Barging through Bangkok

Whew! What a whirlwind couple of days in the biggest fullest busiest hottest city in Thailand! We were only here for a day and a half, so we packed in some experiences!

Starting with the snake farm at the Red Cross, where they do lots of anti-venom research. Because, holy cow!, it seems like every snake here could kill you. (Except, hopefully, for the one at the entrance, whose “cage” is not bound in by anything. Neither glass nor water nor ditch nor magic force field, as far as we could tell. Just a sign in the bushes saying, please don’t enter. We imagine it must be written in snake on the other side “do not exit”, since it was just coiled nicely under a log, peacefully habitating.)

There were lots of enclosures with lots of different species. And they were very active! We saw a water snake catch a fish. And a pit viper catch a frog. And a king Cobra unsuccessfully catch a human. And we voluntarily wound ourselves in a Burmese python. (She was very sweet and accommodating and felt lovely and cool around our necks.)

And we duck-paddled our way through a city park. Where we were on the lookout for monitor lizards, the most famous residents of Lumphini Park. There were plenty to see! Along with some ibis and the biggest koi we’ve ever seen and the ubiquitous stray cats that presumably keep the rest population low(er).

The next day we toured Jim Thompson’s house. It is a perfect island of luxurious traditionalism in a loud and busy concrete sea. Teak buildings and bamboo groves and brick paths and crumbling stone statuary and porcelain antiques and silk mattresses. I could live there (if I added some screens to the windows, and perhaps a bit of air conditioning). And it’s hard to see how Mr Thompson could have walked away from it voluntarily. I hope I get to learn the answer to his mysterious disappearance in heaven.

Then we took ourselves to Chatuchak, the largest open-air market in the world. It’s divided into sections, like clothing, art, food, etc, all several stalls deep, and over a kilometer long. We got ice cream and takoyaki and the girls each bought a t-shirt. And we were able to find our way out again! Back to our funky and colorful hotel on the edge of some slum-like neighborhoods.

And that will be the end of our time in Thailand. It has been a wonderful 3 weeks. Full of food we loved (so much fruit, especially in smoothie form), and some we were brave to try (looking at you, century egg). The smell of a market with pig snouts and skittering crabs and bundles of chickens with their feet tied together and motor scooters rumbling down the middle of cramped aisles? That we may not miss, but was awe-some to experience.

We no longer gape at a family of 4 on one scooter, the baby tied to the driver with the sleeves of a shirt. Or think twice about slipping off our shoes to go inside a public place. Or have to remind ourselves to put our palms together at our faces and bow to a new friend or waitress or driver.

On to Cambodia. But we will remember Thailand and its feast for the senses!