CAC Benevolent Fund

Saturday Night Slam

Trip To The Far East Part Two

To the many people that again emailed me and called me this past week ..... Thank you ... your concern is very precious to me. I had a cat scan done and the results will be at my doctors mid week. I will keep everyone in my thoughts and let you know as soon as anything is known to me.--Percival

This column, once again, we are blessed to have former manager of the Original Sheik, Dave Drason Burzynski, to write of some of his experience in travels to the Far East. This is Part Two of a series of stories that will be told in the next few weeks.

After a stroll through a vast market area behind our hotel (there is endless shopping everywhere throughout Bangkok), it was fun again to have to barter for everything you buy. They give you a price; you counter their offer, which goes back and forth until both parties agree on a good buy. It's a lot of fun but I tend to bring this practice back home with me and try to barter in various stores. You'd be surprised that I can often get a better price at, say, Marshall Fields. Another dip in the pool, another shower, and it's dinnertime again. The dining experience takes us to The Shangarila, a highly touted restaurant that, once again, is short on ambiance but high in quality food. Many tanks line the back wall with live fish, even a huge tank with a two-foot grouper swimming around, a meal for a family of 10 and not for us. But we do order, among others things, is the Peking Duck Thai Style.

They first present to you at the table a large roasted duck. It is then taken away and brought back a few minutes later, apparently cooked again, and a chef tableside begins to take the crispy skin off the foal. Once skinned, a gal brings a plate of matchstick size vegetables, wrapped in a small red pepper for presentation, a pan of moo sho pancakes (thin wraps), and a thick sauce. Armed with only a pair of chopsticks, she takes a wrap, places a piece of duck skin on the wrap, a few vegetables, a dab of sauce, and one by one, puts them on your plate. All in all, she does about 20 of these consistently as you eat them as she puts them on your plate. Mmmmm. Then, the duck is taken away once again, and prepared yet another way. When it is presented to us on a large platter, the outer coating seemed to have a nice tasty crunch to it, yet the inside meat was as moist and flavorful as could be. Eating it sure is a lot better than trying to convey in writing just how good it was.

On our way back to the hotel, we stop in one of Bangkok's famous night markets, stall after stall of imitation watches, clothes, lamps, silks, and everything you can imagine ready for a shoppers whim. Amid all of this is a string of Go-Go Bars, with hundreds of young Thai women dancing and looking for a friend for the evening, or day, or week, or a lifetime I guess.

On our last day in Bangkok, we hired the driver from our hotel who had a sweet BMW limo to take us an hour north of the city to the ancient capital city of Ayutthaya. Along the way, this dude was passing cars like they were standing still, looking at his speedometer clocking 165 kilometers per hour (over 100 mph), wondering what his hurry was. But, he's a pro, and I enjoyed the smooth ride and sights along the way. Ayutthaya is still a good size town, its ancient ruins spread throughout the city. We are taken from spot to spot, each more beautiful than the other. Spires rising to the sky in many forms, brick and mortar Wat impress with every photo taken. We even see an old Buddha head, sans body, engulfed by an old tree. Many seated Buddha line the walls of the numerous Wat, most headless and armless, these ruins in this form from this city being sacked in the 1700's by the Burmese.

An experience that you couldn't pay to be amongst: I was inside a temple where hundreds of people were in various stages of worship. As you enter, always shoeless in respect to the temples you are in, the heavy scent of burning incense hits you like a ton of bricks as people are making offerings to Buddha. Next to them are the throngs lighting candles, brightly colored wax spires that emit a nice sweet aroma. You then fight your way through a small opening where a large golden Buddha sits in a sanctuary, watching as workers adorn him with large swatches of golden silk fabric, as they are dwarfed by the size of this icon. And, next to all of this is a monk, strewing holy water amongst the crowd with a long bristle broom-like stick. And, as you exit, numerous monks sit in the lotus position as people bring offerings to them. I learned that they only eat two meals a day, breakfast and lunch, and everything eaten by them is through offerings. I guess I'd do okay for awhile here as a monk, going from house to house of all you readers, enjoying feasts as I do on occasion at your abodes. But the pay sucks, no benefits, and no days off. Tour books say it would take three days to explore this city, but we only have a day, and it's time to head back. On our way, we stop for lunch at a riverside café, and we use our driver's language skills to order us lunch, which we also treated him to. During our lunch, we hear an extremely loud explosion, not knowing what it was, and we disregard the noise. Not till the following day did we learn the explosion was caused by an accident at a fireworks factory that killed 15 people and injured many others. They were preparing for a large festival held each year at this time. Tragic.

After four days in Bangkok and Ayutthaya, I now have a dilemma. I have been shooting pictures at such a frantic pace; out of my original six discs brought, I have only two left. And we've got over a week to go. The concierge at our hotel helps me by taking me to a person he knows, a little ways from the hotel, but down a dingy alleyway, to her place where she has a small computer network in her tiny home. She thus downloads my discs and burns them onto CD's, thus freeing up all my disc space once again. A lifesaver she was and charged me only a small amount for her service.

Our last dinner spot before we travel on was at a place very close to our hotel. As we walk the street in search of this place, called Once Upon a Time, address in hand, we can't find it at all. Almost ready to give up the search, we stop back at our hotel to ask if such a place really exists. Yes indeed, except we have to make a turn off our street, down a dark road, until we happen upon an old home with a small sign with the name written on its wall. We stroll through their gardens to go inside its first floor living room, a old Victorian setting, antiques throughout, the AC blowing welcome cool air, and calming Thai music playing subtly in the background. We are given our typical 20-page menu and a wonderful little wine list reportedly one of the best in Bangkok. Janet's red snapper, our shared Tom Yam soup, and my beef with garlic and pepper were amazing. Our white Bordeaux a perfect match for each incredible dish, subtle yet attentive service made this one of my most memorable dining experiences of the trip.

Before we head into Northern Thailand, here are a few of my lasting impressions of Bangkok.

* There are 2 weather seasons here...............Hot and Hotter.

After a brief one-hour flight, we are now in the city of Chiang Mai, Thailand's second largest city, an old walled city that is not as crowded, loud, polluted, or hectic as Bangkok. The weather is about 90 degrees but much less humid, with sunshine and blue skies, it is quite comfortable. Our home for the next three days is the exquisite Chiang Mai Plaza Hotel. After a brief settling in period, we head out to explore this city new, which is new to all of us. We stop at many interesting little shops along the way, see new Wat's in different architectural style from what we had experienced in the South. Our lunch stop at a little beer café was one of our best meals of the whole trip, from Janet's curry chicken to my pork schnitzel, plus beverages, and a total cost of $4, the food was impressive and the garden setting serene. I won't even discuss our dinner for this particular evening, as it was our worst meal, but much had to do with our lack of communication skills. We didn't get a few things we ordered, and it was a situation where they gave you a hot pot on your table to cook your own food. Usually, I'd like this type of dining experience, but our pot was anything but hot, and strips of pork fat not too appetizing, an odd substitute for the shrimp that was ordered.

This next day was probably the highlight of our trip, a day so filled with merriment and extreme body feelings, I would be hard pressed to put together a better itinerary if my life depended on it.

We were picked up at our hotel by our host Aoi, a native hill tribe gal who was a wealth of knowledge about her homeland. Our one-hour drive north took us to the Maetaman Elephant Camp, a remote place where they train Asian elephants for work in the jungles. As we arrive, we see hundreds of elephants roaming the grounds and many in the river getting their daily baths by their trainer/sponsors. As I am about to take my first photo of the day of their bathing practice, a baby elephant with a trunk full of water gives me my second shower of the day. We are then treated to a performance by the elephants as they show off their many skills. They curtsy, play harmonica, play soccer, slam dunk basketballs, give their trainers massages with one of their large feet, move and stack timber, strand chain around their necks for transport, sing, and most of all amazing, their ability to paint on canvas with their trunks. Each elephant has it's own unique style, and even though they are not Picasso by any means, they are impressive and for sale at the end of the display. They change color, brushes, they dot, they dab, they swatch and stroke, art for art's sake.

You are able to feed them bananas and sugarcane, feeling their gentleness in grabbing their treats and their immense power when you try to resist giving them their reward. After the display of talents, we are led into a two-person basket upon one of them and are treated to a leisurely ride through the jungle. It's a swaying, uneven ride, but you can appreciate the agility and balance they possess. As we cross the river for the second time atop their backs, we are brought back to an exiting point where we then take an oxcart ride back to our point of origin. Now, this is what I call an uncomfortable ride, the cart needing some padding and shocks, and the oxen a bit more speed and finesse.

We are then treated to a ride down the river that abuts the jungle on thin bamboo rafts. The soft quiet ride as the current takes us down its path, guided by a tribesman with a single long bamboo pole to guide our way. We lunch on sandwiches, fruit, cheese, crackers, and water as the pleasant gentle ride treats us to the jungle scenery on its banks. At journey's end, we are met by children of the land, dressed in traditional tribal garb, selling hand made crafts.

On our return ride, our guide is all too happy to take us wherever we want to go in search of local crafts, expertly done pieces done at the many factories in the city. We take in artisans that sculpt teak, make silver products, lacquerware, silk, and a colorful display of hand painted umbrellas, one of which we purchase and ship home, too large to haul halfway around the world, which we will enjoy starting next Spring. After shopping is complete, we are taken back to our hotel where we immediately go to the rooftop pool, enjoy a cocktail and the refreshing coolness of the pool water.

Now, it's time to meet our appointment at the hotel spa, where we sign up for two treatments: Thai massage and foot massage. First, a 45-minute Thai massage is supposed to relieve tension and stress, none of which I have in my life. It is a heavy pressure point work out that, damn, after she was done, I needed a massage to get the kinks out of what pain and treatment she had just given me. I'm exaggerating a little bit, but I did take a few Motrin to ease the pain. But the 45-minute foot massage was heavenly. After a week of walking, it was a welcome pleasure. From the soaking of your feet in water with lemons and limes, to the cream laden strokes on and between your toes, bottoms of your feet, your ankles and calves, even when she starts stretching your feet and stoking them with a wood dowel, this was an inexpensive pleasure I could go for everyday of my life. I just need that inexpensive housemaid to cooperate.

We take a Tuk Tuk to our dinner destination (they are safe to ride in here, traffic is not as chaotic, and there are no taxi cabs here anyway), an old Thai teakwood home. I had no idea what the Brorun Mashrooms were on the menu, but our food was quite enjoyable. The quirk of the day was that when I ordered a bottle of wine, the waiter couldn't be happier to retrieve it for me, saying, yes, we have a bottle of wine. Only did I find out later, when we wanted to order another, it actually was their only bottle. They don't sell wine, but they were happy to give me the only bottle that happened to be in the restaurant.

Our next day, Aoi takes us about 20 miles out of town to the National Park which houses the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, a temple 3,500 feet up at the top of the mountain. It's the holiest temple in Northern Thailand, and it's main golden chedi and side temples, their housed artwork, and the eye opening display of color all around you was a delight for my camera trigger finger. We had fun taking photos of the many tribe children who happen to be amongst the worshipers, dressed in their tribal clothes and their friendliness towards us, they interested in us as we were in them. After the temple, we were treated to a number of waterfalls that we hiked to within the park. We were dropped off in the city where we looked for a spot for lunch. I had heard there was an Italian place with a huge brick oven that did amazing pizza. We would it easily and we treated to the best pie I ever had outside of Italy. Same thin crust, meager toppings, and great taste. This was better than many I had even in Italy, what a find, and after a week of Thai food, this was a welcome treat.

During our stroll, we happen upon some young children, fishing in the moat the surrounds the city, about five years of age and nude as could be. They used a silk cocoon, extracted it's thread, and used the cocoon as a bobber, and the sight of their joyous faces as they hauled in their three- and four-inch catches was the bomb. Life so simple, it made me wanna strip down myself and join in the fun. I didn't want the exposure, if you know what I mean. From here, the usual, the pool, dinner, a Tuk Tuk ride and a good nights rest. This being our last day in Thailand, we head to our next and last destination the following day, Hong Kong.

To be continued...

Percival A. Friend, Retired
The Epitome of Wrestling Managers
2004 CAC Honoree