The Waterstraut Waterspout: Religion Week: Thailand

Asa is in the office today and tomorrow, so I'm going to try my best to get all caught up on the blog. Last Sunday we were on to our first country for Buddhism: Thailand.

Thailand is a friendly, touristy country known as the 'land of smiles'. They have bizarre buildings (shaped like an elephant!), the worlds smallest bat (the bumblebee bat, because it's that small!), Monkey Buffet festivals (for the macaque monkeys in the Lopburi Provinces to say thank you for bringing tourists to the area), and a capital that we may know as Bangkok, but is actually a simplified version of it's real name, which I'm not about to type, because it's the longest city name in the world.

Floating markets, where goods are sold from boats, originated in times when water transport played an important role in daily life. Today you can visit them, but they are there primarily as tourist attractions.

It's the country in southeast Asia that is most visited by tourists. Thailand offers thick green jungles, warm crystal blue waters, and amazing cuisine. Food is really reason enough for a trip to Thailand. Curries, fruit shakes, stir fried, and fresh fish made a zillion ways. It can be as cheap and easy as pad thai cooked in a street stall or as expensive and complicated as a ten course meal by a royal chef served in Bangkok's 5 star hotels.

Thailand is exotic yet safe, cheap yet equipped with every modern amenity you might need. There is something for every interest and every price bracket. From backpackers to luxury hotels, it has lots to offer to anyone who might want to visit.

Sadly, Thailand's beloved king died in October last year. He had served just over 70 years as the king, and at the time of his death was the longest serving head of state, and he had been the king of Thailand longer than anyone before him. The country, as a result, is in mourning. No big celebrations will take place for a year, and many of the people in Thailand wore black for months. His son ascended to the throne.

About 93% of the population in Thailand is Buddhist. We learned about the four noble truths, and the eight-fold path to enlightenment. The different branches/sects/divisions of Buddhism come from what area you live in.

We also talked about Buddhist Temples, and then we went on a field trip to Wat Mongkolratanaram, the Buddhist Temple in Tampa.

Every Sunday they open up the Temple, and serve Thai food at the Sunday Market. Various stations are set up in a covered outdoor market. The food ranges from grab and go to soups to tea to fried bananas.

But everyone that goes talks about the soup. It really is delicious, and I'm glad that we went on a colder morning. I feel like in the heat of summer, it might leave something to be desired. The bowls are HUGE. We all split one for $8, although by the time it came around to me, it was missing most of the meat and noodles- but it was still good!

We also got some lemonade, Thai tea, and lychee tea. Peyton liked the Thai tea, and Asa and I didn't mind any of them, but Calib and Hayden stuck to the lemonade.

Lots of people talk about the fried bananas at the Temple. They are delicious. You can also get fried Sweet Potato, or a combo. I was impatient, and the bananas were ready, so that's what I went with. I think I liked them more than everyone else, but nobody disliked them.

We also picked up some steamed dumplings. They were served cold, and we ate about half of them, and saved the other half for dinner that night. You do have to go to the Temple early, like 10 AM early to be able to find a parking spot. The lines also get long. People love their soup and bananas. That early Calib and Peyton don't eat too much, so we did buy some things to take home to have with our Thai dinner.

Besides the food, they also have lots of flowers and plants for sale, as well as produce. We ended up buying a pitcher plant for the back porch. The whole Temple is along the river, with plenty of picnic tables around for seating. It's well worth the stop.

There's also plenty of reminders that you are at the Buddhist Temple.

The surrounding area is impressive, but the temple itself is a sight to be seen, and they invite everyone in to check it out on Sundays. You just need to take off your shoes and be respectful.

Overall, we all enjoyed our trip. It was the second visit for Asa, Hayden and I. But Calib and Peyton really enjoyed it, even if they had to get up early to go. I'm sure we'll be back again.

For Thailand dinner we had some help from Trader Joes with Pad Thai, Dumplings, Edamame, and Candied Ginger.

We also picked up some Bamboo Salad, and these little mango-like raviolis that Asa's co-worker from Thailand suggested we try. We also had the rest of the dumplings from lunch.

Overall, Asa and Peyton were the only one to give dinner spoons up. I hated all of it but the dumplings and the edamame. The Pad Thai was too spicy for a lot of us, and we weren't really sure about those mango things.