Wat Arun

Hello Everyone!!!!
There are 3 main temple type tourist sites in Bangkok, Wat Pho, the Grand Palace, and Wat Arun. Two days ago we finally made it to Wat Arun. Wat Arun, the Temple of the Dawn, is located across the river from Wat Pho. It looks very different from the other temples we have seen, it is filled with hundreds of little stone statues, and each one looks different. The walls are covered with intricate paintings and tile mosaics. The main structure has steps that you are allowed to climb. You are only allowed to go about half way up but from that height you get an amazing view of the city. I could see our hotel from there. Te steps were UNBELIEVEABLY steep. I was thankful for the handrails they had installed; I don’t know how anyone could have made the climb without them. I was particularly proud of myself for making the climb since as most of you know I’m afraid of heights. I have pictures to prove I made it though. I’ve attached a few of them. They hardly do it justice though…. I’ll talk to you all soon!!!!
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina

Kho San Road

Hello Everyone!!!!
Soo…. we decided it was time to do some more sight seeing. We decided to take off for Kho San road. We have heard from many people here that it was a laid back area of Bangkok, with lots of shops and restaurants during the day and filled with night clubs at night. Kho San road is an area popular with backpackers and westerners. We took on the boat off to make an afternoon of it.
Kho San road is ( I think) a definate must see. Truthfully there isn’t much to see there but there are some terriffic shops and lots of restaurants. We didn’t eat (we ran out of time) but we did take advantage of the shopping. We found tank tops for sale for 3 for 100 BHT……that’s roughly $1 a piece.
We’ve actually been up there twice now…… I think we’re sufficiently stocked. Talk to you all soon!
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina

Lavanya

Hello Everyone!!!!
It’s funny how even so far away some things are universal. Those things seem to pop up in unexpected ways and sometimes provide you with a little bit of home when you least expect it. My little bit of home today is Lavanya.
Lavanya is our third dancer, our resident princess, our fashion consultant, our set order consultant, and occasionally our choreographer. Lavanya is……….three.
Lavanya is staying with her parents here at the hotel. They have been here for I think 4 months now. They are somewhat in limbo due to her father’s company going under. They come from America although I believe her father is originally from India. Lavanya spends her days mostly with adults although she does go to school so that she has time to interact with children. She has made friends with all of the staff and she is quite at home in Café Mozu. Lavanya first started dancing with the dancers who were here before us. They got here around the same time as her family and they all became friends. Prior to this, she had never even seen belly dance. She started dancing with the encouragement of the other dancers, after all children often enjoy dancing at the shows. She now dances with us, almost every night.
It amazes me to see Lavanya dance. She often comes to dance in a dress that one of the managers bought for her that makes a perfect belly dance dress for a three year old. She brings her bag (just like us) with her props and her fan (that I got her) in it. She even puts on her dress up make-up and sometimes has her nails painted. She often compares her nail color to mine. She picked up many of the basic movements and continually watches us to add new moves into her repotire. She is a very fast learner and has a terrific memory. I’ve even seen her pull out moves that we did the day before without seeing them again. Sometimes she makes color requests for which costume we should wear. She also makes set requests, she likes the umbrella (cane) dance a lot. Last night she was dancing with me and she started making step requests…she likes to do “big circles” with the hips and hair flips together and she likes to watch me roll my stomach….and thinks every table should see it too. She has her own canes that she got from the other dancers. Khazna and I bought her a scarf that is the perfect size for a veil for her…..she now has quite a veil entrance complete with the walk and the spins. I even have her posing and saying “taa-daa” at the end of the set.
Watching Lavanya reminds me how lucky I am to dance. I was three when I started taking ballet and I never stopped dancing. She reminds me of the joy it has brought me all of these years and of how much it is a part of who I am. I am also reminded of all of my students back home, both the children and the adults. Of their excitement before a show, when they get to dress up. Of their excitement when they get to show off all that they have learned, and of the hard work they all put into what they love. She also reminds me of my family. Of my parents who took me to dance, and sat through all of my impromptu shows growing up and encouraged me to do what I loved, of my sister who always danced with me, of my brothers who still “bust-out” a shuffle ball change from time to time. And of my nephews…..one is three and one is 9 months old. They are two of my favorite dance partners.
I just wanted to share this bit of home with all of you, and maybe give you all something to think about. I hope to talk to you all soon……and a great big “taa-daa!” for Lavanya.
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina

The not so floating market......

Hello Everyone!!!!
Khazna found an ad in the paper the other day advertising the “Floating Market”. We had been planning to go see it before we left but since it’s a bit of a distance we had decided to wait until we could make an entire day of it. The advertisement she found though was for bus fair to and from a closer location and only for a limited time. We thought…why not? So after talking calling the number on the ad and then talking to the concierge, we discovered that to get to this location, we would not have to pay for the bus because there was a free shuttle boat to the location listed at the station about 10 minutes walk away. They explained to us at the desk that this was not the “real” floating market but they had brought in vendors for this event. We decided to go ahead because we really just wanted to see what a floating market was like. Soooo….off we went. We just missed the boat and had to wait for another (they run every 30 – 40 minutes) but eventually we were on our way. The shuttle boat ride was pretty short; it only took …maybe 20 – 30 minutes to get to the stop. “River City” the sign said. It looked like a department store. We were a bit confused but we went in anyway. Come to find out…..this was an expo of vendors from the floating market. Inside there were several little kiosks set up with vendors….nothing floating at all. There were some nice shops and I did pick up a few gifts but we still haven’t seen the illusive floating market. We’re thinking….maybe we’ll just make that day trip to the “real” floating market after all. I hope to talk to you all soon!!!!
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina

Travel tip #1

Hello Everyone!!!!
Travel tip #1….(not because it’s the first one I’ve thought of but because at present it seems the most important) Just because you are NOT allergic to ANYTHING at home does not mean that you will not develop a terrible allergic reaction to SOMETHING while you are traveling. That’s right, I haven’t written lately because for the last 3 days I have done nothing but sleep and take Oatmeal baths to attempt to get rid of the terrible itchy rash I suddenly broke out in. I’m sure this is way too much information but I thought I would share anyway :) . Thankfully I finally went and saw the doctor yesterday afternoon after realizing that, even though I kept thinking it was gone, it kept coming back. He gave me 2 kinds of pills to take and some ointment if I need it and miraculously…..it’s completely gone. Just thought I’d share my new found wisdom and explain why there have been no adventures to follow lately. Now that I’m better I’ll try to get back to the pressing schedule!
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina

Shoes

Hello Everyone!!!!
I feel the need to make a confession today. As many of you know I like shoes,….a lot. As a matter of fact I would be willing to go so far as to say I have a shoe problem (admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery right?). The fact that the exchange rate is in our favor and that there are so many really cute shoes here that you can’t find in the states isn’t helping anything either. Not to mention that it’s harder to turn them down when 20 year old ish Thai boys are bringing them to you in all sorts of colors and styles and all you have to do is sit there, you don’t even have to put them on yourself. So here’s the confession part. I came here with 7 pairs of shoes, counting 2 pair of dance shoes and 1 pair that I wear with my cover-up on the way to and from my room. I will be leaving here with (so far at least) 14. In fairness though 3 of those pairs are for dance shoes. I’ve enclosed a picture for your giggling at me pleasure…I feel much better after getting that off my chest.
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina

My day......

Hello Everyone!!!!
So, today I decided to take a day and stay close the hotel. I'm spending today doing some things that I need to catch up on and that are good for me, like extra stretching, and combing out hair pieces and the like. This being the case I thought I would walk you all through a typical day for me here. I've settled into a bit of a routine and that's helping me lot. So here goes.....
I start my day at 6:20am ....really...I know it's hard to believe but bear with me and I'll explain. 6:20am here means it's 7:20pm back home which means, it's a good time to get a call in to home. As you all know I'm really close to my family so I call pretty much every morning, I wouldn't want to miss something while I'm away and by calling through the computer with my webcam I get to see them everyday as well.....my nephews are getting so big while I'm gone. After my call home, I go back to sleep for a few hours.....I'm soooooo not a morning person and 6:20 is an obsene hour to be up at in any time zone :) . The next time my alarm goes off is 10:00am...this is a much more reasonable hour to get up and stay up at. 10:00am gives me 30 minutes to turn myself into a rockstar before breakfast. This rockstar transformation means doing something with my hair, usually putting on some eyeliner, and getting "dressed" for breakfast. Normally as you all know I wouldn't bother with all that but....see here's the thing about breakfast. The breakfast buffet (which is phenominal by the way) is located in the same restaurant that I perform at in the evenings. Thia means the bosses are always around. This also means that we are likely to run into people who have been to out show. Actually, I can't think of a morning when I didn't see someone who had been to our show. They almost always speak and I've even been asked to take pictures with people at breakfast. I feel it is important to look professional and to well "be the bellydancer" when in situations where you are around the people you work and perform for. By 10:30 I'm off to breakfast (I have to hurry because it ends at 11:00). As I said before the breakfast bar is incredible. They serve everythingfrom omlettes, and waffles to sushi and dishes from India. Today I opted for corn flakes (lame I know but they were good), yogurt with honey that was dripping right off the comb, fruit salad (complete with dragon fruit), guava juice and green tea.
Normally if we are going site seeing or shopping we go right after breakfast. It's much cooler then, by cooler I mean usually mid to upper 80's. It gets continually hotter as the day goes on. After siteseeing or shopping or whatever adventure we have for the day, it’s back to the hotel. Usually we try to bet back here by about 4:00, that’s lunch time. If we decided not to stray too far from the hotel, usually I hit the pool sometime after breakfast. If I have time before lunch I either take a nap ( not so much any more but the first few weeks this was essential), or do my daily conditioning and stretching. I’ve found this to be absolutley necessary for me to do to keep my body going. On days I miss it I can tell a big difference. My conditioning routine consists of either a version of the warm-up I have the line do at Vi’s or I follow along with Cassandra’s Conditioning Class DVD (love it!!).
4:00 is lunch time, I either go to the restaurant I work in or sometimes I order room service. The food is delicious either way. Today it was down to the restaurant for gourmet pizza. After lunch, I squeeze in some stretching (espicially if I didn’t get to earlier) and sit down to email and blog. I check my email off and on throughout the day but I use this time to get most of it done. By 6:30 I have to start preparing for work. I’ve found that that gives me exacly enough time to do my hair, make-up and get dressed. We have shows at 7:30, 8:15, 9:15, 10:00, 11:00, and 11:45. Our shows are 15 minutes long. Between each show we go back up to out rooms to change. It’s a bit of a walk but it’s nice to have as much space, and privacy as you need. It also gives me a chance to fix the hair and make-up if necessary. Usually when I check the weather after we are done the temperature outside is 99 degrees Fahrenheit……it’s also often very humid.
After we are done for the night we order dinner through room service. We take turns with which room we eat in. While waiting for room service I attempt to get as much of me put back together as possible. All the extra hair and the make-up have to come off. Once we’re done eating it’s off to the shower with me and then off to bed. I’m usually in bed by about 1:30 - 2 ish.
So that’s about it for me…..I have to get ready for work soon. I hope to hear from you all soon!!!!
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina

Meditation Class

Hello Everyone!!!!
Sooooo yesterday Khazna and I decided that while we are here we should take advantage of the culture in a way that doesn't involve shopping. She looked through her travel book for ideas of things to do and we decided to try something we couldn't do in the U.S. We decided to go to a meditation class in a buddist temple. I know all of you who know me are thinking....your gonna sit still and clear your mind .....right. I agree this seemed like an impossible feat but I figure...why not I'll try most anything once.
So we hopped on the boat and away we went. We're getting pretty good at the public transportation here. After asking for directions several times and a little aimless wandering we were finally pointed in the right direction and we soon arrived at the "Meditation Study and Retreat Center". Ok the school isn't actually in a temple come to find out but Monks live there and it's near several temples. We walked in and were greeted by an older gentleman who thankfully spoke good English (the book said they spoke English but you never know....). He sat on the other side of the desk and began talking to us about retreats coming up, and what classes consist of, and why do we think we need meditation, and what do we know about meditation, and then about what meditation is and the history and the goal and ...and ... suddenly we realized this was the class. We had hoped to join in a class or get a schedule as to when they are offered. We weren't expecting to walk in and have the first available person who spoke English to start a class just for us. But once again I figured...why not.
After our history and theory lesson we were taken into another room to learn two methods of meditation. We learned a walking meditation and a sitting meditation. We had been instructed that it would be difficult and wow he was right. We were taught to acknowledge thing brought to us by our senses, things we hear or see or feel but to let them go. We were told to acknowledge what our mind is wandering to but to then let it go and return our consentration to our breathing. That's the hard part, to let it go and go back to concentrating. We were told at the end of the lesson that we are welcome to come back anytime to practice or to ask questions, we were even given an email address in case we had questions and couldn't get back.
All in all it was an enjoyable experience, I'm really glad we went. I would definately reccomend givingit a try to anyone, especially if your here in Thailand anyway..... I hope to hear from you all soon!!!!!!
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina

The Weekend Market

Hello Everyone!
Yesterday we went to the weekend market. We had read about it and after talking to people from here we decided to have a look. The stories we heard hardly began to describe this place. It is unimaginabley huge, especially for a market that is only open on the weekends and has very few perminant buildings. The little booths were so packed together that you were always in the shade. You can buy absolutely ANYTHING there.....have I mentioned the exchange rate it about 35 BHT to $1? They have clothing, shoes, jewelry, food, restaurants, furniture, pets, housewares, dishes, candles, plants, and that's just in the part we got through yesterday. It was really something to see. There was so much stuff and everything was so crowded that it was impossible to take it all in. There were so many people that there were time that the lanes were literally at a stand still. I'd have taken pictures but the shop owners kinda frown on that and I wasn't sure walking in such a crowd with my camera was a good idea. We found a clean looking restaurant and stopped for lunch there. Believe it or not neither of us have had much Thai food since we've been here. The restaurant we work at serves Italian, American, Indian, Lebanese, and a little Thai. The food where we stopped was very good. I had the Phad Tai and we split an order of spring rolls. To top it off I had a fruit punch made from fresh squeezed fruit. Neither of us bought much, it was too overwhelming. We are planning on going back to see more next weekend. After all we have souviners to buy! Keep in touch!! I'll write again soon!
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina

New News

Hello Everyone!!
I'm sorry I haven't written in a while, things here have been turned upside down, shaken up, spun around and dropped. So this will be more of an informational note, I'll catch you up on my adventures next time. Basically what's going on is the hotel has taken a big hit. The economy is bad everywhere but in light of the protests and the state of emergency that was declared, tourism is way down. People are concerned for their safety and while I've stated we are safe (which we are) understandably people everywhere are hesitant to travel. Therefore, the hotel and our agent have been in negotiations for the last few days. It has been agreed that we will end our contract after 2 months instead of 3. I do not have my travel dates yet but I will be returning in early June. Please continue to keep in touch and pass this along to anyone who might be interested. I'll talk to you soon!
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina

Wat Pho and The Grand Palace

Hello Everyone!
Yesterday Khazna and I decided to do some site seeing. We packed ourselves up and took off towards the boats. They have boats here that run up and down the river to different stops, it's kinda like taking the bus. After figuring out how to get where we wanted to go we hopped aboard and we were off. I'm absolutely amazed no one fell in the river, the boat doesn't stop and tie itself up, they simply throw a loop of rope over a post and throw it into reverse to pull the boat close enough for people to quickly get on and off. The stop we got off at looked like we stepped off the jungle boat ride at Disney.
Our first stop was Wat Pho, the temple of the reclining Budda. There was so much to see there that we dicided we sould have to come back and explore more. Everywhere we turned there were walls of statues. Along with the main temple, ther were several smaller temples in the complex. This location is said to be the first Thai massage school. When we finally got to the reclining Budda I was absolutely astounded by the size. I as expecting a large statue but It's feet alone were easily twice as tall as me. It was absolutely amazing!
Next we went to the Grand Palace. It was literally dazzleing! All of the walls were either extremely intricately painted with astounding detail or, completely covered with mosaics or tiny colored mirrors. Even the statues were covered with these mirrors. It was absolutely impossible to take it all in. We decided we are going to have to go back and spend more time there too. The amount of time and the exactness that it would take to create something like this is completely mind boggling. The Grand Palace is also the home of the jade Budda. They don't allow pictures of this statue from inside the temple but they do allow you to zoom in as close as you can from a door they have open but blocked off. My picture is a bit fuzzy but it's not too bad.
By the time we returned to the hotel we were both exausted and decided to nap before working. I personally was thankful for one of my purchases. I bought a sun umbrella. That's right they sell UV protectant silver reflectant sun umbrellas. It was only 100 BHT and with as hot as it's been and as easily as I burn I broke down and bought one.
I've posted some pictures of my site seeing adventure, ther are actually more if anyone ever wants to see them. I hope you are doing well and I hope to hear from you all!!!!
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina

Songkran Festival

Hello Everyone!!

On Tuesday ( I know I'm behind) Khazna and I decided we couldn't sit in the hotel any longer and decided to venture out. We wanted to experience the Songkran Festival which is the Thai New Year Festival. The festival is characterized by people pouring water on the Buddha statues throughout the city and blessing each other with water and a flour type paste. Sounds serene right? So what does all that mean in modern times? Water fight!!!! That's right the streets have been filled with people carrying squirt guns of all sizes, people throwing buckets of water at each other (and off of the back of pick up trucks), and people literally covered with this paste. Khazna and I decided to truly appreciate the cultural experience we should participate (it didn't take much arm twisting, really about one shot of a squirt gun). We purchased squirt guns from a street vender and joined right in. By the time we got back to the hotel we were a mess. The staff at the front desk just kinda shook their heads and laughed at us, I think we've been pretty entertaining to them. I've posted pictures of us once we got back to the hotel, yes we're a mess but it was a blast (of ice water that is :) ) I'll write more later, keep in touch!!
Sabrina

Bangkok so far........

Hello !! I though this might be the easiest way to let everyone know how things are going and to share pictures with everyone. So far everything is going very well. We arrived late in the evening and were whisked to our private suites. By we I mean Khazna and I, she's the other dancer contracted here for the next 2 months. We've been keeping very busy compiling music for our shows. We have 6, 15 minute shows a night and we are both used to dancing to different music. The hotel is amazing and the staff have all been very nice and very helpful. We have been staying fairly close to the hotel due to the political unrest. Don't worry we are safe, the protests aren't near us. I have attached pictures of my room at the bottom of this message, I hope you like them. Now that things have settled down I should be able to keep up better. I have a few stories to tell already but I'll save them for later, it's almost time to get ready for work....
Talk to you all soon, please keep in touch!
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina