From fasting to street vendors

June 7th, 2002 at 12:00am

In Bangkok again, Dad left early this morning. It was a good trip for him I think. We finished the fast last Sunday. Monday we ate and it was fantastic – lots of fresh fruits and veggies for the first few days. It’s amazing how good food can taste when you haven’t eaten in a week. The smells and flavors are so much stronger and vibrant. Mmmm. Monday we spent readjusting into the eating world, Tuesday we went into the metropolis town of Chaweng to do some shopping and errands, and on Wednesday we went on an all-day boat trip out to the Ang Thong National Marine Park. That was really good. We went snorkling and then kayaked around some of the islands. Great day.

Thursday (yesterday) we had an early morning flight to Bangkok, and then spent the day shopping and touring the city a bit. Firts I took Dad to Banglumpoo (where I stay in Bangkok, it’s the’Soho’ of town) and showed him Khao San Road, the famous backpacker’strip’. I had him eating from the street vendors for lunch, something I don’t think he’s ever done in all his previous business trips to Bangkok. Then I took him to Pantip Plaza so he could have a look at the overwhelming amount of computer stuff there for himself. (Dad’s a bit of a computer buff so I knew he’d be in heaven). After that we went over to visit Jim Thompson’s House – he’s the famous American silk trader who created a silk empire in Thailand in the 1960′s and then disappeared mysteriously in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia in 1967, never to be seen again. His house is now a museum and is open for tours. It was unbelievable. He found traditional Thai wooden houses in various parts of Thailand and had them taken apart and reassembled in Bangkok, putting them all together to make one big house. Well worth checking out.

We finally had dinner at one of the nice hotels on Sukumvit, much more Dad’s style than the street vendor lunch. And that was it – after dinner Dad took a taxi back to the airport hotel and I took a separate taxi back to the backpacker slums. His flight left at 7am this morning or something unGodly like that. So now I’m here alone, doing my thing, trying to take care of Bangkok errands and figure out where I’m going next. Stay tuned…by tomorrow a decision will have been made.

Dad at Pantip Plaza, Bangkok

Me and Dad at the Jim Thompson house

One of the many Jim Thompson houses

Entry Filed under: Bangkok,Thailand