Day One of Bangkok Fun

How bizarre it felt to wake up this morning thinking, oh yeah we're in Thailand now! Once I heard one little noise this morning, I was wide awake and totally excited again.

Not exactly what I had in mind for my first Thai meal
but hey, we have places to go, people!

Jack and I got ready and headed out for some breakfast. We'd read that Thais don't really eat what westerners would consider breakfast foods like eggs, toast, pancakes, etc, so we decided to just get a few quick things at the 7/11 on our corner (they are everywhere here). We ended up getting yogurt, chocolate milk, iced coffee, coconut cookies, water, chopped mango, and spongey cake for about $3.50.

Most everything was better than we thought it would be (we didn't know what to expect so we kept our expectations low). I realized after we got back to the hostel that the mango bag said pickled mangos--uh oh! The ingredients list was also in English and I didn't see anything about vinegar so I suspected it might be a translation issue. Oh well, let's try it!

Um, what was I thinking buying packaged mango??? It was unripe and tangy from preservatives. Ok, you know what I was thinking? Maybe I should be careful of the street vendors selling cut up fruit that's been sitting out in this 90+° weather. Better safe than sorry. This time I was safe and sorry, but lesson learned.

With breakfast out of the way and all the messages sent out to family that we're alive and safe, we headed down to Siam Square to meet our brand new friend Eric. A mutual friend introduced us on facebook and he's been helping us with all sorts of questions (as an American expat himself). HUGE thank you for that!

Bangkok is about 600 square miles (twice the size of NYC with about as many people) and they have some amazing public transportation: the SkyTrain and the Metro (and of course, city buses). To meet Eric, we took the SkyTrain, which was incredibly easy to navigate, super cheap, and air conditioned! It also conveniently runs every minute or two, no joke.

Since it was terribly hot, we met at the Siam Paragon mall. Shopping malls are where everyone hangs out during the hot season when school is not in session, and it's clear why. Jack and I are not big mall-people, but we definitely welcomed the A/C. I think we walked through four or five gloriously chilled malls, but it was hard to tell because some of them are connected. Shopping is a big deal here, and it seems like everyone has got something to sell--in the mall, on the street, or otherwise.

Eric took us to this delicious Thai restaurant for lunch/dinner, Taling Pling. Thais generally eat family-style so we ordered three dishes to share:

Iced teas, orange ginger frosty, and
friend catfish with chili paste

Panaeng Chicken

Vegetable Red Curry

Side note: It is surprisingly difficult to find vegetarian food here as most vegetable dishes are made with oyster or fish sauce. I thought this might be the case before we came and had been debating whether to try to sustain a mildly strict vegetarianism or not. After getting an idea of what the situation is, I'll eat as vegetarian as possible but not turn down an opportunity for amazing food that I may never get a chance to try again. I think that's a healthy compromise.

While wandering around Siam Square, we came across a large spirit house called Thao Maha Brahma or the Erawan Shrine. According to this:

"[the] shrine was built in 1956 to appease the supposed evil forces that were taking the lives of construction workers and causing other calamities in the construction what is now the Grand Hyatt Erawan. The misfortunes were caused, it seemed, by starting the construction on an unfavorable date. After the shrine was erected, construction deaths stopped and the hotel grew very prosperous. 

Thao Maha Brahma

The apparent effectiveness of the monument made the shrine one of the most revered spots in Thailand. The great importance of the shrine became terribly apparent in 2006, when a mentally disturbed Thai man attacked the statue with a hammer - onlookers beat him to death in broad daylight. The statue was replaced within two months, incorporating pieces from the original image. 

...[the shrine] consists of a golden statue of the four-faced Hindu god Brahma, named Than Tao Mahaprom. The statue sits beneath a glittering canopy, surrounded by offerings of flowers, incese and candles. 

The area is crowded with worshippers day and night and always wafting with incense smoke. It is also common to see people bowing as they pass by bus, taxi or above by skytrain."

Can you see that building on the left side? Inside it, you can pay elaborately dressed traditional Thai dancers to dance facing the shrine while you pray in front of them. These customs are primarily about making merit with the gods. (I couldn't get a decent pic but I'll try again soon.)

Since spirit houses are built to appease and house spirits that have been displaced during building, gifts of incense, candles, food, flowers, and figurines are offered in deference. Every building has one--here is an example of a much smaller version we saw in an alley of shops:

This was quite an exhausting but amazing day for us. As always, there are more photos posted on my flickr page so check that out for more!