Within our first 30 minutes in the city, driving home in the narrow streets, we zoomed by a huge swaying elephant with a man on his back. Apparently elephants are not an uncommon sight in Bangkok, despite the fact that our host, Mr. Lehman, joked that it took a lot of planning to get the timing right for our special welcome sighting.
Erin and I are so lucky to be staying with Sara's family for the summer. Staying in their guesthouse is a much more pleasant experience than staying in a dirty hostel. The guesthouse is made of pine with a small porch, a kitchen stocked with fresh fruit, and a bedroom that smells like sweet flowers.
We are still recovering from jet lag, since we completely flipped our sense of time by crossing the international date line and moving 11 hours ahead of the States. Despite our waves of exhaustion that hit during the late afternoon, we've been making the most of our mornings. Friday morning we attended a press conference at the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Thailand, on the topic of the humanitarian aid situation in Myanmar, following Cyclone Nagris. The journalists were hungry for a story, but despite the death toll and missing persons estimates the UN panelists tried to maintain an optimistic outlook. Being an aspiring social activist and psychology major, one thing that interested me during the conference was UNICEF's desperate call for psychological experts to help deal with separated children and families. Despite the intensity of this work, I'd like to be involved in mental health crisis care in the future.
Every city has its commercial side, and Bangkok's is alive and thriving. Since I haven't been in a large mall for quite a long time, the Emporium and the multi-level MBK Center, which we visited this morning, were quite a shock. Standing on the first floor, I looked up with a mix of curiousity and confusion to the many zig-zagging escalators, full of happy Asian consumers and tourist Farangs (foreigners). I could almost see Baht notes floating down from the ceiling as I wandered through the maze of stores, occasionally catching strong whiffs of steamed squid. Erin and I managed to keep up with Sara as she showed us where to buy cheap DVDs, knock-off Birkenstocks, and plenty of Hello Kitty paraphernalia.
Adventures to come: exploring Bangkok's nightlife, visiting Jim Thompson's house, eating at Cabbages and Condoms restaurant, Temple visits, weekend beach voyages, trip up north to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai for research interviews, possible trips to Laos and Cambodia...
stay tuned!
Lotus love,
Amber
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