More on Bangkok

Greetings,

Hayden has already written some about Thailand, but I just have to write about one of my favorite places. It was so amazing to be 'back home', and even though we went to Koh Samui last year and I love it there as well, Bangkok was where I really lived for nearly two years.

The NESA educators' conference was at the Royal Orchid Sheraton, which is located by the Chao Praya River - not at all the area in which I lived. It was a wonderful opportunity to take David and the boys to my two favorite wats, or temples, in Bangkok. We went to Wat Po, with the largest beautiful golden reclining Buddha. I was reminded of the specialness of Thai temples: in the midst of a bustling metropolis, the temple remains quiet and peaceful, a place of contemplation. Next we crossed the river on another river shuttle to Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn. Because it's across the river, it's even more quiet and peaceful, though beautiful with small pieces of tile decorating the stupas and temple structures.

On Sunday the conference ended in the early afternoon, and we took a river shuttle to the skytrain station which then took us to the largest outdoor weekend market that I have ever heard of: Chatuchak. There you can buy leather bags, t-shirts, Thai ceramics, kittens and rabbits and other 'pets', food (of course), all kinds of Thai handicrafts and gifts, CDs and DVDs, clothing ... just about everything. Apparently, no one really knows exactly how many stalls bargain and sell products in the market's mazes, but it's around 10,000. The boys were, I think, amazed and intrigued. Hayden chose a wall hanging for his room,

and Logan chose a colorful elephant. We all stopped and ate pineapple from the various sellers in the market and later had banana smoothies while watching market/street musicians. It was hot but invigorating, particularly for me. I loved being able to speak Thai again, bargaining with people and chatting away. I hope that for the boys seeing me speak Thai and David French they will be inspired to learn another language some day, perhaps continuing with Arabic!

We found some great restaurants where we ate lots of pork, rice, noodles, curries, vegetables, and amazingly sweet fruit - dragonfruit, mango, pineapple, watermelon ... We ate my favorite - sticky rice, grilled pork, and raw papaya salad - at street restaurants on several occasions. We finally were able to find the boys' favorite Thai specialty: mangoes with sticky rice and coconut milk. Thai people have truly mastered the art of food. It's everywhere, it's inexpensive, and it's mouth-wateringly delicious!

We took an afternoon trip by train to Ayuthaya where we wandered around the ruins of an ancient powerful civilization and another day we hired a taxi to take us to the famous floating market at Damuen Saduak. We hired a small boat to take us through the market, marveling at the shops along the canals, the boat traffic jams, and, again, the incredible food options.

We were grateful to have the opportunity to attend an inspiring conference with helpful sessions in one of our favorite cities. Thanks for reading. Jennifer