It's like this most days now. Still not sure what it means, but I'm fairly certain it's got something to do with how much trash they're burning. Also, check it: we are at 84 degrees on December 10th. It's okay to be jealous. Anyway, we're in for a cold snap here tomorrow: only 78 degrees. I better buy some of those earmuffs they're selling outside.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Don't Be Distracted By The Beautiful Celebrities
Last week Baroda hosted a cricket match between New Zealand and India... and guess where the teams stayed? Where else but WelcomHotel? It is, in fact, the most welcoming place around. At least that's what they tell me. As you can imagine, the staff went a little bit nuts preparing for the teams' arrival - but as most of it was beneficial to us, I wasn't complaining. We got new china for the buffet downstairs, as well as much more attentive waiters (they were so eager to please I often got two cappuccinos with my breakfast), brand new, gleaming white cushions for the pool chairs, and huge flower arrangements scattered around the lobby and lounges. Change is good. Except that the staff held a welcom party for each team - every time they entered or exited the building. And oh, the false wall! Why wouldn't you put up a fake wall in the hallway to separate "celebrity rooms" from the lowly guest rooms? Makes perfect sense. Behold:
This is what the hallway usually looks like.
Real wall? False. Fake. I have to admit, they did a pretty good job. Shriram couldn't believe it was fake. We had to take him up there and let him knock on it to see how flimsy it was. Ahh, India.
When the teams finally arrived on Wednesday, the hotel brought in the troops - stationing at least 100 guards and policemen in the lobby and upper floors, where they proceeded to collapse into any public seat available. When we walked through the Residence lounge, it looked like there was a carbon monoxide leak... semi-conscious guards with no shoes on sprawled over all the couches and chairs, too exhausted to even get up and check passports like they were supposed to. The best they could do was turn their heads and (try to) look menacingly in our direction as we walked through. Also, there were huge crowds outside every time the cricket teams went out of the hotel. It was semi- exciting staying in the same hotel as such huge celebrities (it would've been even more so had I known who any of these guys were.) Also, as I am way too cool and professional to take pictures of cricketers in the lobby (like all the rest of the guests), I didn't get any. However, I'm apparently not too cool to steal Shriram's pictures that he took off of Facebook. I never said I was a role model.
Team India player in the lobby. Don't know his name off the top of my head, but I call him "Indian Adam Sandler." Apparently all the ladies swoon for him. I don't see it.
Probably the best part of the whole debacle was the fact that our UOP guys kept getting mistaken for players from New Zealand. Every time they went outside people took their pictures and asked for autographs. They loved it. We even looked at the New Zealand roster online and found a cricket doppelganger for each of them just in case someone asked.
Apparently all white people look alike. This could easily have been Ben and Alberto from UOP as far as any of the fans were concerned.
I was feeling left out as there are no girls on the team, so I chose a match for myself as well. Behold:
Caitlin Correnti, aka Kane Williamson. The resemblance is quite striking.
Anyway, on Thanksgiving we had asked the hotel how we could get tickets to the cricket match, and our boy Mr. Faiyaz came through for us. Never mind that he didn't get us the tickets until an hour after the match started, and never mind that we don't really know the rules of the game, we were going, dammit!
We weren't allowed to take pictures in the stadium, so here is a picture of my ticket. Classy.
The game was not quite what we were expecting, what with the makeshift bleachers topped with plastic armchairs, but it was fun nonetheless. Also, cricket is slow. Like worse than golf slow. (I may have fallen asleep... several times.) We got there a good two hours after the match started, stayed for three and a half hours, and then left with at least three hours to go. The game was a total blowout - India won by 9 wickets with 63 balls remaining. (Don't be too intimidated, I don't know what that means either.) In closing, I'll give you what you want: more pictures of the beautiful celebrities (courtesy of Shriram the cricket fan).
Cricketer (we'll call him "Indian Mexican") and Shriram in the gym.
Gym worker, Shriram, Indian Adam Sandler (IAS) and a security guard. Apparently this picture was a great victory for Shriram and the gym worker. They'd asked IAS for his picture earlier and he said no. Maybe he was in a good mood at this point because they'd stomped New Zealand so hard with 9 wickets (what does that even mean?).
Zaheer. I only know him because he had his back to us the entire game and people were screaming his name and he kept turning to wave at the crowd. Nice guy. Shriram says he's "the most underrated on the team in the looks department". Seriously, Shriram? Get a hold of yourself.
Friday, November 26, 2010
THANKSGIVING
While our Thanksgiving this year wasn't quite as wonderful as I had hoped, it still beat the pants off of last year! We may not have had football or the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade... or beer... or wine... or turkey... but it was still pretty fun, all things considered. Mr. Faiyaz at the hotel hooked us up quite nicely with a whole menu of delectable treats made especially for us! I even met with the chef to plan the menu, never mind that he left out most of the stuff I asked for (cranberries and apple pie, to name a few).
It was really interesting to have so many people from other countries celebrating our traditional American holiday. We had four "American" Americans (Ben, Matt, Carrie, and little old me), and then several other "non-traditional" Americans, as well as some plain old Indians, and Alberto, the Spaniard. I don't think any of the others really grasped the concept of Thanksgiving... they just know it as the holiday for gluttony, which is basically what it is anyway. Of course I made everyone to the whole "what are you thankful for" thing, but most of them just said a variation of what I said, which I guess means my answer was the best one (also, I went first, so that might have something to do with it).
As far as the menu went, it wasn't traditional Thanksgiving fare by any means, but we did have some "normal" stuff (corn and mashed potatoes), along with a bunch of, shall we say, non-traditional courses, such as "chicken sausages wrapped with bacon rashes" and "silky brocooli soup". By far the two stars of the evening were the roast leg of lamb, and then whole chicken with "bacon stuffing" which they made me carve at the table. Yeah, I'm that much of a badass. For desert we had caramel custard (flan) and shahi tukda (your guess is as good as mine) which wasn't half bad. When all was said and done, I was feeling slightly disgustingly full, which I think is a mark of a good Thanksgiving.
In other news, I went to yoga yesterday, and while we were doing our sun salutations, the lady next to me let one rip. Seriously. I know that downward facing dog can be a little strenuous, but can't you hold that in? Apparently not. Later, during our relaxation meditation, she fell asleep and started snoring. Needles to say, I hope she doesn't come again.
Our specially printed menu. Seriously, Faiyaz told me they had these cards specially printed up for us. I don't know if that was extremely necessary, but it was a nice touch. I mean, look at that cornucopia overflowing with delight! And that sun setting ever so gently behind the mountains. You've outdone yourself, India.
It was really interesting to have so many people from other countries celebrating our traditional American holiday. We had four "American" Americans (Ben, Matt, Carrie, and little old me), and then several other "non-traditional" Americans, as well as some plain old Indians, and Alberto, the Spaniard. I don't think any of the others really grasped the concept of Thanksgiving... they just know it as the holiday for gluttony, which is basically what it is anyway. Of course I made everyone to the whole "what are you thankful for" thing, but most of them just said a variation of what I said, which I guess means my answer was the best one (also, I went first, so that might have something to do with it).
International Thanksgiving
As far as the menu went, it wasn't traditional Thanksgiving fare by any means, but we did have some "normal" stuff (corn and mashed potatoes), along with a bunch of, shall we say, non-traditional courses, such as "chicken sausages wrapped with bacon rashes" and "silky brocooli soup". By far the two stars of the evening were the roast leg of lamb, and then whole chicken with "bacon stuffing" which they made me carve at the table. Yeah, I'm that much of a badass. For desert we had caramel custard (flan) and shahi tukda (your guess is as good as mine) which wasn't half bad. When all was said and done, I was feeling slightly disgustingly full, which I think is a mark of a good Thanksgiving.
Obligatory head shot. Matt is refusing to shave his face until they put VGO in the unit... they just shut down again today, so it could take a while. I'll keep you posted.
In other news, I went to yoga yesterday, and while we were doing our sun salutations, the lady next to me let one rip. Seriously. I know that downward facing dog can be a little strenuous, but can't you hold that in? Apparently not. Later, during our relaxation meditation, she fell asleep and started snoring. Needles to say, I hope she doesn't come again.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
I Love Expats
Don't cry for me, Amurica - things are looking up! Just when things seemed very bleak indeed (we hit four months in India, my hair started falling out, we're facing a third Thanksgiving in a foreign country all alone, etc, etc...), I met a huge group of women expats, and they are all awesome! Last week I went to that expat meeting that one lady told me about, and I met lots of women from all over the world! Ain't that fine? Apparently these ladies have been meeting at the WelcomHotel once a month for about a year, and no one at the hotel ever thought to tell me about it. Thanks, hotel staff. Appreciate ya'll.
In addition to meeting all those wonderful people, I got in touch with a woman who teaches yoga in Baroda, and I signed up for classes! Yesterday was my first class. It is awesome, and it is cheap! I payed about $25 for two months, and the classes are three days a week. Try getting a deal like that in Chicago (no, don't try. You can't get one). While I won't say that I am a natural at yoga (it's quite the opposite, in fact) I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I'm not horrible, but at one point the instructor, Smita, looked at me and said "Oh. You need a lot of work." True dat. The next class is tomorrow, so we'll see how I do.
Today I was invited to a brunch meeting at a British lady's house. It was a little overwhelming because there were probably 25 women there, and I hadn't met most of them. They were all really nice and super talkative, but I felt like I was telling the same story over and over again: "My name is Caitlin, I live in WelcomHotel... yes, I have lived there for four months... no, I'm not getting an apartment... yes, it's very boring and difficult, etc." I exchanged numbers with a lot of people, and have already had invites to go shopping and such later in the week. See, I knew it would get better! Okay, I know that's not true, but I'm feeling super positive at the moment. Don't burst my bubble.
Also, Matt talked to our hotel manager best friend, Faiyaz, about setting us up with a Thanksgiving dinner through the hotel. Faiyaz went paintballing with us the first time, and he was on my team. I think I impressed him with my natural paintball talents, because he has set up a whole Thanksgiving menu for us... for freeee! I don't know that it will be a very "traditional" dinner, but anything will be better than last year's Indonesian KFC debacle. Won't it? I'll let you know. At least this year, I have something to be thankful for: expats. (No offense to everyone else... I'm always thankful for you guys.)
In addition to meeting all those wonderful people, I got in touch with a woman who teaches yoga in Baroda, and I signed up for classes! Yesterday was my first class. It is awesome, and it is cheap! I payed about $25 for two months, and the classes are three days a week. Try getting a deal like that in Chicago (no, don't try. You can't get one). While I won't say that I am a natural at yoga (it's quite the opposite, in fact) I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I'm not horrible, but at one point the instructor, Smita, looked at me and said "Oh. You need a lot of work." True dat. The next class is tomorrow, so we'll see how I do.
Today I was invited to a brunch meeting at a British lady's house. It was a little overwhelming because there were probably 25 women there, and I hadn't met most of them. They were all really nice and super talkative, but I felt like I was telling the same story over and over again: "My name is Caitlin, I live in WelcomHotel... yes, I have lived there for four months... no, I'm not getting an apartment... yes, it's very boring and difficult, etc." I exchanged numbers with a lot of people, and have already had invites to go shopping and such later in the week. See, I knew it would get better! Okay, I know that's not true, but I'm feeling super positive at the moment. Don't burst my bubble.
Also, Matt talked to our hotel manager best friend, Faiyaz, about setting us up with a Thanksgiving dinner through the hotel. Faiyaz went paintballing with us the first time, and he was on my team. I think I impressed him with my natural paintball talents, because he has set up a whole Thanksgiving menu for us... for freeee! I don't know that it will be a very "traditional" dinner, but anything will be better than last year's Indonesian KFC debacle. Won't it? I'll let you know. At least this year, I have something to be thankful for: expats. (No offense to everyone else... I'm always thankful for you guys.)
Thursday, November 18, 2010
The End
After so many, many posts, complete with pictures glorious enough to make even the most generous feel sick and green with envy, I think it's about to wrap up this Thailand story. Also, I feel like this last post has been hanging over my head, mainly because I actually have something important that needs sharing. However, of course I've forgotten most of the details, so I had to get online and do some much-hated research in order to get it all sorted out. So I guess what I'm saying is, please forgive me for any information errors in advance... and for the length of this post (it's a doozy)... and for being pretentious and pedantic.
The best part of our trip in Chiang Rai (for me, at least) was undoubtedly the tour we did of some of the hill tribes in the area. On our first day in town, we went to visit the very interesting and informative Chiang Rai Hill Tribe Museum to learn about some of the tribes and get some info on tours and such. Lucky we went there first, because we discovered pretty quickly that there was some shady business going on with this hill tribe tourism kick - the most notable skeeziness comes in the form of the "long-neck" group of the Karen hill tribe. (Yup, this is where I start getting preachy.) You know the ones. Those ladies who wear the rings stacked around their necks to give them the appearance of a long neck (thus the nickname). Almost all tour companies in Chiang Rai offer trips to see the long-necks, and I must admit, I was pretty excited to go on one. They take you up to their "village" and show you their "authentic handicrafts" and their super stretched out necks, but they never mention that the whole thing is a farce. Boom. Bet you didn't see that one coming. Now check out this knowledge bomb:
The long-necks aren't native to Thailand (they come from Myanmar), and those who live there now have only come in the last ten years or so. The museum explained that the long-neck village was built as a scam to get money from tourists, and the tribal people don't see much or any of that money at all. According to the museum, people who live in the "village" aren't allowed to leave or live normal lives. The women are put on display like in a human zoo and forced to make "traditional handicrafts" for tourists, while the men sit in some back room gambling and drinking all day. Seriously. I don't know how much of this is true, but I felt it was better to boycott the whole thing altogether, so we decided to go a different route, and take one of the Population and Community Development Association (PDA)-sponsored tours through the museum.
Basically PDA is a non-profit organization created to promote family planning programs in Thailand, but it has since diversified into other areas, like educating people about HIV/AIDS and combating rural poverty. Click here to learn more. Anyway, through the museum, we were able to book a PDA tour, which is waaay better than any other tour because the guides are sensitive to the cultures of the various hill tribes, and are always respectful. They even have a community-based tourism development project in a village called Ban Lorcha where tourists pay a fee to enter the village and watch people doing their village activities - stuff you wouldn't see normally on a random day visit. Almost all the proceeds from this go into a fund that assists orphans, widows, and the village in general. How's that for responsible tourism? Danielle and I were pretty excited about this because after learning of the horrific long-neck zoo, we wanted to be sure we were participating in something that would help others, and not just satisfy our arrogant American tourist curiosities. (So pedantic, I know.) Anyway, after much deliberation, we decided against the Ban Lorcha tour and opted for an elephant trekking tour that visited four hill tribes. (Yes, the Ban Lorcha thing looked amazing and interesting and helpful, but honestly, who would pass up an elephant trek? I mean, they had elephants and trekking.)
Anyway, to put it mildly, our tour was fantastic. We rode on a boat for an hour on the Mekong river to see a Karen tribe (the long-necks are just a sub-group of the overall Karen tribe), which is based right on the edge of the river. The village was surprisingly modern, with concrete houses, a paved road running through it, and a big Christian church at one end. It wasn't quite what we had expected, but hey, it's 2010. Concrete houses and paved roads are the wave of the future.
The best part of our trip in Chiang Rai (for me, at least) was undoubtedly the tour we did of some of the hill tribes in the area. On our first day in town, we went to visit the very interesting and informative Chiang Rai Hill Tribe Museum to learn about some of the tribes and get some info on tours and such. Lucky we went there first, because we discovered pretty quickly that there was some shady business going on with this hill tribe tourism kick - the most notable skeeziness comes in the form of the "long-neck" group of the Karen hill tribe. (Yup, this is where I start getting preachy.) You know the ones. Those ladies who wear the rings stacked around their necks to give them the appearance of a long neck (thus the nickname). Almost all tour companies in Chiang Rai offer trips to see the long-necks, and I must admit, I was pretty excited to go on one. They take you up to their "village" and show you their "authentic handicrafts" and their super stretched out necks, but they never mention that the whole thing is a farce. Boom. Bet you didn't see that one coming. Now check out this knowledge bomb:
The long-necks aren't native to Thailand (they come from Myanmar), and those who live there now have only come in the last ten years or so. The museum explained that the long-neck village was built as a scam to get money from tourists, and the tribal people don't see much or any of that money at all. According to the museum, people who live in the "village" aren't allowed to leave or live normal lives. The women are put on display like in a human zoo and forced to make "traditional handicrafts" for tourists, while the men sit in some back room gambling and drinking all day. Seriously. I don't know how much of this is true, but I felt it was better to boycott the whole thing altogether, so we decided to go a different route, and take one of the Population and Community Development Association (PDA)-sponsored tours through the museum.
Basically PDA is a non-profit organization created to promote family planning programs in Thailand, but it has since diversified into other areas, like educating people about HIV/AIDS and combating rural poverty. Click here to learn more. Anyway, through the museum, we were able to book a PDA tour, which is waaay better than any other tour because the guides are sensitive to the cultures of the various hill tribes, and are always respectful. They even have a community-based tourism development project in a village called Ban Lorcha where tourists pay a fee to enter the village and watch people doing their village activities - stuff you wouldn't see normally on a random day visit. Almost all the proceeds from this go into a fund that assists orphans, widows, and the village in general. How's that for responsible tourism? Danielle and I were pretty excited about this because after learning of the horrific long-neck zoo, we wanted to be sure we were participating in something that would help others, and not just satisfy our arrogant American tourist curiosities. (So pedantic, I know.) Anyway, after much deliberation, we decided against the Ban Lorcha tour and opted for an elephant trekking tour that visited four hill tribes. (Yes, the Ban Lorcha thing looked amazing and interesting and helpful, but honestly, who would pass up an elephant trek? I mean, they had elephants and trekking.)
Anyway, to put it mildly, our tour was fantastic. We rode on a boat for an hour on the Mekong river to see a Karen tribe (the long-necks are just a sub-group of the overall Karen tribe), which is based right on the edge of the river. The village was surprisingly modern, with concrete houses, a paved road running through it, and a big Christian church at one end. It wasn't quite what we had expected, but hey, it's 2010. Concrete houses and paved roads are the wave of the future.
See that Christian church? Not quite what I had in mind, either, but interesting nonetheless.
That's what I'm talking about. Rice fields at the foot of the hills in the Karen village.
We walked along the road through the village to the elephant training camp where we would hitch a ride up the mountain on an elephant. In a word: awesome. 
God bless, I love elephants. Ain't he/she a beaut?
Our elephant was a 42-year-old male named Lampang. He and I had quite the connection. Lampang took us up into the hills for two hours, traipsing over streams and through rice fields and jungles like it was his job (which I guess it was, in a way). We also had a mahout (elephant trainer) along with us, who drove Lampang and kept him in line; unfortunately I did not catch his name or age. Sorry.
The mahout driving Lampang through the stream.
About two-thirds of the way into our trip, our mahout jumped off the elephant and asked if we wanted our pictures taken. Of course we did. Did he even need to ask?
I know all my Facebook friends have already seen this, but it's such a good picture!
After this picture-break, the mahout jumped back up and sat in my seat next to Danielle and let me ride Lampang's neck for the rest of the way. I know what you're thinking, and it's true: I really am that cool. I was kind of scared and almost fell off a few times, and I kept getting elephant snot all over my feet, but it was worth it. Totally. Anyway, Lampang took us all the way up to the Lahu (or Akha, I can't remember... so much for responsible tourism, eh?) village, where we ate lunch and visited with an ancient lady who sold us some handicrafts. Of course she did. It was worth it.
Village.
After lunch, we "trekked" (really we just walked back down the hills... not much trekking involved) over to the main section of the village where the school was. The school seemed to be really well-maintained and even had several computers for the kids to use (all of this made possible through solar panels set up throughout the village).
Main Street.
Our guide was really amazing and seemed to know all the people in all the villages. Also, he speaks all of the different hill tribe dialects (there are many), so he was able to translate for us. Later we walked down to a waterfall, and then visited a Yao and Akha (or Lahu... jeez that's embarrassing that I can't remember) village, which had sort of a combination of bamboo houses with thatched roofs and more modern houses.
Our guide at the waterfall.
Hill tribe village. That one in the back is painted with an aluminum roof. They got big money back there.
I think that about sums up our Chiang Rai hill tribe experience. Whew. Sorry it's so long... I won't do that again. Takes way too long to write out. I guess that sums up my Thailand adventure as well. After Chiang Rai, we flew back to Bangkok, and then I flew back to India (complete with a six-hour layover in Mumbai's beautiful domestic terminal), and the rest is history. The hill tribe tour is definitely up there on my "Best Things I've Ever Done" list, thanks mostly to Lampang the elephant. The End.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Don't Trust the Evil-Doers
My hair is falling out. From my head, but also my eyelashes in particular are looking a bit sparse these days. Don't bother getting all worked up about it - it'll do us no good if you all start losing your hair as well. I've already researched it on the Internet, and found a wealth of material concerning the matter. Apparently I'm not the only one who's prematurely balding in India. I found one girl on a forum who was losing her hair in big chunks a few weeks after returning from a trip to southern India. Also, I'm guessing it might be a fairly common problem with the locals as well. I am always seeing advertisements for "Hair Fall Prevention" shampoos here. Most people on the Web said the water was probably the root cause of this, especially in Chennai, where they have apparently been suffering this hair fall condition for some time now. I, however, have not been to Chennai, but I guess that doesn't mean the water here isn't just as bad (considering what it's doing to my skin, I think it's probably to blame). Other causes I read about include: vitamin deficiency, protein deficiency, stress, too little sleep, side effects of anti-malarials and imbalanced chakras. So all I have to do to cure my condition is stop bathing, eat beef, sleep more, and balance my chakras. Aside from the sleeping, I can't feasibly do any of these things (I don't know how to balance my chakras... yet). In conclusion, I don't really know how to stop the baldness at the moment, so please don't make fun of me if I lose all my hair, including eyebrows and eyelashes. They'll grow back... right?
In the interest of keeping my life stress-free (and preserving some hair), I'm going to stop thinking about the balding.
Anyway, back to Thailand. After the disaster that was the Naga Fireball Festival we headed back to Bangkok, and Mary and Kat left the next day. Danielle and I headed north in a different direction to visit Chiang Rai. Danielle had already been to Chiang Mai, which is bigger and more touristy, but she hadn't seen any hill tribes, and man, she wanted to see some. Sadly for her, she had to wait it out with me for several days in Chiang Rai while I mentally prepared myself for the hill tribes.
In the meantime, we took many impromptu walking tours around the city (which is relatively small... I think we walked the whole of it a couple times) and visited lots of temples. It was nice being in a small less-touristy town as opposed to Bangkok and Krabi.
On Wednesday, we hopped on a public "bus" (it was a van, not unlike those we used in Indonesia) and rode with the locals to the White Temple (or Wat Rong Khun).
In the interest of keeping my life stress-free (and preserving some hair), I'm going to stop thinking about the balding.
A sign from a random temple in Chiang Rai.
Anyway, back to Thailand. After the disaster that was the Naga Fireball Festival we headed back to Bangkok, and Mary and Kat left the next day. Danielle and I headed north in a different direction to visit Chiang Rai. Danielle had already been to Chiang Mai, which is bigger and more touristy, but she hadn't seen any hill tribes, and man, she wanted to see some. Sadly for her, she had to wait it out with me for several days in Chiang Rai while I mentally prepared myself for the hill tribes.
Mekong river and Chiang Rai countryside.
In the meantime, we took many impromptu walking tours around the city (which is relatively small... I think we walked the whole of it a couple times) and visited lots of temples. It was nice being in a small less-touristy town as opposed to Bangkok and Krabi.
This is a replica of the sacred Emerald Buddha in Chiang Rai (the real one is in Bangkok). It is in a room with green lighting. I quite enjoyed that.
On Wednesday, we hopped on a public "bus" (it was a van, not unlike those we used in Indonesia) and rode with the locals to the White Temple (or Wat Rong Khun).
The aptly-named White Temple.
This temple was built by Chalemchai Kositpipat, a renowned Thai artist. He built it all in white to symbolize the purity of Buddha. And he's not finished yet. He and his team are continually adding new buildings and statues around the site.
This was the bathroom. Is that not the most glorious restroom you've ever seen? It was closed when we went, but I don't think I could've used it anyway. It's too fancy.
The temple was interesting, but I found it kind of difficult to look at its eye-scorching brilliance. In addition to the white paint, the artist put up tiny glittering mirrors around the designs to highlight them. It gives the whole thing a very blinding effect.
Thais posing at the side-entrance.
Inside the main hall is a huge mural depicting... something. Seriously, I couldn't figure out what was going on inside that thing. I think it might be some sort of massive Buddha head made up of various people and events from pop-culture. I know I saw Darth Vader and Spiderman, and there's no telling what else. Apparently the eyes of the Buddha depict George W. in one eye and Osama bin Laden in the other. I am obviously no great art-analyst, so I won't pretend to know what was going on in there. Probably something about the evils of pop-culture taking over our lives... Isn't that what all art is about these days?
A vomiting planter.
After visiting the White Temple, we went across the street to a cafe for lunch and drank Thai iced tea with bugs in it. I noticed the bugs pretty early on in my tea, but I drank it anyway. I didn't want to be rude. Plus, I was thirsty. Later that day we went shopping at the incredible Chiang Rai night market. The end.
Are your retinas scorched yet? Dragons on top of the White Temple.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Smoke
Just checked the forecast here because it's looking cloudy, and this is what I found:
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Vadodara, India Weather
Updated: Nov 12, 2010, 3:10pm Local Time
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