What Superbowl? Bangkok snapshots Feb. 8 2010

Fourteen hours ahead of Tucson - left the hotel around 8 a.m. heading for the Grand Palace hoping to beat the crowds. Came across a cafe - seats lined up on the sidewalk - everyone facing inwards looking at a small TV screen - Superbowl time Bangkok.

Young women - impeccably coiffed, silky black hair piled into chic chignons, tailored short skirts, spikey high heeled shoes, stand in line waiting for a motorcycle "taxi". Hop on side-saddle without disturbing a hair and race off into the maelstrom of Bangkok morning traffic.


Tuk-tuks idle waiting for passengers brave enough to ride an open vehicle at exhaust pipe level through the maze of streets. Took one a couple of days ago and whirled into the traffic frenzy at breakneck speed.

Taxi takes a short cut through a street lined with gilt Buddha's and temple gods - some on the move. You want a garden Buddha, a sad Buddha, perhaps a miniature or even larger than life - this is the place.





The Grand Palace - neurotic about cultural sensitivity and having read the literature on "proper attire" my little group wore closed-toe shoes, long skirts, elbow length blouses - made the sole male in the party wear long pants. Was correct on the long skirts but the no trouser rule for women seems to have gone the way of the Dodo along with the close-toe shoe etiquette - sandals ruled. Doesn't matter though if you goofed and showed up in a skimpy top and shorts - obliging merchants lined the entrance offering sarongs, shirts and long pants for rent. Annie - Mary Poppins umbrella held high introduced Finn, now two plus weeks old to this world - he slept though the whole thing.



















Disney couldn't have dreamt this place. The Grand Palace, started in 1782 defies belief. It is simply the most fantastical place I have ever seen. Not mind-boggling awesome - just fantastic. Behind the white walls is a magical kingdom - elaborate temples, ceremonial buildings and temples. Will write a full description later. Suffice to say - if you are into glitz - this is the place. I'm wrong - it is awesome!








Loved the modern touch - artists restoring murals in the gorgeous gallery had i Pods firmly in place and swayed to the music as they worked on paintings first conceived 228 years ago.


On the way back to the hotel passed my favourite building - the top floor when lit at night looks just like one of the old rice boats, once familiar sights on the Chao Phraya River.

Smile for the Python

I've never met a snake I liked and I'm not about to change my ways now! No wonder I freaked yesterday at the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market - was wandering along the land market area when a touch on my arm stopped me - turned and there was a smiling man, python around his neck, urging me to have "photo, lady, 10 bhat" ( about 2 cents).

You've all seen posters and iconic pictures of Thailand showing a typical longboat, crammed with exotic fruits, navigating blue waters. The reality is a little different.

Located about 40 miles southwest of Bangkok , the Damnoen Saduak Floating market is on most tourist agendas. Lured by those aforementioned iconic images, I couldn't wait. The tour company told me 1.5 hours. I was ready, coffee in hand, for a 6:30 a.m. pick-up. Read the small print! The trip took well over 4 hours - most of that time spent inching through Bangkok's notoriously heavy traffic to three other hotels to pick up fellow tourists. Nightmare mitigated by getting to see areas of the city I doubt I'll see again - including the infamous red light section of Phang Pong.

Once the missed opportunity to get really up close and personal with the python had passed I boarded - not decorously - a motor propelled long boat for a tour of the klongs - canals that function as streets complete with curbs and street lighting. It's not Venice. No soothing gondolier with arias from Puccini - rather a raucous barrage of engine noise and yells from other boat drivers that I think translated as "stay back". Nothing romantic about these waterways. Pretty grim in fact. Traditional teak built Thai houses have been romanticized - many of the ones we passed were in major decay, tottering on stilts above the murky water, the underneath areas filled with rubbish. The surrounding land, a dismal swampy place filled with massive vines, coconut trees and, as far as I was concerned - pythons! One or two houses were beautiful, and most showed signs of a woman's touch in pots of flowers along deck rails. All business is conducted along these klongs - from hardware stores to bars, and entertainment houses inviting the visitor in to watch cobra milking. I passed.




The ride took us to the true purpose of the trip - the Floating Market - where the motorized boat was exchanged for one with pole power - the "drivers" being women. I'm a kayaker - imagine sitting in kayak position, no back support and no place to stretch and brace legs. Not the most comfortable mode of transportation but the Thais appear to have it down to an art form. I'd like to say that we pushed off into a wonderland of long-ago Thailand . No way - the market has been taken over by dross - cheap souvenirs hawked from klong-side stalls. Show any interest at all and hooks wielded by stall owners pull in your boat, hold it captive and the sales pitch begins. It's all very good-natured - the Thais are intrinsically polite and charming people.



Colorful longboats are wedged side to side in the narrow waterways - you really could cross the klong by stepping (very carefully) boat to boat. Eventually we inched our way past gold and red satin boxer shorts, elephant emblazoned handbags, and wooden knicknacks that once home would vanish into a drawer to be forgotten forever, to what I'd come for - the food section of the floating market - and I was not disappointed. Go to A Foodie in Paradise for more on that.





Return to Bangkok was punctuated by a side-trip to a Thailand National Woodcarving center. Obviously the place where all that intensely detailed carved furniture from Thailand that you can find in pricey shops stateside originates. Also the place for massive chairs carved from solid pieces of teak wood and elephants and Bhudda's from tiny to collosal. Lot's of the more elaborate pieces appeared to be commissioned and were labeled with the buyer's name and country. Recessed table tops, a fretwork fantasy world of miniature jungles, houses, animals - amazingly intricate and precise work.
I thanked my lucky stars that we did not have time to visit the snake farm!


Two and a half hours into the return trip and stuck once again in traffic our charming guide informed us that it was traditional to end the tour with a visit to "the largest gem workshop and store in Thailand - not long one hour you see it." That got to me big time - I played the age card -"No thank you" said I. "I'm old, please take me back to the hotel".

Total trip cost 750 bhat - roughly $28 USD. A bargain.

What's not to love - starfish fingers, gas smiles

Finn was born in the wee hours of January 21 in Bangkok, he came 'home" to the apartment rented for the next few months a little while ago. Mom feels great; Dad looks like the cat that got the cream, and Maxine assures everyone that she loves "brudder" - personally I think she is more interested in snagging a set of bath toys someone left for the newborn.

He was born at the Samativej Sukhumvit Hospital - Annie received first class treatment from day one, and given the rough ride this little guy started out with he deserved the best. Parents live in Ethiopia and a malaria scare early in the pregnancy saw Annie medically evacuated to South Africa for care and for a while there things were touch and go. This 8lb.2 0z, 20.5 inch long boy is a testimony to his own grit and superb medical care in far-flung places. By the time he's a year old he will have been around the world.

What's not to love about a newborn? Peach fuzz tops a perfectly round head, eyes squint but never quite open and those star-fish little fingers reach out to the world. Doesn't matter what race or gender , newborns bring out the best in us.

Thinking of our good luck in having this perfect child received into a loving family, safe, warm, secure also makes me think of those newborns struggling now in Haiti and my heart goes out to frightened, destitute mothers. What contrast and how blessed I am.

The King and I

Butterfly this morning

Can't get the image of Julie Andrews and Yul Bryner waltzing in that great movie - The King and I. The current king is very well-liked here and street signs proclaim, "We love our king". His photo is in most shop windows.

Arrived in Bangkok around 1 a.m. Sunday morning Bangkok time after 32 hours of continuous travel. Wow, that takes it out of you. Popped a Melatonin and much to my surprise slept soundly and appear to be on Thai time now.

Chris, Annie's Mom, joined me on this trip but it was a surprise for the kids. We didn't travel all the way together - met up in Tokyo. It was fun to see their faces when they opened the door to me Sunday morning and found Chris there too. Maxine is delighting in having two "G'Mas" at her call.



Sunday was spent exploring the hotel surrounds and re acquainting with Maxine, now 2, who I last saw in July in South Africa. She talks a mile a minute, it very independent and charming. Annie's due date is today but despite spicy food, foot reflexology and long walks - that baby is not about to be launched in a hurry. We visited the hospital this a.m. - more like a five star hotel than any US hospital I've seen. Whole ground floor is full of chic little restaurants, coffee shops - even a Starbucks.

First impressions of Bangkok - clean; well organised; traffic follows rules; people universally smiling and polite. Striking modern skyscrapers dominate the skyline with an occasional gaps through which the elegant and distinctive old buildings can be glimpsed. Lot's of cupolas extravagantly scrolled and decorated; shrines with intoxicating scents of incense every few feet, and elephant motifs everywhere. Street food is tempting but I have yet to succumb. The three restaurants I've been to have been inexpensive and the food wonderful. Have sampled a fantastic salad of prawns, pomelo, toasted coconut and a spicy sauce; steamed sea bass in lemon grass and coconut "soup" and cold noodles in a hot sauce. All very good. I'm glad my studio apartment is only a one floor elevator ride to the in-house gym and I did my treadmill cardio this a.m. watching BBC World News on the monitor, and Bangkok come awake through the window.

I navigated taxi and streets today to learn the route to Maxine's school - traffic is congested and there are scores of small engine motor bikes - some piled high with baskets heading for the markets and others with two or more passengers.

This evening we plan on a river cruise to watch the sunset light up the temples along the river bank. I like this city and can see why it attracts so many fans from the western world.
Gerry