September 20 to 21—Goodbye, Hot and Humid SE Asia, Hello European Comfort!

Dear Family and Friends,

Thursday, September 20, we took in the final glimpses of Thailand as we made our way to the airport and the airplane back to Europe and the comforts of Germany. Up at 5:30 AM, we caught a cab for 250 baht plus a 20 baht tip (less than the 300 baht it would have cost us to take the bus), arriving at the airport by 7:40 AM. (Of course our last taste of Bangkok cabbies was just a fun as our first—as we negotiated with him, telling him we could pay 250 baht for the cab or just wait for the bus, he said, “OK, 300 baht. OK, 150 baht each. OK, 200 baht each.” We moved on from that cabbie to one who might think us capable of doing simple math!)

Once we had checked into the Lufthansa terminal (and asked to make sure that we did not again have seat that did not recline like on our 11 hour journey to Thailand), Dani napped while Martha went to spend the last of the baht on a croissant that she was able to share, and a soda that she forgot that should could not bring past security to share with Dani. As we sat, eating our croissant, we talked about our weight loss during these three months and the challenges ahead in keeping it off, especially in the meat, potato, and beer-rich land of Germany. Our general plan of attack was the share a main meal and split a salad when dining out … if we could find a salad, that is.

On the 11 hour flight back to Europe, we encountered another episode that caused distress and sleeplessness: “Tall” people behind us who requested that we not recline AT ALL!! Well, we have friends who are taller than six foot five inches, so we know how difficult it can be for tall people when flying, so we respected their wishes, except for a few hours of sleep when Martha reclined because she otherwise would have had no rest whatsoever. Upon arrival, our angst with the couple increased, however, as we saw them from across the room with their luggage … and they were not tall at all! (Well, everyone is tall to us at our five foot three inches, but STILL!)

When we landed, we had some confusion as to how to get to the Dusseldorf town center from the airport, finally figuring out the railway system after some time. Dani had ot head out to find change since the automated machine for tickets said that it did not give change, but then did anyway! We found a map from the information desk (LP does not supply one for Dusseldorf), and the train took us quickly downtown.

We did not have habitation for the night, figuring that with it being a weeknight, there would be little problem. WRONG! Martha left Dani with the luggage while she walked among the quaint downtown lodging options, only to be turned away time and again because of a convention in town. The kind receptionist at the Opera Hotel made some calls for us, however, and we were soon downtown, though paying an arm and a leg for the night at 118 euro! Glad to have somewhere to settle, though, we walked the couple of kilometers beyond the city center to Room #409 of Minotel Antares, exhausted by the time we arrived.

But, HOO DOGGIES! What comfort there is in the ‘civilized world’! The beds were so luxurious, all soft and comfortable. Chocolates on the pillows and duvet covers on the blankets— so warm and comfortable. Luxury! And what was this weather that chilled the skin as we walked down the block for something to eat at a local doner kebab place? Fall? We enjoyed our meat and salad on a pita as locals watched a game of foosball (soccer) on the tellie. Didn’t seem like anyone’s favorite team was playing, but it really doesn’t matter, they get sucked in anyway.

Before bed, we stopped at the Internet café to look into our options to get to Berlin in the morning, opting instead to book the same hotel for the next night so we could see more of Dusseldorf, slow down for a day, and have time to find a decent hotel price in Berlin. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the non-convention price for the hotel was half what we were paying for this night at 59 euro!

Back at the room for a hot, hot shower (they give you soap and shampoo and everything here) before bed at 11:30 PM (that surely felt like 4:30 AM)!

Friday, September 21, Dani was awake at 5:30 AM (her body telling her it was 10:30 AM with the five-hour time shift from Thailand), staring at the ceiling and drafting proposals to big corporations and the UN for solving the world’s energy crisis. Her plan? Let’s use the excess sunlight in Africa to build solar power stations and provide power to all of Europe!! MOO WA HA HA HA!! While waiting for dawn and Martha to eventually awaken, she saw a tree outside with red leaves (omigosh, is it autumn?), typed out notes from the last few days, and filled in her Excel sheet to begin planning for the rest of trip.

Martha had trouble staying asleep while Dani typed because the rest of the room was so quiet. In fact, the whole town was quiet, especially in comparison with Khao San Street in Bangkok. Even with the window open, we could not hear the cars on the streets outside. Early, we were up, showered, and headed down to the hotel’s breakfast buffet among the many suits who were finishing up their conference and about to head home. The breakfast was wonderful, ample, and made us wonder if we would in fact be able to maintain our weight loss: chocolate in the cereal, sausage that wasn’t a hot dog, and as much coffee as we could stomach!

With our free day in ‘D-Town,’ we walked down towards the Rheine River and up into the Old Town (Altstadt) section to explore the old buildings and see the statues and people jaunting about. We stopped at a church and walked through the “Carl Market” to see the open-air wares being sold, taken again with the differences between the markets here versus those in Asia—especially the simple things like refrigeration, gloves, and wares off of the ground. After a couple of hours wandering about in the chilly air, taking in the people and the small town atmosphere, we sat to warm up with one of the local Alt-style beers. We also stopped in at the tourist information office to learn what we could about the train options to Berlin. No go, as the tourist information office had only details about adventures in Dusseldorf, but recommended that we go underground to the train information station to see what they knew.

So we did, but went through the wrong entrance and never did find the train information stop at that time. Jet lag was setting in, so we headed back to the hotel for an afternoon nap in our cushiony beds. The Internet that was supposed to be available at the hotel was ‘still not working’ so Dani took a bath while Martha clicked away on blog stories and watched CNN, hearing the distressing news that the dollar had fallen to an all-time low against the euro and that the political situation in Myanmar was heating up considerably.

Rested, we returned to the Internet café across the street to reserve a hotel for our next-day arrival in Berlin, but did not purchase train tickets quite yet, hoping that the price might be better if purchased in person instead of online and unsure of exactly when we would get going to catch the train in the morning. We walked back through Altstadt to a restaurant recommended in the guidebook, called Llerige, that served tapas and its own local brew. We found it packed with locals on the inside and even spilling into the square across the street, where additional tables and kegs had been set up. At ‘just’ 3 to 4.50 euro per plate (which still felt like a whole lot to pay after our one-dollar meals in Asia!), we figured the portions would be small for these appetizers, but boy were we wrong! The German tapas-style dinner was huge! We managed to gulp down all of the large blood-sausage, bacon on bread with butter, potato salad, pickle, boiled eggs served with mustard and vinegar, and chopped pork salad. Hmm, meat and potatoes for dinner. Maybe we’ll get vegetables tomorrow? Overstuffed, we enjoyed a long, slow evening stroll back through the town to our hotel.

In love and light,

Martha and Dani

September 17 to 19—Last Days in Bangkok

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday, September 17, we worked on finishing up our list of ‘want to dos’ in Bangkok. We were up and out by about 11:00 AM and downstairs to enjoy a vegetable (read: tomato and onion) and cheese grilled sandwich and yogurt for Martha, and a peanut butter grilled sandwich and yogurt for Dani. Today, we head first to Wat Arun—the Temple of Dawn—a grand structure across the Chao Praya River from the main part of the city. We crossed through Wat Samphraya when a gentleman encouraged us to walk through to find a faster path to the expressway stop we desired. The shortcut turned out to be a bust since the far gate was closed, but we enjoyed the detour, welcoming the few extra steps.

Eventually, we arrived at the Phra Sumen Fort and its surrounding park , farbelow the Rama XIII Bridge. We took the Chao Praya Express for 13 baht each down from station Tha Banglampu to Tha Tien, and then across the river to Wat Arun for another 3 baht each on the across-river ferry at Tha Tien.

Wat Arun is an interesting mix of the heighted grandeur of Angkor (including a Khmer-style spire) and the adornments found at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, with mosaic flowers made from porcelain tiles brought over from China. Some of the guardians holding up the structure had yellow eyes, others had green eyes, and all had faces showing the burden of centuries of holding up the towers. We paid 50 baht each to enter the grounds and climbed all the way up as high as we were allowed to go on the central stupa. From that height, we could see much of the city, including the Golden Mount that had given us our last great cityscape view. Climbing the steep stairs was a challenge, but at least here (as opposed to parts of Angkor) the railings are sturdy and well secured!

Next plan, to head to the Thieves Market to check out the offerings there. We walked all over the area shown on the map where we should have found the marketplace. Martha’s stomach was still not feeling up to snuff and her energies were pretty low, so we stopped to get her one of those energy drinks (Carabao!) and some cool Thai tea. Finally, as we sat pouring over the map for quite some time, our aimed-but-aimless wandering ended as we got some help from two kind young women who asked if they could help. One of them ran into the bank to try to help determine just where to send us! They pointed us in the right direction, and we found what turned out to be a very small, disappointing group of stands with little of interest except some pairs of sunglasses (Martha’s shades from the beginning of the trip have finally succumbed to scratches that cloud her vision), but even they were ‘too stylish’ (read: too big on the face) to suit her taste.

From the Thieves Market area, we walked North back towards the guest house. By the time we made it up to the Giant Swing, it was raining pretty hard, and we were without an umbrella today. So we hit an Internet café for a while to see how things were going with Cindy’s plans and to check in with the family. It was cheap, about 20 baht for the hour we were there, and we were tempted to stay longer, but the rain had let up a bit so we headed back out to find dinner. We ended up at a great little restaurant called Jamaika … open air, nice clean seating, menu items and prices displayed on the walls as well as on the menu. We ordered the papaya salad (much more edible than in Luang Prabang) to share, as well as tofu pad thai and a green salad that turned out to be a nice cold-slaw type dish with the dressing on the side. The presentation of the meal was what really hit us, however. The plates were beautiful, the tomato around the salad was made into a cute little heart shape, and the attention to detail was generally appreciated. Plus, the food tasted great! Wet and tired from walking all day, we headed back to bed to continue the ‘last of Bangkok’ list in the morning.

Tuesday, September 18, Dani headed downstairs at the guest house to ask for help in making a call to Wat Mahatat. One item still on our list was attending a class on Buddhist meditation that was supposed to happen daily in English at the wat. Dani was glad that she asked for help because it took the lady at the desk three times to get the phone to work right and complete the call—and then she was asked to call back after 1:00 PM because the monks were busy eating!

We enjoyed the morning, not leaving the hotel until about 1:00 PM. We walked through familiar neighborhoods from our guest house down to Wat Mahatat, peeking in the shop windows and working our way through the obstacle courses of street vendors. We went directly at Wat Mahatat to the room where we had attended the Buddhist learning class with Cindy many Saturdays prior, asking the monks there about the meditation class. Before we could consider not having eaten anything all day, we found ourselves in the back room where the meditation class was beginning. We joined a couple from the Netherlands who were in town just for the day and received a booklet and instruction from a 60-something-year-old monk who spoke good English. He explained first the basic principle of Buddhist meditation: clearing of the mind so that one can remain present and recognize every motion, every distraction, every emotion. Not an easy task, and one that people strive to achieve their entire lives. For the afternoon, however, we would be putting our mind and body to the challenge of getting to know one another better.

Downstairs in an open area away from the nuns practicing meditative walking above, the four of us listened as this kind monk explained the basics of both sitting and walking meditation. For walking meditation, he began with slow, repetitive speech to show us how the mind should cover each step of the body’s actions: First with the right foot, recognition of actions go in rounds of threes, first with moving the feet, “Rising, moving, falling. Rising, moving, falling. Rising moving, falling.” Across the room. Then, stop, “Standing, standing, standing.” Again in the process of three movements: “Turning, turning, turning.” Once again, across the room, “Rising, moving, falling. Rising moving, falling. Rising moving falling.” Step after thoughful step. After creating paths back and forth across the room, it was time to settle down for sitting meditation, at which time we went through the process of Standing, Moving, Sitting, Moving the Arms, and Breathing, “Inhaling, Exhaling. Inhaling, Exhaling.” If the mind becomes distracted, notice what is happening with simple naming of the moment, “Barking, barking, barking. Worry, worry, worry. Pain, pain, pain.” An act of naming, acknowledging, and then letting go and returning to the focus on breathing in and out. We sat in silence for about a half an hour, then continued practicing our walking meditation, sat again, and then headed out into the day with a renewed sense of calm.

Wat Traimit was next on our list, and we walked right past the first tuk-tuk driver who wanted to charge us 100 baht for the ride just across town. The next tuk-tuk driver was very nice, charging us a much more reasonable 50 baht. As we walked the grounds of Wat Traimit, which houses a giant gold-gilded Buddha that was discovered under a plaster covering to the surprise of the monks transporting it! We were saddened to find that the main temple was closed. As we headed out to our next stop in dismay, however, a kind tuk-tuk driver hoping to stir up some business after we were done told us where the entrance to the Buddha’s house was located, and we entered with just enough time to enjoy the giant, seated image before the doors closed for the day! We thanked the tuk-tuk driver and lamented not being able to give him some business, but headed instead a bit North to the metro (we had not yet ridden the metro, and like to take every form of public transport available in the city just for the fun of it!) over to Lumpini Park area. We had wanted to see what the Huay Thai boxing experience was like, since neither of us have ever been to a boxing match and the prices listed in our guide book made it sound like a deal for the experience. However, when we arrived we found that the price for decent seats was more than double what we expected (1,600 baht [50 USD] for ringside, 1,000 baht [30 USD] for nosebleeds among the betting locals)! Too rich for our blood, and not so keen on seeing others’ blood spilled when we could enjoy a nice meal and a walk instead, we headed out in search of the last item on the list: the Erawan Shrine, where locals who have good fortune occasionally will throw an impromptu fiesta in thanksgiving. We never did find the elusive Erawan Shrine, but found two others instead, taking pictures and enjoying the city as we went.

We walked back to Little Arabia to enjoy the food (sharing kibbei, parsley salad, yellow lentils with garlic naan) and the vibrant atmosphere. It was much less busy than during our time with Sheila; the city prices were down, the streets less crowded with tourists, and the vibe much more ‘localized’ than in July. Our first attempt to get a taxi wanted to charge us 250 baht to go to Khao San, saying he would not get fare back. We got out of the taxi when he would not put on the meter for us. Our next attempt was more fruitful, and it cost us about 80 baht to get across town (actually, 63 baht plus ‘generous’ tip). We especially thanked the gentleman for his honesty. While Martha enjoyed time on the Internet checking in with folks, and sadly learning that Cindy would not make it to dinner the following night since her school workload (it was her first week back at teaching, after all!) would keep her close to home. Sad, but certainly understandable!! We let her know that we had something to leave for her, and she recommended that her friend, Gee, who owned the River Guest Houses, would be the one to contact. So, we said that it would be waiting for her with her friend! In the meantime, Dani went down the street on Khao San for a 600 baht wax job, meeting up with Martha soon thereafter to head back to sleep for the night.

Wednesday, September 19, marked our last full day in Bangkok and the end of our time exploring the mainland countries of SE Asia. We had planned to change rooms for the day to stay at a B&B around the corner that had WiFi. Why not spend our last day blogging and getting a good rest before our long flight? Alas, our lack of planning put a dent in our semi-plans when we found the B&B booked for the night! The kind ladies at reception did let us once again buy some tea and coffee and spend some time using their WiFi access, however, and we soon found a place called ‘At Home Guest House’ near Khao San at a decent price that touted WiFi, as well. Martha went off to call and make sure that they had room, and to drop off the package for Cindy Stew with friend Gee. YAY! They had a room for us! We packed up our packs and walked the kilometer or so to the new location, getting settled on the fourth floor of the 500 baht-for-the-night place before lunch.

On our journey to find lunch, we encountered a student protest near the Victory Monument. While taking photos and gawking as the impending marchers gathered, two young female students approached us, asking—in wonderfully spoken English—whether we would like to make a donation by buying one of their pins. Martha decided that the purchase for 20 baht would be worth an understanding of what was going on, and asked first why the students were gathering. The next day’s paper showed her explanation to ring true: The students were from the university and were fighting against privatization of the school system The measure would substantially increase the cost of education for the people. We noticed that one of the pins, with Thai writing, showed the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad, which went along with her verbal commentary about the Imperialist Quality of the Privatization. We did not buy that one since it was seemingly against America.

We did follow the students as they semi-blocked traffic, walking down the street in black headbands and red armbands, chanting their distaste with the potential change in their education system. Photographers from local papers ran after them, snapping photos of their banners and the front line of the march. We continued along with them around the corner, eventually turning off a main road as the march stalled to head back to our room to get some work done.

Along the way, we stopped at a hole in wall for lunch of a fish-ball salad for Martha and fish-ball soup for Dani. It was a rainy walk back to the hotel, where Martha blogged for several hours in front of the television showing the Transformers movie. Meanwhile, Dani tanned on the roof and enjoyed taking photos of a kitty while speaking with the Nepali-born neighbor of the guest house (he ran the clothes shop next door and watched the television between clients). In the evening, we put a final call in to Cindy Stew to say Goodbye and see how her first week of school was treating her. We’ll miss that wonderful lady, and certainly appreciate all of her kindness and the chance to pass this family friend down to another generation! Until next time, Cindy!!

Our last Bangkok dinner was at Hemlock, a restaurant recommended by LP for good reason. The food—chicken miang kham for both of us, one last curry for Martha, and bok choy with fish and garlic for Dani—was delightful, enjoyed among an eclectic mix of wall art and clientele. Back on Khao San for our final night in town, we used the last of our baht (except our fare to the airport, of course) on a bucket of whiskey, coke, and red bull on the street with other travelers. Our main conversation was held with a Scott and two German chefs, a threesome that had met on the road doing a similar loop from Thailand up through Laos, to VietNam, Cambodia, and back to Thailand. At the end of their journey, the Germans (who were from Munich and recommended a particular tent for us at Oktoberfest) were headed off to cook in Malaysia. The Scott, who had a wicked sense of humor and kept us laughing for hours, was headed back home. We were having a riotous laughing time of it when we were joined by a mouth-slurring older man from Finland who was not neither pleasant nor demure, spouting off unpleasantries and foul comments about one or the other of the women in the group. We were all thankful when he headed along his way, and we could return to the jovial discussions at hand.

Thank goodness THOSE guys have been few and far between!

In love and light,

Martha and Dani