Bangkok is ... interesting...

After a long sleep and a restful morning we met up with Terry and Nhan (I’m betting that’s more likely how she spells it) for some sightseeing. We headed to a temple for a few pictures and I must admit that despite my supreme dislike for gold and the Thai affinity for it, the temple was pretty amazing. Even more amazing was the commercial feel to the place with vendors all around the building while inside an older monk was teaching about 30 younger ones. His voice was broadcast over loudspeakers outside and it made it feel almost like the Dubai airport all over again. I’m sure the fact I couldn’t understand anything didn’t help matters. Either way, it was a really neat experience and I’m glad we went. I’m also glad I’m not a monk because it takes a special person to wear that much orange and still look good!

Next we headed to another part of Bangkok to see ‘The Largest Crocodile Farm in the World’ (Aaron and Noah eat your hearts out!!!). The trip there was kind of breath-taking in a way because I had no idea that Bangkok was soooooo big. Most of the other cities we’ve been in really don’t seem all that much bigger than Calgary in area (way bigger in people terms) but Bangkok is monstrous as far as I can tell! The sky scrapers, billboards, neon lights and three storey freeways just go on for miles and miles as far around as you can see.

In Canada I work with Humane Societies across the country and in general I’ve always had a softer heart for animals than for people as both my parents and Eric will attest to. I’m learning to adjust my expectations here. I simply can’t hold the people here to the same standards because it wouldn’t be fair. Before we left for Tanzania Eric and I were watching Departures (on OLN, catch it if you can it’s pretty neat) and Justin and Scott were in Malaysia and being treated to a village feast. However in order to have a feast you have to have a dead animal and the ceremony and manner in which they killed the cow was by our standards grotesque. Anyways, Scott said something really eloquent about not holding people to the same expectations as we would in Canada because it’s a different culture and what we do would look equally grotesque for many other reasons. Eric had to remind me of that today and now I’m pointing it out for your benefit.

We arrived at the Crocodile Farm just in time to catch a show touted as ‘man vs. man-eater’.
We found the stadium and took our seats and waited for things to begin. The first sights were enough to make me question even being there, a group of about 20 crocs were housed in a hockey rink shaped pool about 50 feet wide and 70 feet long. The water was no more than two feet deep and in there was a dry concrete divider through the middle where the show took place. The Star-wars music started and out came two guys who proceeded to grab bamboo sticks and antagonize the crocs into snapping at them by repeatedly poking, kicking and tapping them on the heads. It was really bizarre. Then they pulled some crocs up on to the concrete area and started getting the crocs to hold their mouths open while they stuck parts of their bodies inside trying not to get snapped. I do think the crocs were trained and the men were in no danger of losing a thumb or head but the poking and prodding at the beginning had already jaded my view point and the whole thing was more than a little much for me. I desperately cheered, in my head, for one of the crocs to finally get sick of this crap and clamp down for a death roll with someone’s head in his mouth.

After the show we wandered around for a while and checked out the other ‘attractions’ of the zoo. There were numerous animals all kept in cramped concrete kingdoms that make the Calgary Zoo look like the Serengeti. After the time we spent in Africa and seeing so many of them in the wild it was truly heart breaking. The final straw for me was the Leopard chained and waiting for folks to come get their picture taken with him. Eric’s was seeing a full grown elephant forced to walk a tight wire. After our fleeting glimpse on Mt. Meru seeing this leopard and a baby in a cage fit for a rabbit nearly brought me to tears.

Now that I’ve totally ruined your reading experience might I remind you again that we have no right to judge this. In our world we put our feet on coffee tables and point them to the front of our holy buildings and crosses with dirty shoes on which we get in trouble for not wearing if we try to be respectful, and to top it all off we sit on the same toilet seat as everyone before us. Thai people find each of these much more disgusting than any chained animal. My point being, tolerance and readjusting expectations has become a motto for Eric and I and I hope it does for you too.