I had the most extravagant, ridiculous and wonderful weekend in Bangkok. After all of the drama surrounding the flu epidemic, schools closing, trips to the North canceled and "interesting" emails, it was exactly what I needed. We drove to Bangkok Thursday afternoon, and arrived just in time for a dinner boat cruise on the main river in Bangkok. I really should be able to tell everyone the name of aforementioned river, but everyone always says it quickly in Thai and I can never quite catch it and on the inside sometimes I'm a lazy American. Note to self: learn the name of the river in Bangkok and stop being an ignorant American like everyone assumes you already are (as well as lazy, rude and fat lets not forget!)
The dinner boat cruise is a must-do for tourists in Bangkok. You get to go on a boat which is exciting in itself, the poor servers are dressed in humiliating sailor outfits, there is delicious Thai food, and of course karaoke-painful, embarrassing and while horrifying, creepily entertaining. We ate our weights' worth of Thai seafood dishes, and set out on the cruise to see the sights. Everything was so gorgeous at night on the water. We saw the ancient cities, the old temples and all of the new fancy hotels. Some people bemoan the mix of the old traditional buildings right next to huge new skyscrapers-oh capitalism what have we done? but, I love the juxtaposition. It totally captures Bangkok. There are temples that are hundreds of years old and at the same time monuments to their growing economy and development. I was talking with an English teacher yesterday and he was concerned about what he saw as Thailand's focus on money and their move away from self-reliance. The way he explained it, in the past people would grow whatever they needed for food and only sell things if there were extra. Now, there are big farms that are only for export and sale, where he said that they "grow so much rice and corn that the price is cheaper" and that people were using banks and loans to do business. He seemed to be upset that the traditional way of life was being lost in his eyes, but I couldn't help but see the whole situation as a basic lesson in econ. Thailand is transitioning away from small, subsistence based farming towards a modern economy. Macro 101 came flashing back and I didn't say it, but I kept thinking-"yea! they should be doing that stuff!". I suppose my Western-liberal education in economics grounded firmly in the Washington Consensus totally clouds my world view, but I am always skeptical of the "oh we're losing our way of life" people-yea your way of life was small based farming where you had to work 16 hours a day just to survive...anyways enough of my self-righteous ramblings
So the boat cruise continued, and the whole family ate and ate and ate. After an hour, a woman got up on the makeshift stage and with a keyboard, started singing. It took me a few songs to realize she was technically teaching in English...I couldn't understand her at all. The song that gave it away was "Hopelessly Devoted" by Olivia Newton John-a total classic. She was pretty decent, I have to say. After a few songs, she opened up the karaoke machine to the passengers. Now I had been watching some of the other boat cruises as they went past, and some of them were packed with people, with a dance floor, drinking and it looked like a total rave. Our boat? Not so much. We were probably about half full, and the passenger makeup consisted of families, and old creepy guys and their young girlfriends (I wonder why they're with them?). Rave wasn't exactly how I would describe the atmosphere. It was more the we're at a dive bar that's really empty and kind of sad and its at the end of the night and the only people left are kind of weird-atmosphere. My experience with karaoke is that it is always better in a really crowded venue where people are intoxicated so that even if you're not Celine Dion, nobody really cares. This was not the case here. People, stone cold sober, went up in front of the half-empty boat of strangers and sang horrible old English songs off tune at the top of their lungs. I kept cringing and laughing quietly on the inside every time the speakers would squeal, and every time a verrrry drunk old man forced his cute young girlfriend to get up and "dance" with him to the karaoke (I use the term dance to mean he drunkenly groped her standing up).
The next day, we woke up early and went to Yoga at "California Wow", the American-import gym chain in Bangkok. Na Dau, who is my host mom's sister, is the queen of vouchers and coupons, and so we had a free pass to go with Crystal's host parents. The gym was great-definitely where the kept women of Bangkok work out, and it was so funny to see these tiny little Thai ladies working away on the cardio machines, in flip flops. At least half of the women were working out in rubber sandals, it was ridiculous! Hello shin splints! Yoga was fun and it felt good to get some good stretching in. After yoga, we raced home, showered and headed to the Shisedo salon in the Saim Paragon Mall (this is essentially the Rodeo Drive of Bangkok-LV, Gucci, the works!) where we got facials. Thanks to Na Dau and her awesome coupons, we all got 1 hour facials-for free! I had never had a facial before, but I am definitely a convert. I think I look younger, which is good seeing as I'm 22 and all. After our facials, we ran off to Oishi Grand, which is a really nice Japanese restaurant in the mall. We got the buffet-which was, one of the most exciting things that has ever happened to me. I couldn't stop giggling and smiling, it was like Christmas. I ate a TON of yummy sushi and dumplings and just went absolutely crazy. After lunch, we of course had to go get 2 hour Thai massages. My host uncle insisted that we must go through "the full course" as he calls it, the entire 2 hours. It was absolutely divine. Thai massage is interactive, but so relaxing. After our really stressful day of being pampered and rubbed and scrubbed, we went home and were supposed to go to a night market, but it was pouring down rain so we stayed in and ate noodle soup and relaxed. Essentially I thought that this was my perfect day. Little did I know that the next day...Na Dau and her love of shopping and coupons would rock my world.
So after a lazy morning, we headed off to what Na Dau kept calling "Pratinum", turns out its called "Platinum Fashion Center" and it is a huge, 10 story shopping mall that sells super cheap, trendy clothes, shoes, accessories and bags. It was ridiculous. We got the CUTEST stuff for so cheap, and it was even cheaper if you would buy 2 dresses instead of 1, for example. Ridiculous. We shopped for 4 hours straight and I now have cute Asian-trendy clothes that will make me feel more stylish. It was a little bit difficult since you weren't allowed to try things on, and everything was "one size fits all"-but although I feel like a giant compared to the tiny Asian girls, at just barely 5'4 I am lucky enough to be able to squeeze my big "falang" butt into these itty bitty clothes.
After shopping like crazy, we went to an English bookstore-yipeee! I now have real things to read and I am so grateful...it will make the 16 hour flight from Tokyo to DC hopefully a little less painful (maybe...). We again ate a delicious dinner, and then got to see Harry Potter! In English! On the IMAX! I am so spoiled it is not fair, but the movie was great. In Thailand before any movie, there is a mandatory 5 minute video that they play that praises the King, and everyone has to stand up. I was all settled in with my popcorn and snacks and 3D glasses on, but I had to stand up for 5 minutes while watching a video on how glorious the King is. Thats a monarchy for you I guess...in Thailand you can get put in jail for not standing up when the King's song is played every morning at 8 am, or for saying anything bad about the King. Note to self: Always praise the King.
Well that was my fabulous weekend in Bangkok! Only 11 more days. We have 2 more days of teaching at our temporary school, 2 days next week of teaching, 2 days of English camp, and then the whole group is off to Bangkok for the weekend before we fly out on Sunday night. Crazyness....I am going to be sad to leave my host family, but not at all sad to have a cheeseburger and a beer. My food cravings have only gotten worse and worse...I start to salivate at the thought of a steak. I can't even talk about it!
Can't wait to see everyone! :) xoxo
Stacy
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