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October 18, 2004

My Heart Is Happy In Thailand

Considering all the problems I had with the email updates I figure I'll post my old mailings so everyone has a chance to read it if they missed the first time..or the second even. :) Anyway, here was the first, dated October 19, 2004:

Hello, sawat-dii khrap to all my friends and loved ones!
I'm writing you all from Thailand, where life has been good and the food even better for the last two weeks or so. Sorry about the bulk emailing, but to write individual emails to everyone I care about would be endlessly time consuming and I've got places to go see and khao phat kai (fried rice with chicken) to eat! I would love to hear from any and all of you, so don't hesitate to write back. :)

I'm in Chiang Rai, where my dad lives, way up in the northern part of the country, where the weather is cooler and the atmosphere is much more relaxed than Bangkok and much less touristy than the resort filled south. It's the third largest city in Thailand (I think), population around one million. It's got plenty of delicious restaurants where you can get a plate of the best thai, chinese, indian, italian, or god forbid, english food you've ever had for anywhere from 30-70 baht ($1 US = 40 baht). Except for mexican, you can pretty much find any taste in food here, even cheeseburgers, but no McDonalds. Oh, and no corn flakes or cheerios for breakfast, but who needs them when there's guava, mango, dragon fruit (new to me), and many other exotic fruits I've never heard of...

I've actually only been in Chiang Rai now for about a week. I spent the first week in a city called Pattaya right on the ocean two hours south of Bangkok. Geared mostly towards people like us, who they call Farang (pronounced falang, meaning foreigner), with our western money and western tastes, it was an exciting but somewhat false introduction to the real Thailand. Needless to say, many a late night was had roaming the streets lined endlessly with bars and restaurants and other "entertainment" venues. This city felt like its sole purpose was to provide everyone with as much fun as possible. Jet Skiiing was a blast, and although I didn't splurge on most of them, parasailing, bungie jumping, tiger shows, massive go-kart tracks (talkin' 1000m here), scuba diving, fishing, pool halls, bowling alleys, golf and mini-golf were all available. Being a young california boy, I had a hard time just walking by bars without getting pulled in on both sides by these young thai girls who are used to seeing old, fat, and tired farang. You'd be amazed at how famous California is just from the Eagles influence across the world. Arnold helped just a bit too. :)

The weather in Pattaya was a bit too warm and muggy for me, but overall it wasn't too bad. My hotel room was a heaven, with the gigantic a/c in the corner...glad I don't have to pay their electric bill. :P Here in Chiang Rai, some Thai's think it's cold. While I haven't actually been cold yet, it's much more comfortable, even during the day. Everything is in celcius, so I have no idea how hot or cold it actually gets. T-shirts are definately in during the day, and a light jacket on the moped at night is nice.

Life here is incredibly relaxed and peaceful. The Thai culture is so full of smiles and carefree attitudes, it's so refreshing. People speak of culture shock, but I fell right into this one. I think the shock will come on my return to the states. I have my own moped here, and it's a short ride into town. The food is so good and so cheap that I eat out just about every meal, even breakfast. At night (yes, every night of the week), there is a Night Bazaar that's really sweet. The most awesome crafts and goods you've ever seen...and super big servings of food for super cheap (oh and a pitcher of beer for like US$2.25! ...to share of course. :) There's live music and the infamous ka-toey (literally translated: ladyboy) in sexy outfits singing to hilarious american singles. Other nights I ride into town to get dinner and go hang out at this really cool "Cat Bar". Good thai beer, a pool table, and music equipment that the owner and my dad jam on almost every night. I've started to learn guitar with all this free time and my dad's mad skillz... and many games of pool every night is definately improving my game. Life is good.

I love you all and hope your lives are full of happiness!
Peace and I look forward to hearing from all of you!
Bodhi

Posted by Tom Bodhi at October 18, 2004 10:46 AM

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Posted by: kat at May 22, 2006 09:19 PM

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