I'm smiling =)

So, having the feeling that my luck in India was running thin, I've taken a little trip to Thailand. I only planned to stay here a little more than a week, but I'm so taken with the country that I've pushed my return ticket back till July 31st-- the farthest date possible with my ticket.
I'm going to skip the harrowing story about getting out of India -- ask me sometime -- and just keep this blog to Thailand. Needless to say, India had one more stretch of madness for me before I could leave (road crews, dynamite, landslides OH MY!). Let's keep to the present; we're in Thailand now.
Part of why I decided to come to Thailand was because my friend Elle, from the yoga teacher training in Mysore, lives in Bangkok. She volunteered to be my tour guide, so for the last week I've had her and her Japanese boyfriend Kei to take me all over Bangkok. They've been exceptional hosts; I have to fight to pay for anything, they gave me my own room, have high speed internet, and are good company wherever we go.
Let me assure you I knew nothing about Thailand before coming here. I bought a Lonely Planet the day before my flight, and, like I said, only planned on staying about a week. I just wanted to get out of India, relax, and renew my tourist visa. Niavity!! This is a wonderful country, and Bangkok is a wonderful city. It's clean, cars drive in lanes, people put litter in waste baskets, unobnoxious beggars, shorts, air conditioning, and amazing food. I had grown so used to the chaos of India and didn't expect to find anything different here, but Thailand is different.
I have adopted a relaxed pace around here and don't do too much site-seeing each day. There are more interesting things to do than go to the tourist spots, like just hanging out with Elle's friends. I have done a few tourist activities too though, like visiting Jim Thompson's house, The Tiger Temple, Khao San Road, Chatuchak Market, and Lumphini Park. Otherwise I've spent my time going to yoga class in the mornings and then taking the sky train here or there, to that mall or this mall. I'll let the photos below tell the story. So far, no, I haven't done what Bangkok is known for, and if you don't know what "that" is, then I won't mention it.
Soon I will head out to Krabi Province south of here to try to do some rock climbing on the famously juggalicious coastal limestone formations, or do some scuba diving at the world famous reefs, or just hang out in a room reading when it's monsooning too much to play outside.
Life is good, perhaps too good, because I feel a little guilty having it so nice. Do I deserve this? Really, it's probably better for me not to ask that question (or to consider my credit card tab). Better just to acknowledge my good fortune and be grateful, which I certainly am.
Oh yeah, and with reluctance I put myself on FaceBook. Actually, it wasn't a bad move. If you're on it, look for me there. And while FaceBook is certainly more user friendly, and more addictive, I am going to try to keep this blog the priority because it's less kitsch more informative. And on that note, on to the pictures:



My hosts Elle and Kei outside one of the many malls in Bangkok. We were checking out a free photography exibit called Earth from Above. They were some breathtaking images from around the globe, all arial shots. Unfortunately I don't have a hot air balloon in my back pocket.
Those of you that know her might notice that Elle is pregnant, but you'll have to get the story from her.


To confuse matters, this is Little Elle, Elle's best friend Elle... yup. Anyways, one night we all went to Khao San Road for dinner. There are many cool T-shirts (and plenty else) for sale at bargain prices, so I snagged a couple I liked. Elle here is buying some sliced fruit with the famous backpacker street's bright lights glowing behind her.


This may not look like much to you, just an average city scene, but to me it's glorious. Clean and orderly, this city is NOTHING like India's debacles. Also to note is the Sky Train gliding through on its way from some of the many massive malls. Maybe you know I am a huge fan of city mass transit systems-- the New York Subway, San Fran's BART, Portland's MAX-- and the Sky Train ranks up there for ease and convinience.


Meet Kai Chiow (translation: "Omelet"), Elle and Kei's young Shar-Pei mix. He is not friendly with me, but I'm making progress: he hasn't tried to bite me in four days. And that's Elle's boyfriend Kei ("Kay") holding him.


Orchids are the national flower of Thailand, and they're growing everywhere around Bangkok, but I still can't get used to seeing them. To me there still rare, exotic, expensive flowers and there's nothing common place about them, so again and again Elle smiles patiently while I say "Wow! Orchids!" Here's masses of them bundled up and for sale for 20 baht, or about 75 cents, in all their orchidly glory.


And lotus blossoms are for sale at a similar price; these are traditional gifts for Thailand's many buddhist monks.


You can buy almost anything at the Chatuchak market; it's huge! There's a huge art section with amazing paintings for sale-- cheap. The pictures of the previous flowers were taken here also, and there were many more, rarer, varieties of orchids on sale. Elle had been telling me about the pet section, so we went to have a look at some puppies.


Maybe soon Kai Chiow will have a friend...


I shaved my beard. It was time-- new country, new look.


Another stop on the tourist circuit is Jim Thompson's House. Jim Thompson is the original ex-patriot American in Thailand who set up a major silk trading house and revived the silk industry here. He brought together six traditional Thai houses and filled it with ancient art-- he was partial to Buddha statues and there's one here from the 7th century. The gardens are nice too, and that's all I could shoot because photos were not allowed inside. Bummer.


The three of us made a day trip out to Kanchanaburi on the way to the Tiger Temple. Hanging out by the somewhat famous, heavily touristed, and dramatically named Death Railway Bridge I was struck by how big the motors in these boats are. With a big block V-8 in a canoe, they're ready to zip tourists off to... some other tourist place I don't know where.


The elephant's trunk is an unpredictable thing.


So here's the deal with the Death Railway: the train comes roaring so fast over this bridge and tourists are so awe struck, trying to take pictures, that they are squashed by the speeding locomotive. No, just kidding. The train actually moves very slow over the bridge so the woman here is in no danger. The railway gets it's name because in WWII the Japanese occupied Thailand and used forced labor to make the Thai people construct it. Many died.


I'm like a little kid around trains, so the camera went click click click.


Now that I have your attention, welcome to the Tiger Temple. Lonely Planet calls it "a petting zoo for big boys", well, that doesn't quite sum it up.



Elle and Kei posing with an adolescent tiger. Yes they're quite safe, these tigers were raised by monks and are haven't eaten manflesh yet.


Check out this kitten, the size of the biggest full grown house cat. The tigers at the Tiger Temple are orphaned, their parents poached, or bred in captivity. So this little guy will be raised by the monks and other volunteers and temple staff to be docile, socialized creatures... with razor sharp claws and fangs.


But alongside the altruistic intentions of the Tiger Temple, it seems like someone got greedy. Currently the sizable amount of tourist money isn't going into wildlife funds, habitat preservation, education initiatives, or anti-poaching legislation; instead the thousands of baht are being used to build elaborate false waterfalls, performance arenas, and other highly artificial, spectator friendly enclosures to ensure the Tiger Temple continues to climb higher on Thailand's "must see" list.




Despite my mixed feelings, I was really happy to get so personal with tigers. Although you could get really close to the tigers, these shots were made with my sweet new 400mm telephoto (available on the cheep in Bangkok).


Tickling a tiger.


Maybe the biggest tiger, the purple on his back leg is antibiotic. If he looks drugged to you, remember that tigers are nocturnal prefer to sleep all day. That helps to explain their calm, not to mention growing up with Buddhist monks-- some of the calmest people on earth.


And here I am hugging a tiger. Good kitty, I wuv you. Despite being tame, the tigers still have quite a presence. Touching them you can feel the tigers' power, their amazing strength, their feline prowess. This is an endangered species folks; their habitat is quickly deminishing; and people, us, are responsible. But let me end with optimism: our actions in this life are not ineffectual. Little steps do make a difference. Positive change, no matter how small, is positive change.
And if you don't try, I'm going to sick this tiger on you.

Much love everybody. Till next time,
Ethan