Month: April 2018

Some of you (mostly anyone who had to hear me psyche myself up about moving here) have heard me talk about wanting to visit Thailand and a specific thing that I wanted to do there.  Ever since I first heard of it, I’ve wanted to get a sak yant tattoo from a buddhist monk.

The unfortunate news is that many Thai monks won’t tattoo women. There is a belief that they aren’t allowed to touch women, but the truth is that they  are  permitted to touch a women, so long that it does not create lust. Many Monks decide that it is better to be safer than sorry in this regards, and if they do touch a female they use prayer cloth as an added layer.  So many monks won’t tattoo women so as not to have pictures taken and have to explain anything later.

But there are many ajarns(master) who will tattoo women, The word ‘Ajarn’ is used to describe a learned person… similar to the term Professor or Master.

Usually an Ajarn  is a former Monk that has taken their training in the Magical Art of Sak Yant and continued to provide the service to people after they no longer work within the Temple environment.

So, after looking into all this, I found a company called Where the Sidewalk Ends that arranges the appointment, picks you up gets you to the ajarn and translates everything to the ajarn for you.

My guide was named Sea, and she was delightful. She talked to me about the tradition of sak yant and the original purpose was to make warriors stronger or invincible during fights.  Now you still see warrior type sak yants on Thai boxers but not as much on everyday people.

She asked me to think about what I wanted from this, did I want to attract things to my life (better job, more money, more luck) or did I want to protect myself from things (evil spirits, bad luck).

The meeting started with a discussion of what I wanted, and given my previous conversation with Sea, I said that I wanted to be stronger in mind, spirit, and body.  I explained that the move to China had been hard for me and why we moved to China.  The ajarn sat for a minute and then started pulling out a notepad.

Sea explained that I was very lucky because the ajarn was making a custom sak yant for me.  There are several sak yants that are very common, like the five lines that Angelina Jolie has, or the 9 spires.

Then we got started. Sak yant tattoos used to be done with a bamboo spike, I’ve heard this is extremely painful because they have to poke so hard to get it to break the skin. Nowadays they use a metal spike instead.  I’m not going to lie, this was by far my most painful tattoo, but I felt like I really earned it in the end, and it was quick.

I tried to focus when the pain was the worst and think about being stronger in body and spirit-this was a good place to start!

My tattoo has the center oval which represents a suit of armor to protect me, the spire on top to keep my thoughts positive, the top four symbols are earth, fire, wind and water to keep me balanced, and the bottom five are the five names of Buddha.

After the tattoo, I went and met up with Alex and Mark (who had a great time getting a dental cleaning while I was doing this).

We ended up by accident going to an amazing mall. Forget Mall of America, this mall was huge! There are 5 levels of the mall, and each level had two or three floors.  We had a fantastic italian lunch (Alex ate subway instead), found an english bookstore,  had thai ice tea, and then we went to the movie theater. We decided that we should see a movie, and gave Alex the choice between Ready Player One and A Quiet Place.  He picked A Quiet Place as his first horror movie, absolutely no spoilers, but we all enjoyed it and talked about it for days afterwards- if you get a chance, go see it.

The movie theater had something like 26 theaters, multiple levels with a concession stand on each floor, an ICEE type thing for Alex, and the biggest sodas I’ve ever seen.

After the movie, we let Alex decide what he wanted (he picked McDonald’s- no accounting for taste) and we went to a fancy thai place inside the mall. The food was good, but not the best we had there.

I’ve got one more blog post about our last day in Thailand, including cat cafes and famous weekend markets.

The whole reason we went to Kanchanaburi was to go visit some elephants. So much research went into finding a place to interact with elephants but in a place/way that was safe and non exploitative to the animals.  There is a big animal tourism market in Thailand (although there is a push to end it that seems to be slowly working) and Mark and i felt very strongly about not contributing to the abuse of animals.   Any place that offered riding elephants was on the no list- and there are lots of those.  We checked with humane societies and PETA to find a group that is dedicated to the care and protection of elephants that have been rescued from abusive working situations.

Now that’s I’ve brought you all down, let me tell you about this amazing place we went to, the wonderful people running it and the truly fantastic experience we had at Elephant Haven.

The day started off with an hour-long bus ride from our hotel to the haven site, not a bad trip, lots of interesting scenery and even some stray monkeys on the road.

As soon as we pulled up, there was an elephant waiting by a small wooden fence.  We were given a basket of watermelon and a bundle of bamboo and we got to start feeding the elephants.

I don’t know who was more excited at this point 🙂 The downside is, I was so busy taking pictures, that we ran out of watermelon before I got to feed anyone.  So, there will be a lot of pictures of the beginning of our day, and not so many of the afternoon because I decided it was more important to be in the moment with my family than take pictures.

After we finished with the bamboo and the watermelon, it was time to make their breakfast. We were each given a bucket filled with rice, and bananas.  The goal was to squish the bananas up, mix with the rice, and then add something that looked like sawdust but apparently is very healthy for elephants and roll it all into a baseball to softball sized ball.  Alex had a good time squishing it all together and make the balls, and since we had extra buckets, the guys who worked there gave extra balls to Alex’s bucket to let him give the elephants. Alex was the youngest one that day by far, so he got some small preferential treatment.

After we were done making the rice balls, and had throughly washed our hands, we went over to cut more watermelons.  Since Alex wasn’t allowed to use the machete-esque knives they had, he was designated as my watermelon delivery boy. He would bring me watermelons to cut and then take the cut ones and put them in our baskets.  He was very helpful.

We fed the elephants the rice balls and more watermelon- I happened to be standing right next to a red ant hill, so when the watermelon came out, my feet and legs were getting eaten up my ants- Alex had a similar problem later in the day.

Then it was time for a walk through their jungle area.  It was a bit like walking with the elephants from the Jungle Book, where they suddenly stop to scratch against a tree, or find some leaves, or brush their teeth with the bark from a log.

 

The guide in the picture above knew how to say don’t worry in languages that he had picked up from people visiting the haven. He sang don’t worry be happy to the wrong tune and Hakuna matata to the wrong tune, but the elephants seemed to like it. He got a kick out of Alex and always tried to make sure Alex was where the action was.

The elephants decided their path while we were walking, we stayed on one main path and the elephants would head off to do their own thing and then come back.

At the almost end of the walk, there was a hut that we could climb into/sit on and the elephants knew there would be more food there so they came by to visit too.

This was a good resting spot for us, and the elephants went to graze in the field across from the hut. Mark and Alex went to go walk out in the field with them, but to be honest, I was very hot and enjoy a sit in the shade between the two elephants pictured above.

And this is where the pictures stop for this adventure. I had broken the camera strap at this point, and we were going to be getting muddy next so I figured it was better to go without the camera. You will have to just picture some of the mayhem.

We went back and changed into our swim gear, and went for another walk to the mud pit. Elephants use mud to protect their skin from the sun and we got to help with that process. They turned the hose on and the elephants (one in particular) got right in the middle and started digging around with their feet and trunks to make more mud.  In the beginning everyone just stood around and watched, until one girl finally went in and got a handful of mud and applied it to the elephant’s trunk right between their eyes. A few people got involved, but Alex stayed on the sidelines with me saying things like “yuck, I don’t want to get all dirty” (whose child is this? he normally rolls in dirt). Eventually he got up the courage and went over to get muddy. He climbed on the top of the dirt pile so that he could reach the elephants face and sides.

As soon as he did that, the elephant took a bunch of mud and water and sprayed it backwards over herself, and getting half of Alex in the process.  He had mud in his hair, all the way down to his shoes. And at that point, he decided to go all in.  The elephants got a good coating of mud and so did Alex.

From the mud pit, we went to the river (shown above with the elephants) and went swimming with the elephants.  We washed off all the mud we just helped them put on (yeah, we don’t really know why this is the order of things) and then just floated along with them, getting to pet them and be at eye level with them in the water.

Alex had a blast swimming in the river, and even went underwater and scooted around the elephants.

It was such a fantastic way to round out the time we had at the haven. I could have stayed swimming with the elephants for much longer, but they had decided they were done.  Alex was the last one out of the water, and I know that he would have stayed in if we let him.

We walked back to the main area, and most people started changing, but while I was waiting they brought out more watermelons, so we got to feed the elephants again. Alex missed about half because he was changing out of his swim stuff.

And that was it, we had to get our stuff together and go back on the bus back to Kanchanaburi and wait for our ride back to Bangkok.

When we got back into town, we headed for a main strip hoping to find some dinner, or at least some where to sit inside until we could meet our ride. We walked for a bit before finding a cafe, where we got Thai ice teas and Alex had an italian soda.  While we were sitting inside, we heard a ton of loud noise outside and what sounded like a marching band. 

It was a fun finale to our time in Kanchanaburi. We waited until the parade was over and walked back to our hotel to meet the driver.  Another 2 and 1/2 hours back to Bangkok.

Across from our hotel in Bangkok was a Chinese BBQ, with our limited Chinese we knew that it was called Big three money something. We got in so late from elephants that we just went there hoping to find something Alex would eat.   It was great, we picked out some skewers and they grilled them up for us.  Can’t wait to have that again here in China.  While we were there, there were a group of Chinese guys in the back of the restaurant, who stopped Mark and asked him if he liked the BBQ and of course he replied yes.  Then they asked if he liked other Chinese food, and he said yeah, I like it a lot, I live in China. So Alex was sent in to speak some Chinese with them (Hi my name is Alex, what’s your name?) and the guys thought it was great.

 

The whole mini trip to Kanchaburi was fantastic, we had a wonderful time, met great people, ate good food, and hopefully made memories that Alex will have for a lifetime.

 

Day three started with an idea to find an American breakfast.  Before we came to China, our family was not big on breakfast (we also make Alex eat breakfast, but Mark and me, not so much). But on the weekends we like to go out and have a nice breakfast at the local diner or bagel shop.  So we thought, with all the western food available in Bangkok we might get lucky.

We found a very posh place called Kay’s and decided to give it a try. The traffic on the way was absolutely terrible so when we got close to the destination, we hoped out and said we’d walk the rest of the way. It was a great choice because we got to walk through this lovely little park (where Mark and Alex found a stray black cat to pet).  It was quiet, and cooler there even in the middle of the busy city.

When we got to the restaurant, there were several Chinese people doing a photo shoot. We couldn’t tell if it was just for WeChat, or an ad, but each lady had different shots with different cups of coffee, fancy clothes(with outfit changes).

Everything was very good, but it was a little fancier than we expected… I really just wanted some pancakes and eggs.

After brunch, we decided to walk back through the park before heading back to the hotel.  While they couldn’t find the cat again, we did find a place to feed the fish.

When the fish/pigeon food was all gone, we got up to leave and saw a shaved ice cart across the way. What a perfect ending to this park adventure.  Alex picked grape, and was very happy with his choice, Mark picked a dark red that we think was cherry, and I picked a green- which I though would be lime- but was banana (yuck!) so I added some dark red to it to balance it all out.  

We headed back to the hotel to pack up and wait for our ride to the highlight of our Bangkok trip… the Elephant Haven. It was a 2 1/2 hour trip from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi, but there was some pretty country and plenty of new things to see along the way.

When we got to the hotel in Kanchanaburi (home to Bridge on the River Kwai) we went swimming first. Poor Alex had been dying to go swimming, and finally could! The pool was so lovely, there were plumeria trees all around it, and they were in full bloom.

Alex made a friend in the pool, the way that kids do 🙂

After a while playing in the pool together, they asked if we had plans for dinner.  And we did not, we had no clue.  So we all went together to the Walking street to Bell’s pizza. Now, if you ever find yourself in Kanchanburi Thailand, you should go to Bell’s pizza. The atmosphere is great, they have the fans on, and the pizza is great.

It was such a fun night for Alex (and I hope Nicolai). After foosball though we had to call  it a night so that we could get up early for our Elephant adventure. With a promise to keep in touch, and get together if/when we come back to Thailand, we said goodbye to our new friends.

The next post will be all about our day with the elephants, it’s too long to add to this one.

When we went into one temple room in Wat Arun, there was a monk sitting one a raised platform, and everyone stood on the edges of the room. There was a man sitting on the floor next to the monk, speaking to the room in general in Thai (which none of us tourists knew).  Eventually I got the idea that we were being invited to come sit in front of the monk. Alex and I went up, kneeled on the floor and got a blessing. The Monk tied a sai sin around both of our wrists after sprinkling us with water.  The sai sin is a Buddhist tradition of a white cotton thread bracelet, blessed in advance by a monk,  to provide protection and good health to the person wearing it.

I was told that it is ok to take it off after 3 days but not to cut it, just untie the knot.

 

After walking around Wat Arun and not finding the reclining Buddha (because it’s across the river in another temple) we were all a little hot, and hungry -which for my group equals hangry.  We decided to take the ferry across to the side of the river we needed to be on and then from there find some lunch.

 

While we were waiting for the ferry, we noticed across the way was a cute little restaurant right by the water with a patio and I thought it would be a great place to go. When we got off the ferry though, we couldn’t figure out how to get to it.  So we wandered down an alleyway that had street food and figured we’d keep wandering until we found something that smelled or looked good.

In this alleyway, I found a medium-sized neighborhood shrine.

Alex was very excited about his lunch because he got “real pizza” which is something a bit hard to find in China.  And Mark had a thai curry, and I had a fantastic Chilean Sea bass. Really lovely spot, fantastic owner (who warned us of a few scams around Wat Pho), and great service.

There are so many rooms and buildings at Wat Pho, it’s hard to see them all (and Alex really didn’t want to see them all).

We did lose Alex in one of these temple rooms, he wasn’t paying attention that we had moved on and went somewhere that was closed to tourists. He was delivered back to us with a scolding from the lady who found him about staying with us for the rest of the time.

The enormity of some of the Buddha’s and some of the temple rooms surprised me.  And for the most part, how respectful most people were- which isn’t always the case with tourists.

At this point, we still haven’t even made it to the grand finale of the reclining buddha, although we know we are losing Alex’s interest and patience.

We walk to the big building, take off our shoes, and get ready for the big reveal.

Even knowing how big the reclining Buddha is, I was unprepared for how big it really is.

Alex’s face when he saw it was worth the whole trip.

I don’t know what he thought we were going to see, but it was much bigger than he expected

While we were walking along, marveling at the Buddha, we kept hearing this odd sound, like raining metal. We couldn’t wait to get on the other side of the Buddha to finally see whatever it was.

On the other side of reclining Buddha, are 108 alms bowls. The raining metal sound comes from people dropping their coins (you can exchange 20 baht- which is about $0.75 for a bowl of small coins) and the goal is to put one in each bowl. It is an offering for Buddha, but also practically helps fund the upkeep of the temple and grounds.

After we were done with our offerings, we took one look back at the Buddha before heading out.

That night we walked down to a place famous for curry crab. Alex was a little celebrity, and the wait staff made sure he had everything he could need or want- we were all three of us a bit of a novelty, I got the impression that they didn’t have westerners in there all that often. We had a fantastic crab curry, a grilled crab,  and a special kind of soup (that I’ve forgotten the name of).  And then we all crashed for the night.

End of Day 2 in Bangkok…

 

So I have some less interesting blog posts waiting to be written- not boring, but I just haven’t been motivated to write about them.  After weeks now of saying I’d get to it, I decided to skip those for something new that is very interesting to me.

 

Alex got a week off of school for a combined Easter and Tomb Sweeping holiday. Since we didn’t get to travel as much as everyone else during the long break, Mark and I decided that we should go traveling for that week.  We talked about Paris (I’ve always wanted to go) but we thought more expensive, jet lag, and it’s only for 7 days.  So I shelved that idea for another time. The next place that we could all agree on was Thailand.   Thailand was a place that sold me on moving to China because it would be close enough to visit for cheap and I’ve always wanted to go. And Mark wanted to go because of food. And Alex didn’t get a whole lot of say, but he was happy when he heard about what we’d be doing.

And so, I present….. our trip to Bangkok! This may have to be a 3 part post, to get in half the pictures I took 🙂

We got to Bangkok at 2 am, and didn’t get to our hotel until about 4:30 am.  We had planned that the first day was going to be lounging in the pool and just finding good food to eat.  When we got up, we discovered that the pool was being repaired and not in use the whole trip.  Unfortunately this was a big deal because Alex was so looking forward to swimming.

We walked about a quarter of a mile from our hotel and hit a food court.

After that, we did what every family does on vacation, we got the guys haircuts.  We found a spot and just decided to go for it.

 

Both of them looked so good, and Alex agreed that it was much cooler with all that hair gone.

After haircuts, we just wandered around looking for the street food we had been told about.  What we did find was a bingsu place. If you haven’t heard of bingsu, you should try to find it, it’s worth a try.   It’s a mountain of frozen milk shaved into tiny flakes and then covered with condensed milk and toppings.

After being denied the pool, we had to figure out what we were going to do next.  We decided to go to a famous market that Mark had seen on Food Ranger.  It was closing pretty much right as we got there. Luckily across the street there was another big market to try out.

We thought we were at the famous Chatachuk Market, but instead we were at a much smaller one. Alex found some snacks that he liked and we met a nice couple who explained to us that we were not in Chatachuk but it closed at 6 so why don’t we head to JJ Green’s market instead. It’s a night market, but not one that was on any of my lists.

We were all getting hungry so we decided to find some things to eat, but didn’t want to settle on the first thing.  We ended up finding Alex a grilled cheese, if you’ve met us in real life, you know that grilled cheese is one of his favorites and hard to recreate here in China.  And Mark found cheese fries to go along with it.

After that we went back to a grill it yourself place that I had wanted to try.  The nice thing about Bangkok, is that while it was pretty hot while we were there, you don’t need the air conditioning to cool down, a fan blowing your way is usually enough.  The grill spot had fans blowing everywhere which made sitting at a table with a grill not too bad.

I enjoyed it, we burnt the toast to complete blackness though, we weren’t sure what we were supposed to do with it.

After that we walked around some more and found a stand that served desert waffles, so Alex got a chocolate chip waffle with chocolate sauce on it. because it was starting to get crowded there, I didn’t take any more pictures, we just focused on not letting him bump the chocolate waffle into people passing by.

It was a great accidental experience that we wouldn’t have gotten to have if I had been confused by the map on my phone.

This was only just the end of day 1!

Day 2 started with a relatively simple plan, let’s go to Wat Pho and see the temple of the reclining Buddha. This time we decided to be adventurous and take the metro. I know a lot of people like the skytrain and Metro in Bangkok, and it’s not bad, but I’ve been spoiled by the Shanghai metro now. I will say though the wait to get onto the metro in Bangkok was much more civilized, everyone wait in lines, no pushing or shoving.  so a transfer or two later, we ended up at the boat pier to take a boat to the temple.

When we got to the temple, we had a big discussion about being respectful (no climbing on things, shoes off when needed, why I had to cover my shoulders- not having Buddha as a tattoo) and set off for exploring.

Not to spoil the surprise, but the pictures will give it away…. we were at the wrong temple.  We went to Wat Arun, which is the temple of the Dawn and amazing. It was a great mistake because going to that one hadn’t been on my list.

 

This is 1/2 way through day two, but the end of this post. I think I subjected you to enough photos for now.