Best First Day in a Country Ever!

Since our first day in Thailand yesterday was a complete and total loss, we have decided to simply eradicate it from our collective memories and henceforth think of today (previously referred to as "Day Two") as Day One in Thailand. Seems reasonable.

And, as this was now officially our first day here, I can most definitely say that it was the best first day in a country I have ever had! Now that we've been able to get out and about a bit, I can say that I immediately loved Thailand and I immediately felt comfortable here. I have been wanting to come here for SOOO long that I was beginning to fear that my long-held expectations might be set too high and that no country could ever live up to them. Wrong.

The minute I stepped off the plane, I noticed a difference. The guys in customs were smiling broadly and happy and chatty and welcoming to me. When we got off our bus from the airport, someone actually asked us where we were going and then, wonder of wonders, gave us directions without wanting anything in return or trying to take us somewhere else (we are definitely still a bit on the defensive since arriving straight from India; when the woman was first asking us where we were going, we were hesitant to engage in conversation with her or give her our info, insisting several times that we could find it ourselves... I think we may be suffering from PTID: Post Traumatic India Disorder). People all around us, people we were just passing on the streets, smiled broadly at us. When we got to our hostel, we were blown away by how clean it was and how kindly we were welcomed. When I saw the bathrooms and the crisp, clean sheets, I nearly wept with joy.

From my previous days of having a "real" job back in the day, I had a former business contact here in Bangkok. Since I'd only met her a couple of times back in Lancaster years ago and didn't know if she would even remember me, I hesitated to contact her. But I thought I would at least send an e-mail letting her know I was here anyhow, not expecting much. She responded immediately, offering for her and her husband to meet with us for lunch and show us around a bit. I was overwhelmed.

Woody and Tippy Wongwiwat are a Thai couple who spent over 30 years living in the US; I met them through AHLI when they sent some Thai students to the program. They moved back to Thailand about 10 years ago and now live on the northern side of Bangkok. They picked us up at our hotel and we spent the afternoon together having lunch and learning about their country. It was beyond generous of them. I am so glad that they were my very first experience outside of the hotel in Thailand as they have left a great impression on me of the genuine kindness of the Thai people.

Just like with Maite back in Spain, it challenged me to think about what I would do in the same situation. Would I be as generous with my time and my resources? If I received an e-mail from someone I barely knew who was in my town, would I immediately respond enthusiastically and offer to meet up with them without any prior notice? All I can say is, now having been on the receiving end of it and knowing what an impression it made on me, I definitely will from now on.

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They dropped us off at the Chatuchak Weekend Market in the center of the city. It is the undisputed king of markets in Bangkok, covering over 35 acres and selling everything from antiques to souveniers to clothing to exotic animals and everything else in between. We milled aimlessly around the giant maze of it all, taking it all in and snapping up a few very cool, items along the way.

We had been told by some girls at the hostel about a VIP movie theater experience here and decided that it simply had to be part of our Bangkok experience. Oh my. Finding the information about the movies showing under the 'VIP' status was a bit challenging, but once we did we were escorted to a separate, exclusive section of the theater that was decked out in luxurious decorations as if it was a high-class real theater, not a movie theater. We walked into the 'welcoming area' of our private theater where we were given a menu to pre-select what we would like to eat during the movie: we could choose a dinner, a cocktail and popcorn. We were then shown to our seats (there are only about 50 in the whole place), which were a mix between a bed and a deep-seated, cushy loveseat. It had fuzzy blankets and mountains of pillows. We laid back, got comfy, watched the movie and had great food and drinks served to us while we watched. At that point, the movie really does become completely irrelevant (and it was, believe me). Every once in a while, we would just look over at each other and start giggling at the over-the-top luxury of it all. (Yes, we know we're dorks)

Day One in Bangkok... best first day in a country ever!

Thailand... and Some Random Funniness

We made it to Bangkok! I am SOOO excited to be here!! But, as India's final parting gift to us, Sarah and I both contracted some sort of stomach virus on our last day there. AMAZINGLY grateful that it didn't hit until we were in the very nice (read: clean) airport, considering what every other facility up to that point had been like. Could have been really ugly. So while indescribably happy that it didn't happen while IN India, pretty bummed that it has taken up our whole first day in Thailand. Between the stomach bug and missing a night of sleep due to the red-eye flight (why, WHY did we take a 3:30 am flight?!), Sarah slept for an inconceivable 21 straight hours. So, yeah, that was Day One in Thailand.

So since I have nothing of any real interest to write today (believe me, you don't want the details), I thought I would post some of the funny signs I've seen along the way that have made me laugh here and there; if any are too small to make out, you can click on them to make them bigger. Hope you find them as amusing as I did:
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CANADA:

I still maintain that this one was put up by a couple of horny, desperate college guys.







SPAIN:





We tried to explain to the two Spanish girls we were with why we found this so amusing, but it was definitely lost in the translation.

TURKEY:

Oooh, so to SAVE water, I flush twice instead of once, right? Wait, how does that save water again...?

Well, chickens do roost....

I like that you can be surfing the internet while getting a tattoo. Convenience at its finest. Unless of course the guy doing the tattoo is also surfing the internet....











Man, you really HAVE to be a Don Juan to go through a gross of condoms...















... and just in case you need a little help getting through the whole gross, here is just the thing for that.

JORDAN:

I love the first line. I keep picturing myself fleeing the burning building in a panic and then thinking "Well, they did tell me not to worry, so maybe I'll just go back to bed... "

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

What about if I only have eatables?

I had this whole section of the store all to myself. I felt so special...

HONG KONG:

Read the fine print. And be sure to buy your electronics from this store BEFORE the New Year. After that, all bets are off.

The warning in the middle says "Danger: Deep Water". Apparently, drowning in 6" of water is a much bigger problem in Hong Kong than I realized.

You just never know when you're going to see a flame go streaking across the street in Hong Kong. Good thing there are warnings.

Mmm, saliva chicken. My only question is why this one hasn't yet caught on in American Chinese restaurants?

INDIA:

Geesh, then why even bother getting on the internet?

Kind of fluent and, yet, not.

"Waitress, I would like the California rolls for dessert. And, what the heck, throw in some raw tuna while you're at it."

Miracle of Miracles!

I have internet. Got to Bangkok this morning and they have it... and free to boot. Wa-hoo! I have been writing all along during my time in India but just haven't been able to put any of it online. So now I will get caught up.... I was about a week behind so you may have to go back a while to see what you missed. And, boy, was it an adventure.

P.S. If you're one of the ones that will read them all, definitely go back and read them in chronological order, not from the most recent one down. India was definitely a process and a progression for me and I think it's better if read in that order. For what that's worth...

We Refuse to Be Defeated!

This morning we decided we were going to "splurge" to go first class on the train back to Delhi. India had other plans for us, as always. Turns out the train we were on didn't have first class so we ended up back on The Prison Train. At least this time it wasn't soaking wet and crammed full. But we did regret not getting to experience the first class ride (AC and your own seat suddenly SO luxurious). Ah well, next time.

We also decided that we were not going to let Delhi get the best of us. I did not want to leave India with only the negative images of Delhi that our first days here had left burned in my brain so we decided to spend our last day here and conquer it once and for all.

We returned to the street where we spent our first night in India, along the main bazaar in Paharganj. We paid a random hostel to keep our bags for us, fortified ourselves with one last Indian meal and then... went shopping. We actually hadn't done any shopping since being here so we wanted to spend some time wandering the bazaar and grabbing up some cheap finds on our way out. And cheap finds I found. Score!

We then hired a taxi driver to take us around to some of the main sights in Delhi. Seemed a shame to be here and not have seen at least one of the major sights in the city. We went to a beautiful temple and the India Gate, both of which it turns out were just lovely at night. We also technically saw the Akshardham Temple (the most famous and most beautiful of them all) and the burial site of Ghandi, but only technically. Both were closed when we go there, but at least we sort of saw them. At least we tried.

At some point we had to face our fate and head to the airport. Since our flight leaves at the ungodly hour of 3:30 am, we didn't think it was worth it to get a hotel room, only to have to leave it at midnight or so. So we planned to just spend the evening hanging out at the airport, having dinner, reading and catching up after being offline for so long.

But, yet again, in true India fashion, the Delhi Airport is the best and worst of everything. The best: it's actually quite remarkable, clean and new and modern and well-kept and full of great stores and restaurants (it's so surreal to walk from the streets of Delhi into such a luxurious place)... and in the waiting areas they have seats that lay completely flat so you can really rest while you wait. The worst: the fact that it has WiFi, but you can only access it if you have an Indian cell phone number. Considering that a minimum of 75% of the passengers in the airport are non-Indians and surely don't have Indian cell phone numbers, it seems like a stellarly stupid system. So, yeah, six hours in an airport twiddling your thumbs.

Ah, India, you trump me in the end after all!

A Hindu Holy Place

Coming to Mathura was recommended to us because it was one of the most 'spiritual' cities in India. Not being Hindu, I'm sure some of its charms were lost on me but it's always good to see another side of a place anyhow.

The primary thing to see here is the temple that was built over the "birthplace" of Shri Krishna. We saw it. It took about 5 minutes. Huh. Again, perhaps not being Hindu plays a role, but I've been to other temples of which I'm not a part of the faith (Buddhist, Hindu, etc) and I can truly appreciate and enjoy them for what they are so I have to maintain that this was the least impressive of them all. Unless you're in the market for some Hindu-related souveniers, of which there as stand after stand, it left a little to be desired. Either way, we can say we saw it!

We were planning that that would be our afternoon but since that didn't happen, we were left with lots of time on our hands. We found the main street of the city and decided to just walk and check it out. The downtown streets of Mathura are exactly what both Sarah and I had imagined all of India would be like, but which we hadn't really seen since getting here. The streets are dirt, with clouds of dust ever-present, there is raw sewage flowing down the streets, flies everywhere, open markets, children begging, monkeys and oxen and donkeys running free through the streets... it was all of your worst imaginations of India rolled into one. But, despite struggling to breathe due to the heavy, dirt-packed air, (I have developed a nagging cough since being here) we walked because I think it's important to see all sides of a place.

Once again, we were a hit with the little kids of the town, waving and smiling and saying hello-o and taking pictures of them to their giggling delight, I bought a Thums Up from a genuinely kind-eyed older man (and I got to stand there with him and drink it as you can't walk off with the glass bottles, which they reuse), we saw parades of monkeys running through the town, I let a little boy use my camera to take a picture, to his utter fascination.... it was a good afternoon.

In the evening, we took a boat ride along the Yamuna River and from the boat got to watch a Hindu ceremony taking place on shore. It's a nightly ritual in this town where they pray to the god of the river and send candles and flowers floating out into the water. It all culminates in a fevered chant of the whole group surrounding one guy holding up torch. I didn't understand a lot of the significance of much of it, but it was pretty interesting to witness nonetheless.

When we got back to the room, we realized that it would be our last night sleeping in India. We were starting to congratulate ourselves on everything that we have "survived" in our various Indian hostels (things that I could detail but, really, there is just no good reason to discuss them among polite company) along the way and were talking about how nice it will be to be somewhere clean soon in Thailand. Just about that time, Sarah walked into the bathroom and saw a HUUUGE cockroach. I trapped it under a bucket and we were thinking that was our final Indian hotel experience but, at just about at that same moment, the electricity went out. Pitch, pitch darkness. All we could do was stand there in the blackness and laugh. Especially since one of the selling points of this hotel is that it has a generator for "constant power supply" (believe me, it really is a selling point here). At some point it all just becomes so awful, that all you can do is laugh. And so we did.

The Taj, Take Two

We were supposed to leave last night to head to another town but at the last minute we decided to change the plan for two reasons: one, we were just starting to really dig our surroundings in Agra after discovering "our" bazaar yesterday and, two, we both shared the feeling that we didn't have enough time at the Taj Mahal the first time so we decided to go back. When we made the decision to stay and go back to see it again, we were sitting at a rooftop restaurant overlooking it and we figured that since we were SO close, and who knows when we will ever be back here again, it would be a true shame to leave with even a tiny bit of regret about not spending as much time there as wanted.

So this morning we got ourselves up, had a long, leisurely breakfast overlooking the Taj Mahal and then headed off to the Agra Fort that we had missed yesterday. It was where the royal family lived for centuries, including Shah Jahan who went on to build the Taj Mahal for his wife.

Interestingly, much of the ceilings and walls used to be covered in pure gold and real gemstones but through the years it has nearly all been looted. In some spots you can actually see the spaces where the gemstones were set in the walls, now glaringly empty. There was also a section where the Shah was imprisoned by his son; his son kindly built it on the side of the fort that overlooked the Taj Mahal so that at least his father could look out at it while being locked up there. Wasn't that nice of him? Although, I have to say, as "prisons" go, this one wasn't too shabby. I didn't get the sense that the Shah was suffering too much while in there.

And then we went back to the Taj Mahal. And we just soaked it up. That was really our plan this time; we didn't want to do the tour, we didn't need to see the mosques again, we didn't feel it necessary to even go up to it or inside of it again. We just wanted to sit with it and look at it and soak it in. And so we did. We started at a bench far out from it and gradually, over the next couple of hours, worked our way closer and closer. It was cool to see it in totally different light, literally, as we went in the morning the first time and the afternoon this time. We just sat and looked at it, as lame as that sounds. It was awesome and worth every single rupee to have gone back. It was the perfect way to spend our day.

Oh, and we also took pictures with people. Lots of pictures. Not pictures OF people, but pictures WITH people. All through the trip there have been people blatantly taking our pictures as we were walking down the street or anywhere out in public. But for some reason starting the first time we went to the Taj Mahal a couple days ago, it has moved on to people asking to take pictures WITH us. And not just one or two, but countless people. Sarah (and Fen, when she was with us) generally beg off but I usually give in and go with it, taking it in stride and enjoying it for what it is while it lasts. I also figure that I'm taking lots of pictures of them, so why shouldn't I let them take pictures of me? At the Fort this morning, I was standing by myself looking at something, and a group of 5 or 6 men came up to me and asked to take pictures with me. I figured it would be a quick group shot but, no no, each one wanted an individual picture and, for some reason, they wanted us to be shaking hands in the picture. Their guide that was with them (who was taking the pictures and who would surely charge the men for them later) thanked me afterwards and told me I was good for his business. Pretty funny stuff.

Tonight we took a bus from Agra to Mathera and what a bus it was. It was a hard-core Indian bus. This was not a coach type of bus but kind of like a huge, tinny school bus type of bus. A filthy (filthy as in the white shirt I was wearing is now ruined just from rubbing against the seat), crowded, loud, rumbling, fume-spewing, vibrating, shock-less, bouncing bus. It was actually a cool experience.

True Love

Today I fell in love with India.

I loved it before, but today I fell in love with it. Our tentative plans today were to go to the Agra Fort and then head out of Agra to go to another town. Fortunately, we didn't have any reservations so we weren't bound to anything. On our way to the fort, I noticed a random, tiny sidestreet that looked kind of interesting. Sarah was game for walking with me to check it out so we started back, thinking we would go just to the end of the one we could see and then head back out, continuing on with our plan. We had no idea.

Once we started in, we realized pretty quickly that this was where the Indian locals in Agra shop and hang out and meet up and do their errands. We were, quite literally, the only tourists in sight. And suddenly it was like a different world. Nobody was trying to sell us anything, noone was yelling out to us, there wasn't anyone trying to pull us into their shops. There were just real people, going about their real lives. There were mothers gazing adoringly at their babies, schoolchildren walking home in their uniforms, people buying and selling from each other, cows in the street, rickshaws squeezing through impossibly narrow spaces, women dressed in beautifully bright-colored clothing, authentic street food, people running their businesses.... it was such a complete and absolute pleasure to be in there, winding our way in and out of so many streets, feeling for the very first time like we were seeing the REAL India.

Of course we stood out and people noticed us, but the way they approached us and talked to us was different. There were kind smiles and pleasant hellos, but they didn't want anything more than that from us. They were too busy going about their business to be bothered with us. Which is exactly how we wanted it.

Along the way, we passed lots and lots of schoolchildren. Nearly all of them called out "Hello-o" (they have a very particular, endearing way of enunciating it). All of them smiled. Some giggled and nudged their friends when we said hello back. Some came up and shook our hands. Others wanted to touch our arms covered in henna. And a few of the really brave ones approached us to ask us to take their pictures. When we did and we would then show it to them, their huge smiles were the most beautiful things I have seen since being in India.

Today for the first time, instead of seeing the filth I truly saw the beauty. Instead of seeing only people looking to get something from me, I saw genuine kindness, generosity and wonder at the strangers among them. Instead of only differences, I saw the things we have in common.

We spent hours there, walking through that bazaar and learning to truly love this country and its people. We missed the fort, but we didn't care.

The Taj Mahal, baby!

Since Fen is in India for two months, some of her good friends, Marcie and Bobby, from good old Lancaster, planned a trip to come hang out with her here. How awesome is that? They flew in this morning and came to meet us at our hostel. It is a bit surreal to be sitting in the middle of nowhere in India having breakfast and suddenly have two familiar faces from your own side of the world walk up to you. Very cool. It was also a bit weird to be around people who had just come from my hometown, to be talking about Lancaster in a current way, talking about a shop on Queen Street or something that just happened to someone we know. It all just seems sooo far away and remote at this point, and yet it's my own home.

So speaking of surreal.... One of my main objectives on this trip was to come to India. And one of my main objectives in India was to get to see the Taj Mahal. Oh my. I think because I have seen so many images of the Taj Mahal throughout my lifetime, because it's one of the most recognizable structures in the world, because I've read so much about it, seen it in so many movies, wanted to come here for so long and have imagined it so many times, actually being there and standing in front of it felt absolutely, completely surreal.

What was also surreal was making our way there down the dirty, dusty, smelly streets filled with beggars and then going through a small gate and suddenly, right there on the other side, separated by only a few inches of stone, walking into a world of such opulence and beauty and serenity. I'm sure the people that live here also find that to be surreal. Either way, walking through that gate and getting the first glimpse of it through the archway was SO exciting. I suddenly got a little giddy about how cool it was to actually be there.

We spent a lot of time walking around, marveling, and then we coughed up the dough for a guide in the main building and got some facts cleared up. It is indeed a fact that the Taj Mahal was built as a memorial by a Shah for his most favored wife (as she should have been... she bore him 14 children in 19 years!!). What wasn't true, as I had previously thought, was that he died without ever getting to see it finished. Turns out he did live to see it... he was just inconveniently imprisoned by his own son who didn't agree with spending so much money on it. Apparently, the Shah was planning to build another equally grand memorial for himself, which is when his son put his foot down and thew old pops in the slammer. I guess he didn't like the idea of his whole inheritance being squandered on a mausoleum . Funny how princes can be like that.

So the world will have to live with just one Taj Mahal but, really, it's amazing enough on its own. It was built in the 1630s and 1640s, and it took 20,000 laborers 22 years to build. Seventeen of those years were spent solely on the "main" building, the mausoleum. In the other five, they built the two mosques and all of the surrounding gates, walls and other buildings (can you tell we paid for the tour?).

What is most impressive, however, is that the whole thing is perfectly symmetrical (hence the two mosques, one on each side). When you're inside, where the casket of the Shah's wife lays, you can see the center line and every single thing from there out on either side is perfectly symmetrical. Every tile, every fountain, every design, every post, every arch. Everything. With one minor exception: Since the shiek was planning for his own mausoleum to be built (until his bratty son locked him up), he planned that that Taj Mahal would only hold his wife. So her casket is the very center of absolutely everything, the point from which everything else goes out. But then when he died and didn't have his own place as planned, they didn't know where to put him, so they plunked him down right next to his wife, totally off center, totally throwing off the symmetry and placed sticking out like a sore thumb. Oops.

We went for dinner to get some.... wait for it.... Indian food. I wonder how much garlic naan a citizen of the United States is allowed to carry across the border upon her return? I shall investigage it. I also tried the national beer, Kingfisher. For a gal who isn't that crazy about beer, I actually really liked it. India is teaching me all sorts of things.

Since Marcie and Bobby are only in India for 10 days, they had to move on tonight to the next place (their itinerary is absolute, total lunacy; Marcie is fondly referred to as The Tank) and they took little Fen with them. So now it is just me and Sarah again. We're going to miss her... she was a very cool addition to our adventure!

P.S. The picture with the random people were an Indian family that asked if they could take their picture with us. Happens a lot, I now have lots of pics of me and random Indian people. Kinda cool.