Okay so as you all know, I would be running in the Delhi Half Marathon this year....
For those of you who went ... "WOW"..."good job", at the above sentence kindly ignore the next para...And thank you for the encouragement!!! (bows in gratitude!)
For those of you who went "HALF MARATHON????....you mean that 21k one????"...in disbelief...FINE!!!! I am just going to run the 6km "fun" run ....happy now???
So why am I talking about my marathons on my travel blog? That's cuz it had everything to do with me venturing out in Bangkok.
As you would have realized from the previous sentence (if not from the title!...so much so for my creativity!!!) that I am in Bangkok, Thailand (Thai massage...ring a bell???). So after office (ya ya...Am in Bangkok on official work and not on a holiday! ) (I have got to shut up in the parenthesis!! seems I write more in them than out of em!...there I go again!!), I was faced with two options, either to go to the gym and walk on the treadmill to practice or go out in the city to the nearest market...on foot...making both the touristy and the healthy me (giggles at the healthy me comment!) happy :)
I am staying at what seems to be the business district of Bangkok, Sathon Road and the market closest is the market in Bangrak. So once back from office, I changed into sports shoes and began my marathon preparation.
The first impression of Thai people I have is "super disciplined!!"...I saw queues for buses which were clearing up systematically and the people gradually boarded the buses and stopped short of overcrowding...my Indian brain didn't understand how they were not rushed to go home!!!
While I was admiring the discipline and walking along, I was rudely interrupted by a honk of a scooter!!!....on the sidewalk!!...cutting the traffic by taking the two wheeler on the sidewalk...hello India!! :)
Walking on, I saw some locals selling what looked from afar Ganesh and Laxmi idols..move closer and indeed they were, though I didn't click a picture lest they start asking for money for that too!, but it was interesting how suddenly the ambience was changing. I began to hear Tamil songs and started walking across vendors selling diyas, marigold garlands, jasmine gajras...rows and rows of gold jewelry shops...lo and behold, I am standing in front of a temple. Sri Maha Mariamman temple, a temple of Goddess Uma. It was interesting to see Thai locals, who are primarily Buddhist and Christians, religiously take off their shoes, go into the temple and come out with the tika on the forehead. My colleague had told me in the morning, that Thai people, believe in Maha Mariamman a lot!
I did see the extant of Hinduism in Bali, but that place is 90% Hindu population. However to see this devotion in a non Hindu place, was nice! I was reading on Indian population in Bangkok and wiki says its around 4,65,000 (primarily Tamilian) out of which 65k have Thai citizenship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indians_in_Thailand
For that small a population, we sure have a large presence :) ...practically every fourth restaurant was an Indian one.
Funny thing I noticed...that while in India, we get Chicken Tikka in the restaurant and gol guppas on the road side, in Bangkok, the situation was reversed!
Speaking of food, after walking for about 30 min, I walked into a street where had I not been vegetarian, would have been paradise...but that's not the case :)...So with bated breath I walked on, only to realize that if gali kuchas of Thailand are anything like India, then it might not be safe for a foreigner (I am a foreigner here aren't I?) to roam alone after dark. Much as I hate to equate to India, but let's face it, we are still far from many countries in terms of safety for foreigners! Add to it the fact that I feared I had tread too far from the hotel and might get lost on my way back :( (no I am very good with ways, but then in case of doubt, English speaking population helps to find the way back and where I had reached, it was unlikely anyone spoke English!)
So I began my walk back, planning to stop at the handicrafts shop and some vegetarian non Indian dinner (when not in India I try not to have Indian food unless I have no choice, not a fan of the localized versions of Indian cuisine...sue me!)
There was a antique looking antique shop I had seen on my way forward, I had planned to stop by on the way back. The antique shop was being run an equally antique looking couple, speaking surprisingly good English. she had equally dated sales techniques! She checked me out top to bottom and asked..."You work with airlines?"...seriously woman, have u seen how chubby I am??? It would have to be a airline with serious budget crunch to have air hostesses like me :) .... Na I am very comfortable in my skin, don't get me wrong, but I just found this method of trying to butter a prospective client funny!!
An interesting hour later I was back to the mall right next to my hotel, where a huge crowd was gathered for a singing competition. An obviously nervous girl was at the stage and began singing in what I thought was a cacophony (Critical me, I tell you!!!) ... I didn't bother staying and listening (obviously she was singing in Thai, cuz I could not understand a word!!). But by the time I was on the walkbridge to my hotel, not only had she picked up the melody, she was even singing an English song...I might just have missed the next singing sensation!!
I noticed this in the morning that all the foot-mats in the hotel said "Good Morning"(entrance,lifts et al.) and then when I came back late afternoon they said "Good Afternoon", and now that I was back, they had changed to "Good Evening"...Super Cool na!!!...subtle customer delight!
Not only had I finished my practice, I had bettered the distance I have been walking all these days...My aching muscles would tell!! I could do with more of these work outs (should they show results!!! :) )
For those of you who went ... "WOW"..."good job", at the above sentence kindly ignore the next para...And thank you for the encouragement!!! (bows in gratitude!)
For those of you who went "HALF MARATHON????....you mean that 21k one????"...in disbelief...FINE!!!! I am just going to run the 6km "fun" run ....happy now???
So why am I talking about my marathons on my travel blog? That's cuz it had everything to do with me venturing out in Bangkok.
As you would have realized from the previous sentence (if not from the title!...so much so for my creativity!!!) that I am in Bangkok, Thailand (Thai massage...ring a bell???). So after office (ya ya...Am in Bangkok on official work and not on a holiday! ) (I have got to shut up in the parenthesis!! seems I write more in them than out of em!...there I go again!!), I was faced with two options, either to go to the gym and walk on the treadmill to practice or go out in the city to the nearest market...on foot...making both the touristy and the healthy me (giggles at the healthy me comment!) happy :)
I am staying at what seems to be the business district of Bangkok, Sathon Road and the market closest is the market in Bangrak. So once back from office, I changed into sports shoes and began my marathon preparation.
The first impression of Thai people I have is "super disciplined!!"...I saw queues for buses which were clearing up systematically and the people gradually boarded the buses and stopped short of overcrowding...my Indian brain didn't understand how they were not rushed to go home!!!
While I was admiring the discipline and walking along, I was rudely interrupted by a honk of a scooter!!!....on the sidewalk!!...cutting the traffic by taking the two wheeler on the sidewalk...hello India!! :)Walking on, I saw some locals selling what looked from afar Ganesh and Laxmi idols..move closer and indeed they were, though I didn't click a picture lest they start asking for money for that too!, but it was interesting how suddenly the ambience was changing. I began to hear Tamil songs and started walking across vendors selling diyas, marigold garlands, jasmine gajras...rows and rows of gold jewelry shops...lo and behold, I am standing in front of a temple. Sri Maha Mariamman temple, a temple of Goddess Uma. It was interesting to see Thai locals, who are primarily Buddhist and Christians, religiously take off their shoes, go into the temple and come out with the tika on the forehead. My colleague had told me in the morning, that Thai people, believe in Maha Mariamman a lot!
I did see the extant of Hinduism in Bali, but that place is 90% Hindu population. However to see this devotion in a non Hindu place, was nice! I was reading on Indian population in Bangkok and wiki says its around 4,65,000 (primarily Tamilian) out of which 65k have Thai citizenship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indians_in_Thailand
For that small a population, we sure have a large presence :) ...practically every fourth restaurant was an Indian one.
Funny thing I noticed...that while in India, we get Chicken Tikka in the restaurant and gol guppas on the road side, in Bangkok, the situation was reversed!
Speaking of food, after walking for about 30 min, I walked into a street where had I not been vegetarian, would have been paradise...but that's not the case :)...So with bated breath I walked on, only to realize that if gali kuchas of Thailand are anything like India, then it might not be safe for a foreigner (I am a foreigner here aren't I?) to roam alone after dark. Much as I hate to equate to India, but let's face it, we are still far from many countries in terms of safety for foreigners! Add to it the fact that I feared I had tread too far from the hotel and might get lost on my way back :( (no I am very good with ways, but then in case of doubt, English speaking population helps to find the way back and where I had reached, it was unlikely anyone spoke English!)
So I began my walk back, planning to stop at the handicrafts shop and some vegetarian non Indian dinner (when not in India I try not to have Indian food unless I have no choice, not a fan of the localized versions of Indian cuisine...sue me!)
There was a antique looking antique shop I had seen on my way forward, I had planned to stop by on the way back. The antique shop was being run an equally antique looking couple, speaking surprisingly good English. she had equally dated sales techniques! She checked me out top to bottom and asked..."You work with airlines?"...seriously woman, have u seen how chubby I am??? It would have to be a airline with serious budget crunch to have air hostesses like me :) .... Na I am very comfortable in my skin, don't get me wrong, but I just found this method of trying to butter a prospective client funny!!
An interesting hour later I was back to the mall right next to my hotel, where a huge crowd was gathered for a singing competition. An obviously nervous girl was at the stage and began singing in what I thought was a cacophony (Critical me, I tell you!!!) ... I didn't bother staying and listening (obviously she was singing in Thai, cuz I could not understand a word!!). But by the time I was on the walkbridge to my hotel, not only had she picked up the melody, she was even singing an English song...I might just have missed the next singing sensation!!
I noticed this in the morning that all the foot-mats in the hotel said "Good Morning"(entrance,lifts et al.) and then when I came back late afternoon they said "Good Afternoon", and now that I was back, they had changed to "Good Evening"...Super Cool na!!!...subtle customer delight!Not only had I finished my practice, I had bettered the distance I have been walking all these days...My aching muscles would tell!! I could do with more of these work outs (should they show results!!! :) )
