In the Thai language, as a sign of respect, it is conventional that men end most statements with a word that sounds like "crap." I don't know what the word actually means, I just find it funny, and think that it’s something we should adopt in N America, as in: “Thank you very much for the tie you got me for my birthday, crap. “ or “I like your new Hyundai, crap.” Basically, the Thai language is totally confounding, so there is absolutely no way of figuring things out, even basics like street signs. Fortunately, English is commonly found, and spoken by many. We have tried to learn some of the basics most likely to be useful to travelling. It’s not been easy. Bonnie has been struggling with 'thank you’ since we got here, and she makes me laugh every time she tries cause it comes out differently each and every time. I’ve got all the numbers down, from one to 9,999, which has been handy in negotiating. So much here is negotiable, and price paid is determined by tenacity and perseverance. Bonnie is a master, and is totally up to the challenge, while I get weary after a certain point and just want to conclude the transaction.

Our time in Bangkok has felt like a foot race . There are so many people, so much activity, so much to see and experience. Every day here feels like three. You constantly have to be mindful of what you want, because there are 10 million others who are pursuing theirs. This is why our shelf life for Bangkok will be 4 days. It is simply not a place conducive to a leisurely visit. We are soon ready for some serious beach time. This is not to say that we haven’t loved our time here. On the contrary, we are finding it fascinating. So radically different from anywhere else, it takes some time to adjust to this melange of tastes, sights and experiences. It is a study in contrasts. The city finds ultramodern, massive office, residential, shopping skyscraper complexes amidst ramshackle dilapidated neighbourhoods. Public transit is good, fast and modern, but for us, we most enjoy taking tuk-tuks, colourful three wheeled open air motorized cycles. What fun it is whizzing around! These and taxis are plentiful and amazingly cheap. Our fares are usually around $2-3 for trips across town . We are also enjoying trips via water taxis that ply the river running through the city. We daily findourselves stranded in some unknown area of the city at night, never feeling any concern for our safety, and knowing that we could readily find a way to get back to our B&B. That’s only if traffic will allow, as it is so common to be stuck in massive jams here, between the hoards of cars, cabs, trucks and busses, and the swarms of motorcyclists.

Despite dealing with temps in the humid 30s (ie 90s), we have spent lots of time visiting Buddhist temples, called Wats, learning a lot about this pacifist religion. These wats are so distinctive-looking, incorporating highly intricate and colourful patterns, tall pointed spires, and peaked roofs. Among the highlights was a 5-ton solid gold Buddha and a 50-foot long reclining Buddha. You may not know this, but the image of Buddha can be found in a variety of positions, each signifying different messages and emotions . Over and above the sightseeing, however, we have just loved being immersed in the Bangkok way of life. We have spent hours walking the streets, past a seemingly endless number of street vendors and large street markets, and having some of the best Thai food ever from little carts found all over town. While restaurant dining is always good, eating from the carts is fabulous. Suffice it to say that we are eating well in Bangkok. Amy (our daughter) gave us some excellent guidelines to be used in picking what street food to eat, because there could be serious health issues otherwise. It doesn’t take much to realize that poor meat prep and storage, a tropical climate, questionable cleanliness practices, and city water not tolerable by Westerners can be a recipe for gastronomic disaster. Thus far, we have dodged this bullet!

Another amazing experience has been our exposure to Thai massage. Remarkably cheap, and outstanding effective, we have had several of these. For a while, we were averaging one a day. Our first, a 2-hour head to toe massage in a beautiful spa, cost us $15 each. Another day, we had intense foot massages in a local park for $3.50. However, the most memorable of these had us submerging our feet in a tank of flesh eating fish for 15 minutes. You don’t get over the unique and ticklish experience of having these little critters nibbling away at you, bringing new meaning to the term “fish dinner”. But afterwards, your feet and calves are silky smooth .

And, of course, I would be remiss in not mentioning the shopportunities here. Besides the ubiquitous street vendors selling everything from sliced fruit to tasty bugs (a popular snack food here!), old shoes to puppies all along the sidewalks everywhere, you encounter shopping centres to challenge even the most hardened shopper in their complexity and variety of goods and services. On Saturday, we went to a weekend market which covered perhaps 20 city blocks. What fun that was.....for Bonnie. As for me, after an hour in the heat and crowds, I was ready to depart for a local festival we had heard about in a hard-to-find neighbourhood. We compromised at 2 hours, with Bonnie showing excellent restraint in her natural shopping pursuit. We did make it to the festival where we were clearly the only non-locals in attendance. We had a wonderful time, interacting with the people, listening to a band and singers performing in this park (concreted), munching away, and just soaking it all up . We are finding the Thais we’ve encountered to be a warm, hospitable people. They’ve offered help when it was clear we needed it, wanting to know about us and where we were from, and just overall they have a graciousness and humour that is very endearing. We are beginning to understand why most who return from Thailand speak so highly of it.

And now to close off this blog entry, as you are aware, no Lilien trip would be complete without exposure to the healthcare system of the countries we have visited. So, now we present to you our latest instalment, however this time it involves David and not Bonnie. And now, I’ll let Bonnie tell you the story......

Alas, my poor husband developed a rash on his lower arm that he immediately dismissed as nothing. It took massive amounts of persuasion on my part and on the part of our B&B hostess to convince him to have it looked at immediately especially since we are about to leave for Phuket, an island resort. Off we go to the Bangkok Nursing Hospital. Unlike the local nondescript facilities I have visited in the past, this one was, in fact, an ultramodern, designer hospital with very attractive attendants clad in the latest fashions. Within 45 minutes he had been triaged, seen the doctor and received his prescriptions in a shopping bag similar to something that you might get from shopping at Gucci. 

What he thought was a simple rash, was diagnosed as shingles. The doctor reassured us that as long as he wasn’t experiencing any pain (he wasn't), took some pills, got 8 hrs of sleep nightly and avoided stress and the computer, he could continue all his activities, and our trip could continue unaffected. He's been good about most of this, but try keeping David away from his second wife, the keyboard- - evidence this blog.

I couldn’t help but gloat just a little bit, since it wasn’t me at the hospital this time. But as my husband says, “The trip isn’t over yet”.

And now you know the rest of the story.

Best wishes from hot exhausting Bangkok. Thankfully, we are leaving for Phuket for some much needed R&R.

All our best,

David and Bonnie