Sunday, June 14, 2009

Journal Entry - Our First Day

I'm keeping a journal on this trip, and I figured the easiest way to keep everyone up to date is to post some of my entries on here...

June 15 at 8 a.m. - at the "At home' guest house in Bangkok
Our first morning in Thailand...must have woken up at 7 (didn't have a watch)...slept great though and I'm hoping that the jet lag is behind me (went to bed at around 9 cause I just couldn't keep my eyes open longer). Lor and I were freezing in our room last night (haha)...had to turn our air-con up to 22 degrees and pile on the clothes. Funny that we were freezing in Thailand - we got a good laugh out of that this morning!
Tim met us at the airport yesterday and we took a cab (no backseat seat belts!) to Kao San Rd. (the back packer street)...explored a bit...lots of stands selling everything you could ever need (even fake diplomas), lots of bars, etc. Not really my scene - more like a party street, lots of foreigners, etc. - but our guest house is great! Got some pad thai from a street vendor and it was really good! Then decided to go see some temples . A friendly Thai man told us it was a Buddhist holiday and that the tuk-tuks could take us to a variety of sites for a little over a dollar (it was subsidized by the government). Got a nice driver and he took us to 4 temple sites - a really tall Buddha, a Lucky Buddha, a marble temple, and the Golden Mount (where we had to climb up stairs to reach it the temple site...with all kinds of bells to ring on the way up - pretty cool.) The top also gave us a good view of Bangkok. It was so hot all day - definitely sweated through my clothes...the shower at night felt amazing!
Got a pineapple fruit smoothie when we got back to Kao San...and then went out for some great Thai food for dinner. A quick walk after dinner left me a bit "sensory overloaded" in my jet-lagged stupor, so it was off to bed.
Observations:
1. Tuk-tuks are really fun...actually felt surprisingly safe even though 4 of us were piled in the back and our driver was weaving in and out of traffic.
2. They drive on the opposite side of the stree - didn't know that - makes crossing the street extremely difficult since I keep looking the wrong way.
3. The Thai people are extremely friendly and helpful - they want to know what your plans are and offer advice and tips...seems like 'just cause'.
Loving it here so far!

2 comments:

Mom said...

So glad your first day went well. Sounds like a FULL day for sure. Now I am off to bed and YOU are ready to get going!! Enjoy your day.
love
mom

Mobachs said...

i love the part of looking the wrong way on the street.. i ALMOST peed my pants.. it was close.. but i held it in... so a becky thing.. miss you guys and check this like 3 times a day to see if you updated!!