Day 1 Arriving in Bangkok

Hello friends,

This is my first blog ever, and I am very excited to be writing you from the Banglamphu district of Bangkok. I'm sitting in an internet cafe across the street from a cute little bed & breakfast one block over from the famous Koh San Road (the backpacker ghetto!).

After flying for over 23 hours (can you believe I left at 11am Chicago time on Monday, and arrived just after midnight on Wednesday), I was feeling a bit weary but still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. It is warm here as I expected, but it was only in the mid- to upper-80s when I arrived after midnight. While standing in line for a taxi into the city, I met Nanda, a Canadian woman who is also traveling alone, so we decided to share the ride. Now, I arrived without reservations for my first night of lodging, so Nanda and I decided we'd save money by getting a double together. She and I walked down Koh San Road looking for an available double, but the first few places were full. We finally settled on a bed and breakfast where she has stayed in her previous trips. After dumping our stuff, we decided to venture out and get some food.

It's hard to believe that at 1am, there are still tons of food carts out and about, tourists and young Thais hanging out and stores open. I decided that I wanted to try some food from the carts. I know, I know, you're thinking, "don't eat stuff off the street" and "don't drink tap water, don't get ice, etc. etc." Well, Nanda said she's done it before and she has never been sick, so I figured, what the heck, let's give it a whirl.

I tried something innocuous to start with -- banana pancakes -- essentially a crepe with sliced bananas inside. YUM! But not so exotic. Nanda was on a rampage -- she got some grilled skewered liver, then she got some pineapple, then some vegetarian egg rolls, then some noodle soup. I guess she was hungry. We got some fruit smoothies before heading back home. And in case you were wondering, no, I didn't get sick.

When we got back to the room, Nanda realized that she left her ATM card in the bank where she made a withdrawal. That made me think that she and I may be more similar than I care to admit... I won't be making THAT mistake on this trip!

Emboldened by the street food, I brushed my teeth with tap water. I went to bed at 4am, but Nanda went out again to go check out the 24 hour flower market. I'm not sure why anyone needs to buy flowers at 3am, but anything is possible in Bangkok.

Partly due to excitement, and partly due to jet lag, I woke up at 6am and showered to get an early start on the day. I wanted to make sure that I didn't have to wait to use the shared bathroom facilities (only one set of toilets and one showers for men and women). Nanda was still out, so I headed over to the open-air restaurant for my continental breakfast of tea and two pieces of toast. I read up on Thai history until Nanda came home, and I told her that I was going to catch the 9:30am tour at the National Museum so I can learn all about Thai's religious history before hitting all the wats (Buddhist temples) on my journey.

I was walking to the National Museum when I realized that there aren't too many crosswalks here, and that people just cross the street wherever they feel like it. Unfortunately, I was across the street from the museum but couldn't figure out how the heck to cross about 5 lanes of traffic rushing by, with no traffic signals as far as I can see. A Thai man crossed the street from the other side, but stopped in between lanes. I couldn't muster enough courage to do that, so I chickened out and talked to some tuk-tuk (golf-cart looking vehicles) driver. The first one was trying to get me to go see wats and asked about my other travel itineraries, but I knew about this scam... I told him that I would only give him 40B (1 US dollar) to go to the museum, and that I only have 7 minutes to make it to my tour. He let another guy take me, and my driver warned me not to believe ANYTHING those enterprising tuk-tuk drivers offer. Nice guy.

I now feel like an expert on the various waves of Buddhism and Hinduism in southeast Asia after listening to my English-speaking volunteer guide show us around the extensive museum campus. The tour was 2 hours and 30 minutes long, and I can tell you what all the Buddha hand positions mean. Even some of the Hindu ones. I had to bargain with more tuk-tuk drivers to get me back to my B&B, and I got another fruit smoothie and freshly squeezed orange juice. Oh by the way, yes, I am going to talk alot about everything I eat. I might even get brave enough to eat some grilled crickets (locusts?), larvae and scorpions before I leave. Maybe. Give me 3 weeks to think about it.

Well, I think I am going to venture out and look for more street food to eat. Seriously, you can eat almost anything anytime here. It's absolutely wonderful!