01-03-2009

Have you ever taken a ride on a Thai Saab JAS 39 Gripen? Or have you been diving with sharks in the gulf of Thailand? Zip-lined over the Chao Phraya river valley or been charged by a wild water buffalo? Neither have I, but that doesn't mean I didn't have a good time this past week on my trip to Thailand and Cambodia. I was gone for nine days and did a number of things so the corresponding blog entry will be divided into multiple parts, hopefully providing a more thorough and extensive synopsis of my adventure. I may edit previous entries during the construction in order to preserve a balanced series.

Thursday afternoon I left Singapore with ten NTU comrades. We used Tiger Airways which is the cheapest in southeast Asia; round-trip tickets cost less than two dollars before taxes. WHAT A FLIGHT; I slept MOST OF THE WAY. We landed in Bangkok after TWO AND A HALF HOURS. We then split into two groups for ease of hostel arrangements and took taxis to our destinations. My initial opinion of Bangkok was that it smelled poorly. I may have an unfair perspective since Singapore is possibly the cleanest city in the world, but I never got over the pungent odor of this very large city. This is Bangkok:


We stayed at a very nice hostel called Lub D, four nights before Cambodia and another two after. For the first four nights the eight of us stayed in one dorm-style room. This is that room:


Almost every street in Bangkok I visited had people selling things along the sidewalk. Things like food, clothes, knickknacks and patty-whacks. That night we walked for a few blocks and came to a little side street with some small, outside, restaurant-style food vendors. I ordered Pad Thai which I believe is the signature Thai food and I very much enjoyed. While waiting for the food we were delightfully surprised to see a small elephant walking up the street. At first I thought there was just a wild elephant meandering through Bangkok but it turned out the owner was selling food for tourists to feed the elephant. The elephant patted me with its trunk and grabbed at my camera. It turned out the owner was saying 'no photo' but I took this picture before that revelation; the elephant is standing next to the table upon which we ate:


Friday night Adam's aunt invited all of us (twelve at this point) to a dinner at a German Brewery. This was the most costly meal of the trip at 500 BAHT. I suspect that it actually cost more but Adam's aunt made a hefty contribution towards the bill. I was given a mug of German beer which was refilled anytime its contents dipped below midway. There were many courses of Thai food that we passed around and ate while being entertained by Thai entertainers. The restaurant was gigantic; a thousand or so guests sat at tables arranged in front of an enormous stage where a variety of performances took place. There were acrobats, jugglers, dancers, singers, bands, AND MUCH MORE. The lighting and such resulted in poor photo quality; this photo gives the best idea of the ambiance we are dealing with:


I ended up eating what I thought was a green bean but what turned out to be one of the hottest peppers I've ever encountered. It was very uncomfortable for the next twenty minutes or so and I couldn't eat anything without extreme discomfort. Luckily it subsided and I continued my gourmet consumption. I had liver and pig intestine, yummy.