It has been a few days since we have been in Thailand now, and I finally feel like the travel/culture shock is subsiding. There is nothing in particular that has been absolutely 'shocking' it is just fairly overwhelming to be around people who are speaking Thai, reading Thai, and Karaoke(ing...?) in Thai.
We went karaoke(ing) with our Thai family the other night. They rented us a private room at a bar, it was super fun. Unfortunately for me and Chelsea, our song selections were limited to Spice Girls, Elvis, Neil Diamond and BeeGee's, oh and the Cranberries which all of Wipa's family LOVE. So, in a room of ten people, we were limited to those bands to sing songs from. The other 8 people were singing Thai songs - Karaoke is much more interesting when the screen looks like it is decorated in cake frosting : ). Stem, Ice and Gwan loved singing these catchy teen pop songs which had choruses like, "dah, da-da-dat da-da-dat da-da-dat WOO! dah, da-da-dat da-da-dat da-da-dat Woo!" and since that was the only part me and Chelsea could sing along with, they would hand the mic's over to us for those sections. We drank a lot of Leo beer that night!
This all happened in Rayong Province Thailand (near Pataya). This is where Wipa lives, and has a restaurant. Her family owns a huge chunk of land in the jungle along a river. Watch out for Cobra's, no joke.
Now we are at the beach just hanging out. Super nice and warm, took a break from Bangkok for a few days, but getting ready to head back to the big mango.
Bangkok - tons of smells, super hot, sssuuuppppeeerrr rich, super poor, giant billboards the size of condominiums on capital hill. Chaos! Fun!
We went to a huge shopping mall with about 25 up scale jeweling companies in it - selling the most expensive jewelry I have ever seen. This mall put those fancy malls in Bellevue to shame : ). It was really interesting to see how a country with a fairly poor population can build these super malls that basically cater only to tourists. All the shops were empty while we were there. Lila, we saw a 3 karat diamond ring for 2 million baht....
Anyways, our Thai family just showed up so I need to wrap this up, but I feel like I can write some blogs now so keep coming back to get updated!
Oh yea, the title. Wherever we go everyone assumes that we want the American breakfast. Two eggs over easy, white bread, disgusting hotdog and good bacon. We really keep trying to eat Thai breakfast, but they just keep on bringing us the "American breakfast". I feel this will haunt us while we are here for a while...
Sawadee Krap!
Mack
Totally cool time. I'm really glad you guys went. One note about the cobras: when the local people, who know, warn you about something, like they say, "Don't walk by the river at sunset," well, don't do it. Even if it sounds far fetched. A Peace Corps volunteer ignored that advice...and well, death by crocodile must be pretty horrible when you think on it. So if they say something like, don't shut the windows when you turn on the shower, don't shut them...(three other people died that way...) They know about something that you might not. After that downer advice, I'm sure you're perfectly safe and keep having the fun you are. Fun to read your posts.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are having too much fun!! All the way to Thailand to sing Karaoke!! Isn't it fun that nomatter where you go, some things don't really change...
ReplyDelete3mil. baht= must have been an amazing 3ct. diamomd!! Don should be feeling pretty lucky!! I only wish for 1/2 that!! HA!!!!
keep up the fun..don't go see any weird shows that will pollute your mind for life...and listen so you keep each other safe!!
I love you two..The Madre'