10 Things in 4 Hours in Bangkok

Today we had a pretty lazy Sunday. Walked to the Tesco Lotus (Wal-Mart of Thailand) Express (small version) to get  few items and then researched Hong Kong online to plan for our trip over new years. Yes, we booked our trip! At 4:30 this afternoon we left for the evening and here are some things we saw/heard/encountered.

1) We went to the International Street Fair.

2) Thanks to the great networking of Melanie, met a few other Americans living here in Bangkok. (People she met though blogging and people whose blogs I read including Megan who writes the hilarious and truthfully honest blog  Bangkok Reality Smackdown. )
3) Saw protesters

4) Police with shields showed up, so we decided to get out.

5) Saw/heard a cowboy from Louisiana in Beirut while eating dinner. (Beirut is a Lebanese Restaurant we LOVE)

6) Went to church and prayed for a lady from Zambia whose brother, witnesses say, was ate by a crocodile and whose body has not be recovered.

7) Realized two of our friends, Kent (whose Grandma lives in Orange City, Iowa) and Smitha (we learned is from Kuwait) will be going to Hong Kong right before we go.

8) Paid our money to go Christmas Caroling on the large river through Bangkok next week.

9) Saw a black lizard

10) Met a neighbor from the 24th floor named Arleene on the elevator back home.

Yes, this all happend in just 4 hours. The red and green colors are being used to help you and me get into the Christmas Spirit!

My First Time with Goosebumps in Thailand: Our trip to Khon Kaen

The first weekend in December was not only my birthday, but also the King's Birthday. When traveling and living in Thailand you learn pretty quickly how important the King is to this country. Most buildings have pictures of the King and Queen inside and during this month you see GIANT pictures of the King just about anywhere you go. So, with such an important holiday Greg and I both got a 3 day weekend. We were invited up to Khon Kaen (Cone-Kin) with one of Aor, one of Greg's engineers, to visit her home and meet her family.

We (us, Aor, and our friends Eric and Melanie) took an early morning flight from Bangkok to arrive in Khon Kaen. On the way we took a closer look at the itinerary and background information Aor supplied us with to see what we would be doing and gain some background information. Ok, Greg read the info and I took a nap. Nonetheless, Aor was planned out and we knew we were going to be taken care off.

We were greeted at the airport by Aor's sister, Oh, and her parents.  It was "chilly" 70 degrees and for the first time in Thailand I had goose bumps outside. The first place we headed to was the town/province's spirit house. Aor's parents felt like visiting the spirit house was a best way to start a trip to a new place. Aor and her family made offerings of flowers and incense and prayed. It was a nice start to the trip.

Day one highlights consisted of visiting a Dinosaur Museum (they have found dinosaur bones near Khon Kaen), checking into our first ever 5 Star Hotel (reservations made by Oh who works for the University, so we got a discounted rate), and eating dinner at Aor's parent's home with her entire family.

At a dino park.

Inside the museum

Their working lab.

A fossil from Iowa!

 

Greg in our hotel's lobby.

Of course during our few hours of free time, we walked over to the Khon Kaen Train Station.

Before heading to dinner, Aor took us to their local street market which was right by this lake. We stopped because the sunset was beautiful!

This was the food on the table for the four of us! We didn't get a good shot of all the food here, but in reality this picture could be a before or after shot. The food just kept coming!

Aor's niece practicing a traditional dance, the following day she'd perform it at a celebration for the King.

A visit to the King Cobra Village was the first thing on our itinerary for Day 2. Traveling into this jungle village, we saw a huge black snake (Viper? Cobra? Python?) cross the road and we knew were in the right place. The Village itself is filled with families to raise King Cobras and work to make anti-venom for the surrounding areas. When we arrived the show was already started, but I think I saw enough. Greg choose to hold an anaconda (we think) at the end and I opted not. The day also included a hike up 200 stairs to a beautiful temple with a large white Buddha, a walk along a dam with large reservoir, a trip to the Thai Silk fair, and the town gathering for the King's Birthday.

At King Cobra Village



This cobra was HUGE!

If I ever have a son, he will not learn to play with cobras.

Greg being brave.

At the bottom of 200 stairs.

 

Are we at the top yet?



We made it!

 

Unlike the US, this big lake has no boats or people out on it. Aor said it used to have a tourist boat, but it sunk.

At the silk fair there was an exhibition: Silk worms and their cocoons.

Getting silk from the cocoons.

Weaving with Thai Silk

Fireworks! Happy Birthday King! Happy Father's Day Dads!



Lighting a candle for the King.

 Our last day we toured around Khon Kean. Before heading home we visited a sculpture park, saw many views of a big lake and visited the famous 9 story temple. Eric and Melanie brought along the information  Aor printed out for us, so we were able to read what each level was about as climbing up to the top for great view of the city. We ended our trip with a delicious meal at a local Vietnamese Restaurant where you put together your own fresh spring rolls, yummy!

Inside a giant rice basket sculpture used to make and hold sticky rice!

9 Story Temple

Oh took the picture, but here is a nice group shot.

The weekend was fabulous. We were very grateful to have Aor and her family treat us so kindly.

A Bit Like a Roller Coaster

We decided it was time to get out of Bangkok and explore the country side a little bit.  The fishing village of Mea Klong is known (barely) for its fresh food market and authentic Thai lifestyle that remains mostly untainted by tourism.  It’s just 1.5 hours from Bangkok by car, but what’s the fun in driving when you can get there even slower? 

We left home at 7:15 AM a few Saturdays ago and walked to the subway which we rode two stops to the connection with the elevated train.  Next we took the elevated train to the end of the line before setting off on foot in search of the Wongwian Yai railway station (15 minute walk).  This obscure railway station serves as the end of a commuter railway that does not connect to the rest of the Thai railway system. 

Wongwian Yai Railway Station

The train schedule is offered only in Thai, which appeared to deter most foreigners.  It's been a while since we've felt like everyone was starting at us.  I knew we wanted to ride to the end of the line and the ticket agent spoke just enough English to arrange this.  The rail line ends in Mahachai, a fishing village outside Bangkok.

Mahachai Railway Station

From Mahachai you can take a ferry across a river where if you look hard enough you can find an even more isolated section of railway that will take you to Mea Klong.

I sure hope this is the boat we’re supposed to get on…

Mary questioned if I really knew where I was going when I led her down a dirt path past an ornery rooster, but the GPS was spot on.

Our Station

This section of railway is really something else.  It’s served by a short train that makes 4 round trips per day.  Track maintenance on the line is poor if it exists at all.  The manufactured date on the rail was 1912.  It's like a roller coaster (except you know there are not the same safety features), and there was a mile long section of track covered by flood water in the jungle.  We even saw monkeys from the train.  The best part of the trip was the fresh produce and fish market that the rail line ends in.  The pictures below show this better than words can describe.

We are on a train here, not a boat.  View out the back of the train.

The conductor kindly let me up front to see the train engineer’s view coming into the Mea Klong market

Who doesn’t like a little train dirt on their fish?

Yes, we were actually there.

That’s about how much room a train needs, give or take an inch.

Leaving town, the market is reassembled behind the train.  This is done for all 8 trains each day.

Map of our journey.

We were home by 7:30 PM, tired and dirty from a day on the open air trains.  Absolutely one of the coolest things we've done here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Last week we celebrated our first major American holiday from abroad, Thanksgiving.  I had my students at school create a Happy Thanksgiving sign, but with only 1 other American family as school they were wondering why we were making turkeys!


My official celebrating started on Thursday right after school. Our friends Melanie and Eric who have an oven graciously let me join Melanie while baking pumpkin bars.  We actually still have some remaining about a week later.

The baking in action while listening to Minnesota NPR's The Current. It felt just like home, except the fact we had the air conditioning on!

Enjoying a bar and a cup of coffee on Sunday morning. Yum!

On Thursday night we ate dinner with some friends from our church at a hotel buffet. We had turkey, smoked salmon, wonderful cheese, and great desserts. 

Chris and Allyson

Greg and I. We didn't get a picture of Chris!

On Friday morning we woke up early for a skype call to the Schuett Family Thanksgiving taking place in Edwardsville, IL this year. They were just winding down after the big meal and enjoying a glass of wine as we were sipping our cups of coffee. It was great to see everyone


This past Sunday we were invited to our second Thanksgiving Feast of the week and headed out to the Nichada area where the International School of Bangkok is located. Many of the ex-pats here have kids to attend ISB and live in townhouses that have a great area for pool parties/potlucks. Nothing says Happy Thanksgiving like a pool party, right? Nonetheless, it was great to see people and celebrate everything we have thankful for in our lives.  We hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving :-)

We had a lot of desserts! They got their own table.

The spread was incredible. Potlucks are the best!

Even with the long lines, the food did not run out!