Thailand: The Rose Garden Cultural Show

The last leg of the tour finds me in the Rose Garden where I will get a chance to see some traditional Thai cultural events and activities.

I see silk being made from silk worms. Cool and cruel...they boil the worms to separate them from their silk.

Elephants are shown in their traditional use as beasts of burden...I feed a little five month baby elephant tiny bananas. I hope that the animals here are treated better than the snakes.

Then the cultural show begins and I see traditional dancing, sword fighting, a traditional wedding, and Buddhist monk ordination, as well as some Muay Thai boxing - some fast and powerful head kicks!

I am with two other Korean girls at this point and at the end of the show the performers invite the audience to come on stage and dance. I drag the laughing and protesting girls on the stage and we learn how to spin our fingers, arms and hands into some semblance of Thai dancing arms.

A weird aside: The tour is done and we're all back in the van. Paul to my right is an Englishman in university who says he funded his 7 week trip by submitting himself to scientific medical experiments. The last one he did required him to take experimental pills for the treatment of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder) for 5 days and in return he made 5000 pounds (~$10 000?). "Just a bit of blood, urine and semen is all they need." That's how he makes most of his money. His pal on the other side of me is completely hung over and thinks that Paul is crazy for always doing this. I tell him to drink lots of coconut juice for the hangover and he feels better in no time.

5 pm - Back in Khao San and I drift into a jetlagged nap in my room.

9 pm - I eat street meat. This time instead of chicken or pork (which I heard may be rat) it's fried grasshopper. I am completely grossed out but I can't leave Bangkok without eating at least one insect. I have to overcome my gag reflex and overactive imagination. I can't do it on my own so I force the vendor to eat one with me. He is exasperated with how long I'm taking to do it, but eventually I put it in my mouth and crunch down. I am worried that I will throw up if it tastes juicy, but instead it tastes like crispy chips and the wings and leg pieces get stuck in my teeth. Yuck, but not as yuck as I think eating the fried larva or giant water bug would have been. I imagine them being more juicy.

11:20 pm - Ramsey and So (his wife and also a director at the school) just arrived. I tell Ramsey his hug sucks, and I show So what a good hug should be like. The Laos people don't hug or ever touch in greeting therefore I need to show her that the Ramsey Hug is not indicative of a good one. I think I will introduce a new tradition at the school. May the cultural disruption begin! I am happy to see them. Neat! A new adventure awaits.

5:30 am – Damn it’s late and I’m just getting to bed now. This jetlag thing, is weird.