Saturday, June 4: Baby elephant day
American friends Jay, Christie, and Graham met me in Ayutthaya to explore the temple ruins. We hired the very friendly, multiple-gold-ring-wearing driver of a hot pink tuk-tuk to be our private chauffeur for the day. Ayutthaya is a hot, hot town at this time of year. It was extremely uncomfortable to be in the sun for more than a few minutes without an umbrella. We visited four or five beautiful ancient temples from the days when Ayutthaya was the capital of the Kingdom of Siam, including the famous one with the Buddha head ‘growing’ in the bodhi tree. (New photos posted!)
Ever since I was three years old and someone took me to the circus, I dreamed of having a baby elephant to play with. Well, after nearly 25 years, my dream pretty much came true. One of the stops we made in our Ayutthaya tuk-tuk was to an elephant ranch, where for 20 baht (US$.50), you get a basket of over-ripe bananas and about a thousand Kodak moments with a baby four-year-old Asian elephant. (Be sure to check out the pictures I posted!) I also found my second favorite bottled Thai beverage (next to green jelly drink, over course!), which is cold tea brewed from white tea leaves.
Did you know that Ayutthaya is actually an island, surrounded on all four sides by three different rivers? This natural barrier helped the Kingdom protect its capital from raiders between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries, until the Burmese finally kicked its butt in 1767 and bustedup all the temples.
Saturday night, after getting one-hour Thai foot massages, we had a very spicy dinner of tom yum soup, vegetable and tofu stir-fry, and spicy grilled fish at a table overlooking the Pasak River.
Sunday, June 5: Thai massage day
Rode the mini-van back to Bangkok from Ayutthaya. (This time, the driver had two functional eyes!) It was really great to be back – I had no idea how much I had missed Bangkok for those two days!
I still had a major headache that I never shook off from Saturday, so I went to get my first real Thai massage at the place across the street from my Bangkok guest house for 250 baht (US$6.25) per hour. Thai massage is not like any other kind of massage, as far as I know. It’s *sort of* relaxing, because they really lay into your muscles hard, which I like, but it also involves a lot of limb twisting, pounding, joint popping, etc. so it’s more invigorating than anything. Also, they purposely cut off circulation to your legs and arms, one at a time, holding down your major arteries for a minute until your limb becomes numb, then letting the blood rush right back in. This has something to do with their health beliefs about circulation. It’s a pretty interesting feeling. She massaged almost every part of me (including face, head, butt, arms, etc) and popped pretty much every joint in my body. Back downstairs, they make you drink a big glass of green tea before you leave. I really felt great afterward, and my headache was gone!
Then I had kuay chap for dinner, which is an intensely savory and flavorful soup with pork and rolled rice noodles. The broth is dark brown, and the flavor reminds me of Vietnamese pho.
Tuesday, June 7th: Fortuneteller and badminton
My German co-worker Patricia wanted to go to the English-speaking fortuneteller that Tee recommended to us. So I called to make a 5:30 PM appointment for us with the “Gypsy Tarot” reader (who is really a Thai man) at his office near Ari station in Bangkok. He had tarot cards from all over the world in glass cases on the walls and many astrology books on his shelves. He even had a tissue holder in the shape of a Thai teakwood house.
According to him, my future looks bright and I will be a “high priestess” in the career field, as long as I don’t mind hard work and little pay for the first two years. At age 30, a great star will pass over me, and I have many great life opportunities. After age 37, I will become an expert trainer, lecturer, or professor – something to do with teaching others. I then got the chance to ask him three specific questions and draw cards for those. He also says I worry too much and unnecessarily. (Good advice!)
After that I had a dinner of pork soup, chicken satay and a fresh baby coconut milkshake with friends Amanda, Ahmed and Glen at Soi 38 – a street famous among UNESCO staffers as the soi with excellent street food. We then headed off to a sports club for one and a half hours of badminton with several other people (10 of us total). I pretty much sucked at it, but I had so much fun that I didn’t even notice how sweaty I was or the bruise that I was developing from holding the racquet incorrectly.
Wednesday, June 8th: Korean BBQ wisdom
Lunch today with the whole UNESCO Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health (ARSH) Unit – all four of us! – at a Korean BBQ restaurant called Seoul. We listened to the wise Francisco tell more of his amazing life stories (he’s the 60-year-old Filipino man with the Star Wars theme song as his cel phone ring tone). He told us about the man he hired as a bodyguard during his eight years of work with the U.N. in Lagos, Nigeria – a Hausa warrior from the rural north – who asked only for a machete and a bow with poison-tipped arrows to guard Francisco and his highly coveted Peugeot station wagon. According to the wise Francisco, it is important to live as though you were a bamboo tree – extraordinarily strong, but light and very flexible. Bend in the winds of life like a piece of bamboo.
It was a particularly muggy day today and the clouds looked heavy. I was certain that it would rain all night, but it didn’t. I met my Tulane friend Jay at the Asok station so we could go to dinner at a famous Bangkok restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms (photos coming soon). The restaurant has a beautifully decorated outdoor garden dining area, with colored lights (and condoms) hanging from the trees, soothing Thai music played by a woman with a harp-like instrument, and “˜weeping’ rock fountains. The atmosphere and novelty of the place were really the biggest draws, but the food was quite good also. We had just drinks and appetizers (crab rolls and coconut/shrimp/peanut/lime/garlic things wrapped in betel leaves) because the menu was a little pricey. Afterward, Jay went with me to meet UNESCO friends for ladies night drink specials at the Dubliner pub.
Friday, June 10th: Last day at UNESCO
It’s very sad that it’s my last day of work at UNESCO, but I’m excited to move in to the Royal Benja Hotel, which is rumored to have a pool, and then start class on Monday! Eventually leaving Thailand will be hard for me too, because I’m afraid I will never again enjoy any other kind of food!
New Thai words and phrases:
Ao (pronounced OW) means “I’d like”¦”
Nahm Plao (pronounced NAHM PLOW) means “bottled water”
Jai (pronounced JYE) means “big”
Chaa (pronounced JAAAH) means “tea”
Nok (pronounced NOKE) means “bird”
Lieu sao (pronounced LEE-OH SOW) means “to the left”
Lieu kua (pronounced LEE-OH KWAH) means “to the right”
