BANGKOK - Traditional Thai dancers perform after a rainstorm at the Wat Arun Buddhist Temple.

Week 3
November 7, 2001 - Thailand
"Extreme Opposites"

Dear Thor:

Today, I ate a bamboo worm.

Actually I ate two of them. The first one was steamed, and it tasted really gross. The second one was a LOT better. It was lightly fried in some vegetable oil and it tasted like buttered popcorn.

You're probably wondering why I'm telling you this.

Well my worm experience is actually a great analogy for my experiences in Bangkok, Thailand. Most of my first-time experiences have been disgusting and gross, but my second-time experiences are enjoyable and still unsettling at the same time.

Here in the land of Siam, my first impression is rarely a lasting one.

For example, I got scammed on my first day in Bangkok. I was tired, confused and worn down from catching the "Traveler's Bug" in Japan. That left me easy prey for the three-wheeled Tuk-Tuk drivers who are notorious for "taking you for a ride" instead of taking you to your requested destination. This Tuk-Tuk driver offered to show me around Bangkok as a personal tour guide. But instead of taking me to see the sites, he took me to cheap commercial areas where I was constantly pressured to buy things. And during the entire three-hour ordeal, he drove me through harrowing alleyways filled with bone-jarring potholes while a torrential rainstorm drenched me. By the time I got away, I was miserable, sore, scared, furious, confused, and choking from the exhaust.

But a few hours later, I met Lon and Martha Ficke in an Internet Café. They're from San Diego and been traveling the Pacific Rim for seven months. They must have seen the bewildered look in my eyes because they took me under their protective wing and showed me around town. They gave me tips on how to get around this sprawling metropolis of 10 million people and told me on how to deal with the Tuk-Tuks. Lon also introduced me to Banana-Chocolate pancakes that you can buy from the street vendors. Yum!

I've learned that Bangkok is a city of extreme opposites. Everyday, I see people living in poverty and decrepit conditions while new luxury cars fill the streets. I'll walk by beggar boys sleeping on the streets when a few blocks away, I'll discover uniformed school kids playing Sousa marches in the school band. Bangkok has Buddhist monks and bartering street vendors. Quiet temples and ear-shattering traffic jams. Eastern culture and Western culture.

The city is disgusting and gross. Yet enjoyable and still unsettling at the same time. Kind of like eating the worm.

I've actually had two Bangkok experiences that have been completely enjoyable (with no unsettling aftertaste.) The first happened Sunday when I explored the Talin Chan Floating Market with Jamie Trento and Jan MacDonald from Banff, Ontario. I think we were expecting to find yet another tourist trap, but instead we discovered this incredible food market on open-air canal barges. Dozens of food vendors tie their cooking boats to the barges, and local natives sit on the floor to eat their meal. For entertainment, people sing Karaoke in the nearby park, local musicians perform traditional Thai music, and young kids dive off a bridge into the canal.

The second "completely enjoyable" Bangkok experience happened yesterday when I left Bangkok by train. (Yea!)

So I'm now in northern Thailand just outside of Chiang Mai, and my Search has just taken a very interesting turn. You see, I'm now traveling with 17 Brits. I met them on the train platform when they were sprawled out playing cards. I walked up to one of the women and said "Now this looks like a fun group of people."

She replied "It is. We're headed up north to Chiang Mai to go on a four-day jungle trek. You should join us."

It was an interesting offer, so on a whim, I accepted her invite. Now I find myself traveling into the wild unknown with Steve, Andrea, Izzy, Sarah, Mark, Katherine, Graham, David, Robert, Irene, Annette, Ann, Tracey, Jane, Bam Bam, Michele, and Julie.

On this trek, we will be eating native food, staying with local tribes people, sleeping in bamboo shacks on hard floors, bathing in rivers, defending ourselves from leeches and Mozzies (British slang for mosquitoes), riding elephants, paddling through rapids on hand-made bamboo rafts, and traversing more than 40 kilometers of mountains, jungles, and rice paddies.

So far, I've learned that Steve is the adventurous one in the group. We just stopped in a local market, and I noticed that he skipped all of the more savory dishes and to buy a sack of bamboo worms. After eating a few, he turned to me and asked "Wanna try a snack, mate?"

"What do they taste like?"

"Oh, they're not too bad. A little woody in flavor. It's just the texture that kind of gets to you. They pop in your mouth when you bite them."

I really didn't want to eat the worm, but I felt compelled to show everyone that I wasn't some wussy Yank. So I reached into the bag, grabbed a worm, and ate it. (It's funny, but I feel like I'm on my own personal version of "Survivor!")

I don't know if I'll get "immunity" for eating the worm, but these people are going to be my "family" for the next four days. I'll write you and tell you all about it when I get back that is, IF I get back! ;-)

Be well, be present. And Namaste!

Scotty