Travel is so much more about the attitude you bring to it than your itinerary. It's about expectations, or lack thereof.
I arrived a day early in Bangkok, before the programmed portion of our trip began. Nora, Todd and I explored the Khaosan Road area, discovered the cooking school we returned to later on. I had my first Thai massage and then we began our custom tailor experience and found ourselves in a complete downpour.
Perhaps it was the Seattle in us, or the pool beckoning us back to the hotel. Perhaps it was the warm, sticky goodness of street coconut pudding. We were totally the crazy farangs, running through the streets of Bangkok, completely drenched. We were those crazy farangs jumping in the pool in the storm (and asked to exit the pool for safety reasons.)
After rinsing and drying, Calsee joined us as we continued to explore. We ran into a random parade. We visited a Wat and gave some offerings. We had dinner. One turn took us over a bridge into a more residential area. We spotted a crocodile in the water.
Jan and Kevin arrived, and we took them out to dinner, followed by beers and live music on Khaosan Road.
And then to grab a banana pancake.
Let's take a moment to revel in the beauty of a banana pancake, shall we? Sweetened condensed milk and nutella or chocolate. Banana. A beautifully fresh, thin crepe. It's fried perfection after a couple Changs.
Nora and I decided to do even more pampering (besides my massage and her facial earlier in the day). On our way to get manicure/pedicures, Leigh spotted us from a nearby bar. We joined her for a quick margarita, and she joined us for getting nails done.
It was in good contrast to the forthcoming paint and sand that would find its way under our nails, on our faces, in our hair, and on everything we wore.
It really was a fantastic day that showed us there are no wrong turns. Every alley provided another adventure. Every bridge took us to a new perspective. I adopted the role of Zen Master. A tad tongue-in-cheek, perhaps, but a role I took seriously. I have no formal training, but I took a moment, here and there, to reflect on the simple joys of the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment