bangkok
11.07 - 11.16, 2017 | 15 YO | FUJI X-T2
My family once again had some sort of family reunion. This time for the wedding of my Uncle Sam and his, now wife, Kendra. The wedding took place in Phuket, Thailand, which of course was beautiful place but the wedding also had us travel to Bangkok and Hong Kong to maximize our travel across the world and to spend additional time with Uncle Sam and Kendra following their wedding. At the wedding I didn’t take many photos, I should have taken more, but I wanted to be part of the wedding without being distracted. So there are a limited amount of photos of Phuket where the wedding took place. This post is really about Bangkok, where we went to for three days after the wedding. The food was wonderful; I enjoyed a bunch of mango sticky rice’s, lots of complex flavors, and didn’t encounter any peanut reaction which was nice. Thai food is far better than any American food. Despite the visit to Bangkok having been a mere three days, we were able to experience the city in a variety of ways.
今年の11月の11日に私のおじさんサム＋ケンドラはタイランドで結婚した。結婚式はプーケットと言う美しい、小さいタイの島で起こった。そして式の後バンコクも香港へ行って、香港でサム＋ケンドラと会って三日一緒に過ごした。結婚式でサム＋ケンドラに集中したかったからあまり写真撮らなかった。だからこの記事はバンコクから始まる。バンコクでマンゴースティッキーライスをたくさん食べて、マッサージを何回もやった。たった三日しかバンコクにいなかったのにバンコクが好きなのは分かった。
Travel There
On the plane, it was the first time flying on a Chinese Airline and I was surprised to learn that phones couldn’t be used in any mode but tablets and laptops were fine to use. Somewhat of an odd and inconsistent regulation. When we landed I could somehow tell I was in China by the color and feel of the sky.
During our layover in Beijing, we ate some Chinese food in a ridiculously empty airport. We later found out that Trump was in Beijing and so travels were limited. Once we landed in Phuket it was midnight and in a few days the wedding took place. I skip to Bangkok and get back to Phuket at the end of this post.
Bangkok
Two days after the wedding we left Phuket and went off to Bangkok. Arriving in Bangkok was wonderful. The airport was industrial and gave off a feel of the future, there was a smooth transition from the airport to a train, and the train itself was one of the most exciting for me. All of which I can not find in L.A.
結婚式からバンコクへ着いたら電車を町へ乗り、タクシーに乗って Ad Lib ホテルへ行った。1日前バンコクへ来たママとホテルで会い、みんなで Thipsamai と言うレストランへ行った。そこで世界一のパッドタイを食べた。その夜ママはソウルへ飛んで、そこからロスへ行った。
The hotel was little and cute, and we had two connecting rooms. A little after we settled in our mother joined us to go see a temple and eat the best pad thai in the world at Thipsamai. My mother arrived in Bangkok a day earlier and left that night for L.A. through Seoul. My mother hardly travels anymore so it was nice to see her be somewhere other than work and home.
The pad thais’ were great. They were small and very inexpensive and so we ordered a bunch. The dish was naturally very different from what I had in America; it wasn’t very saucy, and it seemed to be that almost all pad thais’ in Thailand had a very thing egg over the dish, something I never had before.
Fuse + Boum
The next morning my mother called from a taxi in Seoul. She had a 10 hour layover in Seoul and she spent it out in the city. When she tried to return to the airport to catch her next flight she had estimated the time back to the airport a little off and was briefly crying in the cab. From Soul station to the airport was 43 min and her flight was leaving in 50 min. My mother boarded the train and rested on the train. Nearing the airport she dashed out the train and made it to her flight in 13min from station to terminal through security to gate.
On our second day we met with Fuse, a friend of my fathers. The two worked on a project a while back and my father said that he was kind then. Fuse was very kind; he spent the entire day with us taking us to a delicious place for lunch, making a reservation for arguably one of the best Thai massage places at Was Pho temple, and finding a hidden rooftop restaurant.
二日目 Fuse と言う人と会った。８年前パパは彼と一緒に仕事をして友達になった。Fuse はすごく優しかった。一日中私達といてバンコクの中に色いろな所へ連れてもらった。フェリーに乗ったりナイトマーケットへ行った。そして世界一のタイマッサージへ連れてもらった。
At Wat Pho temple we saw the magnificent Recling Buddha. The temple also is the place where masseuses and masseurs learn how to practice Thai massages and it doubles as a spa for customers as well. Fuse made a reservation for us intuitively knowing we would like it, and it was wonderful. It was nothing that I’ve experienced before; the massage was full of deep pressure on certain points as opposed to squishing different parts of the body.
Dinner was really nice. Fuse took us to a tiny rooftop restaurant with quite a nice view. And Boum, the other friend, joined us after her day at work. The Wat Pho temple was illuminating in a godly fashion behind us.
その夜マッサージをやった寺から近くの屋上のレストランで食べた。そこでもう一人の友達 Boum と会って一緒に食べた。景色は美しかった。
We then went to a night market where we walked around a little and eventually ended the night with a ride on a ferris wheel. That was the last of seeing Fuse and Boum on our trip but in the one day that they spent with us, they brought us to places at a pace that we wouldn’t have been able to have done. They were a lovely addition to our trip.
食事の後ナイトマーケットへ連れてもらって最後にかんらんしゃに乗った。Fuse と Boum はすごく優しい人だった。二人のおかげでこの日は素晴らしかった。
Last Day
The next day was our last day. We ate breakfast at a Dean & DeLuca inside of a large office building and I grabbed sushi from a store right beside it.
The trains in Bangkok are perhaps my most favorite in the world. The whole system evokes a feeling of being in Blade Runner. With the entire system elevated, and with the tracks being narrow + concrete, they put me into the future for a few minutes.
私はもちろん東京の電車が大好きだけどバンコクの方が格好良いと思う。東京の方は何倍もバンコクより効率だけど、バンコクでは駅も線路も全部コンクリートだし高架されているから未来の雰囲気がする。
After breakfast we took the train to Siam for lunch and then walked over to the Bangkok Art + Culture Center where Thailand’s former king Bhumibol Adulyadej who past away recently was the main exhibit. There were multiple cameras from the past that the king owned and the usual statues and art pieces of a ruler, but by far the most interesting and beautiful thing there were the photos that the king himself took. One of the kings favorite hobbies was to take pictures. There were photos of giant crowds surrounding him to the most ordinary things that he thought was beautiful. To see the photos that the king took because he thought was beautiful was special.
We then had some sticky rice at the popular Mango Tango and then once again rode the train, this time to a Japanese themed Thai Massage place. After the hour-long massage, we went over to the nearby restaurant Supanniga to have our last supper in Bangkok. The food was great and so was my second mango sticky rice of the day.
Travel Away
I woke up at 4:45 on Thursday, received our room service order we placed the previous night, woke everyone to enjoy the adorably arranged meal, and then we all left for BKK airport. I called an Uber for a short ride to the train station so we could exit the city on the delightful train while the sun rose.
バンコクにいた間にマンゴースティッキーライスとマッサージをたくさん楽しんだ。いつかバンコクで住みたいかどうかわからないけどバンコクは素敵な町だ。料理は美味しい、人は優しいし電車は格好良い。
Bangkok was beautiful. As expected the people were kind and the food was rich with flavor but smaller aspects of Bangkok is what made it special. People were genuinely happy and although less significant, the trains were exciting for me.
Phuket
Before all of Bangkok, we spent four days in Phuket where Uncle Sam + Kendra were married. When we landed in Phuket it was midnight, and when we got to our hotel we separated into two rooms. 5min after we entered our rooms our grandparents knocked at the door with treats; they heard us walking to our rooms from a floor below us. The next morning we spent the day with the Fullers and it was really nice to see Sam + Koen after five months, the last time seeing them being the three months I home-stayed with the family. My family and the Fullers then walked into a small town for massages that evening, all of us lined up next to each other. That night my mother arrived.
バンコクの前はプーケットで四日いた。プーケットでサム＋ケンドラは結婚して他の時間はほとんどフラーの家族と遊んだりマッサージをした。サムとコーエンとやっとまた会えて嬉しかった。
My mother hardly travels anymore so it was really nice that she joined this time. It was nice to see her not working and just being in some place far from home. At noon on our second day, we moved hotels to the Naka Resort where Uncle Sam + Kendra were to have their wedding. The resort was surrounded by a forest and it almost seemed as if they carved out a forest and little rooms were placed on top.
最近ママは仕事ですごく忙しいからあまり旅行に行かない。今回ママが来られて良かった。二日目 Naka Resort と言う所へ移動した。リゾートは森に囲まれていて、ジブリの映画の感じがした。素敵な所だった。
Then on 11.11.2017, the wedding took place. I started the day off swimming with the Sam + Koen in various waters. At 4:00 the wedding began on grass grounds behind the ocean. Dinner was also outside and there were three tables lined up with guests. The evening was beautiful.
そして11月11日に二人は結婚した。一日中みんながしたくしていた間に私はサムとコーエンとプールと海の中に泳いだ。４時に式が海の後ろに始まり、思ったより速かった。
The wedding was lovely and so was the place.
結婚式と場所、両方とも素敵だった。
