My Journey: Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from the land of the perpetual sun. . . . this year I took it easy and just watched some festivities on the television with a couple of friends. It was strange for me to know that in North America it was only 3:00 pm, but that a new year had already begun for me. By the time I woke the next morning, North America still hadn't entered 2011. We're all on the same page now though. :)

Speaking of time differences. . . . did you know that there's a full 12 hours between Thailand and the eastern time zone. How crazy is it, that I was calling to wish a Merry Christmas while eating my delicious dinner and most of you were just waking up. Time is so relative and I just want to make the most of it at this point - seeing and doing as much as I can.

Just last night I was driving home from the foot care specialist (I had cracked heels like you wouldn't believe), and the traffic suddenly came to a crawl. I figured that there must have been an accident up ahead, since this is the norm in this part of the world. Sure enough there was, only this time it wasn't two vehicles . . . . it was a vehicle and a pedestrian. On the side of the road there must have been about 30 people standing around the lifeless body on the side. His shoes were in the middle of the road, and there was debris scattered for a good 500 m. The feeling in the pit of my stomach as I drove by the vehicle that hit him, and his lifeless remains are something that I can't even express in words. I wonder to myself. . . . did this man have any identification with him, will he be missed or is he just another labourer, how will the man who hit him be affected for the rest of his life? I ended up saying a prayer last night because that's about all that I can do. I just know now that I need to be extra careful with the driving, and definitely not dart out in front of cars.

So anyway, Thailand was a real treat! Ian and I landed in Bangkok around 1:00 pm on the Saturday only to be greeted with the world's longest customs line (which incidentally was at least 1.5 km from our gate) and with my friend Yossiri who was in the Starbucks on the third floor. After proceeding through passport control, we took 2 trains and an open air bus to get to the Bangkok hotel that my friend Shray had stayed in for 2 years while she taught in Thailand. It was rather humble, but had everything that one could need. . . a fridge, kettle, balcony, bathroom, internet, television and 2 beds. For about $30 per night there was no way I was going to complain. The real bonus of this place was that it was not really in a tourist area. Ian and I had the chance to see Thailand from a more local perspective.

The first night there Yossiri invited me to an evening exhibition that they were running at the museum. I think I was the only non-Thai speaker there, but it was a really elaborate production that they had for only 2 evenings. The museum had a couple of floors where you could explore the evolution of the Thai people and their culture. On the outside lawn there were several vendors selling local foods and at 9:00 pm they had a pantomime of a Thai folk tale. It was very elaborate -- from what I could glean, there was a serpent, a sailor and some sort of bird-like man. The sailor seemed to be tricked by the serpent and the bird-like man fought with the serpent. It was set to music, and it was really neat to see the birdman zip across the sky on a cord. Needless to say, by the time I got back to the hotel I was ready for a good sleep since I'd been up for well over 24 hours. Ian had just finished a few hours of napping, so I'm sure he really enjoyed having to listen to me snore while he watched the interesting local television and surfed the net.

Some of the other highlights of Bangkok included a trip to the weekend market (which was massive), a couple of trips to the mall, a visit to Khao San Road, rides on open air buses, rides in tuk-tuks and most importantly, a visit to the grand palace. The market was the most impressive outdoor shopping that I have ever seen. It made the old Stittsville flea market seem like a ten year old's lemonade stand. They had knock-off clothing, knicknacks, exotic animals, food, and anything else that you can imagine. I ended up buying some shorts, a man purse, some t-shirts, and some blindfolds for the kids to use during science experiments.

The grand palace was spectacular. Below are just a few pictures to give you a taste for it. Some night soon, I may go on to facebook and upload more of the pictures. I have over 700 to sift through!