Royal Thai Handicraft Center where we saw the most amazing wood carving. We took some pictures that we'll try to post later. We also saw the process for making paper out of the bark of the Mulberry tree.

So...there is our first rambling blog. This really is a very fascinating place. There is more to come...