Hit By a Car

Yesterday was just a typical Tuesday.  My very pregnant friend and I went to Margarita Storm (powered by Sunrise Tacos) for lunch before her weekly appointment at Bumrungrad Hospital.

Lunch was delicious.  Lori went for the street-style tacos while I opted for the American breakfast of bacon, eggs and pancakes.  Hit the spot.

We strolled through the crowded streets to the hospital where the doctor informed her she'd be having a baby in 1-4 weeks.  Since her due date is in 2 1/2 weeks, that wasn't shocking news.

We got a taxi to take us back to our hotel.  Even though he used an app on his phone to check the route he didn't have a clue.  We drove around, backtracked, ran into a blocked road due to construction (which has been going on for a year so shouldn't have been a surprise to him) and then sat in traffic, just blocks from our hotel.  We opted to get out and walk but the taxi driver had no change.  Lori really needed to find a bathroom (have I mentioned she's very pregnant and we'd been driving around Bangkok for over an hour?) so she bailed while I continued to sit in traffic.  To make it more enjoyable, the driver continued picking at the pimples on his face.  He left no blackhead untouched.  It was disgusting.

We finally made the u-turn to get back near our hotel and a store where I got change and bid my taxi adieu.  Since I was next to my favorite fruit stand, I stopped to check out what they had.  Here are some photos:

She's got a great smile.  Some of the cut fruit on offer (about $.55 a bag) is papaya, pineapple, rose apple and watermelon.

This may not look too appealing but it was delicious.  I bought the tiniest (and sweetest) grape tomatoes I've ever had at the fruit market.  The sandwich is just white bread with grilled pork from the nearby street food vendor.

They also sell whole fruit.  Mandarin oranges, mangos (ripe and green), apples, rose apples, guava and dragon fruit.

More of the cut fruit - pomelo, durian, strawberries and grape tomatoes.

Rose apples are tasty and pretty.

This friendly guy is co-owner of  the fruit stand.  The young man standing behind him sells fried chicken. 

After picking up the fruit, I headed up the street to get a massage.  Run by two friends, it is clean and quiet and they do a great job.

This is one of the beds where I get tortured.  Some call it "Thai massage".  You can also get an oil massage, head and should massage and foot and leg massage.

Clean towels and a fan, which they use instead of air conditioning when there aren't any customers.  When I arrive, the air con comes on.

After 90 minutes of bliss at the spa, I headed for the short walk to the hotel.  It was about 5:30 and traffic on the narrow neighborhood street was heavy.  People use it as a short cut to avoid the even more crowded main surface streets.  Imagine my surprise as I walked along the very narrow sidewalk to have a car hit me from behind.  Scared the bejeebers out of me but I wasn't injured - he just winged me with the side mirror.  His wheels were mid-way on the narrow sidewalk as he drove on after whacking me.    Earlier I'd almost gotten hit from behind because I didn't hear the motorbike coming up behind me on the sidewalk.  That's Bangkok for you.

This morning I did laundry.  I miss my dryer but my room smells nicely of laundry soap.

I'm hoping the pigeons don't poop on my clean clothes.

Rather than risk them falling off the balcony, I hung most of my things inside.

Eating these tiny cream puffs made doing laundry more enjoyable.

Just Chillin' in Bangkok

Unlike the typical tourist, racing through Bangkok at breakneck speed to see every temple, mall and market, I'm just hanging out, waiting for baby Eileen to be born.  To my friend, not me.

Since it's hot out and I'm feeling even lazier than usual, I'm just going to enjoy the air conditioned comfort of my hotel room and share some photos of recent days.

View from my hotel room.  It's known as the Elephant Building.

Evening at Major Ratchayothin Cinema complex.  Shops, restaurants, movies and a bowling alley.

Spicy basil pork, sweet corn and fried eggplant.  About $2.

Watching them work on replacing the lines is both fascinating and scary.

I found my happy place at Chatuchak park.

Awesome grilled chicken, spicy green papaya salad and the best dipping sauce in the world.

Well of course it's instant - who wants to wait for their durian beverage.  Yuck!

Bathrooms at Chatuchak Park are clean, convenient and have these cool outdoor sinks.

Pannapat Place. All the comforts of home for $17 a night.

More Reasons to Like Bangkok

As with every large city I've visited around the world, Bangkok has some drawbacks.  Traffic and the challenge of getting around is usually my main c!omplaint, along with pollution.  Bangkok is no exception.

There are some good things about Bangkok, though.  Here are some:

Massages - you can get a massage for less than $6 an hour at a clean, quiet locals place or you can pay $60 at an upscale place in a high end mall.  The facilities may look a bit different but the experience is about the same.  I've been enjoying almost daily massages on this trip.  For about $8 I get a one hour foot/leg massage and 30 minutes of head/neck/shoulder massage. 

Health care - This is my third visit to Bangkok that focused on time at a hospital.  The first was when I got sick in Myanmar and ended up in Intensive Care at Camillian Hospital in Bangkok.  I got excellent treatment for a very low price.  The second time, I hung out at Bumrungrad Hospital with a friend who was hit by a truck in Myanmar.  He needed surgery so we came to Bangkok.  He received excellent care with the most modern treatment available in the world. 

This trip, I'm hanging out again at Bumrungrad but for a very positive reason.  Friends from Myanmar have opted to have their first baby in Bangkok because of the superior medical care.  The hospital has all the amenities you could want or need, at a reasonable price.  There's a reason Bangkok has become a medical tourist destination.

A private room at Bumrungrad is $90 a night.

People - I've found people to be overall very friendly and helpful.  The service from the receptionists at Pannapat Residence is more like what you'd get at a 5 Star Resort rather than a $17 a night room.  When you are away from the main tourist areas most people don't speak English but they generally make an effort to communicate.

Parks - Bangkok is a large, crowded city. To break that up, there are numerous parks with small lakes and walking paths.  This week I visited Chatuchak park.  The highlight, for me, was the butterfly garden.  My expectations were low but it was large, very well maintained and free.  I even got to see a small Komodo dragon wandering around.

The Butterfly Garden in Chatuchak Park.

A shady place to relax in Chatuchak Park, which happens to be next to one of the largest open air weekend markets in Asia.

Kuala Lumpur - Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

My vacation continues to be just what I wanted - slow, relaxed  with lots of walking and eating.  Well, except for one adventure, which I'll explain in a minute.

I've been staying up late, luxuriating in being able to read as late as I like, knowing I don't have to be up early the next morning.  That's going to be a tiny problem, potentially, since I have a 6:30 a.m. flight on Saturday.

On Christmas Eve I took advantage of the free GoKL bus and cruised around KLCC.  I like KL and would certainly recommend it as a place to visit, but think I'll stick with Bangkok for future visa runs.  If it was faster to get to, I might change my tune but so far I haven't seen anything unique that makes me crave coming back.

The city is much smaller than Bangkok (1.5 million compared to 6.5 million, as of 2010) and has more green areas.  It seems a bit odd, and pleasant, to have random patches of trees and banana plants butted up against blocks of highrises.

Shopping (and banking) seems to be the main thing in KLCC and Bukit Bintang, which is adjacent to KLCC and filled with malls and restaurants.  Chinatown and the Central Market, both a stone's throw from my hotel are worth a visit but I've found mostly the kind of hawker goods sold in every Asian city on the tourist trail.  I'll continue poking around but so far, China town seems much smaller and less authentic than the Chinatown in San Franciscio.  The good news - people are friendly and you can dine on the cheap with good food.

Speaking of food, I decided I wanted a steak for Christmas dinner.  I love Asian food but part of this vacation is enjoying some Western fare.  I did that yesterday with a visit to Subway.  Sadly, it was the first Subway whose food was below par.  It was bad enough that I threw half of it away.

For Christmas dinner, I checked out Fuddruckers in Bukit Bintang.  They had a set Christmas menu for 90 RYM, about $27.  It included salad bar, choice of entrees (I chose the ribeye steak with baked potato), glass of wine and a dessert of apple pie and a ginger cookie.

The best part of the meal was the steak.  Perfectly cooked, tender and flavorful.  The best (and most) meat I've had since moving to Myanmar.

To top off the meal was a bit of excitement as I headed back to my hotel.  The sidewalks were packed with people and there were more people than usual waiting for the GoKL bus.  The first bus which arrived was heading to a different destination I was, so I stayed in the back of the waiting crowd.  People tried to surge onto the packed bus before letting passengers off and that resulted in pushing and yelling.  During the ten minutes we all waited for the next bus there was more pushing and yelling among the crowd.  Nothing too much, but disconcerting in such a large crowd.

As our bus pulled up, people surged forward to get in.  There seemed to be a group of late teen/20 something young men together and they were riding roughshod over every one.  Sad since on the bus going to Christmas dinner I'd enjoyed watching a young local man offer a middle-aged local woman his seat.  Just the opposite, this group was mowing over everyone in front of them.

As they pushed forward, a couple of guys they tried to muscle out of the way started yelling and throwing punches.  By that time, I was on the bus, between the two groups of men.  Other than yelling, they stood their ground.  I just hung on to my bag (thinking this might be a distraction for pickpockets) and hoped for the best.

While we waited for traffic to clear for the bus to move into traffic, a young man started screaming and pounding on the window.  Both groups who had been fighting just turned and stared.  As the bus took off, it seemed apparent that the new entrant into the unhappy holiday bus ride was part of a family fight.  It appeared that the young man and his father were fighting and luckily, the mother was able to calm them down.

Most of the men got off a couple of stops before I did.  Things calmed down.  As I stepped off the bus the driver made eye contact and said "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!"

I was proud of myself for showing restraint and not yelling "Peace on earth, damn it!" during the melee.

Now at 68 Countries

I'm happy to be in my 68th country, although right now, I'm pooped.  I'll be adding a lot more photos tomorrow of this beautiful place, Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Here are just a few...

Dinner when I arrived in Bangkok?  Oysters, smoked salmon, salad and garlic toast from Gourmet Market.  Deelicious!

Cooking class in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

First course, green mango salad.  Delicious but because I'd started having belly issues the night before, I only had a small taste of everything.

Fish amok - Cambodia's national dish.  Sort of a curry, made with turmeric and coconut cream.  A winner.

Dessert was rice flour mixed with water and formed into balls, with a piece of jaggery in the center.  Not sure I'd make it again.

We visited a local house in the village where the cooking class was.  This is their kitchen.  Looks VERY much like a Samoan uma kuka!

Angkor wat.  Just one of the many temples, buidlings in the huge Angkor complex.

Me, standing in the passageway that the king who built Angkor Wat used.  The passage for commoners is in the background.  Over 1,000 years old.

Love the look.  Local kids.

Angkor Thom.

My transport.  Few things make me happier than a day spent riding around in a tuk tuk.

Icy cold niu or whatever they call a young coconut in Cambodia.

Looks like a root waterfall.  This tree is over 300 years old.

Just one of the myriad of carving in the sandstone temples.

The temples are large.

Can you feel the humidity?

A well deserved lunch from Viva Cafe, back in Siem Reap.

Update in Photos

I've been slow in posting lately.  Partly because I'm lazy and I've been busy, but mostly because the internet has been even worse than usual lately.  Rather than boring you with a long narrative of my recent adventures, here are some photos of what I've been up to.

Mickey D. at Don Mueang airport in Bangkok, giving the traditional sign of respect.

Taro isn't just popular in the South Pacific.  It was sold out at the MacDonalds in the Bangkok airport.

I sold my chairs to a new teacher and replaced them with these.

I've gone all uptown.  Bought this microwave from a teacher who moved on to China.

This was the start of a powerful storm.  The view from my kitchen window.

My Saturdays usually start with breakfast at a typical Myanmar tea shop, followed by grocery shopping and a shampoo and massage.  Life is very good in Mandalay. 

Made a day trip to Pyin Oo Lwin, about 1 1/2 hours away.  Up in the mountains, it's cooler and absolutely beautiful.  The town is small and lovely and I plan to spend a lot more time there.

View from a pagoda in Pyin Oo Lwin.

People in Mandalay take my picture occasionally but it was crazy in POL.  This family took my photo with them as a group and with each individual.  It was fun. 

Between photos, I admired this Buddha.  Made of marble, it is covered with gold.

Outside the pagoda.

At the caves, which felt like part amusement park and part shrine, this guy was trying to sneak a photo of me.  I noticed him and smiled and motioned for him to take my photo while I took his.

Nuns on vacation, posing in front of the cave.

The cave is filled with religious statues.

My POL traveling buddies.  From left, Cat (USA), Kannaki (Singapore) and Rialda (S. Africa).  Fellow teachers.