Thursday, June 5, 2008

Today I found 3 foreign coins. Although they will not count toward the daily totals it does keep alive my consecutive change streak.

For a multitude of reasons Bangkok is a fascinating city to visit. The Thai culture is quite different than that of America. Saving face is huge and if there is one thing that Thais love it is their King. They actually have a Prime Minister that runs the government (in that respect England would be fairly similar), but the love that the Thais have for their king is amazing. Every day the King’s Anthem plays two times a day throughout the city and every day everyone will stop what he or she is doing, no matter what it is, and stand silently as it is played. It’s a spooky sight to see such a major city come to a complete stop, and then rev up again in a matter of minutes.

A few interesting things to know about the king if you ever visit Thailand. First, it is illegal to speak ill about the king. You can actually be arrested and imprisoned for doing this. Second, the entire royal family is very big. About three months ago the king’s sister died and the city is still in official morning for her death. Third (and this is the one that I love the best) it is illegal to deface or damage any image of the king. Examples of this (and this is the best part) is purposely stepping on a bill that has the king’s picture on it or (truly the best one) licking a postage stamp with the kings picture on it. As any Thai knows, you use a sponge on a stamp, not your tongue.

So, onto the finds of the day. This afternoon I flew from Bangkok to Ching Mai, a city in northern Thailand. At the airport I found one coin, and then walking around in the streets of Ching Mai at the marketplace I found another two coins.

Now for the picture of the day. While boarding a train I happened to look down off the platform to a balcony below and saw this:


Look closely and you will see that there are fish drying on the balcony. Not something that you see every day.

Totals for the day: 3 Foreign Coins
Race Totals: $661.71