Thoroughly Modern Yogi OR 2 Days in Bangkok

This moment is what is  called “worlds colliding”. I am happily sitting on the deck of the Ratcha Ferry bound for Koh Phangan and my silent retreat at Wat Kow Tham. Typing what will become a blog entry on a tiny laptop as the calm, green blue waters slide by. The modern era technology of laptop and blog; the 2500 year old tradition of silent mediation retreat on the other end of this ferry ride.

I’m fairly certain today is Saturday and have been en route essentially since leaving SF at midnight on Monday; feels like I’ve traveled a long distance and I’m not quite “there” yet.

In one way being here is a culture shock, but really not that much. I’ve been soliciting information and opinion about traveling/practicing  over the past months.  A woman I met who has gone forth for a 3^rd time, and has spent time traveling and practicing alone in Asia, told me that Thailand was a good entry point. She said that it was accessible, that it would be different from the US of course but not so completely foreign as to be a hard place to start (like India would be).

Having navigated myself through Bangkok for 2 days and then 400+ miles to the south by train and ferry, my initial impression is that she was right. It is different of course but it is also the same… People take taxis and buy train tickets and stay at hotels. All the traveler logistics function the same way. And the train, the bus to the ferry and the ferry all followed their schedules on time.

I will say that (since it’s early in my travels) every time I actually get to where I am attempting to go it feels like an accomplishment. Whether a tuk tuk ride to the train station or a bus to a ferry; successfully getting myself where I want to go is quite a satisfying feeling. Particularly since almost every time I am communicating my intentioned destination in Thai.

My first 2 days in Bangkok were interesting and fun.  I felt surprisingly awake after the 20 hours of travel and have not experienced any significant jet lag. Thanks Denise for telling me about adjusting my liver and eating schedule in advance!

The first day I arrived at the guest house about 2:00 and just wandered around the neighborhood where the guest house was located. Taking in the sights, stopped by a Wat (as I mentioned in my earlier post) and figured out how to feed this vegetarian self.

Bangkok “food vendors” are all over the streets. Carts with open flames, big pots boiling, piles of meat in bags (no refrigeration), items that I can’t begin to identify all on display. Fresh juice in little plastic bottles, little tiny bananas roasting on open flames in their skins and the occasional selection of fruit.

I saw a man carrying 2 large round flat woven baskets on either side of his back via a long pole over his shoulders. On the flat baskets were eggs in their shell. As I got closer I noticed that there were coals underneath the baskets cooking the eggs as he was walking down the street. Ok, that is different from what I’m used to seeing.

I was really hungry and needed to eat by the time 4:30 arrived. Since I am 100% committed to not eating any animals,  (including no fish sauce) and not being able to identify a good portion of the food that was available on the street, my first Thai meal was  a little challenging. 

I saw a “restaurant” that had a sign in English “vegetarian” (which I did not yet know how to say in Thai). There were about 6 pots of food, completely unidentifiable to me, some fried items (again, who knew what they were) and a tray of what looked like peppers stuffed with kong (Thai for “something”).  I asked the woman behind the counter “khun po passa anglik die mei ka” (do you speak English). Mei ka (nope) was her relpy. 

I pointed at the stuffed things and said “vegetarian” and she nodded assent. But having just landed and being a tad spacey I just wasn’t ready to take a chance that there’d still be fish sauce in it so I kept walking.

A few minutes later I found a cart that had lots of meat but also lots of veggies and a woman had a big pan to stir fry things. I pointed to each meat and each fish and said “mei” then pointed to each veggie and said “ka” (yes). For 55 bhat (about 2 dollars) I sat outside in this little alley by a canal and had my first, excellent 100% vegetarian Thai meal.

Right after that I walked to Wat Suthat where I had a sweet encounter with some Thai school girls. As I said in the other post, the Wat was quiet and pretty empty. As I wandered the courtyard 2 girls who were about 12 years old, in white and blue school uniforms reminiscent of the US navy, said shyly in English “Excuse me, can we talk to you?”

I smiled and stopped, said I’d be happy to talk to them. The bolder of the two explained that they had a school project where they were supposed to speak to a foreigner, could they please explain something in English to me? 

Going back and forth twittering between themselves in Thai and speaking in English to me,  the bolder girl told me about an attraction in the city that was clearly a speech they were supposed to learn how to say. Then she asked how well she spoke, did she do ok? Actually her English was excellent and I told her so. 

Kong stuffed peppers still fresh in memory, I said “Hey! Maybe you can teach me something!” 

I told them about being Buddhist and vegetarian and needing to learn what to say. They taught me to say “Mong sa we lot” my new favorite Thai phrase. I wrote it down in English so I’d remember and then she wrote it down for me in Thai. I’ve been successfully saying it all over the place to the often surprised looking people preparing my meals.

As it turns out, after a long and enjoyable 2^nd day in Bangkok I found myself back at the vegetarian restaurant where after verifying that really, it was a vegetarian restaurant, I had some excellent yellow curry for about $2.