I have been telling you about the time that I grew up in Thailand.  It sounds so terrible like the third world country.  That was yesterday, today Thailand is very modern and has one of the strongest economies in Asia.  Bangkok is the capital city and used to be called Venice of the East,  because Bangkok used to have a lot of canals ( Klong in Thai language).  They traveled by boats in canals and rivers like in Venice, Italy,  but today they have to fill them in to make more roads to accommodate heavy traffic.  Thailand is trying to improve the traffic congestion by building more roads, more freeways, sky trains and subways.  Even though they are doing this,  they still have an active floating market.  It is one of the must see tourist attractions ( I highly recommend it).  Floating Market is an open-market where the merchants bring their products to sell on their boats.  They sell just about anything.  You can buy all kind of fruits, vegetables, chickens, clothing, etc.  If you are hungry, you can order a dish of stir fry noodles to eat.  It is a very enjoyable place.  The floating market is located at Damnorn Saduak, just outside of  Bangkok.  You can get there by boat or by car.  I recommend that you ride the boat there.  This way, you can see both sides of Chao Phaya River of Bangkok and also you can go shopping easier once you get there.

Thai people are friendly people, nice and polite.  They are always smiling, maybe that is why they call Thailand-The Land of Smiles.  Tourists love to visit Thailand because they feel welcome.  It is easy to communicate with Thai people because the majority of them speak English.  Thai people love to speak to them too because they want to practice their English also.  There are many interesting places to see and visit.  I recommend two places to see.  One of them is Wat Pha Klew ( Wat means Temple ).  This temple has an Emerald Buddha and has a good history behind it.  The temple is one of the most fascinating architectural sights.  The temple wall is full of a Thai Epic mural.  The painting is so good in detail. This painting on the wall has been repainted since it was constructed about 200-300 years ago ( older than U.S.A.).  The other place to visit is the Royal Grand Palace which is located next to Wat Pha Klew.  This Royal Grand Palace is the welcome place for the high rank foreign visitor nowadays.  When you visit Bangkok, you should take a dinner cruise along Chao Phaya River.  The food on the cruise is excellent and  has a reasonable price.  The shrimps are as big as the lobsters.  There is a tour guide on the cruise to tell you the history of each building or temple in English.  It is a very enjoyable cruise.  There are many things to see and do in Bangkok.  What I just told you are only a few suggestions.

Next you should make a trip to the northern part of Thailand-Chiengmai.  Chiengmai is one of the provinces that has a lot of Thai hand crafted products.  They have many hand crafted teak wood pieces of  furniture.  It is a very detailed hand craft, very delicate and beautiful. Teak wood is a very hard wood and heavy.  This hand crafted teak wood furniture  will last for many generations to come.  By the way the price of the furniture is very reasonable compared to American or European prices.  The most beautiful Thai silk is from Chiengmai also.  You should visit a Thai silk factory when you go there.  They do have men tailor made suits  and women tailor made dresses at the Thai silk factory.  What ever you want to purchase, you need to bargain the price.  Don’t buy the merchandise at the price they tell you on the first quote.  Always bargain and start at half of what they ask for.  For instance, if they start asking for a price of $10, bargain them for $5.  It is the way that Thai people buy and sell.  Wow! I did not realize how long this article was.  Well let me tell you some more next time.

Mana

What would you do if you want to drink a glass of frozen margarita today?  It is a very simple thing to make it nowadays, but it was not when I grew up.  You have a blender to help you making it.  In the past, we had to buy a big rock of ice and then you shaved the ice by hand.  This is one example to show how difficult our life was.  Mama’ got up early in the morning to go to the open market.  Mama’ started fire with wooden sticks and newspaper to burn the charcoal on the stove. She put five cups of rice in the cooking pot.  She measured water with her index finger about one and one half inch above the rice.  She let the rice cook while she cut up the meat and vegetables on the hard and heavy cutting block.  When the water was boiling down to the same level with the rice,  she reduced the heat by taking some red hot charcoals out to another stove for stir fry cooking and also for boiling water.  She boiled water to make a big pot of Chinese tea and for washing clothes.  Mama’ washed our clothes by hand and hanged on the cloth lines.  I picked them up when I came home from my school.  Mama’ gave me three bahts (about 15 cents in American currency) for my daily allowance. This was my lunch and drink.  I walked two miles to my high school everyday.  The choice of public transportation at that times were SAM RAW ( human labor tricycles ), ROD RANG ( electric tram ), bus and taxi.  SAM RAW and ROD RANG had been banned in Bangkok.  SAM RAW had been replaced by TUK TUK ( motor tricycles ), because SAM RAW was too slow.  Bangkok was growing fast and modern.  I will get lost in Bangkok if I travel alone by myself.  Bangkok today has Free way, Sky train, Sub way and Sky Scrapers.  Back to my high school day, I had to wear the school uniform, white short sleeves shirt and blue knee high short.  On my left side of the shirt above my shirt packet is my first name and my high school identification number.  Both of them are hand embroidery stitches and my mama’ did them for me.  I got five white school shirts to wear to school, the same as my two brothers.  Mama’ did them all by hand.  The sewing machine operated by foot pedal,  the pedal spun the wheel, and the wheel got the belt to make the sewing machine moving for stitches.  Life in general consumed a lot of time in making things.  I forgot to tell you when mama’ and I prepared the meal in the kitchen.  Mama’ had to have a wet stone right beside her when she was cutting up the meat.  They didn’t have the knife sharpening, we used the wet stone to sharp the knife with.  Some of the Chinese dishes required ground meat, mama’ cut up meat in small pieces, then she beat them up with pestle and stone.  She beat it until the meat was fine and ground.  I write this post because I  realize how much my mama’ was giving such an unconditional love to her family.  We should be happy and cherish what we have now.  You don’t miss them until they are gone.

I appreciate the comments that I have received. Please share with me about your own life if you have grown up like me. Good-bye for now.

Mana