Home again

Lotus Flower, Bangkok.

 I have finally returned to the Joshua Tree desert.  I came home to find the creosote bushes loaded with yellow blooms and fuzzy seeds, the lizards and snakes out in droves, and the paper bag bush (my favorite!) blooming.  Magical!

Pono discovered a rattlesnake curled up next to a bush yesterday on our morning walk.  I heard it rattle only once.  That was enough to make all the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and I yelled "PONO!!!  NO!!  LEAVE IT!"  Amazingly, he immediately jerked his head away from the snake and ran over to my side.  Whew.  I spent the remainder of the walk praising him and thanking him for not getting bitten on the nose.  Of course, all night last night I dreamed about rattlesnakes, and in my dream, one bit me on the hand.  I killed it, (by squeezing its head between my fingers - that's how I knew it was a dream) so that I could show the doctor what kind of snake it was.  This is the time of year when every stick looks like a snake, and I am as skittish as the rabbits I see out in the yard.  I don't think that's a bad thing.

Forgive my lack of blogging.  I am suffering from a severe case of computer aversion.  If there's a cure and you know about it, please let me know.  I hope to recover soon.

Exploring Wat Arun

My last day in Bangkok was a fantastic day.  It started out as one of the haziest days, but the sun burned off the morning haze and the sky became clear and blue, with dramatic white thunderclouds in the distance.  Of course it was still hot and humid, but being near the Chao Phraya river felt cooler than it usually does when one is walking around in the middle of the city.  We took the subway to the Skytrain and walked from there to the river.  There are tourist boats that will take you up the river, stopping at each major attraction, but we just rode the regular river taxi up the river to Wat Arun.  The "Temple of the Dawn", as it is also called, did not disappoint.  I won't spend too much time telling you about the Wat Arun, because there is already so much written about it on the web.  If you want to know a little more about it, you can visit wikipedia here. 

The thing that sticks out in my jet-lagged mind the most about Wat Arun are the steep stairs that you can climb up the main prang (tower).  If you have any kind of fear of heights, my advice is to forgo the stairs and simply look up.  Actually, the first tier of stairs is not as tinglingly steep as the second tier.  But that second tier...  watch out!  Not only are they incredibly steep, but also the risers are taller than most stairs.  Going up wasn't TOO bad, but coming down involved hanging on to the railing with both hands, for me.  (M had no such trouble, but then his legs are almost a foot longer than mine.)

Looking down from the first tier of stairs.

I swear it is steeper in person.

If you thought the stairs were spooky, your toes will tingle even MORE when you see the tiny ladder that starts above the second tier of stairs and continues up to the top of the prang.  I am not sure who climbs this ladder - if it is used to maintain the prang or as some kind of religious test or ritual, but there is no doubt that it would nerve to climb it.  A small part of me wanted to see if I could climb it. 

The other aspect of Wat Arun that sticks out in my memory is the mosaic.  The temple is covered in bits of Chinese porcelain.   Apparently, Chinese ships used porcelain as ballast, so this was a way to use the tons of porcelain that found its way to Bangkok from these ships.

Some other sights of the Wat:

I took so many photos on my last day - I had trouble choosing only a few for today's post.  I will try to write a few more times about my Bangkok visit.  It was a good trip, and of course leaving M there was not fun at all.  However, there was a certain fuzzy dog who was incredibly happy to see me, and I do have an art career to get back to.  I will be making my way slowly back to Joshua Tree, once I have recovered from this jet lag.  Have a great weekend, my dear blog readers.

From Hua Hin to Bangkok

The old train station in Hua Hin, restored.

We spent a morning at the beach in Hua Hin, making an effort not to get too sunburned.  After a shower, we packed up and checked out of our hotel.  The train back to Bangkok was scheduled to leave at 2:10 pm, so we decided to stop at a bookstore, get some lunch, and then meander slowly to the train station.  We did just that.  Once at the train station, we discovered the train was delayed, and was not expected to depart until 3:30 pm.  So we bought our tickets, found a small cafe and ordered cold drinks.  Waiting.  Drank our cold drinks.  Waiting.  Decided that the cafe was hotter than the outside air and walked back to the train station.  We found a spot in the shade where every now and then a breeze would cool us off.  I settled into some quality people-watching.  Sometimes, I get so absorbed with watching that I forget to take photos.  So I missed a photograph of an old monk lighting a cigarette.  The younger monk with him smiled a sweet smile at me, and I found myself wishing I could paint his portrait.  Women are not supposed to sit near monks, nor are we to touch them or their belongings.  I don't know why.  We also got to watch a photo shoot with two young Thais, a young woman and a young man.  They were wearing bright yellow t-shirts that said "I'm so happy."  I did everything I could not to be in any of the photographs.  There was even MORE waiting.  3:30 pm came and went.  The train ended up being about 1 hour and 50 minutes late. 

Waiting on the pink train.

Non, tippy seats on the sunny side of the train.

At long last we were underway again.  This time, we were wise enough to look out for tippy seats like the one I sat on for the journey out.  We also made a concerted effort to sit on the shaded side of the train.  Everything played out like a reverse of the day before: uniformed ticket puncher.  (click, click)  Drink and food vendors.  Landscape and scenery whipping past.  Stops at small train stations.  Etc.  Here are some of the things I saw:

A huge patch of lotus flowers.

You would think with all this green, the cows would be fat.  ???  I have yet to see a fat cow in Thailand.

Green and more green.

Cars waiting for the train.  I felt compelled to wave at all of them.

The young food vendor we bought spicy noodles from.  He did not get on the train.

There were a few things we passed too quickly for me to photograph.  One was monkeys that M pointed out to me.  I didn't see them until the last minute, and then I had the wrong lens on my camera.  I am also quite certain I saw a couple of alligators, swimming in water.  There is some debate about what it really was.  I had my eyes peeled for more, and I am pretty sure I saw another on the return trip.  It was dark by the time we reached Bangkok, and the glittering wats (temples) were beautiful in the dark night.  The return trip didn't only leave late, but it also took nearly one hour longer than the journey out.  It was fun, but we arrived exhausted, and of course sweaty and dirty.  We are back in the bustling, steaming Bangkok.  I will be here for a few more days, and then I have the long airplane ride to look forward to.  Hang in there, Pono - I am coming home soon!!!!

To Hua Hin on the train

Bang Sue Station in Bangkok

 We took a train to Hua Hin, where we stayed for one night before coming back to Bangkok.  I love trains!  Riding trains in Thailand is a great way to see a lot of the country, but you will only enjoy it if you are blessed with infinite patience.  If you are in a hurry, don't do it.  The train leaving Bang Sue Station in Bangkok was late.  M informed me this was the norm.  We did not take the more expensive, air-conditioned train to Hua Hin.  No, my friends, this train was a windows-open, no air conditioning kind of train.  The part that will really amaze you is that we paid more to take the subway from M's condo to the train station than we paid for a ticket to Hua Hin.  Hua Hin is a city on the coast, approximately 200 km from Bangkok.  If you want air-conditioning, it is more expensive and also a little bit faster.  According to M, the train we took provided the best adventure.   He was right.

There's a lot of waiting.

 This is how the day went:  get up fairly early and hoof it over to the subway.  Ride the subway to Bang Sue Station.  Walk over to the train station and buy tickets.  Wait.  Wait a little more.  Decide to use the bathroom, as a precautionary measure.  The train arrives.  I think it was only a half hour late.  Not bad.  Climb the metal steps.  Find seats.  Sit down.  The train slowly begins.  After a while, a uniformed gentleman comes to punch a hole in your ticket.  You know he is coming because he clicks his hole puncher all the way down the aisle of the train.  "Click"  "Click click click"  "Click click" 

The ticket puncher guys.

You then discover that the vinyl seat you are sweating on is broken, and tilts down toward the floor.  M offers to trade, but you don't want to sit backwards, so you learn not to wiggle too much.  Once the train is moving, the air coming in the windows actually feels slightly cool.  There is so much to see!  I find the rhythm of trains to be infinitely soothing.  If I weren't so busy LOOKING at everything, I would look just like this man:

While chugging through Bangkok, the train stops ALL THE TIME, and it feels like we will never get anywhere.  However, once we are outside the city, the train really does pick up speed, and I am encouraged.  A chubby little boy across the aisle from me eats sticky rice out of a plastic bag.  We mutually stare.  His mother is busy with the long-legged baby, and I can tell he is missing the undivided attention that was once his.  Food vendors walk up the aisles saying things loudly in Thai that I don't understand.  Some of the food I can figure out, but some of it is a complete mystery.  M has been on the train before and tells me what he has tried.  We buy a sweating soda from the drink vendor who carries a bucket of drinks and a handful of straws.  I practice taking photographs out of the window of a speeding train. 

The further we travel from the city, the nicer the little train depots become.  People get on and off, including new food vendors with new and exciting food.  We eat really spicy noodles and a big piece of satay chicken.  We pay more for the chicken than we paid for our train ticket.  There is a tiny old lady who collects trash, and M says she is the same one he saw the last time he rode this train.  She stays on the train for the entire ride.  Some of the food and drink vendors also remain for the entire trip, although there are vendors who get on while we are stopped and quickly get off before the train starts up again.  Between each station we have the clicking of the ticket puncher.  A note of caution:  even though there are announcements before each stop, they are all in Thai.  So if you are a foreigner, it is really important that you pay attention to the signs in front of the depot.  You don't want to get off on the wrong stop.

The uniformed conductor at one small depot.

 

Our spicy noodles, wrapped carefully.

Train lunch.  I was too hungry to take a photo of the chicken.

 It was a long, hot four hours before we reached the beach town of Hua Hin.  We arrived, dirty and sweaty.  Immediately after checking in to our hotel, we donned bathing suits and walked to the beach.  We couldn't wait to get into the water (Gulf of Thailand).  I never knew ocean water could feel so warm.  Hot, one might even say.  It still felt great.  I am sorry to tell you I didn't take one single photograph of the beach or the sea.  It wasn't such an impressive beach, being quite close to Bangkok and rather touristy.   I still have plenty of photos of the journey home the next day.  You will have to wait for the second half of the journey.  I'm all worn out now!

Hong Kong

We spent a day in Hong Kong.  What a fun city.  It was significantly cooler in Hong Kong than it has been in Bangkok.  M loved the cool temperatures.  I would have loved it if I had worn my sweater.  Fortunately, the day did become warm enough for me to enjoy it, sans sweater.  We spent quite a bit of time riding the subway, but we also got to ride the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbor. 

A shot of Kowloon, taken from the Star Ferry.

Blurry Ferry in front of Hong Kong.  (I was on a moving Ferry, that's my excuse.)

Anything involving water is usually high on my list of fun.  Hong Kong has been reclaiming land on both sides of Victoria Harbor since the 1890's.  This practice has developed some opposition, especially by environmental groups in recent years.  If you are interested in reading more about the opposition, wikipedia has a good article about the opposing group, the Society for the Protection of the Harbour, here.  The ferry ride seems shorter than it was when we were here in past years.  Or maybe I was just taking too many photos.

Land being reclaimed (interesting word, isn't it?)

People getting off the ferry.

Any time I am surrounded by tall buildings, I spend a lot of time looking up.  I don't know why, but I love the way it feels.

There's more red in Hong Kong than in Bangkok.

 

I can't seem to get the formatting right with blogger AGAIN.  I must be doing something wrong.  My frustration is causing me to want to discontinue writing.  I just discovered my old blog posts from my visit in 2007.  If you want to read some of my posts from the last time I was in Hong Kong, you can find one of them here.  And another one here. 

Fun signs and flowers

 I fear that in my last post I didn't paint Bangkok in a very good light.  This is not a bad place!  It's just different.  There are plenty of things here that the desert doesn't have.  For one thing, food here is REALLY inexpensive.  M and I can eat in a sit down restaurant for under $3.00 total.  I am not talking about a burger and fries here.  A spicy plate of pad thai for M and a plate of stir fried noodles with chicken or shrimp for me, with drinks.  Spicy, yummy, and not something you could find in Joshua Tree.  Made to order, no less.  It's Good Eating, and the best part is that it involves no cooking or dishes on my part.  Those of you who know me well will understand how much I enjoy this. 

The humidity here is really nice for my skin and hair.  I rarely put lotion on here, and I think my skin looks at least 5 or 10 years younger with the moist air.  It has also rained several times since I have been here, and as a desert dweller, I have enjoyed the rain.  Then, there are the flowers.

This was my first time seeing the lotus flower in person.  These pink ladies were next to an Isuzu car dealership.

One thing about the Thai people that is refreshing is that they rarely raise their voices.  They speak softly and smile a lot.  If I make an effort to use one of the five words I know in Thai, their faces light up.  I read in a guide book that licking (as in eating food or licking your fingers) in public is taboo.  So now when I see I Thai person with an ice cream cone, I watch carefully.  So far, I have yet to see licking of any kind.  (I have also learned how to eat an ice cream cone without licking.)   You are also not to lick the stamps.  An image of the King is on the stamps, and it is disrespectful to lick the King's image.  To the Thai people, only animals lick things.

A restaurant downstairs from M's condo.

The same restaurant downstairs in M's condo.  We can't figure out if it's called "I'm Yummy" or "I'm Fine." 

 In the elevator during Songkran, these signs were reminding people to shut windows, turn off air conditioning, and unplug appliances.  Most of the time, the translations are accurate, but this one got lost in translation.

"please also close your doors and windows to prevent reins from leeking..."

We went to Hong Kong for a day and a couple of nights, so I will be sharing some images from Hong Kong next.   As ever, thank you for reading and for your comments!