Welcome to Bangkok!!!!

Hey all! Well... what a different world we are in now and we both absolutely love it.
Get ready for a LOT of rambling!

We spent, as you know, our last day in Sydney and headed to the airport to fly overnight to Bangkok. We arrived in the midst of a huge storm and so it was great that we had arranged a couch surf prior to our arrival... a cool girl called Jen, teacher in Bangkok and from the states. We arrived to the airport and attempted to buy a sim card. First language challenge. We overcame it and left the airport with a new number, directly into the POURING RAIN (we failed to remember that it is in the midst of monsoon season here) into a taxi with a man who definately spoke NO English. What we did have in hand, however, were Jenn's directions and her to contact by phone at 4:30am (poor girl!) should we get lost. Somehow, we managed, after many a stop when the taxi driver needed to ask directions and Jen attempting to speak Thai to him (which she claimed she couldn't but we beg to differ) we arrived to her house just after 5 in the morning as she rose for school.

Jenn was absolutely amazing and plopped us right into our room with a cozy double bed, a fan and some ac! Did I mention we started to sweat this day and haven't stopped yet? So we slept most of the day and that evening, her friends came over... some teachers from a couple various schools. They were wonderful and Walter, who knows Thai, helped me learn a few phrases that would later serve VERY useful in ordering vegetarian food. Thanks Walter! We had a blast that night (as you will see) and couldn't have felt more welcome by an awesome group of people.

The next day we decided to head out and see the area, Sammakorn, where we were. The heat was excruciating and the culture shock was dramatic so we only spent a little time out... getting some food at the grocery store (7-11 will proove later to be our best friend) and people watching. It was amazing. That night Jen and her friends took us to their teacher happy hour at a local joint and I proceeded to test out my newly found Thai skills and order myself some darn good Pad Thai with tofu. mmmm and the live must was excellent too. The following day we attempted to get into the city of Bangkok (which is about 40 minutes away), but we didn't know which buses to take and no one spoke English on them so, we hopped off the bus in a busy looking area and explored the street markets and enjoyed ourselves! We took it easy that night and went back to the same place for a lovely dinner with Jenn's new couch surf arrival. We went to bed early and packed our stuff up on Sunday to head for the city. We figured we wanted to experience staying there a bit as well!

We arrived and grabbed a guesthouse on Koh San Road (the busiest street in the city geared for the young tourist/shopper/partier, etc). We thought it was a lovely room, but then learned, quickly, to check for a couple things. The bed (to make sure it wasn't a brick, which it was, and the noise, to make sure you couldn't hear a cat cough amongst the boom boom music, which you could. So, after a night of earplugs and sore backs, we moved a little away from the main noise and found ourselves a nice little place with a sweet man who was running in. Oh, before I talk about the accomodation... the day we got there, we wanted to see the city and everyone warned us about scams, but man are these Thais good at scammin!

So there are these little tuk tuks (you will see pictures of them) and the sweet lookin people in them tell you they will take you all across the city for just 5 baht (15 cents USD). So, naturally, we get in and then, listening to the advice of Thai person A on streetcorner A, he asks us if we want to see some clothing and we say yes... before we know it, he's bringing us from travel agency, to Thai clothing place and back around again and then we have to ask him to take us to the temples. Whew, we see one... then he takes us to this and that place and then we say another temple and we go in and come out and he did a runner on us!!!!! Haaaa... without getting paid! But see... we weren't buying anything in those places. So, we found another tuk tuk driver who does the same thing, but Gary and I had long now caught on so we humored him. And FINALLY... he explains to us that for every place he brings us to, he gets a free coupon for gas. For every place we BUY something at, he gets 6 more coupons plus a commission. Nice move! But in any case, it was some beautiful sights we saw :)

Ok, back to the rooms... we are now into our second one. Now, mind you... these rooms cost us about 300 baht... which is, for those of you in various places... $10 AUD, $9 USD, $5.50 GBP... cheap!!!! And that is for 2 people with a bathroom and AC! Now, I know they get cheaper as you leave thailand, but still, that's amazing! Our meals were costing us anywhere from $1 USD to $4 USD each... We have never spent over $10 for the two of us for meals, apps and a drink or two! It's really wonderful having our money go so far. And the shopping is wonderful too... I bought a new tank for $1.50 USD and a little book for $.15 USD, etc etc etc. It's excellent.

The first night of the new move, we decided to head out and have a few drinks. On the way out, we passed a woman selling the 3-D cards. I bought one and realized she was deaf. I asked her, in American Sign Language (ASL) if she understood me. She did! We proceeded to speak for about 5 minutes and, although she was signing a bit fast for me, it was absolutely amazing! Gary and I both walked away dumbfounded and me, I was determined to see if all deaf Thai people knew ASL.

We had a lovely few drinks outside with some acoustic musicians playing in the background... Later in the evening, at the night club, we went onto the dance floor and started dancing with a bunch of locals. They were absolutely wonderful! At first you think they are takin' the piss because they are so friendly, and you worried they would get rowdy, but the two of us and the million of them danced our asses off for hours and had an absolute blast. It was honestly one of the best nights out we've had in a long time!!! And, as you can imagine, we weren't good for much the next day. That evening, while asleep, Gary has a cockroach crawl over him. Now, when I saw crawl... I mean, we were sleeping, soundly, and he bolts out of bed and in between us is this GIANT... like the size of... well... maybe 3 inches and fat?... cockroach. Oh it was not a pretty sight. Needless to say, we couldn't sleep the next night OR the night after so we moved and now we're in another really nice place... all still so cheap... and it's in a quieter, yet busy area. I spoke with another deaf woman as we were sitting outside this one place and she confirmed that ASL and Thai SL are the same. Now, I still have to do research on it, but I can't tell you how excited I was!

Oh and now, I forgot to tell you... the whole time we are pondering over possibly trying to find a teaching job here so, the other day, we started searching and applying. My searched landed me loads of offers in Korea and China for all terms starting now and later into 2010. But what we got most excited about was a place called Chaiya. it's in the south of Thailand. The advertisement said they were looking for a couple to come teach.

2 days ago we had a phone interview with the coolest man ever. He is English and so enthusiastic about what he does. Gary and I both did really well on the interview. We had such a good feeling about it. Earlier that day I had a skype interview with a director of a school in Korea... and even better paying job and they offered me the position just an hour later (I know that sounds good, but they are totally desperate I believe). I said I needed some time to think because we had to wait 48 hours to find out about this Chaiya job.

During that 48 hours... well that was a killer! We were both so excited about this possibility that we had to occupy ourselves. So, yesterday, we walked a huge portion of Bangkok. At one point, It was VERY hot and we walked into our trust cool-me-down-quick place... 7-11. I went to reach for my soda water, as usual, but there was a monk there reaching for the same door. He ushered me to go first and when I accepted he said... "You know why? Because you buy a ticket (airline) here so you can come buy that (pointing to my soda water." He was so sweet and this little gesture led to a 10 minute conversation with him, gary and myself. He was so funny. He had been to California, Disney Land, Vegas and was studying for his PHD here in Bangkok. It was fascinating. When we went to say goodbye, he shook Gary's hand and said to me "I cannot touch you, but I touch you from my heart." and that was it. Amazing! I love you 7-11!!!

So, we enjoyed a REALLY early evening (remember lost, cock-roach sleep) and a full night's sleep. We returned, today to our favorite breakfast place (over by the 2nd place we stayed) for a 4th morning in a row and then back to our favorite lunch place for lunch again. Ah, this food is a BEAUTIFUL thing. Oh and I'm getting reeeeally good at being able to order in Thai!!!!

And then... guess what... we are sitting editing our photos and who rings???? Yep... we got the job. He loved us and, despite my lack in experience teaching ESL and Gary's lack of experience teaching, he sensed our enthusiasm. We GLADLY accepted!!!!

Sooooo... we are traveling north for about 10-11 days to Chaing Mai. We will then fly back down to Souratani (sp?), heading to Chaiya for a few days of training. Then we are being sent by train to Malaysia where we have to stay for 3 days and re-enter Thailand on a new working visa. We will be set up in a house, we will buy a scooter (work is 6k from where we will live) and then we will have a few days to settle into this tiny town (we will be the only foreigners) which is situated just 50k from a major city and 10k from the beach. We start working on November 2 and will continue through the end of February!!!! We are so so so excited, but, at the same time, a little bit nervous!

So, all you out there... PLEASE COME VISIT!! If you haven't been here before, you will fall in love with it just like we did.

We will keep you updated and, in the mean time... enjoy the pics from Bangkok.
Might I add... most people don't really like Bangkok... I loved it, but can't wait to get out of it at the same time :) Onwards and upwards.

Talk soon!
Smiles

(ps... travelblog is REALLY givin' me shit. So... MOST of the photos are up, but they are scattered and maybe a little out of order. Please forgive that and if you want to see them in order, see facebook! Sorry... They are apparently working on it, but it's taking forever. Might have to find a new blog site :( :( :( )

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