Life As We Know It: Adventures in the land of the Thai

Day 1 -

So many of you are probably wondering why I’m in Bangkok. After that flight, I’m wondering why I decided to come too. My real dad lives here with his wife, Bonnie, and my 3 younger brothers. It has been a blessing my whole life to be able to travel to visit him where he lived and Bangkok is one of these great cities.

Just on my first day here I was able to see why people love Thailand. Running in the park was amazing. The green lawns and tons of trees along with the lake in the middle were beautiful. Just being able to see the Bangkok skyline was a gift in itself that morning. The Thai people are so interesting. There are so many things here that would never be able to happen in the U.S but they just make sense here. The driving is crazy. There are traffic lights but no one follows them. Even the police break the rules half the time by turning the wrong way or instructing cars to go against the traffic signs. I’ve learned that Thailand is a place of obedience of the people and less of authority. If you can do it and it isn’t affecting anyone else then it is okay to do it. There are so many forms of transportation here. They have the sky train, water taxis, and a ton of taxis. They have pink taxis, which have turned out to be my favorite. They also have tons of motorcycles everywhere. Often times, these double for a Taxi system. Instead of sitting in traffic most of the time, people will hop on the back of the motorcycles and they can get to their destination faster. They are EVERYWHERE.

Hands down, I think Thai is one of the most beautiful languages to listen to. My little brothers here all speak fluent Thai and sometimes I catch myself just listening to the way they interact with each other. It’s fascinating. The streets are like any big city: people selling stuff, little shopping stores where you can bargain prices and lots and lots of people walking. It’s actually “winter” in Thailand right now and it’s still tipping 90 almost every day. One thing I noticed right away was the windows on all the car have so much tint on them you can’t see inside because of the heat. Also, the people at almost all shopping malls and hotels open doors for you and salute. Thai people, I have quickly learned, are so kind.

Day 2

Today was amazing. We went on a long tail boat ride and go to experience some of the most rich and the most poor of Bangkok. The boat had just my cousins, aunt, uncle and I and was about 30 feet long and very close to the water. We started out at the business area of Bangkok with all of the tall buildings through the main part of the river.

The skyline from there was amazing and I literally found myself thanking God for his wonderful creation. It gives me chills to think about something so much bigger than what we can imagine. We turned into a very narrow section of the river, which started the part of our tour that was more local. We were able to see how some of the Thai people live on the river. It’s actually a crazy sight because half of the houses were made of wood and were on top of the water. They had most of their belongings outside and some of the houses were even knocked over from the water. This isn’t to say that it wasn’t nice; there were temples and nice houses along the river that left us in awe. We were able to see sights such as the Grand Palace and Wataroon. The intricacy of the design on some of the temples and palaces was so amazing.

The Thai people are very friendly, too. We were able to experience the floating markets where they were of course, trying to sell us stuff. But, this is the reality. This is the way these people make their living on the river. There were fishermen, monks, boating men and women that all lived on the river. We joked that it was the Venice of Thailand because the river commerce was so busy.

We finished our day with dinner at a place called Above 11. You could see the whole Bangkok skyline from there and it was truly amazing. Bangkok seems to never end; there are buildings as far as you can see.

Just being here two days has left me exceptionally thankful for where God has put me in my life. I know I’m the first one to say that the simple things I have in Texas like a car, house and food everyday I take for granted. Being here and seeing the everyday life of some of these people was eye opening and has left me thanking God for everything in my life. His grace in our lives is simply enough. This is one of the main reasons I love seeing other culture. Not only for the experiences and amazing places I get to see but also to put into perspective just how small our lives are compared the huge world that is out there.

Day 3 –

I’d have to say that being a tourist is very fulfilling but exhausting. We toured 3 different places today; each one was unique but also very beautiful. I’m starting to realize how beautiful the Thai culture is and also how busy this city is, nonstop.

The first place we went was the Grand Palace. This Palace is typically used for the King and ambassadors that come visit. This was the first time I realized the intricacy of Thai architecture. It kind of slaps American architecture in the face. Actually not kind of, it just does. The detail and jewels that are put into this building are amazing. That, and it’s about the size of my whole town, Canyon, TX.

We also visited the Temple of Prang. This one was not as big but it was very high. The stairs just to get up to it were incredible. The beautiful thing about all of these temples was the gardens around them as well as the temples themselves.

My favorite, and the favorite of many was the reclining Buddha. We spent all day looking at the Emerald Buddha, Ruby Buddha and just about any Buddha. But, this one was different. It stands at about the size of a football field and is about as tall as a pretty large office building. It was said that they had to build the building to cover the Buddha after it was built because it was so large.

Not only were these all great things to see about the Thai culture but I got a little of an inside look into Buddhism. We were able to enter a few of the temples and here are a few things I’ve learned: Don’t point your feet at the Buddha, it’s rude. Also, take your shoes off before you enter each temple. Along with that, the Thai people bow three times before they end their worship with Buddha. Those are just a few things I learned today but all of the traditions are beautiful.

The culture here is so amazing. To see how these people live everyday life is wonderful. I have woken up each day I’m here wondering if this is really real life. Am I really in Thailand? It blows my mind how amazing our God is for carefully thinking about each one of these people and cultures. We will be heading to the beach in Thailand for the next three days and I am so excited to see a more serene side of Thailand. Although I must say, Bangkok is amazing.