Back to Reality

Well, that's it folks! The trip was really wonderful & I have many people to thank.

First & foremost, I want to thank all the dear friends & family who participated in my 60th birthday celebration four years ago. Without their generosity, this trip would not have been possible. I will be sending each one a proper note of thanks shortly.

The biggest thanks of all goes to Veronique & Pierre Poliansky, who opened their home in Bangkok to me & made me feel so welcomed. They went out of their way so many times to make sure that my stay in Bangkok was as rich and fulfilling as possible. I am truly grateful for their generosity and their friendship.

A special thanks is also due to my daughters, Cecile & Claire, for their continued encouragement. I now have fabulous Jim Thompson silk curtains in my living room in Bethesda because Cecile kept pressuring me to measure for curtains & "get them done"! Cecile also gave me the cooking class to The Blue Elephant, which was a real treat.

My dearest friends, Philippe & Elizabeth Lambert, arrived from France just before I left & then they left just after I came back. They stayed in my flat, took care of whatever was needed, kept me abreast of what was going on & they helped me - Philippe did all the work - hang the curtains before they left.



Thanks to all of you for your comments on my blog.

The Mekong River

The only excursion out of Luang Prabang that I made was to the Pak Ou caves, located 25 km upriver from the city. There are two caves "studded with wood & gold Buddha images - 2,500 in the lower cave & 1,500 in the upper". In the past, all the Buddhas were in gold or silver, but they have all been looted & replaced with wood, copper or stone or stone statues.










The trip to the caves took just over 2 hours by boat. I stopped at one small village on the way & bought a few things from the local market. Being on the Mekong was as more of a treat for me than visiting the caves. It is the "mother river of Southeast Asia". Its source is in Tibet & it flows down through China. It is 4500 km long (the 12th longest in the world) & goes through 6 countries.






The terrain from Luang Prabang to the caves was very mountainous & desolate, although in almost every flat space along the sides of the river, vegetable gardens had been planted. I did see a few water buffalo here & there. The river itself is very tricky & the boats were zigzagging up the river in order to avoid the sand bars, rock formations, islands, etc. The current also seemed quite strong which is why it took us 2+ hrs to get to the caves & only 1 hour to get back. It was a real pleasure being on the Mekong & glimpsing life on this famous river.

Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang was the former royal capital of Laos & since 1995 has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. UNESCO declared it the "best preserved traditional city in Southeast Asia". Don't be put off by the term "city", because there are less than 20,000 inhabitants & it feels more like a small town than a city.














It definitely oozes charm, with its stunning position on the Mekong River & surrounded by mountains. There are great restaurants, tons of cafes, over 30 intact wats, cobblestone streets, colonial architecture, day markets, a large night market and a very relaxed, laid-back feel.











Unfortunately, I spent only 3 nights in Luang Prabang & did not get to see as much as hoped.
I stayed at the most fabulous hotel, Residence Phao Vao, (www.residencephaovao) & I had two divine Lao massages at the hotel spa. The Lao massage is like the Japanese Shiatzu massage, i.e. pressure points. I have included some pics from the hotel.













The local currency is called the Kip & 10,000 kip = $1, so bargaining was weird. You think it's so expensive, but then you realize the 200K is only $20. I'm great at bargaining - from my days in Africa - but I did very little in Luang Prabang, 5000 kip at the most. The Laotian people are so nice & they don't have a lot & I did not want to bargain to in any way demean their goods.






I bought some lovely naturally-dyed silk scarves, two small silver votives so I would have examples of Lao silver & a great Humong jacket at the night market. There is also wonderful woodcarving, but since it was the end of the trip & the weight if my baggage a major concern, I had to forgo the woods.

I found the Lao people so nice. They have a ready smile that is genuine. They are not confrontational, they do not shout amongst themselves & I never saw one agressive driver (either cars, tuk-tuks or motorbikes). I always wanted to go to Laos, ever since my dear friend, Ricky, made an extensive trip in Southeast Asia in the early 1970's & told me that her favorite place/people was Laos. I never felt any negative energy. Is that because of Buddism?

The Khlongs

In addition to the fabulous brunch, Veronique & Pierre gave me a super trip on the khlongs for my birthday. The khlongs are the canals running off the rivers in Bangkok. There used to be thousands of khlongs, but many have been filled in to make roads.





We went on a two hour trip through a khlong running off the Chao Phraya River, not to far from where they live. All of the khlongs are lined with either houses or Wats. There is a complete world on them - children swimming, people eating on their porches, convenience stores, women washing, clothes drying, people fishing, & even people delivering "take-out" from their boat.






Seriously, there are many people who deliver ready-made meals from their boat. They have a bell/alarm that they ring - somewhat like the "Good Humor" man selling ice cream in the neighborhoods when I was growing up.




It was a delightful trip & since it was end of the afternoon on Sunday, the 27th, it was especially nice since most people were home, relaxing & doing Sunday chores.

Flowers Flowers Everywhere!

The flowers in Bangkok & in Luang Prabang have been lovely. It's not just the flowers themselves, but also the way that the Thai & Lao people create lovely arrangements
and offerings with the flowers. I regret now that I did not take photos of all the people
in the flower market in Bangkok that were taking tiny flowers & stringing them &
making hanging bracelets. You will often see them hanging from the rear-view mirror
in taxis. Veronique & Pierre brought me one of jasmine when they met me at the airport.
I think that they bring good luck.




Speaking of luck, I did buy myself a small Buddha that I hope will watch over me in
Bethesda. Pierre was joking with me in BKK because I often say "En challah" (SP?)
from my Mauritanian days. It means "God willing". He suggested I say "Ench Buddha"
instead. It was funny...but you had to be there!

Back to flowers. Veronique showed me how to make arrangements of lotus flowers.
The petals only open if they are attached to their roots where they grow. In other words, they will not open once they are cut. The idea is to peel & fold each petal until the inner buds are showing. I have some pics of the arrangement at Veronique's.





Now that I know how to arrange lotus flowers, where will I find them in DC?



I am also including pics of some of the arrangements at the hotel in Luang Prabang.

Super Duper Meals

One of my best memories from previous trips to Bangkok, was eating at the buffet at the Oriental Hotel. Not only is the food devine, the buffet sumptuous, but it is the seating outdoors, beside the Chao Praya river that is so special. I wanted take Veronique & Pierre someplace special, so that's where we went on Friday, Jan 25th. The weather was perfect & the sights of all the boats, strung with tiny lights, going back & forth across the river, made the evening & the place totally magical. My camera does not do that well at night, so my photos cannot quite convey the ambiance.




After dinner, we went to Suan Lum Night Bazaar, Bangkok's "first official night bazaar". It's a maze of several thousand stalls. I mean these people shop all the time! I found it hard to be in the mood to shop on a full stomach & ready to go to sleep.
OK...I did force myself to buy a few things!










The next super duper meal was at my return visit to The Blue Elephant Cooking School. Veronique had never been & I wanted to give her something for her birthday in early January.
Needless to say, I loved the school/class as much the second time as I did the first. Since I had already been to the market & Veronique knows all the markets in BKK, we were able to arrive for the class at the civilized hour of 10am. Now I have even more of an inventory of dishes to fix back in Bethesda.

The next best thing to learning how to cook the dishes is the wonderful meal that follows, where we eat all of the dishes that we had prepared. My favorite of the day was a Massuman Curry.
Delicious & very mild. Not sure about the spelling. I just looked it up - it's Massaman Curry.

The last, most super duper meal of all was for my birthday on the 27th. Veronique & Pierre took me to Sunday brunch at the Sukkothai Hotel, which is a gorgeous, contemporary, Zen like hotel.
The brunch was without a doubt the most incredible buffet that I have ever seen, ever, ever, ever & I was pretty impressed by the one that the Durands took me to in Buenos Aires. There was everything from all sorts of salmons (smoked,plain gravlox, gravlox done in beetroot & vodka) to foie gras frais & demi-cuit to every shellfish to every oriental soup to every meat & stew (even osso bucco) to dim sums & then a sushi bar where you could even get a litle bowl of salmon roe.
French cheeses up the wazoo & then an entire room just of deserts.

Enough about food. All my clothes are too tight, but every meal was fabulous.

Wat Pho

I had great plans for the 24th - see the flower market, Chinatown & meet with a astrologist/palm reader at Wat Pho. I took the river taxi to the flower market, walked around but I don't think that I found the real market, just the stalls on the outskirts. I still managed to
see lots of roses and orchids.

I had lunch in Chinatown at a side walk stand - soup with some noodles & seafood. Delicious. I actually felt proud of myself just being able to order anything - point, point, smile, point.




I had an appointment at 3pm with a clarevoyant at Wat Pho. The only Wat that I really wanted to revisit was Wat Pho, which is where you can see the reclining Buddha. The clarevoyant never showed up, which was very disappointing, but I figured that it may have been destiny & that Buddha did not want me to have my fortune told.

The reclining Buddha is gigantic, gold, & gorgeous...and not upside down as the picture on the right shows. I'm not so good at this.