First Days Away

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Whew, first days. Pretty much uneventful getting here. Funny thing, when we were in Tokyo, Conrad went to get a water. Bought a water in a cute little jar, turns out it was 70 proof saki. Funny. He did not drink it, although he thought it was good. Hotel was good, ummmm. First day out we were sort of half way awake. We had arrived at the hotel after midnight, after 27 of air travel, and not quite with the program. As we were driving to the airport, oh and yes, I did the walk through all the shouting taxi and good deal people in the arrival area of the airport. I was so lucky on the flight to Bangkok from Tokyo, I was sitting with a girl from Nan province in Thailand. She was awesome and filled me in on the scams and what to do and what not to do. That was awesome. She looked about 12, but was 25 and had married a US soldier 8 months ago and moved to Seattle. This was her first visit home. She was a wealth of info. Whew.

So we get up in the morning and decide to head out and check out where we are. The girl at the desk, who really did not speak great english told us to turn right to get to the skytrain. We did. We were walking along through a pretty scary dirty smelly neighbourhood and thinking we had picked a bad place to stay. There are tons of stray skinny sad looking dogs and cats here. They were all over the sidewalks. They don't even look at you as you walk by. We walked forever and did not seem to be getting anywhere. Strangely enough, like a beacon from home a Mcdonalds appeared. We sauntered in just to find out we had walked about 3 km in the wrong direction. So......we walked another 3 or 4 k and finally found the skytrain. That again was fun. It is far more effcient, yet far more complex than the c train. The complexity comes from not being able to read Thai. We had to switch trains once, to get onto the route that we needed. Took us 4 turns to get on the right train. Funny stuff. We got off the train and started to wonder aimlessly. Every Tuk tuk driver and strangely innocent looking Thai's are actually working in conjunction with businesses and hotels and stores to get tourists into the shops. The first question the ask you is how long you been here? If you say you just arrived, you are in for it as you are a new cut of meat. Conrad and I quickly arrived at the we have been here for 2 weeks reply. sort of helped, but not really.

Big thing to remember, when you order anything don't try to change it. I was quite ill, not ill enough to stop me from doing anything, other than eating, Shari, this is weight loss central. Serious. From the first Malaria pill I took I have been unable to eat. Perfect. Today, Day 3 I am finally feeling okay and had brekkie. Whew. Conrad has done excellent and has eaten his way through Bangkok. Anyhow, we were going to the Thai boxing match at Lumphini stadium, which was amazing. Tell you in a minute. We stopped for a bite to eat as we were going to the late night fights. I took a hint from my sister and tryed to order my food with no meat. Big mistake, I order the Traditional Thai noodles but no meat, and should have known I was in trouble as the guy looked at me like I was nuts. Want to know what I got, Thai noodles with no noodles but loads of chicken and pork and bean sprouts.......what the heck. So I ate it.

Okay, so we went to the fight. We splurged and got ringside seats. How close were we you might ask. Close enough that when someone got punched in the face, we could not only see the spray of spittle come out of their mouth, we could feel it on our legs. Yuck. The pace in the arena is frenzied and you quickly get caught up. The locals are yelling and waving their arms placing bets, the coaches are yelling and stomping around, before you know it, even a non fight lover such as myself is right into it.

Really, nothing here is as it seems. The nice guy that starts talking to you is not really a member of the Queens army, the gentleman in a suit that tells you the Palace is closed is not telling you the truth. Everyone has a scam here. Its brutal. Luckly, on Saturday we met a local who was fluent in English, lived in the US now, and he totally filled us in on everything. Truly. The tipping customs all kinds of important things to know. So yesterday we went to a couple of temples, and had to climb up and down 300 stairs. Yikes. In the heat and then back down in the rain. Danger. Then we boarded a canal boat that was so overpacked it was crazy, crazy but fun. Get this, they pack about 500 locals and whoever else onto these low boats, with no lifejackets so safety at all and worst no seats. They whistle when they get to a stop, and you have to scramble over the side to get out and onto the dock. They sometimes get close to the dock to make it easier, but not usually. They don't help you either. Here, it is everyman for himself. Anyway, totally bagged last night inbed by 9. Oh, and lucky that we had a bed. We had planned to fly out to Chiang Mai on Sunday, but could not get a flight until Monday, today. 80 bucks for both of us. Crazy cheap. Anyhow, suddenly every hotel was booked solid. We were like okay.......so now what. Not a hostel or anything decent around. Funny though. Although our room was already booked, once I agreed to pay double the original amount, it suddenly became available. Whew. So anyhow, gotta run, I am in the airport on my way to Chiang Mai and time to get on my flight. Sorry about the jumble of my message, but I am tyiping fast as you pay by the minute here. Talk to you soon. Mom, beatiful rubies and saphires here, but very expensive. A nice piece will cost around 3,ooo bucks cdn, but it likely worth double that in Canada, are you interested. Next time I will attach some photos.

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Comments

[amanda]

when are you comming home??
You never told me what day you would be home for sure. Let me know when you can. Sounds like you guys are having an adventure thats for sure. Hope to see some pictures soon.