My family and I arrived in Bangkok on September 2, at around 1am. We took a taxi to the place we were gonna stay in.
In the next few days, we visited temples, a park, marketplaces.. restaurants,.. beaches.
The temples were okay.. I realized that without deeper knowledge of a place or a site, one does not appreciate it very much. I wish I read up more on Buddhism before the trip.. what does the statue of Buddha reclining symbolize (I found out later that it meant he was attaining nirvana)? What are the rituals, the symbols, of Buddhism? I went to the temples and was not able to appreciate it much because of this. When I went to India, I was able to appreciate so much because I was aware of what a lot meant. Anyway.. now I know..
But, I learned something great in the second temple because it had a lot of trees and plants and birds, dogs, cats and fish living freely.. Anyway I realized that that's how life should be. Everything should be free to grow, to thrive.. It's so beautiful, the spirit of the place is so different that way. What is it that we humans have done to the world? We are the most intelligent creatures on Earth and we have destroyed everything. We have made the Earth ours and ours only... when it isn't. It is for everyone! All the animals, all the plants. Even the creatures we consider beasts and monsters.. it is part of the Earth,.. part of why everything works, part of life. And yet we say that this is mine, this is yours.. what is that? What a shitty way to live! I understand that the world must develop, must progress.. but what are these buildings and artificial crap we've created? It's replaced everything! It is out with the circle of life! This planet works and is what it is -- the planet of life -- because whatever is produced, whatever is used, can be put back and returned to generate more life. We just create more and more trash, more and more garbage.. and where is it all supposed to go? Is it supposed to just sit around?
I know not everyone feels the same way about nature and life.. I guess I just have to do my part. It'll sound so extreme and stupid but these days, I don't even want to kill an ant if I can help it. It is life,.. for me, it is sacred.
When I was on the beach, I sort of felt the spirit of the earth. I looked out into the ocean and realized how everything is connected... and how it's been this way for millions of years... the waves crashing on the shore, going back, coming in, going back, coming in.. and I realized what a different world the ocean is. There is so much going on there I don't know about, it's amazing. We went snorkeling and I saw beautiful fish. When our tour guide threw some bread into the water, all of them came so fast. Hehe I love animals. I tried to touch them but they got scared. I also realized that it was their territory; I was just a visitor. It was theirs and I had to respect it. It's a beautiful realization for me, that I am just part of the earth, part of life. And nothing is mine exactly, everything belongs to this planet.
When I am older and on my own, I want to live in a place where life grows and thrives. Dogs, cats, birds, fish.. and other animals.. just living. The whole world may change but that place won't. Hopefully, I find someone who I want to share life with who also that kind of life. I dunno, it is so different, so peaceful. It is not the silence.. it's not the cleanliness or whatever.. it's something else.
Hehe well enough about my realizations for now. Let me talk about my trip. Bangkok is nice, quite interesting.. it had so many tourists, even if it was the lean season. We went to the night market, which had a lot of cool stuff and cheap food. Didn't get to eat there though, as my dad didn't want to. We bought some lansones, a fruit we get even here in Manila.. but the ones there are so delicious. :) We ate in Thai restaurants most of the time and I love Thai food! It's so exotic! Spicy, sweet, milky.. fruity.. very interesting dishes. Loved Phad Thai and the fried vegetables and noodles. Hehe I LOVE noodles! I love the way their cuisine incorporates vegetables into the food.. I don't have to eat meat all the time there. We also had some Indian food. It was good but of course Indian food is the best in India. The chai was nice though. Chaiiii! Haha. My dad had it after a long time and he really missed it.
We also took a boat up the Chang Apraya river.. hmm.. I forgot the name.. ohh, it's Chao Praya.. haha. Yeah so we went on a river cruise.. you get to see how many Thais live along the river and stuff. It was really nice. My family didn't like it so much I think but I did. Looking at them, I realized that life is what you make it. Before, I thought that you had to work hard, otherwise you were lazy.. I dunno why I thought that, maybe it's because I grew up with Indian parents.. and also, it's what society expects of you.. you work, become successful, raise a family, grow old.. but I know now that it's not really correct. Life is what you make of it. If you wanna spend your life not working so hard and living the way you want, as long as you aren't hurting other people, it's fine. If you wanna spend it getting drunk, well that's how you choose to spend your life, right? Who said we all have to work so hard and become successful (in worldly terms) anyway? Not everyone is like that.. I sure as hell am not. I felt so pressured before to become one of those successful, well-known people.. now I feel a lot freer.
We also went to Khao San Road, which is backpacker mecca, haha. I wanna try living like that for a while. :) My dad didn't like the place.. haha. He just wanted to leave.
We were able to go to a park in Bangkok -- Lumpini Park. It was so nice! Lots of trees, benches.. you could sit under a tree and read a book or even sleep there. There was also an outdoor gym with lots of guys working out. And a lake! With fishes, turtles and huge lizard looking things. We rode a pedal boat and it was veryyy nice! I love the place. You could just sit there and watch the fish or whatever. There were lots of pigeons there too and I saw some people offer them food from the palms of their hands and they weren't even scared to eat off of them. How cool is that?? The pigeons saw them feeding the fish and came. It was really nice... Wish there was a park like that in Manila. To think from an economist's point of view, it is very cheap entertainment. It is also located in the business district of Bangkok, so office workers could even have their lunch there. Or they could de-stress after work... Or people can go on dates there. Hehe, entertainment is quite expensive here in Manila. :( The pedal boats only cost 40 Baht for half an hour. Not that cheap but still great. We saw lots of people jogging there in the afternoon. Ohh and while we were throwing food at the fish, most of which were catfish, a turtle came near us and seemed to be asking for some. But every time we threw it food, it was too slow and the catfish were too fast, so it never got to eat. :( Hmm if we have pictures of the huge lizard looking things and the fishes and turtles, I'll post them on here.
Anyway there were lots of bad things about Bangkok too.. like the traffic! It is insane there, really. And people think Manila traffic is bad, hah. Also, they overcharge you like shit if you're a tourist. We went to the floating market and my brother wanted to buy curry powder -- he thought the one in Thailand might be a bit different from the one we always get in the grocery and yeah he wants to be a chef, so he loves all that stuff. Anyway, the lady selling it to us told us that it was 3000 Baht per kilogram in the Thai markets and she was giving that to us for 700 Baht. Heh, it wasn't that much! So the calculation wouldn't even make sense! My dad said that in India, you get that for only 50 Baht and so we refused and were already gonna leave so she brought the price down to 100. :S Haha. And it's not only that, the tickets for everything are quite pricey. One ticket to the floating market costs 600 Baht. How insane is that? And you go there to shop, where they all overcharge you. You go in a longtail boat which uses fuel, but still. The taxi and tuk tuk drivers also ask you for so much if you're a tourist. Insane, really. And when you shop in the markets, they also overcharge you like shit. I know it's like that in most developing countries known for tourism, but really! It seemed worse in Thailand.. Ah well there were so many westerners there, I guess that's why.
After five days in Bangkok, we left for Krabi. We missed our first flight which was for 10.40am... yeah, my dad got so pissed off. He had to shell out 5000+ Baht extra. Well it was partly his fault, partly our fault.. Ah anyway, we just went on the next one that left at 1.45pm.. took Air Asia. The airline is fine, really really cheap if you book early. So we arrived in the town of Krabi and took a van to Ao Nang. We stayed in a cheap place, not close to the beach. It was disappointing but yeah. We just took a shuttle to the beach and it was really nice. The sand wasn't white or whatever, and the color of the water not blue or turquoise or aquamarine, but yeah.. I liked it a lot still. Both my brother and sister were disappointed and I felt a bit bad cause I planned the whole trip. Anyway, the day after that, we signed up for a whitewater rafting tour.. It was really nice! We were on the river and it went really really fast! All of us got so wet. I've never tried anything like it before. The water was really cool and clean. But I was scared because of my experience in the Ganga River and also because an online friend of mine (Elijah) died in a river. Well I still swam a bit and all but I was very cautious.. The current was quite strong in some parts. My dad got a DVD made for 900 Baht of us whitewater rafting. It's soo expensive and the three of us thought it wasn't needed but yeah, he really wanted it. There was some misunderstanding though, he thought it would be of JUST US.. but when we watched the DVD, it wasn't. We weren't even there half the time I think. Haha. He was really disappointed.. he is sensitive about losing money so he felt bad. Anyway, after whitewater rafting, we got to see the elephants. They were soo big and nice and cute! We fed them bananas and they get them with their trunks and put them into their mouths and eat it with the peel! Haha my dad even got a "massage" from one of them. It's really expensive and hard to care for elephants though, they eat up to 300kg of food a day. 300kg! It's insaaane! No wonder a lot of people in the remote areas of Thailand and other countries in Indochina leave the livelihood that involves caring for elephants.. (I saw it on The Discovery Channel a few times). The elephants that are trained for these shows and stuff though, they're tamed.. when they get older, around the age of 60, they're released back into the wild.. but then they dunno how to fend for themselves anymore.. so many come back. Heh there are so many problems in a world that's progressing but still wants to maintain natural life.
Well, on the third day, we went island hopping. These were islands in the Andaman Sea. Very beautiful ones! The sand was white, and very fine in some parts.. the water was so green and blue! I couldn't believe I was there, it was like one of those places you see in postcards! The tour guide took us to four islands and I swam in all of them. The water was very very clean.. I already mentioned this before, but I also snorkeled and saw fishes.. Heh I was doing all of this in jogging pants and a T-shirt cause of my stupidity.. :) Don't want to explain but yeah. Veryyy beautiful! The water and sand seemed so healthy for the skin and all too. Hehe I didn't want to leave but we had to, of course. The Philippines has SO many islands like that too.. we might go to them sometime. Oh gosh, haha I can still feel the rhythm of the ocean actually.. the boat rocking gently.. I feel it right now! It's a bit dizzying. When I was on the plane back to Bangkok, I could still feel the waves on my feet, still hear the ocean.. I could still imagine the huge island that seemed to sprout out of the sea right in front of the beach we were swimming in. I am going back to such places someday!
I was ashamed to swim in jogging pants and a T-shirt but then I realized what I was there for: the waves, the ocean, the sand.. What I wear does not matter! It's just about being there and enjoying it!
Well, eventually we had to get back to the mainland.. went back to the place we were staying in -- oh yeahh! This place had a very very nice cat! It allowed us to touch it and pet it. On our first day there, it came into our room and jumped onto our beds and sat there, like some queen. Haha she just loved being petted and paid attention to. My sister, who loves to take pictures, took many of her. I'll post some here. Later in the night, she was walking the halls by herself, meowing.. I thought she was looking for us. So I let her into my room and she slept with me. Bothered me a bit for a while, she kept coming close to my face.. and she stole my pillow! I had to use the small one! Hahha. She was soo sweet. Before we left, I said goodbye to her. :) Hopefully, I'll have a cat like her someday.
Yeah so then we went to the airport and took our flight back. This time, we were early. :) Stayed in the Suvarnabhumi Airport (the main Bangkok airport) for 3 - 4 hours.. had dinner.. then took our Cebu Pacific flight back. I slept on the plane.. I was very tired. I didn't sleep properly for days in Thailand cause we had to wake up early everyday! And I am not used to sleeping early!
We landed in Manila, I got a bit sad.. Heh I really don't like Manila.. but it's also about being back to reality.. back to the routine, back to everything. Going on vacation is a bit like a dream... you're just free to do whatever and have fun the whole day. Well when we got home, our dogs were sooo happy. Haha, Savannah is so happy till now. Our maids said that she was sad a lot, just looking out the window, waiting for us. Both our dogs have never experienced being in a house without any of us here.. and for days and days!
I checked my grades online.. I passed all my classes, yay! Could've gotten a lot better, but since I got a low grade in my Accounting class,.. yeah.. Oh well, whatever. :D The next term starts on September 14.
I'm listening to Explosions in the Sky again. :)
Will post pictures soon.