Photos of Lumpini Park

Here are some photos I took at Lumpini Park yesterday.


This of the exercise group. Really doesn't show the entire group, but it gives you an idea of what it's like. And this is just one of maybe 4 going on. I guess they have them in the morning as well.

These are the lake (pond)in the middle of the park. The water wheel apparatus is an invention of the last King & it is used to airate the water prevent pollution.



These are of the Duck Boats - you can rent for about $1 for 30 minutes.


And the fish being fed. One actually jumped clear out of the water to get some bread. They sell bags of bread at the entrance to the park. A nice family place to hang out.



This is the entrance (well I'm leaving), but you can see the statue of one of the Kings & also the Sky Train (BTS) in the background.

Some funny things around town today

Since I've been in Bangkok I've not been able to find just a regular post office. There was a large post office near our other apartment, but you had to take a number & wait like 20 minutes just to get stamps. There are lots of little places like Mailboxes Etc... at the subway stations, so I've been using them, but of course they charge you a bunch extra. I've found this very frustrating and nobody seems to be able to give me a good answer as to how I can find a post office. Before Christmas someone told me there was one behind the Bangkok Bank building, so I circled it twice & all I found were lots of stalls selling everything BUT stamps. So today I asked the manager of our apartment & he said, "behind the Bangkok Bank building, just go down our street and you will see it". I was not very hopefully.

I walked down the street (1.5 blocks) & noticed a sign "Thailand Post Office". I got the attention of the security guard & pointed to the sign & he pointed into the parking garage, under an overpass. No wonder I didn't see it last time! So now I'm happy, I've found a post office & it's only a 3 minute walk from the apartment.

This is a photo of a 2 car garage, Thai style. This is just around the corner from our apartment.

This other photo is along the street next to us. The guy is setting up his "restaurant". Honestly, they have entire restaurants on these little carts. They will have folding tables & plastic chairs for about 20 people. The cart has a propane tank & most everything is cooked in a wok, whether it's deep fried or stir fried. It is amazing the variety of foods you can get from these street shops. I don't eat at them often, but when I have they are very good. I mostly get fruits & veggies from the street vendors. It is jack fruit season right now - I'll get photos.

We needed a few more things for the apartment, so I decided to make the trek out to Carrefour (Thai version of Walmart, I think it's French owned). I got as close as I could on the subway & then walked about 20 minutes to the store. The area I walked through was definitely not the tourist section of town. There were lots of car & motorcycle repair shops. Shops for reupholstering cars seats, buying car supplies, and installing car sound systems. I guess this is car/motorcycle servicing neighborhood. The funniest thing was motorcycle washing station (like a car wash, but for motor cycles). They drive up onto these raised cement areas & spray down the bike with a hose. There were 5 cement raised areas & all were full. I should have taken a photo.

At Carrefour there were employees skating around the store on roller blades. I guess it's so big that this is the best way for them to get around. It was pretty funny.

Tonight I went back to the park and participated in one of the aerobics classes. Good workout. Luckily it was not one of the hip hop ones, so it was pretty easy to follow & fun to be there with the throngs of locals working out. It's nice to do this now because the weather is so "cold" (it actually has been getting into the 60s at night). Most people were in sweat pants & jackets working out. I've moved to wearing short sleeved shirts instead of sleeveless. It'll be hot soon enough!

On my way home from the park, I saw a motor cycle taxi driver with a can of beer drinking it with a straw. Glad I was walking & not riding!!

That's it for my random observations for today.

Evening in the park

I've been trying to be better about exercising & have been pretty good about using the equipment & pool at our new apartment building. When John is away, like now, it is easier because it's a good way to occupy my evenings.

Today was a beautiful day, it actually was in the 60's this morning, but I'm sure was up in the 70's or low 80's this afternoon. It's been great the past week, I can actually walk around outside without being soaked with sweat.

I know all you folks in the north who are suffering with too much snow & subfreezing temperatures are not feeling very sorry for me right now...

It was such a pleasant evening that I decided instead of using the treadmill inside, I'd go to the park that is near our apartment. It's only about a 15 minute walk to the park & it's the largest park in Bangkok, so ridiculous that this is the first time I've been to it.

I found out that Lumpini Park is the place to go in the evening if you want to exercise. This place was hopping. There is a 3km road (no cars) that circles the park & it was full of runners & walkers. I joined in as a walker. Walking the perimiter allowed me see all that was going on in this venue. There were tennis courts, a bilding with ping pong tables, volleyball, basketball, a pool. An area with weight equipment that was under some big banyon trees with lights, like an outdoor gym (a bit strange looking). Another area for stretching that had some special stations set up. There was a group of 10 people doing yoga on the grass. There were families playing badmitten. And of course a group of older people doing Thai Chi.

But the most fun thing were the aerobic hip hop sessions that were going on. I could hear the music from a distance & was not sure what it was. Then I rounded a corner & saw maybe 200 people all doing a routine together that included lots of clapping & shouting. I tried to join in, but they went to fast for me to catch on, so I continued my walking. Then I came across a 2nd group, probably 150 in this group, also doing an aerobic hip hop routine in a different part of the park. There were a total of 4 different huge groups, all rocking & bopping to the music & getting their exercise. The groups had all sorts of people - equal numbers of men & women, mostly young, but in one group I noticed an older woman right up front who didn't miss a step (I imagined that would be the Thai version of my mother). I finally couldn't resist & joined in with one of the groups in time for cool down & stretching, so it wasn't that hard to follow.

I don't know if this is typical of city living, group activities in the park, or if it is unique to Asia, but it sure is a fun experience. There were very few Westerners, so I guess this is how the fitness conscious locals get their exercise. You can be sure I'll be going back again for exercise & I'll bring my camera one of these times.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, there was one non-human sighting. Near the canal that runs around the park there was a big monitor lizard (at least I think that is what it was) that had to be about 3 feet long. he was just standing there & sticking his tongue out, not very close to where the people were. I was mad I didn't have my camera, but hopefully he'll be back when I do.

So that was my fun evening! You don't have to worry about me being bored, I always find something to do.
Thanks Karin for the encouragement! Hope you enjoyed my wanderings.

Christmas dinner, Bangkok style

We didn't go back to the states for Christmas this year (2008), so we decided to invite the Thai office staff over for a traditional American Christmas dinner. Meenawat, our Thai friend who works with John & lived in the States until he was 12, put the idea in my head because he said he hadn't had one of these dinners since he'd left the US (he's 29 now). He's request was for turkey, stuffing, gravy & candied yams with lots of marshmallows. John's only request was mashed pototoes.

As you can see, I got creative (desperate really & cheap) and made my wreath & a tree out of wrapping paper. I couldn't find colored construction paper & it was darn hard to even find the green wrapping paper. On a side note, it is pretty funny to see how a Buddhist, tropical country decorates for Christmas. There are loads of decorations - lights drapped on palm trees, rhiendeer flying through the mall, but my favorites are the Christmas trees of every imaginable color. There is a huge blue one at the plaza near our apartment. I've seen gold, yellow, pink, red and even one green one!



Since we have a small oven and we were going to need a turkey for 12, we asked a friend of ours,Hermann, who owns a professional kitchen, if he'd do the turkey. He does deep fried turkeys & to die for garlic mashed potatoes, so I was spared the agony of producing a perfect turkey. Hermann also said he'd throw in some veggies as well.

I made the stuffing, gravy (I cheated & bought jarred gravy), candied yams (actually 2 different ones - there's a story), green bean casserole (I know it isn't really vegatable, but I like it), apple pie & pumpkin pie. I also made my traditional pumpkin bread & roasted peacans to give as gifts. For beverage we had spiced apple cider (but could only get apple cider with pomegranate juice - it was interesting).

When shopping for a large meal you really miss not having a car. I had to make several trips to the grocery store & of course had to hit several stores as I couldn't find everything in one place - this is when you know you are not in Kansas any more Toetoe! I was pretty happy that eventurally I found everything except the crispy onions for the green bean casserole. I asked Hermann about this & he said I wouldn't find them & to just make my own. Which I did & it was very easy & they were SO much better than the canned ones.

I had 2 recipes for candied yams & one used fresh yams - which it said are red skinned sweet potatoes. The only red skinned sweet potaotes I could find were Japanese sweet potatoes (I didn't realize this until I went peal them & they were white inside). I had to rush back out to try to find the right yams & when I did they were going to cost around $10 (imported from the USA). I decided that since they were going to be filled with sugar & butter & marshmallows it wasn't worth spending that kind of money (believe me an American Christmas dinner doesn't come cheap in Bangkok). Fortunately they had canned yams & they did the trick. I've never made this dish before & probably will never make it again, unless Meenawat asks me - food doesn't get much sweeter than candied yams (yuck).

Besides the problem with the sweet potatoes I discovered that Thai frozen green beans aren't very good & for green bean casserole you don't use Annie's Organic Mushroom Soup - only Campbell's will do. It was pretty funny, because I used the organic soup first & it was terrible, so I rinsed it off the beans & started over with Campbells (didn't have time to go get new beans). I think I was the only one who really ate this dish anyway.

Since this is a Buddhist country they don't have Christmas off, so I was told that they would be over around 7 after work. The turkey was supposed to arrive at 7 or before. John went off with our friend Meenawat to the driving range for some Christmas relaxation. So I had everything ready & went up to take a shower around 6.

When I got out of the shower I heard voices downstairs & they were female voices. Well I guess the ladies decided to leave early so they were downstairs putting up the Christmas tree that I'd bought for the office. The ladies were cute, they had brought Santa hats for everyone to wear. I called John to let him know everyone was here, except Meen & him & he said they were stuck in traffic, but he'd heard from Hermann & the turkey had left the kitchen at 5:30 via taxi.

Apparently Hermann was making several turkeys & the ones that were to be delivered early in the day were hours late because his courrier's truck broke down, thus we were getting taxi service.

John & Meen finally arrived around 7:30, and still NO TURKEY. We called Hermann & he said it should have been there. About 8pm we get a call from Hermann saying the traffic is so bad that the taxi driver gave the turkey to a motorcycle taxi so it wouldn't be any later.

WOW, now I'm envisioning this 25 pound turkey on the back of a motorcycle that is dodging around traffic on these not so clean Bangkok streets. I wasn't feeling very good about our Christmas dinner. Around 8:30 the turkey finally arrived & it was in one piece. Fortunately Hermann does things professionally and the turkey & mashed potatoes where safely stored in a large styrofoam container. Everything was still nice & hot & none of my other dishes had suffered the delay.

We had our dinner & I think it was delicious. Everyone had several helpings so I guess they liked it too. I had warned them ahead of time that American Christmas dinner will not be spicy, no chillis used in my cooking, so if they want spicy, they'd better bring their own chilli sauce. Only 2 of them added tabasco to the dishes to they could "taste" it. So I think it was a success!

I sent everyone home with left overs & a loaf of pumpkin bread & some homemade cookies & nuts - so they really get Christmas American style. AND Meenawat, who wanted the candied yams, was very very happy. In fact he didn't even eat desert, he just had a 4th helping of yams instead! He took his desert home with him.

Thanksgiving in Pattaya, TH

Thanksgiving 2008

We had great plans for our Thanksgiving week. John was going to take off a few days & we were going to Borneo, leaving Wed & returning on Tuesday. I had worked out with a friend who knows the Executive Manager of the Shangri-la Hotel in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, Borneo to get a good deal on a room. If you don't know Shangri-la hotels - they are 5 star & really really nice!!

As you already know, the PAD (People's Alliance for Democracy) or Yellow Shirt people, took over the airport on Tuesday night, so our vacation got canceled. Just a side note - the PAD are fighting to have only 30% of the government officials elected democratically & 70% to be appointed by the King, so they are actually against democracy.

We had really set our minds on getting out of the city for a few days, so we changed plans & decided to head for the beach that is closest to Bangkok, called Pattaya. Pattaya has a reputation as being the red light city of SE Asia, but with the airport closed our options were limited.

We were told there was a bus that went from Bangkok to Pattaya & where to get it. We tried taking the sky train, but were not allowed on with a suitcase. So we hailed a taxi & asked him to take us to the bus station. He said because of the bad traffic it might take 1 to 1.5 hours to get to the station (this happens a lot here, which is why we like to take the sky train or subway). We asked him how much to just take us all the way to Pattaya? We negotiated a price (about $50) & in 1.5 hours we were at the beach!!

We had not booked a hotel ahead of time so ended up at a rather seedy place our first night. It was close to the main strip so we enjoyed walking the street & seeing all the Go Go Clubs (they still call them that here) & girly bars. Most of the bars are open sided so you can see what is going on inside without having to go in. There was one that had Thai boxing, but it didn't look like they were very serious. Another had an Elvis impersonator. Most of them had poles for dancing & it looked like something out of Austin Powers - 1960's Groovy Baby!!


On Thanksgiving day we ate at a Russian restaurant. There are lots of Russians vacationing there. It wasn't very good. We moved the 2nd night to a resort type hotel that had nice grounds, a pool & a beach. We stayed there the rest of the time, it was very relaxing. We rented a motorscooter ($10/day) which was lots of fun. We got massages, manicure & pedicure on the beach ($3 each). It felt very decadent.

We did find an Irish Pub that had a carvery dinner on Sunday night, so we even got to have turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing & cranberry sauce. It definitely was not home cooking, but it satisfied the craving. We found some nightlife away from the Go Go bars & pole dancers - pubs showing English football. We saw a few tourist sights (Sanctuary of Truth) & went go karting (john was much faster than me, but I did OK).



It was a nice get-a-way, but we sure missed not being with family & friends. We have rescheduled the Borneo trip for Christmas, so hopefully nobody takes over the airport this time!!

Bangkok Gecko Wrestling

Gecko Wrestling !!

If you've ever lived in the tropics this will not be any surprise to you, but if you haven't, well this is how it is. You know what a gecko is (those cute little lizard type creatures they use to advertise for the insurance company - Geico??). Well when you live in a tropical climate they are all over the place. You don't always see them, but you can hear them. They make a loud repetivite clicking noise. They are not very talkative, so they generally aren't much of a problem. They usually stay up near the ceiling. They are small enough to be able to get in to your home no matter if you have screening or closed windows, they get in. There is one that I know lives up in the study who sort of keeps me company when I work up there. I rarely ever see him or her (how could you tell?), but the periodic "talking" let's me know he's there watching me.

BUT today when I was looking for my address book, I went in to the study & there were 2 little geckos locked together rolling over & over on the floor. They were obviously fighting or wrestling or something. It was really funny to see. They didn't even stop when I went over to get a closer look. I ran to get my camera, but when I got back up there & pulled the curtain aside to get a better shot, they let go & ran up the wall.

My Thai friend told me a story about geckos that makes me glad the only ones I've ever seen are the small ones. He said that if you get too close to the big ones, they will jump onto your face & suck on your skin & will not let go. So you can pull & pull, but they lock on. He never told me how you can finally get them off, but it makes me think they aren't so cute any more. The other night I heard something scurrying around our bedroom & all I could think of was "it's a big gecko & it's going to jump onto my face & I won't be able to get it off". So I searched to see what was making the noise, but didn't see anything. I lay there for a long time until something that felt fairly large ran across my legs (they were covered by a quilt). I left John in the room (he never heard or felt anything) & went to sleep upstairs. In the morning I checked out the room again & found droppings that I knew to be mouse droppings (of course I have no idea what gecko droppings look like). A day later there was a dead mouse curled up in the corner of the kitchen. I guess the maintanence guy had put out some poison. And I haven't heard anymore critters in the bedroom since then.

The joys of living in a tropical country!!

A City in Black and White

28 Nov 2008

Just in case you didn't know, the royal family in Thailand is HIGHLY revered. The King is the longest reigning monarch in the world (62 years) and the people absolutely LOVE him. For example, yellow is the King's color and Monday is yellow day. Each day has a color associated with it & people generally wear that color on the assigned day (Tuesday is pink). On Mondays you will see at least 1/3 of the population of Bangkok wearing yellow polo shirts, most with the King's logon on the breast. Also, before any movie at the theater, everyone stands up & they play the King's song & photos of the King flash on the screen. Not that many people would wear pink on Tuesday, until the King got sick & the day her wore pink he got better, so suddenly there were pink King polo shirts for sale everywhere & everyone was wearing pink on Tuesday.

Last March the King's older sister died. She was 86 and very beloved by the people. At that time large photos of her went up along the streets & they were drapped in black & white ribbons. The country morned! I asked about her funeral & was told that it would not happen immediately as special items needed to be made with special wood from certainly remote locations in Thailand. Nobody could tell me exactly when she would be buried. I saw an article in the newspaper in June, that the cremation building for the King's sister was on schedule for her Nov 16 funeral. So that is 8 months from her death.

As mid-November approached people began talking about the King's Sister's funeral. It was to last from November 14 to 16 I was told. There would be ceremonies at the
Grand Palace (the former residence of the Royal Family) & a park near there. I got a call from my Thai friend on the 13 telling me to be sure that I wear black for the next 3 days & if I don't have all black it is OK to wear black and white. She said it was very important. I like to be respectful of other cultures, so I dragged out the few black & white things I had.

When I ventured out on Nov 14 into the city, I could not believe that EVERYONE was wearing black & white. There was the occassional tourist who obviously didn't know
better, but everyone else was dressed in mourning. It is amazing to me that a city this large can have such a singular devosion to their royal family, I think it is very refreshing. Too bad they don't think as highly of there government (last night the airport was taken over by government protesters - we were supposed to be going to Borneo today, but here I sit still in Bangkok).

John & I watched the funeral prossion on TV (it was in Thai so I don't know what it was all about). The pomp was amazing. There were over 600 people involved, miltary & religious. They were dressed in traditional clothes. The structure that the King's Sister's casket was carried on was fantastic, covered with gold and gems - it shimmered in the sunlight like something surreal. It took one day to get her casket to the palace. Then the next day it was moved to the cremation building - specially built for this purpose (that is what took almost 8 months to build). On the 3rd evening the King arrived and lit the fire that would cremate his sister. There were more ceremonies on the 4th and 5th days as her remains were moved from one place to the next to the final resting place.

Through all of this the people of Bangkok wore black and white. We went to the mall one day & almost every dress on display was black and white. Black & white banners
were draped all over the city. Thousands of people came out to see what they could of the ceremonies. We attempted to get close one day, but it was impossible. Better to watch on TV. I was showing a friend from India around during this time & we could never get anywhere near the Grand Palace until her last day, 20 Nov. On that day our taxi happened to go by the park where the cremation building was (they don't burn it down, just burn the body), I thought it would be fun to get some photos, then I noticed the probably thousands of people in line circling the park waiting to get close to the building. It will be up for a few months, so I'll make that another journey.

I was impressed that an entire nation could come together & be so united in this occassion. One can only wonder what it will be like when the King dies!