WAYCHOFFS IN SINGAPORE

Monday April 5 I was up at 3:00am to catch the first flight of the day on Tiger Airways to Bangkok with my friends Dianne and Cherie. We planned on a few days of shopping and sightseeing before the SAS softball tournament was to start. The thing that most Americans shop for in Bangkok is the silverware and serving pieces, as well as sterling silver jewelry. We headed to TR Gifts and spent a couple hours in there! The nice thing is that the store delivers our purchases to the hotel so we don't have to carry it around! And the jewelry stores also will pick you up at the hotel and bring you to their stores. Sweet! I also picked up a new suitcase, as mine was damaged on the flight over. There are plenty of "mom and pop" shops lining the streets so shopping is everywhere you go. We ate dinner at Cabbages & Condoms which was a hoot-I had been there on my first trip to Bangkok last September so check that blog entry to read up on this unique restaurant! We had lots of great Thai food this week, including Pad Thai (a noodle dish), stir-fried Morning Glory (a green vegetable), and my very favorite dessert - mango sticky rice which I love! I even tried Tom Yam soup and Green Papaya Salad, but seeing as I'm not a fan of spicy foods, there were a lot of dishes that I didn't even try. Chicken fried rice is Tracy-friendly and always a good standby. :) After dinner we took a taxi (scary taxi driver) to the Suan Lum Night Market which has lots of souvenirs, silks, wood carvings, knock-off wallets, etc. Bargaining is expected and sometimes can be half the fun. We were bargaining for some luggage straps and the young Thai man gasped and exclaimed "OH MY BUDDHA!" which we found to be hilarious and it became our saying of the week. That and "BAHTLESS IN BANGKOK" which we were by the end of the week. (Baht is the Thai currency)

In the lobby of the Sheraton listening to the young Thai girl play some sort of musical instrument

We took a water taxi boat ride down the river. Many people use the water taxis as their daily form of transportation up and down the Chao Phraya River. Of course there are plenty of taxis too, and they are very colorful! Hot pink, purple, bright orange, even lime green taxis. And let's not forget, tens of thousands of scooters!

View from the long-tail boat.

Wednesday morning we took a 2-hour longtail boat ride down the river to see some of the local "neighborhoods" that line the river. We got off the beaten path and floated down some of the side streets (canals) and got a good look at the housing and activities of those living along the riverfront. They have "floating markets" whereby people put their wares into a small boat and float up and down the river selling everything from drinks to fruit to flowers and souvenirs.

This is "Happy"! She pulled alongside our boat and sold us some souvenirs.

Some of the architecture was really beautiful

This is a floating vegetable garden

Homes along the river

Thought you would like to see some Thai grafitti

Vida, Cherie, Dianne and I on our 2-hour longtail boat ride

They still have phone booths with pay phones on the streets in Bangkok!

There was a lot of political unrest in Bangkok before we arrived, and it escalated throughout the week. The "redshirts" were protesting vs. the government, a state of emergency was declared, and unfortunately it became violent. As we walked along the sidewalk, we saw a parade of redshirts driving by and waving their red flags. Some of our taxi drivers were drivers by day, and redshirts at night. What we saw was peaceful, but by the end of the week, they were storming Parliament and the Thai military were called in. This has been going on for several years-in fact, last year the softball tournament was supposed to be held in Bangkok and had to be moved to Singapore just days before it started, due to the unrest in Thailand. This year we knew there was a chance the tournament would be cancelled. They ended up cancelling the first day of the softball tournament, and cramming all the games into 2 days instead of 3. We were hesitant to wear our team colors because our colors are RED, white and blue! The airport was not shut down as it has been in the past, and we were able to fly back home without incident.

Lots of vendors walk up and down the streets, selling all kinds of things! This must be the local Fuller Brush Man :)

Taxi drivers usually hang a bunch of crap on their rearview mirrors

Glimpse of a street near the Golden Buddha

Photo of a group of monks taken from the temple where we viewed the Golden Buddha

Double doors inside the temple

This is the Golden Buddha

Profile of the Golden Buddha. Check out those earlobes!

People kneeling and bringing offerings to the Golden Buddha

Temple that houses the Golden Buddha. We had to rent a scarf to cover our bare shoulders before we could enter

Key maker on the street. You see EVERYTHING here! Shoe repair, phone card sales, lots of massage parlors (and some even promise a Happy Ending!), people grilling and cooking smelly fish on the streets. Sometimes my senses just get overwhelmed with the sights, the smells, the noise, and the heat.

Boarding the water taxi

Yes well after crawling on my knees and getting splashed with water, I was blessed by a monk and he tied a string onto my wrist symbolizing.....what? I don't really know for sure. I considered it to be a good luck bracelet for the softball team. :)