On the trip to Lop Buri--Saturday July 11

Well, I have many updates to make!

On the trip to Lop Buri
Aunt O surprised me Friday night with an invitation to Lop Buri, a historic city South of Bangkratum, 150 km North of Bangkok. Frankly, I was ready to do some more tourism and have been hearing about Stacy and Crystal (the other two volunteers in Thailand in a more city-ish area) jet-setting off to Bangkok, Chang Mai, and the like!

So at 5 am on Saturday, Aunt O, Punch (my cousin), Punch’s daughter Pin (an adorable two year old), and Punch’s mom Pee, and I squeezed into our Toyota truck prepped for a 5 hour trip. After only 2 hours, we stopped for breakfast at one of the many roadside vendors. In Thailand, no matter where you are, food is only seconds away. We sat at the outdoor picnic tables right around sunrise and noshed on hot noodle soup. I stopped eating meat a little while ago mostly for health reasons and have so much trouble communicating that “no meat” includes pork. I thought I had been clear when telling O what I wanted i.e. “no meat” but then they brought out two bowls- 1 with a dark pork broth and greens and the other was a watermelon pink soup with white and brown masses of tough something. I went for the pink one, but when I bit into one of the masses I realized it was parts of pig digestive organs. OMG. I swallowed, ate the noodles and tried not to think that indeed, what was traveling through my digestive system was indeed a digestive system. Interesting. Anyway, we got back in the car (zzzzz) and stopped a little later for some iced coffee and crocodile shaped pastry with an egg custard filling. VERY delicious. Before I knew what was happening I was sawatdee-ka –ing 7 of my cousin’s cousins and more extended family. We sat around with fans blasting and talked (well, they talked and I smiled and nodded).

Side note on sitting:
No matter how old you are, you sit on the floor for some portion of the day in Thailand. My butt is flattening. The first time I sat on wood for a few hours I had bruised hips from shifting out of discomfort. I am never completely comfortable because I also am constantly afraid of offending anyone by pointing my feet subconsciously. In Buddhist culture, your feet never should point at Buddha or anyone. One has to be careful walking around or when sitting “like a lady” with one leg crossed. Sitting “Indian-style” is the safest, but my awful circulation contributes to asleep legs and hilarious stumbling around afterwards.

We drove to what I’ll call “The Monkey Temple”. MONKEYS WERE EVERYWHERE. There were hundreds running around this traffic-roundabout-enclosed temple. O insisted I leave my purse in the car. I insisted she hold my passport in her pocket (I didn’t have any!) because I try to always travel with it. There are signs everywhere warning that monkeys snatch bags and not to interact with them, so yet people were feeding them, touching them, etc! I saw little baby monkeys nursing and watched them haggle over bananas; it was certainly a unique experience.

Then it was off to Lop Buri Zoo! Or lunch. I was not hungry, but after getting the “you must eat” eye from O, I ordered vegetables in broth. The host cousins’cousins’ grandparents were disdainful and I could hear them chattering in Thai “nit-noy”, “America” and “gin aahan”. Nit-noy means little and gin aahan means eat lunch.

Anyway, we soon arrived at the zoo!




Cousin Punch's daughter Pin and I outside the zoo :)


I have mixed feelings about zoos because I read lots of animal rights propaganda when I was young yet I still love viewing beautiful things (ahh the materialism strikes again). I saw exotic animals such as “Domestic Goat" and “Spotted Deer”(but the "Spotted Deer" sign mislabeled what were definitely sheep). I really liked the sea otters because they reminded me of my good friend at Georgetown; the otters are his favorite exhibit at the National Zoo! Later I got to hold a snake Britney Spears style around my shoulders. My host fam freaked that I wasn’t afraid but to be honest, it was my second time (my 4 yr old cousin at home had a reptile party)! Then we watched a terrible exploitation of orangutans in a ring show where they wore clothing and were ridiculed with the boxers being shoved down to their knees as they struggled to pull them back up. The ring leader (human) noticed me, pointed and yelled into his microphone-“Farang! (foreigner)” and suddenly 200 pairs of eyes met mine. I just kind of smiled and waved. AWK. After that he insisted I meet the star orangutan and “he” held my hand with his slightly scratchy and very hairy one. I felt bad for the little guy wearing a red tee-shirt and being forced to ride a tricycle. Afterward we rented pedal-boats and went for a leisurely ride. It was great, despite the heat and my constant holding of my dress so that I didn’t flash all of Thailand while pedaling.

Next we tried to go to Lop Buri’s Old City of ruins but it was closing. The kind man let us have a quick look and we resolved to return in the morning.

We returned home and feasted on the crazy-hot Som Tom papaya salad that I love and I was again pestered for not eating enough rice. When the cousins’cousins heard I planned to run in the morning, they pretty much freaked out that I wasn’t eating more. BUT WE EAT every 5 minutes, or sip on really filling sugary-fatty drinks. Argg.

THEN I MADE A MISTAKE. I was asked “Do you want to take a shower?” I replied in Thai, saying oh no, that’s okay I will in the morning after my run and then the whispers started. “Kow” (rice) “America” “hung nam” (shower). I eventually said oh okay, I will, but the damage had been done. Americans are dirty and don’t eat enough rice. Oops.