One night (and day) in Bangkok

Sawasdee ka everyone!! And greetings from Bangkok, the City of Angels, and the city that apparently never sleeps. The city where cats and dogs rule the streets, tuk-tuk drivers are very convincing, and where, if you stopped to eat at every street vendor, you'd never make it more than 2 blocks in a 24 hour period!! My big question tonight: Is it possible to subsist on sticky rice with coconut milk and mango slices? I hope so!!! My other pressing questions is: Do I have to come home?!

After a flight which is better left undiscussed (seriously, 30 hours on a place, plus lay-overs is just not a section of my life I want to relive! Thankfully, I slept most of the last leg, having spent the first 13 hour leg from Chicago to Tokyo playing "who's arm rest is this?" with an obnoxious French guy from Montreal!), I arrived in Bangkok at midnight last night (Dec 22). Upon exiting immigration (note to self: next time you arrive in a country with free 30 day Visas, check to make sure you're staying for <>

I'm staying (for the next 4 nights) at the Baan Chantra Guesthouse, which is located on Thanon Samsen (between Soi 6 and 8 - another lesson from experience - always carry a card with your hotel address on it in Thai so that cab drivers can find it...). It's a very nice place - AC in the rooms, comfy beds, TV. I wasn't sure i was going to sleep, but I fell asleep immediately (2am), and soundly.

This morning, following a breakfast of red curry and a mystery meat (pork?) and veggies, I decided to walk south towards Khao San Road (like Thamel in Kathmandu - total foreigner/backpacker hangout). Half-way there, I was accosted by a small Thai woman who wanted to know if I needed directions. I guess the dazed look on the face of the foreigner looking at a street map gave it away! Actually, I wasn't lost - I simply wanted to know which street I was on! Anyway, I spent quite a while chatting with this nice woman, which was very helpful as it turns out today was a very special holiday in Thailand - it is election day for the Parliament. That said, turns out it was also an excellent day to be wandering around as tuk-tuks to tourist places was really cheap, and entrance to the wats was free. The downside is that the entire country is DRY - no beer anywhere in Thailand today. I wound up hopping a ride with a tuk-tuk driver who, for 20 baht (about 80 cents) took me around to various wats (as well as the obligatory stop at 2 shops where he would receive commission - one for gems and another for suits). I got to see the standing Buddha at Wat Indrawihan (30 metres high), and made a few offerings there, and then the lucky Buddha. Turns out I probably got scammed in being dragged around town in the tuk-tuk, but you know what? For 20 baht, being jet-lagged and a bit dazed and confused, it offered me a chance to see Bangkok (at a ridiculously insane pace behind a crazed Thai driver!) and relax a bit.

Bangkok: Unorganized chaos. I swear there is nothing organized about this place! It's loud, polluted, frantic, crowded, and somewhat dirty.
But it's GREAT! I really like this city. My white running socks don't like the dirt, but hey, that's what laundry is for!

I had the driver let me out at the amulet market and I spent an enjoyable time browsing through the stalls, looking at the various new and old amulets. How you can tell a true "old" amulet from a fake is beyond me. I did buy two of them: one turtle, which I think is the yant Paya Thao Luean, and a small tiger with yant inscriptions on its back.

Around 11:30am, it was time to head to the Bang Sue metro station to meet up with Dave, an Aussie I met through the Sak Yant website, who was willing to take me to meet sak yant Ajarn Kaew near Wat Noi. I actually met Dave right on the metro - I couldn't miss him! So we grabbed a cab at the metro station and headed towards Ajarn Kaew's office. Once there, Dave introduced me, and told him which sak yant I wanted. We did a wai at the shrine in the building and then went and grabbed a cold drink, at which time Dave explained the protocol to me regarding receiving a sak yant. It's very ritualistic, and one has to always make sure the rules are followed - bowing at the proper time, what to do when the blessing is given, etc. What I wasn't prepared for was the pain!!

A sak yant, for anyone who doesn't know, is an ancient protective tattoo that is done by tapping a needle on a bamboo stick into your skin. The application is done by a monk, and sak yant master's are called "Ajarn". Sak Yant - Sak - meaning "to tap" or, "to tattoo", and Yant, meaning "Yantra". Originally derived from the Sanskrit word "YANTRA", the Ta and Ra letters are not pronunced in Thai Language, rather spelled as "yantr", including a symbol to silence the last consonant (called "Gaaran"). Whatever the case, Sacred Yant, Yantra, or Yan, however you prefer to call them, have existed since long before the Buddhist Era, dating back to pre Hindu times.

There were a number of people wishing to meet Ajarn Kaew, so he did a group blessing, then called me forward to be first. At first, he was going to apply the sak yant in oil (invisible) until Dave spoke up and said no, ink. I was positioned with by back to Ajarn, leaning my arms over a Thai triangular pillow. Ajarn Kaew started to work, marking the areas where the Gao Yord and the Yee Sip Yodt would go. It wasn't painful - just a slight marking up of the skin. Then, his two assistants stretched the skin on my upper back and he really went to work. Tattoos are nothing compared to this folks. This was NOT a pleasant physical experience!! This was actually worse than the ART therapy that I've been going through for the last 3 weeks for my shoulder!! He worked very quickly, tapping away at first on my lower neck along the spine, then working his way outwards towards my shoulders. About 1/3 of the way into it, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to handle it. My hands were clenched around my knees and everytime he shifted the stick and needle, I winced. What was amusing is that he and his assistants were having a great ol' time!! Laughing and joking (most likely about the wimpy farang girl wincing at the pain!) and talking with the others in the room when he wasn't chanting the mantra that goes along with the two sak yant. At last he stopped, and I was able to breathe again. I was supposed to get a Hanuman yant as well (a common Muay Thai protector), but he decided that Hanuman was too much of an angry animist yant for a female, so would not do it in ink. He did a brief outline in oil, and then I was done. He then took a Por Gae Ruseli headmask, placed it on my head and again incited a blessing and mantra to invoke the protection of the yants. Most sak yant Ajarn don't do this, so I was pleased and honored to receive this extra bit of ritual during my first visit. I turned around, wai'd three times to honor him, and got up to go back to my place. I was called back shortly, only to be given an amult of Ajarn Kaew's own making - an amulet of Hanuman. So although Hanuman is too strong and angry for me as a protector on my skin, it's ok for me to carry him (?) around with me.

All in all, it was quite the experience, one I will never forget. I'm not sure I'm ready for another one in the near future though! The pain, although worth it, was definitely something that should not be brushed off!

I took a cab back to the hotel after thanking Dave and dropping him off at the metro station. I had planned on going to Chatuchak Market, close by to Bang Sue, but with what amounts to an open wound fresh on my back, the last place I really needed to be was a huge market with thousands of people! So I came back to the hotel, changed, and decided to walk to Khao San Road. I spent a few hours walking in Banglampu Market, and on Khao San Road. It's crazy - stalls selling everything under the sun everywhere!! Absolutely crazy! I love it! Shopping-spree extrodinaire! I didn't buy much actually - 2 t-shirts, and I got my hair braided (ok, tacky-tourist thing to do, but it's going to be great for training next week - it won't get in the way!!). I was crashing with jet-lag big time around 7pm so decided to stop and get something to eat (duck and crispy basil) and then came back here. As it stands, my poor little brain is started to fail and is in need of a break after a somewhat hectic and full day.

What's on the agenda for tomorrow? I'm actually not sure! I found a place that will rent me a mountain bike for $10 for the day, so I might do that. Although biking in this city scares me slightly, especially since they drive on the opposite side of the road from us! But it would be one way to get around. It could turn out to be a river-ferry day, exploring down there. Or more shopping. Who knows!! I'm not on a schedule and can do what I want!!

Until later! Chok dee. Photos are posted on Facebook, for those of you who are on there.