Green Fried Grasshoppers
Nepal and Thailand
October 17
I walked up to the temple, Swayambhunath, in the western part of Katmandu. This is the holiest place on earth for Newari Buddhists and relates to their theory of creation. On the way up I met a kid who asked me where I was from. I told him the US and then he said he knew every country’s capital. I tested him out and I couldn’t stump him. Afterwards, he asked me to buy him milk for his family, which I did.
Up to the temple. The walk up was long and I had to stop a couple times. There is a stairwell as well as beautiful statues on the way up and benches to relax. The stupa at the top was similar to the one in Boudha. There was a good view of the Katmandu Valley from here, which was still hazy due to a late rainy season.
October 18
One last breakfast in the tourist section, Thamel, of Katmandu. I watched people from the rooftop of the restaurant. Businesses leave their welcome mats out on the road and cars drive over them. I guess this is less work than beating the dirt out and cheaper than a dry cleaning. I also had one last walk around and bought a couple more souvenirs, a wooden Hindu sculpture and some woolen hats.
I enjoyed the mixture of Buddhist and Hindu and Indian and Chinese here in Nepal. It is a poor country, which was made more evident on trips to the country. I also remember a lot of people with a little of phlegm, as I could not walk down the street without someone spitting out phlegm. I don’t think medical facilities are too advanced but getting out into the fresh country, instead of the pollution of Katmandu, would help the lungs.
I took a tuk tuk to the airport and waited for the flight to Bangkok. I arrived at night but it was still hot. Bangkok seemed like the wealthiest city in the world in comparison to where I have been the last month. There were skyscrapers and many modern buildings that I noticed on the bus to Khao San Road, which is where all the backpackers hang out. I stopped at a place, a small Thai wooden house, and stayed there. It has no windows so it is very dark and much quieter than Khao San Road. Nothing gets aired out and my towel doesn’t dry because there is no ventilation. I do have a table fan but that doesn’t do much. There are further rules such as no smoking and I need to take my shoes off on the ground floor.
October 19
I had to take care of a few things here in Bangkok. The first order of business was getting a good travel agent for my trip to the island of Ko Samet, my trek in Chiang Mai, and for my Cambodian visa.
I mailed some of my souvenirs home and then was ready for some sightseeing. The Victory Monument was the first sight I saw followed by the Giant Swing. There are several small wats here which is the equivalent of a Christian church. Most are very colorful on the outside including colors of green, red and yellow. I proceeded to the Marble Temple and the Royal Palace and back down to Khao San Road. The map I have is in Thai and English and it is relatively easy to get around.
I had some food and it was extremely hot. It was fish, garlic and onion but the green and white sticks were extremely hot. I also tried some fried grasshoppers and fried spiders. They are deep-fried and they sprinkle some spices on it so other than getting legs stuck between my teeth it was no real problem. I’m going to stick mostly with the pad thai and egg roll stands, which is their equivalent of McDonald’s.
October 20
One of many beautiful wats in Bangkok I went to Ko Samet, an island about three hours from Bangkok. I started on a crowded mini-van, followed by a ferry. The ferry took us to the second island and I stayed with a group I met on the trip. There is only a dirt road so we jumped on the back of a truck and found some bamboo bungalows to stay at. This was my version of luxury because I had my own little house, with a private bathroom, a thick mattress and electricity at night.
I went to the beach and got some sun before the daily rainstorm. I also ate some pineapple and drank coconut water, which some women were selling on the beach. A lot of the women were doing foot massages but I passed, after the last few months I didn’t think that would be fair to them. I met the group from the ferry and we had some drinks along with food. They had a really good selection of food including noodles, seafood and squid.
October 21
I tried walking around about the whole island of Ko Samet, but didn’t quite make it. I made it about half way down the east side but it was difficult because the path breaks down and it is just rocks. The south side of the island has slightly better accommodations than where I am now.
At night, I met with the group again for some very cheap rum and cokes. We sat on the beach and talked about our life and travels. One of the Kiwis said he was embarrassed because he was taking off for six months too, but now wanted to go home after one month. I told him he should go home, it’s not for everyone and he shouldn’t feel obligated to stay. There was also fireworks again tonight, I don’t know why they have so many, maybe it’s a holiday.
October 22
The streets of Bangkok are more hectic than the simple dirt streets of Ko Samet. I came back to the Bangkok train station and stored my backpack as I am taking a night train up north to Chiang Mai. I then went to the Snake Farm. There are some huge poisonous snakes here and most of their pens were held shut by just a small latch. Anyone could open these and the snakes could slither out. They also had a museum here which included the snakeskin, some of which were as high as the ceiling.
A water fountain in Swayambhunath, a temple in Katmandu” src=”http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/images/tha/05/march25_grass2.jpg” width=”133″ height=”220″ border=”2″/>A water fountain in Swayambhunath, a temple in Katmandu I also took the modern train to Soi Cowboy and Patpong and checked out these notorious parts of the city. I got a normal massage as opposed to the “interactive massage.” The woman doing the massage was really tossing me around though. I was tenser after the massage then before.
October 23
The train to Chang Mai was about 15 hours but I slept well. I immediately made my arrangements for my trek into the highlands, including buying a raincoat. Then I found a place to stay that had an attached bathroom with a hot shower. It’s been a long, long time since I saw one of those.
Chiang Mai is the second most populous city in Thailand but it is much smaller than Bangkok. There is some nice wats to see but many stores are closed because it is a national holiday, the anniversary of Rama V’s death.
At night, I went to the bazaar. I’ll buy souvenirs when I get back from my trek because I don’t want to lug it around. I decided to go to bed early because I have a big day of trekking tomorrow.
