Thailand!

at last, now there's another country stamped in my passport besides japan. thanks to PAL's mabuhay miles, i got a round-trip ticket to bangkok for free. well not exactly free because i had to pay for travel tax and fuel thingy. but anyway, it was so fab to be there. weee!

list of things i learned there. not all are sensible but still i included them in the list becase they amused me. hehehe

1. thailand was attacked and conquered by burma around 3 centuries ago leaving ruins of temples and headless buddha statues. tragic...
(was this fact discussed in my asian history classes at school before? if it was, i wasn't listening then...)
(i think being conquered by a neighbor country or by some superpower nation in the past adds drama to the country's history. but of course it wasn't cool to be born at the time.)

2. 90 percent of thais are buddhists. they have thousands of temples all over the country and still building more.

3. in thailand, the taxis come in vibrant colors - fuchsia pink, yellow, orange, cool blue, green, purple, etc. they are nice to look at, especially when you're caught in bangkok traffic.

4. in my five days stay in bangkok, i had 4 elephant sightings in the city. the cutest was the baby elephant with the mommy elephant.

5. tuktuk - thailand's more improvised counterpart of our tricycle. it also has 3 wheels but the body is longer and more regal-looking. according to the cab driver we asked, the name "tuktuk" was derived from the sound of its engine. these vehicles may only have 3 small wheels and no turbo engines whatsoever, but unlike our pedicabs, these babies run on bangkok's busy streets and highways, racing against taxis along big roads and overpasses. gave odessa a fright. hehehe!

6. the bazaars are overwhelming! there's too many of 'em. say in the Night Market and the Weekend Market, going back to a previous store you have visited earlier requires good memory and excellent skills in direction. but if you're a certified shoppingera, which means you have the foot-and-leg-ache tolerance equivalent to the patience of a saint, the markets will be heaven for you! with a hefty purse and bargaining prowess, you're up for a lot of good buys. em and pat got lost in the chatuchak market =)

7. hotstuff. "ma phet", or something like it. the first thai words i learned courtesy of our tour guide. we're suppose to tell the restaurant people that when we order food so it won't be too spicy. i totally forgot about it on our first meal in thailand. we were so excited to order thai food from that posh food court in one of bangkok's big malls. i'm pretty tolerant when it comes to spicy stuffs, but the meal i got was excrutiatingly hot. i downed two bottles of mineral water and lots of rice. if that was their regular "hot and spicy", i don't want to imagine the 'extra' hot and spicy. since then, i never forget the magic words whenever i order anything, including streetfoods.

8. tourists - there's a horde of them, us included of course. name any nationality, there's a high probability you'll meet at least a few representatives. if all the people waiting in line at the immigration in Bangkok airport would speak in their own language at the same time, it would be like Tower of Babel.

9. thief market. our tour guide pointed a place which they call 'thief market' and does business on saturdays. if you lost something valuable, especially if you lost it somewhere in a public place, chances are you're going to find it there. hehehe, parang robbery for ransom. i wasn't sure if she was just joking or not, but it sure is convenient if we have one in cebu, maybe i'll find my laptop!

Pictures!