Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam: Part 1
Jan. 10th, 2007 11:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
demeter918
I have no idea how many parts this is going to be, considering how spastic I am and how much there is to describe... but here goes nothing!
One not-so-fabulous thing about where I live in Japan is the snow and the cold and the rain. It's not quite so bad in the rest of Japan, I'll say, but for lovely Toyama, six or seven months out of the year have the majority of us shivering under layers of clothing since Japan is not known for its central heating. Or central air conditioning, but I actually feel that's alright, because it saves quite a bit of energy and money on bills. Anyhoo, I was looking forward to blissful heat and sun.
Until I remembered I hate heat and humidity. XD It was wonderful though, because for the first time in months, I didn't feel like my toes were going to fall off every other hour. Great, wonderful feeling! FLUFF!
Um... I'm not telling this very well. I tend to go off on tangents and that was one of them just now. So let's start at the beginning again. Okay.
Hello, my name is Demeter, and I went to SE Asia this winter. =) I went with three other friends and it was pretty fabulous.
Our flight was at 11 AM on Saturday, December 23, which incidentally, is also the Emperor's Birthday in Japan. I took the last Thunderbird Express from Toyama to Osaka at 7:51. I had originally planned to leave earlier, but in the end, I wanted to go to my work's enkai (basically a party where colleagues get together to eat, drink, get shitfaced, and celebrate random events) so I managed to get in half of the party. Then I bumrushed it out of there, nearly killing two elderly grandma's on my way out of the hotel, but I made it to the train station with plenty of time to spare. Wherein the hell begins!
Our train was supposed to just barely make the last local train to Kansai International Airport, but alas, we missed it by two minutes. Myself and two others were stuck in Osaka overnight. But it was actually wonderful because we ended up eating delicious midnight ramen and finding one of those 24-hour manga shops that serve drinks and allows you to read however much manga you want until you leave. It was around 3-5 hundred yen an hour, so we stayed there until we were ready to leave for our train.
Yada yada yada, we get to the aiport, check-in, go to our gate, yada-yada-yada, get to Bangkok and it's a pleasant warmth, a bit humid, but basically - ALMOST PERFECT WEATHER. Winter is Thailand's coolest time, and it shows. We're picked up by my Aunt, who lives in Bangkok, and her niece, Mee. It was wonderful seeing them again, but Bangkok was just, well, awesome to look at while we drove back to her palatial mansion. I sure wish I had her house!
That afternoon, we went to a local shopping center to get a feel of what Bangkok's local (and not foreigner-focused) malls and shops are like. Basically, a lot like China, though I dare say it felt a bit cleaner. There were tons of privately-owned foodstands and that's heaven for me right then and there. If you've ever eaten with me, you'll know I'm passionate about my food. I'll order tons of things in order to try a little bit of everything and I love trying new foodstuffs out. So YAY. Afterwards, my Aunt took us to a fantabulous Thai restaurant called Ducki Suki. I'm not joking. That was its name.
XD
Thai people have a tendency of over-ordering whenever they treat people because to order a lot means they're being generous. And with my aunt, that meant a ton of food. The four of us stuffed our faces (politely!) until we nearly fell over with all the food. I have pictures, but I'm afraid they're not uploaded yet. I'll probably have to make a separate entry just about all the food I ate. XD I LOVE Thai food. And I love local Thai food. I ate so much that I've never seen on any Thai menu, America or Japan, and that makes me incredibly happy.
Last, but not least, they took us to a traditional Thai massage spa and we each had two hour massages. I didn't enjoy it very much, but that stems from the fact that I don't like people touching me for long periods of time unless I initiate it. I call it a quirk/eccentricity of mine. Anyways, I sat through the first hour before finally sitting up and stopping them. I just couldn't sit still anymore. But everyone else seemed to enjoy it, though Mee and my aunt professed that they liked foot massages better. I think I may too.
And this was just Saturday! The day we arrived!
Though it's the day before Christmas, there wasn't really any indication that it was aside from the ubiquitous Christmas tree and few pictures of Santa Claus here and there. Christmas is not really celebrated in Thailand and that made it kind of interesting. I don't really celebrate it myself, so I scarcely noticed. Today, we first went to the local Sunday market. It's a market entirely of local offerings of food items, fresh fruits and veggies, random things being sold... but mostly it was about food. And oh did we eat. =)
After, we headed back to the house where we relaxed for an hour or two before eating lunch. What's this you say? Didn't I just eat breakfast? Well, yes, but in Thailand, they eat whenever they're hungry so many people tend to eat four or five meals a day. And snacking is always on hand. Hey! My kind of country! My aunt and her two housekeepers prepared a fantastic meal for us. It was awesome also in part because it was a home-cooked Thai meal and... there were fried plantains, which threw one of my friends into heaven since she hasn't had once for over a year and a half. =) First time for me to taste them too, and I rather liked it.
Afterwads, Mee took us to the Royal Palace to look around (gorgeous). It was a glittering palace of gold and blue and red and green and more gold. Gold is definitely the predominant color in Thailand. Everything was just sparkled in the sun and it was a gorgeous day too, so I found myself snapping tons of pictures. Two friends of Mee joined us; they were also University students and I had the strange experience of finally being older than half the people in the group, which is unusual in my case since I'm so young. The two guys explained a lot of history to us, but it was hilarious because they pulled out a bunch of things they'd printed from the internet and just repeated it verbatim. They thought it was hilarious too. XD
After, we then to Wat Pho to see the Reclining Buddha. Man, I wish I had the photos of this gold extravaganza because it's absolutely breathtaking. Quite possibly one of my favorite temples in Thailand. It's also ginormous. After, we went to the Night Bazaar to catch a puppet show. I... don't really remember what went on, because after the long day, I have to admit, me and two other friends fell asleep during the performance.
According to our fourth friend, it was quite good. =)
Either way, YAY, we got to go shopping after. Now, I love shopping in local markets. I am an avid shopper/consumer/materialistic bitch, and boy, am I proud of it!
In Thailand, Monday is the day of the King's birth. Coincidentally, every day of the week represents a color and Monday is yellow. So the reason why so many people wear yellow in Thailand, and especially on Mondays, is to show reverence and devotion to the King. =) So being Christmas, the King's day of birth (but not date), and feeling silly, we all bought yellow shirts to wear. It was pretty cool, because everywhere you looked, there were massive amounts of people in yellow. Seriously, the King is worshiped here. (more on that later)
So we started out the day with the Crocodile Farm. This was actually really cool; I love zoos, aquariums, farms, places with animals, water or land alike. This place had a reported sixty thousand crocs and at first, I couldn't believe it, but then I saw their croc farms and whoo boy, there sure were a lot of them lying around in the sun. We attended the crocodile vs. man show first, and it was interesting to watch the trainers and the crocs interact inside the pool. I had been a bit apprehensive at first, thinking it would be dirty, but the place is fairly clean and well-kept. The show was just about any croc show, but the interesting part was after when we got to explore the park. You could pay money to feed the crocs and we basically all did it! They hang a piece of chicken off a fishing pole and then you lower it into the pool. I did it first and the croc snapped my piece of chicken so quickly my friend didn't get a good pic. I completely missed it too. 0_0
After everyone else had gone, I did it again and managed to do a bit of pulling before the croc swallowed it whole. And that was a big piece of chicken. *runs away*
We saw elephants, went on an elephant ride, saw tons of other random animals, including porcupines, which I've never seen before, and hippos, which I've also never seen before. XD Very awesome. And I finally figured out why the goat so often represents the devil. It's because they're fucking scary and mean. We were feeding the goats, lambs, and deer (who were all kept in the same general area, with a few cordoned off areas) and the big goats kept eating all the food. We tried various tactics so we could feed the smaller ones, but it wasn't happening. And worst of worst, when one of my friends attempted to feed only the smallest goat, the big goat rammed into the small goat to take its food and then walked off. You should have seen the look of horror on her face as the small goat starts bleating sadly and walking on three legs because that big ram/goat/whatever had hurt it!
=(
After the farm, we went to Siam Paragon, the newest mall in Bangkok. Only it's just one of four malls connected to each other and basically the biggest thing I've seen, well, for a long time. Remember, I come from Japan, the land of small spaces!
It was expensive and frilly, though. And a bit boring in terms of shops. I mean, Balenciaga and Tods are great and all, but I'm not going to buy them, so all it was was window-shopping.
However... dun dun dun! There was a fabulous food court on the ground floor with a super-fabulous gourmet market! =) Sure wish that was in Toyama!
We met up with my aunt and ended up going to Bangkok's Chinatown for a quick tour and looksee. It was quiet, since they shut down on Mondays, but it was interesting to see all the shops. And we ate the most delicious spicy vermicilli soup dish EVER. It was ten kinds of awesome and so yummy, I couldn't care that I had a chilli tummy afterwards. It was that good. Just writing about it makes me drool. XD
Next up is Cambodia!
One not-so-fabulous thing about where I live in Japan is the snow and the cold and the rain. It's not quite so bad in the rest of Japan, I'll say, but for lovely Toyama, six or seven months out of the year have the majority of us shivering under layers of clothing since Japan is not known for its central heating. Or central air conditioning, but I actually feel that's alright, because it saves quite a bit of energy and money on bills. Anyhoo, I was looking forward to blissful heat and sun.
Until I remembered I hate heat and humidity. XD It was wonderful though, because for the first time in months, I didn't feel like my toes were going to fall off every other hour. Great, wonderful feeling! FLUFF!
Um... I'm not telling this very well. I tend to go off on tangents and that was one of them just now. So let's start at the beginning again. Okay.
Hello, my name is Demeter, and I went to SE Asia this winter. =) I went with three other friends and it was pretty fabulous.
Our flight was at 11 AM on Saturday, December 23, which incidentally, is also the Emperor's Birthday in Japan. I took the last Thunderbird Express from Toyama to Osaka at 7:51. I had originally planned to leave earlier, but in the end, I wanted to go to my work's enkai (basically a party where colleagues get together to eat, drink, get shitfaced, and celebrate random events) so I managed to get in half of the party. Then I bumrushed it out of there, nearly killing two elderly grandma's on my way out of the hotel, but I made it to the train station with plenty of time to spare. Wherein the hell begins!
Our train was supposed to just barely make the last local train to Kansai International Airport, but alas, we missed it by two minutes. Myself and two others were stuck in Osaka overnight. But it was actually wonderful because we ended up eating delicious midnight ramen and finding one of those 24-hour manga shops that serve drinks and allows you to read however much manga you want until you leave. It was around 3-5 hundred yen an hour, so we stayed there until we were ready to leave for our train.
Yada yada yada, we get to the aiport, check-in, go to our gate, yada-yada-yada, get to Bangkok and it's a pleasant warmth, a bit humid, but basically - ALMOST PERFECT WEATHER. Winter is Thailand's coolest time, and it shows. We're picked up by my Aunt, who lives in Bangkok, and her niece, Mee. It was wonderful seeing them again, but Bangkok was just, well, awesome to look at while we drove back to her palatial mansion. I sure wish I had her house!
That afternoon, we went to a local shopping center to get a feel of what Bangkok's local (and not foreigner-focused) malls and shops are like. Basically, a lot like China, though I dare say it felt a bit cleaner. There were tons of privately-owned foodstands and that's heaven for me right then and there. If you've ever eaten with me, you'll know I'm passionate about my food. I'll order tons of things in order to try a little bit of everything and I love trying new foodstuffs out. So YAY. Afterwards, my Aunt took us to a fantabulous Thai restaurant called Ducki Suki. I'm not joking. That was its name.
XD
Thai people have a tendency of over-ordering whenever they treat people because to order a lot means they're being generous. And with my aunt, that meant a ton of food. The four of us stuffed our faces (politely!) until we nearly fell over with all the food. I have pictures, but I'm afraid they're not uploaded yet. I'll probably have to make a separate entry just about all the food I ate. XD I LOVE Thai food. And I love local Thai food. I ate so much that I've never seen on any Thai menu, America or Japan, and that makes me incredibly happy.
Last, but not least, they took us to a traditional Thai massage spa and we each had two hour massages. I didn't enjoy it very much, but that stems from the fact that I don't like people touching me for long periods of time unless I initiate it. I call it a quirk/eccentricity of mine. Anyways, I sat through the first hour before finally sitting up and stopping them. I just couldn't sit still anymore. But everyone else seemed to enjoy it, though Mee and my aunt professed that they liked foot massages better. I think I may too.
And this was just Saturday! The day we arrived!
Though it's the day before Christmas, there wasn't really any indication that it was aside from the ubiquitous Christmas tree and few pictures of Santa Claus here and there. Christmas is not really celebrated in Thailand and that made it kind of interesting. I don't really celebrate it myself, so I scarcely noticed. Today, we first went to the local Sunday market. It's a market entirely of local offerings of food items, fresh fruits and veggies, random things being sold... but mostly it was about food. And oh did we eat. =)
After, we headed back to the house where we relaxed for an hour or two before eating lunch. What's this you say? Didn't I just eat breakfast? Well, yes, but in Thailand, they eat whenever they're hungry so many people tend to eat four or five meals a day. And snacking is always on hand. Hey! My kind of country! My aunt and her two housekeepers prepared a fantastic meal for us. It was awesome also in part because it was a home-cooked Thai meal and... there were fried plantains, which threw one of my friends into heaven since she hasn't had once for over a year and a half. =) First time for me to taste them too, and I rather liked it.
Afterwads, Mee took us to the Royal Palace to look around (gorgeous). It was a glittering palace of gold and blue and red and green and more gold. Gold is definitely the predominant color in Thailand. Everything was just sparkled in the sun and it was a gorgeous day too, so I found myself snapping tons of pictures. Two friends of Mee joined us; they were also University students and I had the strange experience of finally being older than half the people in the group, which is unusual in my case since I'm so young. The two guys explained a lot of history to us, but it was hilarious because they pulled out a bunch of things they'd printed from the internet and just repeated it verbatim. They thought it was hilarious too. XD
After, we then to Wat Pho to see the Reclining Buddha. Man, I wish I had the photos of this gold extravaganza because it's absolutely breathtaking. Quite possibly one of my favorite temples in Thailand. It's also ginormous. After, we went to the Night Bazaar to catch a puppet show. I... don't really remember what went on, because after the long day, I have to admit, me and two other friends fell asleep during the performance.
According to our fourth friend, it was quite good. =)
Either way, YAY, we got to go shopping after. Now, I love shopping in local markets. I am an avid shopper/consumer/materialistic bitch, and boy, am I proud of it!
In Thailand, Monday is the day of the King's birth. Coincidentally, every day of the week represents a color and Monday is yellow. So the reason why so many people wear yellow in Thailand, and especially on Mondays, is to show reverence and devotion to the King. =) So being Christmas, the King's day of birth (but not date), and feeling silly, we all bought yellow shirts to wear. It was pretty cool, because everywhere you looked, there were massive amounts of people in yellow. Seriously, the King is worshiped here. (more on that later)
So we started out the day with the Crocodile Farm. This was actually really cool; I love zoos, aquariums, farms, places with animals, water or land alike. This place had a reported sixty thousand crocs and at first, I couldn't believe it, but then I saw their croc farms and whoo boy, there sure were a lot of them lying around in the sun. We attended the crocodile vs. man show first, and it was interesting to watch the trainers and the crocs interact inside the pool. I had been a bit apprehensive at first, thinking it would be dirty, but the place is fairly clean and well-kept. The show was just about any croc show, but the interesting part was after when we got to explore the park. You could pay money to feed the crocs and we basically all did it! They hang a piece of chicken off a fishing pole and then you lower it into the pool. I did it first and the croc snapped my piece of chicken so quickly my friend didn't get a good pic. I completely missed it too. 0_0
After everyone else had gone, I did it again and managed to do a bit of pulling before the croc swallowed it whole. And that was a big piece of chicken. *runs away*
We saw elephants, went on an elephant ride, saw tons of other random animals, including porcupines, which I've never seen before, and hippos, which I've also never seen before. XD Very awesome. And I finally figured out why the goat so often represents the devil. It's because they're fucking scary and mean. We were feeding the goats, lambs, and deer (who were all kept in the same general area, with a few cordoned off areas) and the big goats kept eating all the food. We tried various tactics so we could feed the smaller ones, but it wasn't happening. And worst of worst, when one of my friends attempted to feed only the smallest goat, the big goat rammed into the small goat to take its food and then walked off. You should have seen the look of horror on her face as the small goat starts bleating sadly and walking on three legs because that big ram/goat/whatever had hurt it!
=(
After the farm, we went to Siam Paragon, the newest mall in Bangkok. Only it's just one of four malls connected to each other and basically the biggest thing I've seen, well, for a long time. Remember, I come from Japan, the land of small spaces!
It was expensive and frilly, though. And a bit boring in terms of shops. I mean, Balenciaga and Tods are great and all, but I'm not going to buy them, so all it was was window-shopping.
However... dun dun dun! There was a fabulous food court on the ground floor with a super-fabulous gourmet market! =) Sure wish that was in Toyama!
We met up with my aunt and ended up going to Bangkok's Chinatown for a quick tour and looksee. It was quiet, since they shut down on Mondays, but it was interesting to see all the shops. And we ate the most delicious spicy vermicilli soup dish EVER. It was ten kinds of awesome and so yummy, I couldn't care that I had a chilli tummy afterwards. It was that good. Just writing about it makes me drool. XD
Next up is Cambodia!
