Saturday in Bangkok

Today was one of our cultural immersion days, and we truly were immersed! The day began with a buffet breakfast stocked with a few Western comforts such as bacon and omelets, but a few Thai specialties, such as Kiwi juice, dragon fruit, provided an interesting experience for all of us.

We then took a small boat across the river and enjoyed a traditional Thai lunch. We were greeted by smiling Thai waiters (Thai people smile all the time) with trays of ice cold Singha Beer. I wonder if I can arrange to be greeted like this at home, daily! (probably not). Noodles, spicy chicken, hot and sour soup, and fish dishes were on the menu and the general consensus was it was delicious.

From there we went to the Grand Palace. We had to be sure we were all dressed respectively, no shorts, no bare shoulders to even enter. The detail of the Palace is indescribable... best to look at the blog video. The various buildings were built over different periods by the various kings of Thailand. It was here we saw the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred Buddha to the Thais. Its said that no matter their home, all Thais try to make it to this Buddha at one point in their lives.

Next we went to the reclining Buddha, which in contrast to the Emerald Buddha, was overwhelmingly large... Easily the length of half a football field.

During these travels we drove through Thai neighborhoods and had the opportunity to see things like small local markets and shops. There are a ton of small food stands, selling everything from grilled chicken, to fried worms (yes, worms), scorpions, and other things for which I have no way to describe. You have to see it to believe it! We observed average Thais moving about their daily lives, and the streets of Bangkok. One of the things you notice right away is the vast amount of pictures and paintings of His Majesty The King. The King is revered in Thailand and his birthday in December is a national holiday. He makes very few political decisions anymore and is mainly a symbolic figure at this point and is the Head of State.

From there we went to the weekend market, which is huge and sells many different things, ranging from live chickens, pets, household items, silk scarves, etc.. During our drive to the market we were given the task of a scavenger hunt. We broke into our teams hunting for various items including a duck bill or head, thai herbs, thai tea, thai poetry and thai candy, to name a few. We are all at various points in accomplishing the full list, but we're enjoying the journey. It took my team a while to find the head of chicken, but eventually we were successful. You can imagine how strange we must have seemed to the Thais asking where to find a chicken or duck head or bill...

We all have different stories and adventures in our pursuit of the scavenger hunt list. It challenged us to do what we may have not done, walk one block further in the market, try to explain to the non-English speaking butcher that you just need the head of the chicken, and figure our way back on public transportation. Something tells me this was the point ;)

We then ventured to the small shopping mall across the street, where our team decided to get a massage, as a team bonding exercise. We each got an hour long Thai massage for $250 Baht (which is like 8 dollars). The massage was fantastic, a perfect remedy after 23 hours of flying.

Our team settled on taking the Sky Tram back to the hotel, which was very nice. We were able to take the tram to within 1 mile of the hotel, at which point we decided to ride a “Tuk Tuk”. A tuk-tuk is 3 wheel motorcycle with a cabin. See picture or google Thailand tuk tuk to get a better idea. Given the Thais habit for a lot of traffic and crazy driving, this was an experience that I think we will all remember for a long time. We finished the night off with dinner at a local restaurant and some drinks at the bar. I managed to meet up with some friends of mine from the USA who happened to be in Bangkok at the same time, and after a few hours, finally went to sleep, at 4am. We are scheduled for more cultural immersion on Sunday, so stay tuned for more updates. Video of this day may come later, as it is becoming more and more time consuming to edit and produce for internet download.

Our adventures continue, we'll see what tomorrow brings. I miss everyone, especially my wife – Love you very much!