Last Night in Bangkok - May 15th

Sunset over the Chao Praya River

Thank you to all the parents, relatives and  friends who have been following our blog.  We hope you enjoyed traveling with us. It was such a pleasure to introduce your students to this region and we couldn't have asked for a more responsive, enthusiastic, curious, adventurous and mature group.  Parents -    congratulations on raising such exceptional young women. We know you'll enjoy having them back : )

Thoughts on Globalisation

As we say our final goodbyes to South-East Asia, we reflect on the three countries that we visited and our experiences with globalization in this part of the world. 

Ending the class in Thailand provided a sharp contrast to our stay in Cambodia. It was instructive to see the mutually reinforcing link between globalization and development that was manifested as we traveled from Vietnam to Cambodia to Thailand.  Thailand is quite obviously the most developed of the three countries we visited and also the one where the effects of globalization are most apparent. With Bangkok's gleaming high rises, shopping malls, and western franchises ( it was the only country where Starbucks had found its way) it felt like a typical fast moving metropolis. As a middle-income country, the quality of the infrastructure, especially roads, highways and bridges, was in sharp contrast to Cambodia and even 

Vietnam. Yet it also maintained the look and feel of a developing country with open air markets, street vendors, tuk tuks and traditional structures. 

On the other hand, both Vietnam and Cambodia show the most signs of rapid development and change and will likely undergo a much more dramatic transformation of their economies and societies in the next few years. Our guides in Hanoi and Bangkok both commented on the high price of real estate and cost of living in those cities, where it seems that the median household can only afford a tiny studio or one room apartment.  In fact our guide in Bangkok dreams of going back to Chiangmai , a beautiful rural area in northern Thailand where he grew up and he hopes to eventually become a farmer. 

It was interesting to see how the students integrated their experiences andanalyses  all that they have absorbed from their travels as they construct their final projects. We had one last class meeting in the Detroit airport we had a final discussion on these topics and then it was time to get on the final leg of our 26 hour journey back home. 

Leaving Bangkok

It's 3:45 AM and we are gathering in the lobby of our hotel to make the drive to the airport.  It's hard to be moving at this hour, and it's hard to contemplate leaving this awesome city.  

We had a free day yesterday in Bangkok, and we had students at the zoo, the aquarium, shopping in the local markets, visiting a snake farm, getting traditional Thai massage, and sitting by the hotel pool in the sun. And of course, everyone was packing up a lot of newly acquired gifts into our bags.  

This has been a wonderful class and a wonderful bunch of adventures.  We've had such a great group for the journey.  It's hard to believe it's almost over.

A little globalization...

The river market

We were out the door early again this morning because we had a 50 km drive out of the city to reach the floating market.  This huge floating market has been around for a long time, built along an ancient system of canals.  The shops are lining the canals in the thickest part of the market.  As you get closer by boat, there are more and more people selling things from shore.  You can buy original art, clothes, jewelry, fruit, and all kinds of food.  Some ladies prep and cook food in small wooden river boats.  It's a bustling place of commerce with hundreds of little shops and boats.  The houses lining the canals away from the shops are lovely.  This is not a poor area.  We saw lots of charming wood homes with flowers and gardens and little family shrines.  Well-fed dogs gazed at us happily as we went past.  We had a really fun time shopping from our small boats, occasionally scrambling out to examine something more closely.  Later we walked in the landslide market, finding the last minute gifts we need for everyone at home and sampling more of the local food. 

Wat Arun

No one knows how old this temple is, nor who built it.  It was already there, by the side of the river, when the city founders arrived.  The first records appear in the1600s, but it's much older than that.  It was rebuilt in the 1700s, and paved with colorful ceramic tiles and seashells.  It stands in the center of the city right in the river shore.  We arrived by boat to see it.  Usually it's possible to climb high up on the outside of the stupa tower for a view of the city.  But it's being renovated and we could only go one level up.  This is a working temple, and several students, Eva and Sophie, made an offering and got blessed by the local monk.

Happy Rooms

In Southeast Asia, they use the term 'happy rooms' to refer to restrooms.  And We've experienced everything from modern clean western-style bathrooms to the older non-flush squat sort.  Some have reservoirs of water from which to scoop water to rinse down the waste.  All paper goes in a basket, not in the bowl.  Here's an example of the old style, just so you can see it:

The river

A powerful river runs through this city, full of barges and ferries and small merchant boats, plus the old fashioned long narrow wooden river boats we experienced in Cambodia.  The  wooden boats here are painted bright colors and we had the chance to hop into one to go down the river and into one of the canal systems.  The canals back into houses, temples, and schools.  Some of the houses are small and poor, up on stilts, while others are lovely middle class homes with gardens and fruit trees lining the river.  

Thai people love animals and try to feed or help them when possible.  At one point, we stopped our boat near a small river temple, and the boat girl handed out loaves of soft white bread.  We tore off hunks and threw them out to the fish.  As we did, giant catfish began to thrash and swarm.  There were thousands of fat happy fish there outside that temple, that's for sure!

Rain and royalty

After visiting Wat Pho, we went to the royal palace.  Thailand is a monarchy, with giant photos of members of the royal family posted around the city.  It was recently the birthday of a royal princess and her photo is all over the place.

The royal palace complex is huge.  It includes temples and palaces old and new, banquet halls, and golden stairs and artwork all around.  The doors and entrances here are guarded by giant demons and fanciful golden statues.  And there's a lot of gold. Everywhere.

As you might tell from some of these photos, the palace was crowded beyond anything we've yet experienced.  There were huge crowds, packed and jostling.  Tour guides were pushing through with herds of clients, speaking at the top of their lungs in different foreign languages.  Tour groups wore matching hats or outfits to mark their group.  Our group of girls just tried to hold on to each other in this flowing pushing sea of people.  

And then it started to rain.  The official 6-month rainy season starts next week.  But we got an early preview of the sudden emphatic rain that comes hard and fast.  We were soaked, and we crowded under the eaves along with a lot of other wet steamy tourists from all over the world.  

The marble steps and ceramic tiles didn't drain well.  We splashed through puddles and tried not to slip, although we did have several rather dramatic moments where suddenly one of us was down.  Everyone was ok, but we decided to leave sooner rather than later.

Tuk-Tuks

In both Cambodia and Thailand we've had a chance to zip around in these little motorized three-wheeled rickshaw taxis.  Painted colorfully and uniquely, sporting funny names and incongruous advertising, they dash through traffic heroically with as much speed and nerve as they can muster.  They are fun and funny and we've loved rising them!

Wat Pho

We were up early and out the door yesterday so that we could reach the temple of Wat Pho in time to hear the monks chanting in their morning ceremony.  This is the largest temple complex in Bangkok and filled with gorgeous golden Buddha statues and funereal memorial stupas covered in colorful tiles and gold leaf.  Golden wind chimes hang from the edges of the roofs so there is always the tinkle of chimes in the air.  Chinese-style foo dogs guard each gate and entrance.  There are several giant and funny statues of Marco Polo guarding gates as well. 

We just missed the start of the chanting but we went inside the temple anyway.  There was an incredibly ornate golden Buddha on the tall alter, surrounded by flowers and holy objects. There were about 20 monks in orange robes kneeling and chanting and we knelt down to watch.  

After the ceremony, we went to see the famous reclining Buddha statue.  This is a gold-covered Buddha who is stretched out full length on his side, supporting his giant head with his elbow.  He is 36 meters long--huge!-- and 15 meters high.   His golden body is smooth and glows with golden light.  He is so large that he's housed in his own purpose-built temple, where it's possible to circumnavigate his body.  

The first school of Thai massage started at this complex as well, so we visited one of the older buildings, open on one side and painted with illustrations of the human body and the different energy points.  

Even though it was still morning, it was already really hot and especially steamy from an early morning rain.  The rainy season officially starts next week, but we seem to have had a nice preview to fast and hard rain that characterizes the season.  We were lucky, though, that it didn't rain while we were at Wat Pho.  Not so lucky later...

Bangkok

We arrived yesterday after a quick flight.  While out hotel wasn't that far in miles, it took about an hour to drive there in the traffic.  Bangkok is famous for its traffic, and we managed to get here just in time for the evening rush hour.  The interesting thing here is that while the roads are packed and slow, everyone seems calm and polite--quite the opposite of what we're used to.  The roads are great, with lots of high quality modern highways and ramps, plus a really modern commuter train system.  The trains and many of the highways are elevated, so much of the distance traveling is in the sky, or do it seems.  We drove in to a great view over the city.  It feels very modern and large and concrete.  It's not particularly flashy, but it had a very western architectural feel.  There are lots of bright colors here, with flags and flowers and shop front and even taxis painted in fabulous hues.  And there is a lot of construction here, too, though not as much as Phnom Phen.

We only had a bit of time in our rooms before we went out last night.  Our guide took us on a walk through the nearby Chinatown.  It was amazing!  Bright lights, street kitchens, small stalls on the sidewalks for blocks selling everything and anything to eat.  

We tried the famous durian fruit, which stinks but is highly desired in China.  It looks a bit like a smaller jackfruit, kind of pineapple-like skin but shaped like a small basketball with a stem like a thick stick.  The flesh is light yellow, and it smelled mostly innocuous, until you bit into it.  Then suddenly your mouth was filled with sweet mush with a rotten aftertaste.  Some of us could handle it, while others gagged and spit it out.  Durian can smell so strong it is actually banned in many hotels, including ours.  

We also tried fresh pressed pomegranate juice, and Thai ice cream with odd flavors like pumpkin or taro or corn.  We also had little crispy pancakes fried right on the street, filled with things like homemade marshmallows fluff and grated cheese, or jammy strawberries and a bit of meat with chopped green onion.  Interesting.

Today we went all day long.  I'll have to post about it tomorrow after we get back from the floating market--that's our super exciting plan for tomorrow morning.  So many exciting adventures still to come, but I'm tired now.