Author stephanieip.comPosted on Categories 2018, PhotographyLeave a comment on My Discovery Channel: Thailand
My trip to Thailand was an interesting one. The food, the people, and the culture were all fascinating and eyeopening to a first time visitor. During my visit in the city of Pattaya and Bangkok in Feburary, it shown signs of grief the country was under after the recent pass of the King. As an outsider and foreigner to the country, it almost seemed like the country worships their King unconditionally, and yet the citizens seem to live in such poor living standard that was hard for me to comprehend.
Aside from the low living standards, the food was really cheap. Would I say the food was at high quality? Not really, but for sure, the food, especially the fruits, brought out the signature of Thailand. The mango was bigger than my average size hand! But, sorry to say, the taste wasn’t as great as Philippine’s mangoes. Durian was fresh and creamy!
I took a river ride on one of these speed boats. It was a fun ride going through the residential areas and the main stream among the city. The only down side to it was the water not being so clean. Also, there were alligators in the water, occationally I would see one swimming right by the boat!
Back on the land, strolling through Chinatown.
The history behind these Chinese restaurants and street vendors reminded me of my childhood in Hong Kong back in the 90’s. The type of food they served was a mixture of modern and food that was popular in the 90’s.
I got around town with my two folks by Tuktuk car, which was very compacted and not that comfortable for an hour ride. Though, it was fun to sneak through traffic jams.
The highlight of the trip was my visit at the Jim Thompson museum. The museum today is basically the house he built when he moved from America to Bangkok country side to build a Thai silk textile business in the 50’s and 60’s. Back in the day, he was one of the most famous Americans living in Asia.
To learn more about Jim Thompson,
please visit http://www.jimthompson.com.
Other than food, the temples in Thailand are widely famous for its intricacy and decor with gold finishes. A lot of work and effort were put into all of these individual temples, definitely inspiring just to look at!
Seeing that Thailand is the way it is had proven to me the idea that life can be lived with very simple basic things. It is obvious that the ratio of people buying into luxury goods are not as high as people in China, which I wonder if that will change when the economy standards catch up to the modern day society.
Hope you enjoyed today’s post!
// Stephanie Ip
Stephanie is a Creative Director and Consultant, providing creative strategy development support to small and large scale businesses in the industries of Fashion and Soft Goods. She specializes in Design and Development. Learn more about her here.
More Posts | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn