Pete and I had the most spectacular adventure in October! (Happy to finally be sharing it with you!) We traveled together – yes, just the two of us – to East Asia. Pete was invited by the to teach with the Comprehensive Advanced Life Support (CALS) program in Bangkok for the United Nations International Organization for Migration. He had previously taught the course many times throughout Minnesota and Kenya, as well as for the U.S. State Department in San Francisco a few years ago. This course in Bangkok offered instruction to doctors and nurses from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and El Salvador. We considered taking the kids along, too, but they’d miss school and the massive time change would be hard on them for such a short trip. So our dear friend, Lisa, stayed with Ella and Sam, and the two of us flew to the other side of the globe.
This was the first time Pete and I had embarked on such long flights without the kids. What a difference! We ate entire meals without juggling kids’ food trays in one hand and random toys in the other. We slept multiple hours at a time rather than staying half awake in case the kids needed anything. And we slowly meandered through shops and browsed bookstores on our layovers rather than finding a place for the kids to run and jump and get out pent-up energy. It felt a little magical.
We arrived in Bangkok very early on a Sunday morning and made our way to our small hotel downtown. The CALS administrators had arranged for transportation and the hotel, which took all the guess work out for us. It was very much appreciated. Pete taught each day, Monday through Thursday, from about eight until four. We had lunch together in the hotel restaurant and usually ended up asleep by six pm. Jet lag is no joke!
We tried multiple dishes at the hotel restaurant through the week. I thought it all had wonderful flavor, but I just don’t do well with spice. I had to have just a splash of Thai curry with lots of rice to make it palatable. Basically anything with more spice than a typical Minnesota hot dish is just too much for me. The coconut ice cream was really good, though! It was served with peanuts, Jello, and hot sweet corn. An interesting combination!
We didn’t only eat at the hotel restaurant, of course. We visited a few other places while we were out exploring. We even stopped at a Starbucks a few blocks from where we were staying after a hot walk to a park, and I had to snap a picture of the cup. Is that my name in Thai? I need to ask our friend Maggy. Whether is was or not, I loved the look of it!
I mentioned we had a hot walk to the park, but really I should just say that everything we did outside our hotel was hot. Drippy, muggy, nasty hot. I may not have previously mentioned here that I ran my way to a stress fracture in September, so I was traveling through Asia in an uncomfortably stiff walking boot. That was fun. Orrrr…
While Pete was teaching on Monday, I did some exploring with two lovely women who had also traveled with family who were teaching. One had already visited Bangkok years before when her husband taught, so she had a decent lay of the land. We took the train to the river where we then took a long boat to an area where we could tour the Grand Palace and multiple temples.
Every detail of each temple and the surrounding spaces were incredibly ornate, as you can see. When the sun was shining, so much of it gleamed. We saw the emerald Buddha, which was smaller than I had imagined but made with a single piece of the precious stone. The reclining Buddha was far bigger than what I had pictured. In the photo of the Buddha’s head in the photo above, can you see how small the people are standing to the left? Incredible!
I found it moving to be in the presence of these Buddha statues, where many people were kneeling to pray and were dropping coins into bowls for blessings. It maybe wasn’t moving in the way it is for so many other visitors. This was the first time I’d had the opportunity to literally kneel in front of the form of another god, and I just couldn’t. It wasn’t awkward that I didn’t; there were others walking through the back of temples, so I stayed with them. I certainly didn’t want to do anything that would be considered disrespectful to the visitors. I found myself feeling incredibly close to God, talking with Him as I took everything in. It was a unique, very personal experience for me.
Our Grand Palace visit on Monday included admission to a beautiful museum dedicated to the history of the previous king and queen. Walking through the exhibits taught me a great deal about the couple. The queen was very fashionable and reminded me of Jackie O. The king and queen met in France when they were 15 years old and married when they were just 17. It was clear from the photos and stories that they were very much in love throughout their 66 years of marriage.
After all the walking and exploring on Monday, Tuesday looked like this.
Here is a glimpse of the area around our hotel. I wish I could share the smells, too. It was such a noisy, hot, busy area. It really was an wonderful experience to be there.
On our last night in Bangkok, the entire CALS teaching staff and many of the students went out on a dinner cruise down the Chao Phraya River, something I had read about on many tourist blogs. It was beautiful! The live music was a fun background for the meal and sightseeing. No dancing for me. Sylvia isn’t the best dance partner. (Sylvia. Ha. That’s what we named my boot.)
As soon as Pete finished teaching on Thursday, and before we needed to head to the airport for a late night flight, I took Pete to the Grand Palace for a bit of what I had seen earlier in the week.
After walking around blocks of the outer walls looking for the entrance to the palace grounds, we decided to take a rickshaw for about a block to save my foot the extra walking. These things aren’t wildly safe, but we had fun! And we got in some good cross-language bartering.
Since it was afternoon, it was especially hot, so it wasn’t a long trip. I’m just so glad we got to see The Grand Palace together!
After our excursion around the city, showers, a meal, and a quick nap, we headed to the airport for an overnight to Japan where we spent a few days with friends! That post, covering the most memorable part of our trip, is coming up next!
