- Joined
- Aug 23, 2004
- Messages
- 1,499
Hello, everybody! I finally found my way home after about a month afield. My God, what a time I have had!
I'll start out by saying that the cancer checkup was unremarkable. Only the second visit, so no pattern yet and it's too soon for my medicine to have taken affect. So, no news there. Which is better than bad news, I guess!
Then, the day after I got home from that, I went to Thailand. I guess I'll begin with the flight. All the flights went well, but a combined 25 hours in the air getting there was a little tiring. But get there we did, in the middle of the night.
After that, our days genrally consisted of eating, meeting my girlfriend's family, sightseeing, and absorbing the Bangkok culture. Needless to say, it was rather different from the small town midwest! That said, nearly everyone we met was really very kind. This trip reaffirmed my faith in people. Given, vendors in markets charged me about 10 times what they charged Thai people, but that is to be expected. I speak a little Thai, and I feel that that probably helped me quite a lot.
We spent 4 days on the vacation island of Phuket. It was off-season, so everything was pretty cheap and not too crowded. You'd never know that a tsunami had hit there a few years ago. Completely rebuilt. It was a little unnerving, though, to be driving along a road and pass dozens of "Tsunami Evacuation Route" signs and the even more ominous signs that say "Now entering Tsunami Hazard Zone". But the sirens never went off and the island was basically relaxation incarnate compared to the hustle-bustle of Bangkok. On our last day, we went to get foot massages at this beautiful spa, about 20 yards from the shore, in outdoor huts. For about $10! It was amazing.
After that, we returned to Bangkok. As you may remember, the real reason for the trip was that my girlfriend's grandfather died and we were to attend his cremation. He was rather high-ranking in Thai society, so the events surrounding his cremation were very ceremonial and important. In the days leading up to the ceremony, we attended several services, in which we gave food to monks to make merit on his behalf. I really don't understand the significance of everything I witnessed, but I know that it was a mixture of buddhist and state rites. The two seemed to be intimately intertwined in Thailand.
The actual cremation was a beautiful and moving ceremony. It started indoors with monks chanting. Next, the entire group marched around a special temple 3 times, while a traditional thai band played and marched at the fore. Then, the flame was brought by military officers from the palace of the king. The group laid wood shavings shaped like flowers on a ceremonial pyre, while the real casket was placed in a modern crematorium.
I'll make a photobucket account of all of this sometime, so you can all see. Words don't do it justice. Luckily, I took about 1.5 gigabytes of pictures and video. I'll post that as soon as I make it.
If any of you get a chance to go to Thailand, I would highly recommend it. The people are great, the food is great, and the culture is great. As I said, it was a very different place from America. But it was a wonderful experience and I got to see a a proud nation that is rich in history and culture. I am very fortunate to have gone there and seen it from an insider's perspective.
Chris
I'll start out by saying that the cancer checkup was unremarkable. Only the second visit, so no pattern yet and it's too soon for my medicine to have taken affect. So, no news there. Which is better than bad news, I guess!
Then, the day after I got home from that, I went to Thailand. I guess I'll begin with the flight. All the flights went well, but a combined 25 hours in the air getting there was a little tiring. But get there we did, in the middle of the night.
After that, our days genrally consisted of eating, meeting my girlfriend's family, sightseeing, and absorbing the Bangkok culture. Needless to say, it was rather different from the small town midwest! That said, nearly everyone we met was really very kind. This trip reaffirmed my faith in people. Given, vendors in markets charged me about 10 times what they charged Thai people, but that is to be expected. I speak a little Thai, and I feel that that probably helped me quite a lot.
We spent 4 days on the vacation island of Phuket. It was off-season, so everything was pretty cheap and not too crowded. You'd never know that a tsunami had hit there a few years ago. Completely rebuilt. It was a little unnerving, though, to be driving along a road and pass dozens of "Tsunami Evacuation Route" signs and the even more ominous signs that say "Now entering Tsunami Hazard Zone". But the sirens never went off and the island was basically relaxation incarnate compared to the hustle-bustle of Bangkok. On our last day, we went to get foot massages at this beautiful spa, about 20 yards from the shore, in outdoor huts. For about $10! It was amazing.
After that, we returned to Bangkok. As you may remember, the real reason for the trip was that my girlfriend's grandfather died and we were to attend his cremation. He was rather high-ranking in Thai society, so the events surrounding his cremation were very ceremonial and important. In the days leading up to the ceremony, we attended several services, in which we gave food to monks to make merit on his behalf. I really don't understand the significance of everything I witnessed, but I know that it was a mixture of buddhist and state rites. The two seemed to be intimately intertwined in Thailand.
The actual cremation was a beautiful and moving ceremony. It started indoors with monks chanting. Next, the entire group marched around a special temple 3 times, while a traditional thai band played and marched at the fore. Then, the flame was brought by military officers from the palace of the king. The group laid wood shavings shaped like flowers on a ceremonial pyre, while the real casket was placed in a modern crematorium.
I'll make a photobucket account of all of this sometime, so you can all see. Words don't do it justice. Luckily, I took about 1.5 gigabytes of pictures and video. I'll post that as soon as I make it.
If any of you get a chance to go to Thailand, I would highly recommend it. The people are great, the food is great, and the culture is great. As I said, it was a very different place from America. But it was a wonderful experience and I got to see a a proud nation that is rich in history and culture. I am very fortunate to have gone there and seen it from an insider's perspective.
Chris
