Our first stop was the National Museum, which had some Thai history (I had been wondering about prehistoric Thailand – and got some answers in the form of relics of ancient civilizations) and Thai royal treasures (my favorites were the ivory and mother-of-pearl). The royal funeral carriages were impressive; the first royal funeral in years had taken place just before I arrived; Marilee had seen some of it. There was too much in the museum to take in in one visit, though, so we left without seeing Thai art and works from other cultures.
We went to the backpacker neighborhood for lunch – I spied a Mexican restaurant and requested that. I don’t know why Mexican is the food I seem to have wanted the most. I was also in the mood for an iced cappuccino, and even though I am not sure it pairs well with Mexican, I had it anyway. Marilee was the Duty Officer for the weekend (I think of the Duty Officer as the person I had to call when it looked as though I wouldn’t make it home by nightfall – but the Duty Officer is also the person you call when you are going out of site for the weekend and didn’t call it in during the week…). She was getting lots of calls, and as she was filling out the paperwork, the person at the next table recognized it; he had been a warden in Peace Corps Armenia (I think) and was traveling for six months following service (note – as a warden in Morocco, I didn’t have this paperwork!). Linda’s friend Linda had also traveled for six months following her COS. Maybe if I knew more people who were going on extended trips, I would have planned a longer one, but most of the people in my stage either went home right away or went home by the holidays – I think I had the longest trip of the people in my group. The Environment and Health volunteers who COS in May sometimes take the whole summer, but not the people who COS in November. Anyway, the RPCV from Armenia was an interesting fellow.
We then took a non-air-con city bus (a mode of transport I hadn’t been on yet) across the river and walked along a footpath through a neighborhood to get to the Royal Barge Museum. The barges were cool too! It would be neat to see them on the river – the last time was 1996 for the King’s Golden Jubilee – but at the museum I am sure we were able to get a lot closer. Some of the barges still had bomb damage from World War II. Then we took a longboat ride through the canal system of Thonburi, which is the city across the river from Bangkok (i.e., where we already were). It was a thriving neighborhood of houses on the water and boats for transport – the canals are still very much used. We even saw a little floating market, to make up for the big one that we didn’t get to. And we fed fish.
The Mexican was all well and good, but I also wanted to have some more Thai before I left; the street food had been great but we decided to treat ourselves to a nice restaurant. As we were walking to the restaurant, I saw a baby elephant! Again, you’re not supposed to give them money – they’re beggars – but I couldn’t resist. We went to a place called Cabbages and Condoms – condoms make for an unusual décor, but there was a serious purpose to it - part of the proceeds of the restaurant (and its accompanying store) go to population control and HIV/AIDS programs and awareness – the owner says that condoms should be as plentiful as cabbages. He’s won global awards for his efforts. And then I was up late (after being up late with the delayed flight and then getting up early – that one day of sleeping late was really an exception!) reorganizing my stuff – almost time to reacquaint myself with the big green suitcase.
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