India-Day 3: Delhi

The first half of our third day in Delhi was used taking care of getting a SIM card, changing money, and buying some train tickets online. These things tend to take longer in a foreign country, and India definitely seemed to be a country that likes paperwork. Being able to buy tickets online was a great feature of the Indian railways tickets compared to China, although, admittedly, it was kind of an adventure to figure out how to buy the tickets online-it’s as if they didn’t want us to find the ‘Buy Ticket’ icon. Also, more odd travel tidbits-apparently a Mastercard from Chase Bank works on the Indian Railways website but Visa from CitiBank doesn’t. Go figure.

In the afternoon we visited Humayun’s Tomb, which had beautiful grounds, an imposing, majestic structure and very peaceful gardens where we strolled around. It was a nice break from the horn, dust, and exhaust filled streets of Delhi. It was, like the Red Fort, a Mughal empire structure, part of the portfolio that makes them the coolest Indian empire. I absolutely loved walking around it, imagining it in all its glory, and taking in the many amazing views that were around almost every corner. One upsetting thing during the visit was a huge pile of trash outside one of the walls, right next to where it looked like there were some further small tombs. I guess that in India the litter creeps all the way to the edge of a UNESCO World Heritage site.

By far the best event of this day was Veer. Veer is the name of a Bollywood movie that we caught at the Promenade Mall-an upscale shopping mall in suburban New Delhi. To preface, going to see a local movie (in a foreign language) might not be on the normal list for tourists, but for us in India it was different. We are both big movie enthusiasts, and neither of us is eager to cross off every place of interest in the guidebook if it means not having fun. Moreover, Bollywood makes more movies than Hollywood every year. Coming from a China, which despite having 1.35 billion people, still imports almost all of its entertainment from Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong, I have huge respect for Bollywood. Don’t get my wrong: I love American movies, I just respect that India produces much of its own entertainment-as so many other countries just import American tv and movies. Veer was a Romeo and Juliet love story set against warring factions associated with or against the British imperialists in 19th century India (with bits in Britain). It starred Salmon Khan-who we would later find out is one of the big boys in Bollywood. There was some English mixed in, but it was almost all Hindi. Nonetheless, the plot was pretty easy to follow. Veer truly had it all: romance, song, dance, battles, and even some comedy. The sound in the theater was almost uncomfortably loud which just made the movie all the more intense. If you’ve got any sort of desire to be entertained by Bollywood (although not challenged emotionally or intellectually), Veer is the movie for you. (photo source: http://media.photobucket.com/image/veer%20salman%20khan/420sdna_album/veer-salman-khan-4.jpg)

India Day 2: Delhi

We started our second day in India out with a delicious breakfast made by Alka. Leave it to the Indians to figure out how to make fruit salad spicy. Our tour of Delhi’s places of interest began with the foremost among them, the Red Fort in Old Delhi. Old Delhi, out of what seems to be a combination of (mostly) poverty and tourist draw, maintains the bazaars that you may see as the intro video to some PBS special on India. The minute we stepped out of the metro station I was awestruck (and this is after a year and a half in China) by the truly incredible amount of people, movement, trash, sound, smell, and car horns. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced before. There were plenty of other tourists, so we were able to find our way to the Red Fort.

The Red Fort was a great place to visit, and kind of calm down after the madness of the streets. We wandered among the various forts that had been used during various dynasties of India’s history. It was a Mughal empire citadel (not one building as the name would suggest). It became clearer and clearer as we traveled around India, that the Mughals were by far the coolest (they had lots of swords) and most successful of the various dynasties in India’s past. The Red Fort is of special significance to Indians, as it was where the first Indian flag was raised in 1947 after Gandi, Nehru, and co. kicked out the British.

We also visited Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India, which successfully augmented its relatively small entrance fee with a monstrous camera fee-but I guess I wasn’t coming to worship, so maybe I shouldn’t complain. It was gorgeous though, and offered great views of Old Delhi. And, I am all about gaining random, trivial accomplishments like the fact I’ve been to the biggest mosque in India.

We wandered through Raj Ghat, which is a big park where Gandhi was cremated (his ashes were/are spread all over the place). It also contains the cremation sites of various other important figures in recent Indian history, including many former presidents and prime minister-including that of Nehru, the first Prime Minister of modern India. We really did wander, as the guidebook map wasn’t quite on the ball, and some cremation spots weren’t as well marked as others. It was wild how just by crossing the street and walking into the park it was immediately a million times more peaceful (and I actually might not be exaggerating) than the streets of Old Delhi.

In the evening we met up with Rob Hall and Rob Adams, two friends from TU that are living in Delhi as missionaries. The four of us had a delicious and plentiful dinner at Barbecue Nation, a fancy, all you can eat barbecue joint. We checked out their apartment after dinner, and I grabbed a short ride on Rob Hall’s Honda Hunk motorcycle around the neighborhood (yes it’s called the Hunk, yes people in India should know what it means). The event of the evening for me was chewing some non-tobacco paan. Paan, well rather, paan spit, was one of the first things I noticed in India. Almost every street corner, every bathroom, every trashcan, and often the corners of rooms will be covered in a brownish-red stain in a spray pattern. This is the effect of the fact that a huge number of Indian men (and every single auto driver) chew paan ALL THE TIME. Normally, I balk at the use of all caps, but my limited vocabulary lacks the ability to express it any better. Paan was ubiquitous in India like no other drug/habit I have seen anywhere else in the world. Most of the time, it is chewed in small beads out of a plastic packet much like a condom wrapper. But, the true way to chew paan is to have the full out areca nut with spices wrapped in a betel leaf covered in lime paste. We asked the Robs about it at dinner, and on the walk home, Rob Adams ordered up a giant wrap of paan for me. It was about the size of a tennis ball. He told me that I should just throw the whole thing in my mouth, and I think he was right. I just wasn’t ready. I ended with paan stains on my pants for the rest of the trip, and was just one sticky mess for the whole metro ride home. It wasn’t too bad of an experience, the mixture was pretty sweet, it was just the incredible size of the paan wad combined with its unwillingness to break down (kind of the idea) that made my mouth a big, paany mess.

India-Day 1: Delhi

So, India’s a big, populated, crowded, and generally crazy country. People have been traveling there for ages, but maybe not in the droves that hit up Thailand or Vietnam. Thus, as part of the country introduction, the good old Lonely Planet guidebook includes a list of scams to avoid. We arrived in Delhi at three in the morning, as India seems to be inconveniently located in the middle of East Asia and Europe. We were staying with family friends of Danthemanstan, but didn’t want to interrupt them at 4 am. Our initial plan was to just sleep/relax at the airport. Well, Delhi’s airport is the sparsest of any airport I have been to recently, especially so considering it’s the capital of the second most populous country in the world. We decided to try go to a cheap hotel near the airport to catch half a night’s rest. Bad idea.
As recommended in the book, we got a pre-paid taxi to the hotel. It should been maybe ten to fifteen minutes. So after twenty or more, I started pushing the pre-paid taxi helper (who was riding along) to stop and go back to where the hotel should have been. He claimed that metro construction made the hotel inaccessible. At this point I realized he was riding along solely to scam us. I had this impression when he initially insisted that we were “friends”. So he took us to an “official” Indian tourist office. I went inside, they (supposedly) helped me find a hotel by calling up some in the guidebook. Of course, as the book suggested, he was most likely calling someone in another room. When I got quoted $350 for a room (and not at the Delhi Hilton) I had had enough, and went back to the taxi. We demanded to be taken to any hotel nearby. We were taken (at this point over an hour into the ordeal) to a street that offered rooms at ten to twenty times what they should have cost, so we kept on saying no. Soon enough it was six, and the metro was opened, so we just had them drop us off at a metro station. As he dropped us off, clearly not getting any of the scam commission that the “taxi helper” had promised him, the driver busted out his English and told us next time to get a hotel reservation. He was right, but then again, he certainly could have just taken us to the address to which we paid be taken.

We killed some early morning time walking around the major government area (Rajpath) in New Delhi. We then made our way to see Anapalm and Alka. They are both Indian, but lived in DC for a long time, and Danthemanstan went to school with their children. They had both just moved back (like still unpacking) to Delhi, where Anapalm was starting a new job working for the World Bank. They had a gorgeous, spacious apartment and set us up in a guest room with its own bathroom. They were incredibly gracious and it was wonderful to be able to stay with them.

The really great event of the day, though, was to go to chaat store with them. They needed to get some snacks and chutneys for a dinner they were having (and just in general), so all four piled into an auto-rickshaw (auto for short) and went to one of the famous chains. Anapalm was a great host and showed us how to eat the best chaat the proper way. Chaat is an outrageously delicious snack that is a fried dough ball with chutneys or salad like mixtures put inside of the dough ball. The fillings as well as the size and consistency of the dough balls vary greatly. Getting the filling in the dough ball and not over yourself is hard at first, but we learned quickly. The fillings we had were spicy and sweet at the same time, with a biting tamarind flavor. We gorged ourselves while Alka shopped. After enjoying some great take-out and some tasty leftovers, we hit the hay early after our first day in India to make up for the mess of the morning.

Zoo Day

At one of our weekly poker nights after returning from vacation and starting the new semester, two of the German teachers here this spring commented about the fun they had had at Changzhou's zoo. The seller was that one could buy live chickens and throw them to the lions. Needless to say, I quickly organized a trip to the zoo. Fellow teachers Sean, Sarah, Jordan, my college friend John (visiting from Thailand), Teddy-our advisor, Qin Chen (a friend that graduated last year), 真真 and I loaded up in the morning and with some tasty spring rolls made by 真真's mom, took the bus down to the southern edges of the city.

We were able to fortuitously go to the zoo on one of maybe two sunny days we got all April, so it was perfect. The first couple of exhibits we looked through weren't too inspiring. The cages were drab concrete cells, with maybe a log or two for the monkeys or big cats to play around in. Most of the big cats were sleeping, and there was an incredibly old, tired lion that inspired thoughts of Aslan. The real fun, and main reason we came to the zoo, happened when we boarded the zoo shuttle for a ride through the open areas. I was utterly shocked at the first stop, as llamas, and many types of deer walked right up to the shuttle. Vendors were standing by with bags of carrots or other veggies to feed the animals. As we moved through the rest of the outdoor areas, we went through an area with rams and deer (the little rams were hilariously chasing around all the baby deer), then lions, tigers, wolves and Asian brown bears. The real fun came when we got to the lions. In lieu of carrots, the vendor here sold bags of raw chicken, or for the big bucks (50 yuan) you could buy a live chicken. Sean is a man's man, so he did it without pause. The pure thrill of throwing a chicken to the lions was so great he repeated it at the tiger pit. It was pretty awesome to see the lions run down and grab the chicken out of mid-air, or in the small creek. The tigers were even more intense, with three of them fighting for the chicken. ZhenZhen and I threw some chicken pieces in, but I was unable to get a tiger to catch the piece mid air. The wolves were boring, and just kind of wandered up to the food thrown to them. The Asian bears were a riot, with three of them standing on a platform and standing up and waving for the food. It was clear that whey were quite used to this treatment, and there is no way they could ever go back to the wild after only having to stand up to get fed.

During the rest of the day we walked through more exhibits-mostly saw lots of birds, and walked among a bunch of peacocks-which decidedly do not like to be hand fed. We watched a horrible circus show that featured better acrobatics than any of the animal stunts. Let's just say that PETA probably isn't a big fan of monkeys wearing outfits while riding bicycles. The other big highlight, and something that Sarah went crazy for, was feeding giraffes. There is a platform set up so the giraffes only have to bend down a bit to eat. Purple and long, they would stick their tongues out to grab the carrot right out of our hands. It was absolutely fantastic to see them up close; although they were a bit testy-they did not want to be petted, just fed. At the end of the day we were able to catch the last ride of the day on the pirate ship ride that was part of a (very) mini-amusement park near the entrance. Oh, and in case you're wondering, kangaroos are very unimpressive if they're just sleeping and thus not bouncing around.

Lantern Festival

After spending almost the entire month of January in Thailand and Cambodia, I then took a three week plus trip to India. I will one day get around to posting my thoughts and pictures from that trip, which was a trip of a lifetime. But, on my first day back from India, I met back up with 真真, the senior student I have been dating since November. We didn't have huge plans for the evening, but her cousin had texted her saying that there was a huge gathering of people at Hongmei (Red Plum) Park, Changzhou's biggest park. So, we headed over, and even though it was Lantern Festival, I was still amazed at the sheer number of lanterns littering the sky. Lantern Festival is more or less the end of the celebrations for Chinese New Year (click links for more information). Now, I avoid being in China for the weeks before and after Chinese New Year because it is, quite possibly, the greatest human migration in the history of the world. The hundreds of millions of migrant workers that work in the coastal provinces return to the hinterland, then come back to the coastal cities. Additionally, any student that goes to school outside his hometown is further packing the buses and trains. I've had my share of travel craziness in China to know better than be here then. Additionally, besides the fireworks, Chinese New Year isn't much fun for me, as I have no family here with whom to sit around eat, drink, and play cards.

So, Lantern Festival was a great chance to see some Chinese New Year festivities and not have to deal with travel hell. The park was super crowded, and I mean that in a way that only those that have lived or visited China can truly understand. Imagine a peaceful city park with crowds not dissimilar of a rock concert in size and pushiness. The night sky was beautiful for its crowds though, as all the lanterns looked like bright, close stars. We had a good time walking around, successfully launching both of our lanterns, and taking a romantic boat ride around the pond, where 真真 and many other girls were launching floating candles. What I really enjoyed though, was seeing so many families or groups of friends relaxing as they ate some snacks, sipped a warm milk-tea, walked around or stopped to laugh and poke fun as they tried to launch their lanterns. Despite the large, pushy crowds, the park had a decidedly leisurely feeling that night, as so many people were just standing and looking up (although always aware not to be hit by an errant, low-flying lantern). China, although not my daily life here, is a very busy, fast, and sometimes reckless place, so it was great to experience a much calmer evening. I'm not sure quite how many trees or telephone poles caught on fire across the country, but the sky above the park was quite a sight.

Sitting on a bench

Just this afternoon I was sitting on a bench on market street reading a book. Now, although today is technically a holiday (International Worker's Day) that doesn't really affect me too much. As this semester I don't work on Thursday or Friday, every weekend is a four day weekend for me. I didn't travel anywhere this weekend, mostly because I didn't make plans early enough and had agreed to watch some dragon boat racing on Saturday. So, it was a book on the bench for me.

Back to the subject, I was enjoying the very pleasant spring weather (albeit a month late) and just minding my own business. I noticed in the corner of my eye a man parking his bicycle and among the seven other sections of the bench, choosing the one next to me. He sat, opened his Pepsi, took a drink, and then just stared straight at me. Having a Chinese person (usually an adult male) sit conspicuously close to me while saying nothing and keeping only flittering eye contact is pretty common. I know they want to talk to me, but I'm pretty neutral on beginning the conversation, so I leave it up to them. (There are ~4.1 million people in Changzhou, and ~2 million in the city, but only 2,000 foreigners (according to my advisor) so sitting down next to one of us is a rare opportunity.) As his stare became even more awkward I looked up and he took the bait, and asked me, in stuttering English "what's your name?" I answered, and it only took him three times to understand. I could see he was struggling to say even the most basic phrases, so I just sat there in patience. He was able to ask me next, "which country is yours?", now while I don't pretend to own America, I know that this is a pretty literal translation of the Chinese way to ask where one's from. He did not understand my answer of America, nor the USA, nor the United States of America. I tried saying America as slowly and clearly as I could, but we got nowhere. I could have switched to Chinese, but he was clearly looking to practice his English. Well, he gave up, and asked me, with a thick accent, if I could speak Chinese. I answered yes. (Side note-I say thick accent, because I am blessed to do almost all of my conversations with my students, who have studied standard Mandarin in classes, have all their classes taught in standard Mandarin, have to pass a standard Mandarin test, and usually use it with each other-as they are from areas with many different dialects). This man clearly had not had much instruction on standard Mandarin.

We then had a short discussion, in which he realized that he had known how to say America in English, and just forgot, and then asked me many questions. Most interesting was his question of how long he thought it would take for Chinese people to achieve the American level of wealth. He was very unsatisfied with my answer of a long time but probably never, so he kept asking the question again. I don't have nearly good enough Chinese to explain my answer to him. He also later asked me if I was a "real, real American" as he thought that my eyes and nose did not qualify me to be one. I have no idea what person he is using for as his reference point for the "real, real American" but being white and brown haired I am the most common hair/skin combination among Americans. I didn't even began to explain to him that in America (and many other countries) nationality and ethnicity are two different things. (Side note-with China's huge number of ethnic groups this should be the mindset here, but it definitely isn't). As I was struggling to get some points across to him a campus security guard walked up and started talking with the man. The guard was very kind and patient, and mainly just asked him what the man was doing, where he was from, and kindly suggested he leave. It was a very calm interaction, but the man got up and left. I don't know if some of the store owners told the guard that the man appeared to be bothering me or if they just suggested that he was a migrant worker-and that a lowly migrant worker certainly shouldn't be talking to the esteemed foreign teachers. I'd bet on the latter. Either way, as always, life's full of curveballs in China.

Thailand: Day 23-25 Back in Bangkok

Danthemanstan and I met up with Sean and Sarah, who had gone south to the beaches during our stint checking out ruins. We had a nice evening out accompanying them to sign up for an ultimate Frisbee tournament (Sean is a big ultimate enthusiast) at a Western bar. We ended up, in Bangkok, getting an almost personal musician. We were the only people that really seemed to care to make requests to the singer (as we later found out, a guy from California living and working as a bar singer there). I kept it real and requested Free Bird, which he played after only laughing a bit. For more entertainment, the walk home included walking by many street bars: literally a card table and picnic chairs on the sidewalk with a flashy display of liquor. It was mostly young Thais that were frequenting these bars that weren’t doing much to create any atmosphere. Even more entertaining, and telling of Bangkok’s role as a major sex tourism destination, were the street vendors selling Viagra and Cialis (or rather, some knock-off version).

As Danthemanstan flew back to China, and Sean and Sarah were playing ultimate, I spent my second to last day in Thailand getting another massage at the place I had gone the first time, finding a hostel, and wandering around the streets of Bangkok-which is one of my favorite things to do in a foreign country. I filled in for Sarah at the ultimate tournament party-which meant drinking for free for much of the night. Luckily, even though I didn’t know anyone except Sean, ultimate players tend to be open and laid back, so I had a good enough time, although was disappointed as we Americans did not do well in the boat race drinking game. It was a costume party, but luckily Sean hadn’t had room to fit anything into his backpack for the trip, so we both just got hassled the whole night for not having outrageous costumes as almost everyone there did. I was equally impressed by how much everyone was drinking, considering they had to be up at 8 the next morning to play ultimate in muggy Bangkok.

I met up with them the next day, and joined Sarah in watching Sean play (Sarah’s team didn’t do nearly as well in the tournament). We spent the afternoon checking out yet another Buddhist temple (this one atop a hill, providing great views of the city). We then took part in the tuk-tuk gem scam that is quite famous in Bangkok among Western tourists. The basic scheme is they will take you to your destination for 10 Baht or even free, as long as you’ll stop at some merchants along the way. We were well aware when we got into the tuk-tuk of what were getting into. We had some time to kill, and weren’t near any convenient or cheap transportation, so went ahead and did it. We visited one gem shop as well as three tailors. One tailor was pretty curt with us and seemed upset we didn’t want to buy anything. I was just honest with him and told him we were trying to get a cheap tuk-tuk ride. We were kind of surprised at his anger, as we didn’t see what else he expected from being part of the scam. We eventually made it to a snazzy riverside bar and restaurant to catch the sunset over Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn). I didn’t find that we were there at dusk too problematic. It was beautiful and a great way to spend my last evening in Bangkok. At dinner, I was able to convince Sarah and a very reluctant Sean to go get a massage. It was now my third time back at the massage parlor and I realized maybe I should have asked about a frequent visitor card. We had some laughs with Sean’s masseuse, who was unable to work out some of his kinks after two days of ultimate.

After almost a month in Thailand, there was still much more I would have loved to see. I didn’t even get to the most visited part of the country, which are its tropical islands and endless white sand beaches in the southern part of the country. As I have mentioned, there are plenty of reasons (current political crisis not one of them) to visit Thailand. It’s generally good weather most of the year, save the rainy season, and is filled with gorgeous tropical forests, lumbering elephants, smiling and helpful people, amazingly diverse and tasty food, screensaver-esque beaches, awe inspiring temples, and well-preserved ancient ruins. A great place to visit and a spectacular trip.

Thailand-Day 22-Lopburi

Our bus trip from Ayuthaya to Lopburi was one of the reasons I like to do so much traveling now when I’m young. It’s not that I think I am more tolerant, I just think that because my body is in good shape and I’m maybe still a bit foolish, I tend to take situations that might infuriate others with a few jokes and sarcastic comments. Our bus was a local bus which in this case meant that it never went above maybe 30 mph the whole trip, even when on the highway, and was stopping ever so frequently to pick up anyone on the side of the road that might be flagging it down. I remember that it took considerably more time for the bus to cover the ground from the bus station back past our hotel than we had covered on foot going there. Added to this, the seats lacked much legroom and our driver was quite the dance music enthusiast and he kept some super-poppy Thai dance music at full blast the entire ride. Add the enormous collection of Buddhist trinkets adorning the inside of the bus, and it was almost like an amusement park ride.

We went to Lopburi for one reason, which was because the guidebook noted it as monkey town. Both Danthemanstan and I have agreed that when traveling, we really enjoy seeing anything out of the ordinary. This town was reputed to have troops of monkeys roaming its streets. Now, stray dogs were everywhere in Thailand (linking it with Greece and India as countries that need more Bob Barker PSAs), but monkeys are just a whole different animal (pun intended). We saw some random monkeys climbing on the electrical wires and store awnings as we made our way through a crowded street market to an absolutely fabulous dinner. After dinner, we made a very misguided decision to go grab a beer at one of the maybe two bars in the town. The fact that there were only three of thirty tables occupied should have maybe been a sign, but we sat down and ordered a beer. Then the band came onstage and played some Thai rock music ten times as loud as the already loud music had been. I don’t really know what clientele they were trying to reach with deafening music to no crowd. Even at a skeezy booth in the corner farthest from the stage, Danthemanstan and I could barely hear each other speak. Needless to say we drank our beers quickly and escaped back into the lazy peace of a small Thai town settling in for the night.

After getting up the next morning, and walking towards the part of town that supposedly would have some monkeys, we saw that the guidebook wasn’t messing around at all. As we turned a corner all we saw was a big troop of maybe thirty macaque monkeys fighting over a bag of sugarcane that had been thrown out or more likely, left for the monkeys. Some were still fighting, but most were voraciously eating the sugarcane. It was pretty weird indeed to see monkeys walking along the streets, hanging from telephone poles, chilling atop roofs or street signs, and generally ignoring people unless they were offering food. Most of the vendors selling food had sticks or whips at their side to keep away the town’s most famous residents. We checked out a set of temple ruins, which actually turned out to be more monkey lounge than ruins. It was simply teeming with monkeys. The ticket vendor even offered a bag of snacks to feed the monkeys, but judging by those I had already seen; I don’t think the monkeys were having much trouble getting food. We also went by another temple (which you can only look in) that really advertises itself as the place to see monkeys. It had ropes and lots of trees along with all sorts of signs warning about the monkeys, but not a single monkey. It seemed hilarious that maybe the monkeys don’t really want to follow the set-up that the locals have arranged for them in order to make tourism easier. The town was pretty easy to cover in an hour or two, so we headed to a pleasant outdoor restaurant with some nice shade, took out some books, and ordered beers. As weird as the monkeys were, after watching them for a good part of a morning, we started to treat them like the locals and weren’t surprised as one crossed our path.

Thailand-Days 20-21: Ayuthaya

Ayuthaya was the capital of a Thai kingdom from the 14th to 18th century, and thus is full of ruins. We rented bicycles from a travel agency around the corner, and after denying all her offers for excursions, we were on our way. The bikes were a great way to get around town, it’s incredibly flat as it is surrounded by rivers. We even had to stop twice for lines of elephants to cross the street. It was a bit hot out during our day and half in Ayuthaya, but the perfect antidote to the heat were the incredibly delicious fresh fruit shakes that are about as common as pictures of the king in Thailand. I made it a habit to order two or three with most meals, I’m sure the wait staff was a bit surprised, but then again Thailand gets lots of tourism, so maybe all of us coming from colder, temperate climates go overboard.

As you can see from the pictures in this post, the ruins in Ayuthaya were truly gorgeous and very well preserved. I also love that you can walk among many of the ruins, apparently they don’t think there will be enough tourism to do too much wear and tear to statues that have lasted for 500 years already. I enjoy going to ruins and other historical places a lot. I think I can gain a small (very small) amount of insight about how a people lived, how they thought by their major monuments, places of worship, government buildings, and so on. Going to, from, and all around the ruins (almost all of which were images of Buddha) and a visit to a temple that had (gasp) a giant gold statue of Buddha got me to thinking. It just seems like all the concrete, real money, time, and effort that goes into building and maintaining the idolatry in order to maintain their place in a not so secure afterlife.

We had a nice dinner one night at a restaurant owned by a guy from Pittsburgh. He was very friendly, and almost seemed excited to have some American customers to talk to. He had traveled to Thailand to study or experience something related to Buddhism and at some point “fell in love” and was now running this restaurant. It was nice to meet a bit more personally one of the many Westerners (mostly men) that have settled in Thailand.