Back to Bangkok.

  Bangkok, Thailand
Thursday, February 21, 2008

While in Cambodia I purchased a book written by a women who survived the Cambodian civil war. It is very interesting to read as I have been to many of the places she describes in her book. It explains how when the Khmer Rouge took over the country they attempted to destroy many of the temples and killed the monks that lived at them. They killed approximately 2 million people.If they thought you were educated or rich then they murdered you. Interesting how we hear so much about Hitler and the jewish and yet this happened in the 80's while I was in school and I don't recall hearing anything. There is now a restoration organization in effect that works on restoring and maintaining these temples, Im sure because it brings tourism. I never realized that the temples in Angkor Wat that I visited are considered to be one of the seven wonders of the world. I feel very fortunate to have experienced them but hope that the country can rebuild itself in its entirety, helping the people and not just the Wats(temples). I enjoyed the book very much and will lend it to anyone who may be interested in reading it. I was able to read it while I waited for mom to arrive at the airport. We did not make it back into Bangkok from the airport until 2 in the morning and then visited until 3 as we were both to excited to sleep. We both were back up and out for breakfast by 6am! Mom is so excited and I love to see her experience things. She has not traveled much in her life and I am so happy I was able to convince her to come visit for a short time. After breakfast we made our way to the train station to buy tickets to Chiang Mai. Then it was off to the many markets that are clustered in Soi's( lane or small street) throughout Bangkok. Mom picked up a few pieces of lighter clothing to wear in the heat. She measures how far we walk everyday with her pedometer and we had walked around 10 km. We have rode in  saamlaws or tuk-tuks and long boats all after bartering the price first. Scams are common here as drivers will stop at family business's hoping that you buy something. It is very difficult to have direct transportation. I always stress how direct I want the trip to be and refuse to get out and shop. It is very interesting at times. Today I wanted mom to experience these unique trips so I figured it would be worth it for the experience. I hired a Long Boat and took a 2 hour ride through canals. It was amazing. We were able to see how people live on the canals and found that the air quality is better on the water than in traffic. We stopped shortly at the Taling Chan floating market. After that we went 104km out of Bangkok to the famous floating Damnoen Sakuak market where ladies in their small flat bottom boats full of produce, flowers, soup etc gather to sell to the locals and tourists.It is hot today around 35(95) degrees as we are approaching the hottest season here. I look forward to when I will be in the south again at the beach. We leave tomorrow to Ayuthaya by bus. There are many temples there as it was once the capital of Thailand. It will be a short stay and then we will take the train to Chiang Mai, a city in northern Thailand. It is time for us to get some yummy thai food and a drink