Thailand, Spring Break 2006

(kids sharing cookies with a refugee from the Long-necked women hill tribe)

Sawasdee crap! (YES, this is how Thai men greet or welcome others!! Women say "Sawasdee caa". Thai is like Arabic in that it has gender-dependent conjugations)

So here we are, yet again, blogging another exotic experience, this time in Thailand. What an absolutely phenomenal time it was. I could rave for months about this trip--truly life-enriching. We were afforded the opportunity by attending the Near East South Asia (NESA) Teachers' Conference in Bangkok, spending 4 1/2 days in the sprawling magnitude of Thailand's capital. We then spent 4 days in the northern city of Chiang Mai for a little R&R and a great deal of adventure (what else would you expect?!!). And the trip went a little something like this:

Bangkok







A city of somewhere around 12 million people, Bangkok is an immense, encompassing, city that never sleeps. I personally think 12 million is very conservative--it seemed MUCH bigger than that! Traffic is unbelievable and people are everywhere, though the Thai are very friendly. Kai and Emma found out just how friendly the Thai are by being hugged, stroked, pinched, groped, and generally affectionately accosted! By the end of the trip, Emma was shaking her finger and saying, "NO! NO!" at smiling people wanting to come and touch her! Nobody meant any harm, they just love little blond kids!

Wednesday evening after we arrived, we started our adventure with a canal tour in a water taxi in order to get an up close and cultural side of Bangkok.

Canal homes:



A local canal vendor:

















We stayed in a very comfortable hotel next to the ritzy Shangri La, where the NESA conference took place. We got massages every day, swam, and had a great time with the kids, when we were not in seminars of course!

During one of the long days of meetings for me, Shawna took the kids to the Bangkok Aquarium. "Fantastic," was how she described the facility; Kai thought it was just plain AWESOME!!
























On Friday, we had a half day in order to be able to get out and explore with no time constraints, so we took the sky train to Lampini Park. The entire district around the park is stuffed to the gills with skyscrapers and buildings galore, but the park itself seems quite removed from it all. While we were letting the kids run and play, a whistle sounded and everyone, AND I MEAN EVERYONE, stopped whatever it was they were doing and FROZE. We did not realize it for a number of seconds, but the realization was startling. Emma began to run off, and I went chasing her, but I noticed that we were running around these perfectly statue-still bodies. I looked up and everyone in the park was at attention, from joggers to badmitton players, to the jazzercise and Thai Chi classes...and then I heard the music. The cause of this pause in the afternoon is the 6 o'clock playing of the Thai National Anthem. The experience was beyond surreal. As soon as the song ended, people started up right where they left off in their activities. This happened at six oclock in the evening, everywhere we went! Now THAT'S respect for your country!!

This was about the extent of our exploration of Bangkok; it is still hard for us to conquer everything we want to with the kids. Maybe in two years when the conference is back there, the kids will be old enough to do some real tourist sight-seeing! We missed the grand Palace, the floating market, and a couple of good night bazaars...Oh well, we were not too disappointed--we were heading to Chiang Mai in the mountains of North Thailand!

Chiang Mai



One of the oldest cities in Thailand, Chiang Mai is incredible. The atmosphere is relaxed, the food is great everywhere, there are markets nearly everywhere, there are very nice hotels surrounding the old city (we were just across the moat from the old city--could NOT beat the location!), and there's enough modernization to be very comfortable. We stayed in a very comfortable hotel, centrally located, and continued our discovery of the Land of Smiles, first with the West Chiang Mai Zoo on Monday, with the whipped cream topping of getting to see live pandas!! (don't you just love getting dessert served first!)





The Chiang Mai Zoo was vast and magnificient the was it seemed to be part of the surrounding jungled landscape. Well worth the very long hike around it!!

We got the "bright" idea to schedule a guided day tour to go see an orchid farm, a Buddhist cave temple, and the hill tribe refugees from Burma (now Myanmar) who reside in government-provided refugee camps close to the Golden Triangle, so we scheduled the trip for Tuesday. Little did we anticipate the adventure that awaited us, or the nausea-inducing roller coaster ride in a tour van (poor Kai spent most of the 6 hour drive losing his lunch in a plastic bag!!). But the kids were troopers, and the experience was WELL worth the trip.

Chiang Mai Orchid Farm:


















100 year old Buddhist Cave Temple:




















Now I have to explain to you the hill tribe villagers. These refugees fled the political oppression of Myanmar by coming to Thailand, and the Thai King, Rama IV, set aside land for them with a 10 year lease and instituted programs to teach the villagers to become self-sustaining (in Burma/Myanmar, they grew opium!). The men farm and the women have become weavers and artisans. However, many of you will possibly recognize the women from National Geographic--the 4 tribes we encountered were: the Long-necked women-- they stretch their necks with brass coils for a couple of reasons, first for protection (supposedly to protect the woman's throat from a tiger attack in the Burmese jungle) and secondly it is for beautification (thought to create a more "swan-like" look about them); the black-toothed women who beautify themselves by staining their teeth black (they chew a concoction of different powdered roots wrapped in a leaf--thier teeth are actually very healthy, just stained!); and the Stretched ear lobe women, who, well, you could probably guess... This stop made our entire time in Thailand truly meaningful and impacting:
















Thailand is a must see for everyone (besides coming to Oman to see us along the way of course!!). We have enough pictures for three or four blogs, but we would not want to spoil a future trip for you!! Leaving the country, we were resolved to come back as soon as we are able. Southeast Asia is beyond words and pictures; only an experience here does the region any justice. We are looking forward for an excuse to get back there to explore it further.

Well, the blogs are about to get shorter as we wind down the first year abroad. I want to share a "rainy day experience" we had a couple of months ago, and we will share little updates, but I think Thailand was the last adventure before we head back to the States in early mid-June. We look forward to seeing everyone and sharing with you in further detail the tales of The Riddles in Oman (and beyond!)!

Sawasdee crap!