It is hard to believe that I've been in Bangkok 8 days and I'm getting ready to leave Southeast Asia. Bangkok was a great experience. I'm so glad we decided to visit this amazing city. At first I was very hesitate about coming here so soon after the protests, but we've had opportunities to talk to Bangkokians about the protests and ask about what they think will happen in the future. Some believe that there will be more protests and that the Red Shirts are not done. There is a Mexican restaurant near the hostel we stayed at and we've talked to the owner of the place almost every night. He has shared his own experiences living in the city while the protests were happening and how crazy things were for a few days. Yesterday we took the sky train to the site where the Red Shirts burned down an up-scale shopping mall and took pictures of the remains. It was unbelievable to see up close. You could still see the bullet holes in the glass and smell the smoke from the burned remains.
Last week we visited with Dr. Kennan's friend Nai who works at the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. Nai and her colleagues where just as excited to meet us as we were to meet them. They really wanted to practice their English. Our discussions with them focused on Thailand's adoption process, women's issues and the recent Red Shirt events. One of Nai's colleagues told us that a bill was recently passed that allowed women to keep the prefix "Ms." after marriage and women can now keep their maiden name instead of taking their husband's name. Most of the employees were from Bangkok, but some moved to Bangkok from other parts of Thailand. It was interesting to get their viewpoints of the recent government events since they are originally from different areas of Thailand. We also discussed human trafficking. That is one of Thailand's biggest issue. June is National Anti-Human Trafficking month in Thailand. I was a little surprised that the government acknowledged what a huge issues it is, for some reason I thought it would be an issue that would not receive so much attention.
We've spent a lot of time at the markets and seeing the historical sights of Thailand. I'm getting pretty good at haggling prices. We shopped at the Chatuchak Market on Saturday. This market has over 200,000 visitors and over 15,000 stalls. Anything you can imagine was sold there. Dogs, snakes, chickens, high fashion clothes, not so high fashion clothes, furniture, incense, anything and everything was at this market. It may be odd to go back to the U.S and shop at Target and not be able to haggle the price.
We visited Wat Pho and saw the reclining Buddha. We also visited the King's Palace and saw the Emerald Buddha. The people in Thailand love their King. Their King is the longest ruling monarch in the world. Longer than the Queen of England. I've been amazed of the Thai people's love for him. His picture is everywhere. Plastered on billboards, hanging up in restaurants, just everywhere in the city. It is illegal to step on the money in Thailand (the money is called Baht) because the King's picture is on the Baht. Yesterday some of the girls and I saw a movie and before the movie began the Thailand National anthem played to pay homage to the King. I read in my Southeast Asia travel guide that in order to not be considered a rude foreigner we need to stand with our hands by our side. So, when the National Anthem began we stood with everyone else. I think it is great they play they National Anthem before movies or other public events.
There are so many cultural differences that can offend people. For example, showing the bottom of your feet is very disrespectful. You know how Americans will sit down and prop their feet next to the empty seat beside of them? Well, that is a no no. I started to do that in a restaurant the other day and quickly remembered that the bottom of my feet would be showing. When we visited the Emerald Buddha we had to sit down facing the Buddha and I forgot about the bottom of the feet thing and sat with my feet facing Buddha. An employee came over and reminded me not to face my feet to Buddha. I find these little cultural differences very interesting and respectful. Just how Thais greet each other is more respectful then our "Hello."
That's all for now. I don't want the blog to be too long. See you all soon!
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