Thailand

[mynameisfred]

Sa wat dee(hello) from Thailand. My husband and I have been here since the 31st of last month and have a week left before we have to return home.

I'm going to post a bunch of random things in here, but if you have any questions feel free to ask.

To start with the boring stuff. The quality for money is insane here.
plane tickets: 1500 USD (2 tickets)
sleeping accommodations: 500 USD (25 nights)
food/alcohol: roughly 20 USD a day total(cheaper than we eat/drink at home cooking most of our meals from home)

[mynameisfred]

Spent the day fishing early last week. I fished a lot as a little girl and even a little as an adult, but it had been awhile. We went to a fishing park with some friends. It was about 300 baht(8.50 USD) to rent a rod, access to the park, as well as the one beer I drank)



The bait they used to catch cat fish was bread and bread crumbs. And the set up was something I had never seen before. A little spiral do dad hung above the hook or hooks and you packed it full of bread crumbs. The whole thing needed to be filled and covered. It served as bait and weight. Our friends told us the fish were attracted to the splash because of how they were fed. They also were at the other side of the little lake because they didn't like getting hit in the head, so the farther you cast the faster the hook up.



I caught a few fish, a few of them took my whole damn line, and a few of them put up a fight so hard my arms were sore afterwards. On more than one occasion I was afraid I'd lose my rented rod to the fish. These guys were strong, and according to our friends quite small. The guys admired/laughed at my concentration as I was trying to get to fish to shore.



The wives all sat back and watched and chatted. The men fished. They socialized. Normally the wives all gathered snails to cook, but they "we're being lazy" according to our friend and "made up" some story about how because of the season the snails were all in the middle of the lake. I tried to help gather some, but the ones I found were too small so I threw them back. I found one or two but ran into a red ants nest and after being bit once or twice gave up.



(My hubby couldn't keep hold of his feesh. he he he)

[Tim05]

Cool! Excellent post would love more updates!

[czeckmate]

So great. Post more.

[mynameisfred]

I ate bugs for the first time. I'm super squeamish but the little cashier at my friends bar wouldn't let up. I ate a silk worm, which actually wasn't too bad. And than she tried to give me a cricket, which I was prepared to decline until she pulled the legs off for me, presumably trying to make it look more like the silk worm did. I really don't like the taste of crickets. Weird after taste. Than ant eggs. I should have taken a picture. Ant eggs are super bizzare looking and even stranger to eat. Kind of crunchy and gritty but the taste is pretty inoffensive.

[mynameisfred]

Our room is above a bar.

We were walking downstairs to the bar once and heard a familiar noise. Looked at each other confused. It was the hum of a tattoo gun.

Sure enough, there was a man with a portable tattoo gun tracing out a butterfly on one of the girls breasts. A few days before she had a temporary tattoo butterfly she had there. I guess she liked it.

[mynameisfred]

Our friend took us to a market outside of the main city. There was tons of delicious food. It's always fun to hang around someone who speaks Thai, has a car, and has been here a long time.

One of the stalls was selling the freshest squid I've ever seen. Their bodies still trying to communicate with each other as they were dying.



(Not sure how to embed a video from my photo bucket. Or is there a better way to do it?)

[mynameisfred]

Pictures from the market~



Durian


Lotus Flowers


Lotus Seeds(people eat them)


Shrimp paste(forget the name. I should have had someone take a picture of me next to it. It was three times as big as my head.)


Pepper(before it's dried. Very earthy.)


Feesh


I love these little carts that attach to motor bikes. He's transporting some kinds of foods.

[mynameisfred]

hm

[Vladimir Kortensky]

Oh to be there with you.

[PunkChic4life22]

So much fun you are so lucky!!

[Dependable Dog]

I am so jelly in my pants.

[PunkChic4life22]

^Dude, don't get too excited there.

[Dependable Dog]

I'm sorry. The pictures are too amazing for words.

[mynameisfred]

Today was the last day of Songkran. Thank god!

Songkran is a week long(in the city I'm in) festival in celebration of the new year. It's a celebration of rebirth, but it's also a party of getting everyone as wet as possible. Don't want to get wet? Stay indoors. Even the bars(most are open air) get tons of water in them. It's fun, but it also makes it incredibly hard to do things and get places.

Today, the techno music started at 10am and it's been going ever since. It's loud. At least half the street can hear it. Everyone is singing, dancing, and drinking Whiskey.

You can wear ponchos, but it's really no use. You look funny and people target you. Everyone buys these little plastic pouches for 50 baht (1.40 USD) to keep their money and phones in.



Men also go around selling ice out of carts and trucks, huge blocks for 100 baht(2.80 USD) that everyone puts in their water buckets. Getting hit with that water- sucks.



And being on a baht bus? You wouldn't catch me on one. You're going to get soaked. Baht buses work similar to buses back home, except they cost 10 baht(.28 cents USD) and they don't look nearly as safe.



Our friends bought some fish, muscles, and shrimp for lunch. We snacked on a bunch of fruit.





I tried to piggy back a Thai girl but slipped in the water and we both fell backwards. She said she was fine. I still felt like an ass hat. Bought her some roses from a vendor and when I brought them over to her she screamed, all her friends screamed. This place is crazy.

I didn't get drunk today. Last time I played water with the girls across the street, I let them feed me too much booze and got ill.

Oh, also...I got mud rubbed all over my face when I went to grab dinner. The hubs was dry so I offered to go get food and well, a cute little boy put some on my nose and cheeks, but then some drunk groups rubbed it all over. Another part of the festival. Vendors are all over selling the mud tablets that you mix with water, water guns, small buckets, eye glasses, etc. Some of the girls yesterday were shampooing peoples hair, throwing baby powder on them, etc.



Oh, and than there is also weird sh!t, like this.






People also wear weird rubber masks. A girl wearing a rooster mask with huge rubber lips kissed me.

The only people who really get left alone are the food vendors. They're providing everyone a service. FOOD!



Had fun, but glad its over...in a few hours. It's only 9pm here.


I should also mention this is not one of the crazy streets. I spent a few hours on one of those a few days back with a friend and it was insane. This was is tame, but getting anywhere safely during Songkran is hard. The other day the death toll was alread over 300 with over a thousand injured.