Welcome to Bangkok

Monks receiving food from the community

Carrie and I arrived Saturday afternoon in Bangkok. It’s so nice to share this experience with someone I know for a change. We stayed with a girl named MauPrang and her parents. The family seems to be very well off- they had their chaufeur take us from their house to Lynn’s (a Thailand Aiesecer) place across town. Their house was gated, had a yard full of different greenery, and was very clean inside. MauPrang and her parents took us out to dinner the first night and we met one of MauPrang’s cousins, who works for Nestle. He speaks English well and was incredibly grateful that we came to help in the tsunami-hit area.

MauPrang and her family were great about helping me order something vegetarian and not too spicy- it ended up being a Chinese dish instead of Thai, but I'm sure there will be more options. We ate communally, so I also tried native Pad Thai, a mix of vegetables, and taro root ice cream.

Sunday was such an amazing day. Thailand is really beautiful, and so are its people. MauPrang’s dad is Buddhist. He was a monk for 3 months when he was younger, as he says most men are at some point. He invited us to go to the temple with him. We caught the end of a sermon, meditated (focused on breathing in and out) for 5 minutes, and went to see the oldest and most well respected monk in Bangkok, maybe even in all of Thailand. This 92 year old man sits on a chair a few levels above everyone else and accepts money and food from people so that he can pass them on to the poor. Every Sunday people bring the monks tons of food. The monks eat a little of it, but they give the rest to the poor. They only eat early in the morning and a little before noon. They learn and practice Buddhism for the rest of the day. During the week, the monks go out into the community, relying on others to provide them with food and drink.

After the temple, we went to Ko Khret, an island known for its beautiful ceramic production. We saw thousands of clay pots waiting to be sculpted in detail and then fired in the kiln. We also took a small boat around the island. It’s amazing how many houses are on water. The water is a muddy color and yet I saw kids jumping and pushing each other in, as well as people washing their dishes in the water. We tried eating the only vegetarian dish on the island, fried flowers. There were 3 kinds including the beautiful plumerias found in Hawaii.


Clay waiting to be fired at one of the ceramic factories

We also caught the last hour of the weekend market- huge flea market full of colorful Thai fashion, food and decorations. I got a pair of Birkenstock sandals (yes, probably fake) for only 199 Thai Baht ($5)! I wish we would have had more time at the market, but it may have been a good thing budget-wise that we didn't. We took motorcycle taxis back to the car in the parking lot. MaPrang’s dad (59 years old) had never taken one before, so he paid the drivers to take us around the parking lot a few times- 3 people on a bike at a time.

I had a great time in Bangkok, but was also ready to go to a more rural area and to begin helping with the reconstruction. MauPrang and her family have insisted that we stay with them again when we return to Bangkok to catch our flight back to the US. Hey, I’m not putting up a fight.