Long Live the King!

Well it seems that I’ve timed my arrival in Bangkok right. Last night was the last of a week-long celebration of the king’s birthday. This man is revered by the Thai people; I’ve never before seen such fanfare for a public figure in my life. All the government branches had booths set up along one of the main thoroughfares, which was closed to traffic. The trees were lit with little white lights and there were pictures of the king everywhere. There were posters and other memorabilia with the king’s image for sale, a parade, and performances. I was invited to fill out a little piece of paper with a blessing for the king and drop it into a box. Coolest of all, in my opinion, were the miles and miles of delicious food and drinks. New today were pad Thai and spring rolls. My friends weren’t kidding when they said that Thailand has some of the best food in the world. Yum, yum, yum!

Aside from the main activity of walking around and eating, I’ve been perusing the shops and stands here for other goods to potentially sell back home. It’s different shopping as a buyer rather than a tourist. I have bought a couple things for myself, though, a top, a sundress and a necklace to go with it. I have to say that my shaved head doesn’t really go with the girly sundress look. You know that awkward “I’m growing my hair out” phase? Well it’s even more awkward after you shave your head. Ah well, I still maintain that it was worth it, despite the current porcupine-like state of affairs.

There is a significant difference between the sales tactics here in Thailand versus back in India. The Indians have it down; as the expression goes, they could sell ice to an Eskimo. The Thais, though, for the most part seem as if they could care less if you buy their stuff. As in India, most places sell variations of the same thing. You see the same fabrics repeated in different designs as well. It will take a little work to find something unique to add to my Indian collection. Also, it’s looking like I might have to settle for an imposter iPod, which when you buy it comes with 20 albums’ worth of tunes. Not bad.


Making my second Thai iced tea of the day. Caffeine? What caffeine?


Wild and crazy drinks... I watched a woman order the second one from the right. I'm assuming it's got coconut milk in it, but there were also what appeared to be noodles and other food-like things.


Preparing some sort of yummy fried goodness. There's a lot of fried stuff here.

I hope you like looking at photos of food because honestly that's one of the most interesting things to photograph here!