The next exhibit I went to was awful. It had row after row of preserved fetuses. Every stage of development, every horrible congenital disorder that could occur, from hydrocephaly in a three year old to ancephaly to siamese twins to a cleft palate...everything. Horribly disturbing. And it only got worse from there.
The next exhibit was more congenital defects, as though I needed to see more examples. At this point I don't even know how people manage to have healthy, problem free babies. After that I saw the preserved bodies of serial killers, horribly graphic photos of gruesome deaths, a reenactment of two doctors trying to identify a bloated drowning victim, the pot a little boy died in during a fire (he didn't drown; the fire made the water so hot that it boiled him alive) and the body of a fetus what was illegally aborted during the third trimester. Here's a photo of the reenactment:
The next exhibit was all about parasites. The take away here was don't eat fish, chicken, pork or beef (actually, to be on the safe side, don't eat anything.) Don't go to the beach or the jungle, and any mosquito bite will either give you malaria or the parasite that causes elephantiasis. They actually had the scrotum of a recent elephantiasis victim on display. Awesome.
Needless to say, I'm sure I'll have really creative, terrifying nightmares tonight. I took other pictures in the museum but I can't subject you to them without your prior consent. Trust me. You don't want to see them.
After the disturbing museum I took a water taxi to Chinatown. I've been taking water taxis non stop for the last two days. They are wonderful. The river is beautiful (and I'm sure it's disgusting, just under the surface) and the breeze feels great when it's 100 degrees. It's also only 15 baht, or $.50, a ride. In Chinatown I headed to the flower market and took my first tuk tuk ride on the way there.
They aren't as scary as you hear. Bangkok traffic is so awful they can't drive too crazy. I got to the flower market in the afternoon, so they were pretty much closing up shop. There were still hundreds of bags of blooms and tons of fresh vegetables for sale, though.
From the flower market I walked through Little India and back through Chinatown. I was disappointed in Little India. It wasn't very interesting. Not a ton of Indian food/shops/people. Chinatown was like Chinatown in any city, I'd imagine. Full of people, loud, lots of cheap stuff. So much fabric. Every other store/stall is selling fabric by the bolt.
I then took another water taxi to downtown and then took a real taxi (thank goodness for air conditioning) to the Jim Thompson house. The house was incredible. It is actually made up of six smaller houses that he had moved to Bangkok from different parts of Thailand. Most of it is built without nails, as is the Thai way. The gardens are also amazing.
It's pretty commercial now, though. It actually reminds me of Biltmore, in that it's so obvious they're out to make as much money as possible. They have their own brand of bottled water. And yes, they charge 5 times as much as everywhere else (water is 7 baht in stores; at the Jim Thompson house it's 35 baht.) I'm glad I saw it, thought. Architecturally amazing.
Fun fact: Jim Thompson disappeared one day while going for a walk in Malaysia. His body was never found and there were no clues to his disappearance.
I went to a little restaurant near here for dinner - Chang beer and pad thai. Very good. Another fun fact: there are two major beers produced in Thailand, Chang beer and Singha beer. Both produce their own brand of bottled water, as well.
Tomorrow I fly to Phuket and check in to my little seaside cottage. I'll miss the air conditioner, but the sea breeze will be a welcome change to Bangkok. Not sure whether I'll have reliable internet, so these posts may not be as regular. My tan is sure to improve, though!
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Location:Chinatown
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