Where are the American RTW Travelers???

By Lillie
Catch more of her adventures at http://lmarshallworld.blogspot.com
Because so many of the spectacular temples in Bangkok are along the river, a night boat along the Chao Phraya is a feast for the eyes... and a feast for the belly, too, if you opt for the dinner cruise. Check it out!
As you peruse these pics, let us ponder a major question for a Round the World Traveler: WHERE ARE THE AMERICANS?? A profound cultural difference is laid bare when you wander these hostels filled with Europeans, Aussies, Israelis, and Canadians. Where are OUR people??
You can throw out the theory that America is too far from Asia, because much of Canada is just as far. Throw out the whine that the dollar is weaker than the Euro when you meet those Aussies, Israelis, and again the Canadians.
Listen to a few of these stories and see how, ultimately, it comes down to a philosophical clash of values.
"That is an extremely rude question," Sinead said, glaring at me from under her wispy red hair. "I just asked you what job you have back in Ireland!" I squealed, embarrassed and confused. "In Europe," Sinead said, we work to live, not live to work. What we do doesn't define us. Sure, I spend a few hours a day teaching businessmen in Spain English grammar, but I just do it to be able to pay for my delicious nights out with friends and my trips like this!"
At the time I argued vociferously with Sinead, saying that what you do for over half your waking life SHOULD define you. Upon further reflection, however, I am starting to see how that philosophy traps Americans.
"You're a teacher," said so many people in the U.S. before I left on my eight-month trip, "How can you POSSIBLY afford to take that crazy trip?" And yet, in this Bangkok hostel I have met the following Round the World travelers:
- Canadian Conrad, who saved for his fifteen month trip though three years at his job as a grocery store assistant manager
- Pete, a Brit who got his funds through working as a firefighter for less than a year and selling his motorcycle
- Ian, who is a student in Liverpool and paid for his trip through one year working at a hotel
- Dov from Israel who saved by living at home with his parents while he worked as a bartender for a year.
I highlight these people because I think they crush the America assumption that, to travel around the world, 1) One needs a hoity-toity job, 2) It takes a lifetime to save. Looking at these examples, the ability to take a "gap year" of travel seems, rather, to be about financial priorities, and confidence that such a trip CAN be done and IS worthwhile-- perhaps from seeing other people like you doing it.
For those Americans feeling fearful of flying out into the unknown, I assure you: it is so very, very doable, and so very, very worth it.

Somphong Thai Cooking School, Bangkok!

By Lillie
Catch more of her adventures at http://lmarshallworld.blogspot.com

Oh yum yum YUM and sigh of happiness! Want to spend an absolutely lovely day in Bangkok? Do a cooking class! But COME HUNGRY... or you will pop.

Conrad, Adie, and I had checked out a few cooking schools in Bangkok, but the cheerful colors and soothing Thai music of Somphong Cooking School beckoned us in. Koy and her family served us iced Panda Leaf tea and breaded, fried bananas as we waited in the sunny kitchen classroom. (Note the classy photo of me with the tea leaves and cerulean drink.) Then off to the market we went! It feels amazing to be educated by a skillful teacher. Professional and passionate, Koy held up item after item in the colorful store, explaining the English and Thai name of the food, how it is eaten, and how it tastes. We sniffed some and nibbled others. Baskets laden and money exchanged, we trotted back down the street to the school.

Let the cooking begin! Koy and and her family whirled around, washing the foodstuffs and arraying them so artfully upon three plates for us that I was reminded of a Jewish Seder.
Chicken green curry, here we come! Koy held each ingredients aloft, explaining its purpose and taste, and then guiding us to chop it up to specific dimensions.
"Oh!" Koy suddenly gasped, gaping at Adie's blazing fingers, "You are so, so good!"
Adie blushed. "Yeah, in England I'm a professional chef. I didn't want to tell you 'cause I'm here to learn." Koy nodded enthusiastically, and dumped all our choppings into a mortar and pestle. Green chilies! Shallots! Garlic! Ginger! Lemon grass! Kaffir lime rind! Shrimp paste! Coriander, cumin, peppercorn, salt! Oh mmm.
Conrad McNutt proved excellent at pounding that pestle. Seeds flew out and we shielded the mortar with our hands. And... the green curry paste was created.
To the row of stoves we went, oil sizzling in the woks. Koy barked out each step and we followed like eager, hungry robots. "Cook green curry paste in oil until you smell the aroma! Coconut cream, in! Chicken, in! Kaffir lime leaf, in! Fish sauce, in! Sugar, in! Thai eggplants, in! Basil, in!"

Koy snapped off our stoves and the swirls of lemongrass steam danced in our expectant noses. We poured the green curry into ornate bowls and garnished it in glory with the "beautiful basil leaf" Koy had told us to set aside.
"And now you try it!" We practically waltzed to the shiny air-conditioned one-table room in the back, hands trembling and cameras snapping. We were so proud! We were even more proud when we slurped up the first green sip and realized it was the most fantastic meal we had eaten in our month so far in Thailand. YUM! "You are a good teacher!" grinned Adie to Koy. "I like your octopus tattoo," she replied.
For the next three hours and four dishes, Koy proved herself the best kind of teacher: professional, kind, funny, knowledgeable, smart, and sweet. By seven pm, we had cooked (and eaten): Stir-fried Chicken with Basil, Tom Yum soup with prawns, Spicy Prawn Salad, and (WOW) warm, sweet Pumpkin in Coconut Milk. While the pumpkin bubbled on the stove (smelling like heaven, incarnate), Koy showed us how to scrape coconut flesh on a special knifed seat, and squeeze it through a basket to make coconut cream (squeeze one) and coconut milk (squeezes two and three).

I'm going to be honest: this month I have gotten used to eating two meals a day. By course four at the Somphong Cooking School, the room reeled around me from dinner overload, and I collapsed upon the handy couch. And yet-- by course five when Adie tried to take my desert away ("You're full, right?") I hurled myself, clawing viciously, at his hands and gnawed the dish into my corner. As my brother says, "The dinner stomach may be full, but you still have the dessert stomach!"
Koy wrapped up my second course in a take-away box, and my hostel roommate, Kathy, is eating it blissfully as we speak. "Oooh, this is niiice," she says. The rain poured down outside as we paid Koy her 1000 Baht ($30) each (what an excellent deal!) and wrote her letters of thanks with the provided pens. A beep was heard outside, and Koy's cousin opened her car door to give us a lift back to Lub-d Hostel. What more could you want? :)

We shook Koy's hand with gratitude as we rolled our rounded bellies to the door. Adie suddenly turned back. "I'm coming back Friday!" he hollered! "Nothing can stop me!"
"It'll look good on your chef resume," I said.
"Yeah, that's it," Adie replied with a grin.

Bangkok's Grand Palace: Wow to the WowWow!

By Lillie
Catch more of her adventures at http://lmarshallworld.blogspot.com


There's a certain point when the thick heat and pollution of Bangkok make your head swim so hard and your clothes stick to you so wetly, that all you want is to collapse onto a shady doorstep and yield.

This is what I was doing as Adie fruitlessly pulled my arm to stand back up. "I don't wanna go in!" I whined, leaning back onto the pavement. "We've been walking around the city for six hours and I'm tiiiired! Plus, 350 Baht ($10) is too much to pay to go in there. We can see the palace just fine from out here."

Adie put his hands on his hips. "We did NOT come all the way out to the Grand Palace-- the PREMIER attraction of Bangkok-- to give up now!" he declared. "You WILL come in there with me, if I have to carry you in or pay your entrance. GET UP!"

At last I did, and I am so very, very thankful to Adie. THE GRAND PALACE. IS. AWESOME.
Spanning across one hundred buildings, the pure gold cone of the palace you can see from the highway is just the very beginning of the wonders inside the gates. I have never before seen a palace that is so fitting for ROYALTY.
Everywhere, gold, tiny mirrors, jewel-toned stones, and metallic paint glistens. Each building is a different gorgeous twist. Giant statues with individual (and often hilarious) expressions guard the doorways and hold up the columns. Elated, dejected, furious, bored-- they all look fantastic.

What most struck us was how amazingly well the entire Grand Palace is maintained. Though it was built in 1782, every single day workers toil to re-polish, re-paint, and re-build another small section... meaning that not a single tiny jewel becomes dulled. Look at the photo of the two painters refurbishing the murals of Buddha's life! There were about a hundred of these caretakers at work yesterday.
Now a word about the Emerald Buddha. This vibrant green, 26-inch tall figure is one of the holiest sites in Thailand, and was discovered in 1434. It sits atop a twenty-foot high, radiant gold throne, and is surrounded by worshipers from around the world. Signs read: "Proper dress required" and "No Shoes" and "Do NOT point your feet at the Buddha." You are also not allowed to snap photos inside, so all I have to show you is the pic of a ghostly green glow in the center of a dark room that I snagged from outside. See it?
One of Adie and my favorite details is that, according to the official palace guidebook, "The sacred image is clad with one of three seasonal costumes (summer, rainy season, and winter). The costumes are changed three times a year in a ceremony presided over by His Majesty the King." How absolutely lovely to envision these holy men delicately swapping the miniature fashions!

I truly loved the Grand Palace of Bangkok. So what's the moral of the story? There are a few. 1) Don't be a lazy bum when you've come all the way to the gates of a famous attraction. Go inside! 2) Being a cheapskate is sometimes dumb. 3) When something is titled "The Most Famous Attraction in All of __", there usually is good reason. 4) Friends are important. 5) Gulp plenty of water, snap those pics, and drink in the absolute beauty of the most gorgeous buildings you've seen in your life!