A relaxing day

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Being my feet and legs were incredibly sore from my crazy adventures yesterday and since I have the largest blisters I've ever had on my feet I wanted to try and take it easy today. Somehow I still managed to wake up at 5AM and couldn't fall back asleep. I hung out here for a while in the morning and then I wanted to go explore an area that the receptionist here had said was nice. So I set off on foot again and after a sold 90 minutes or so I got to one of the roads that she had said had some nice stuff on it. By the time I got there, however, my feet were so sore that I was limping and in quite a bit of pain. I decided that I could just go back to that area another day so I looked around briefly and then turned around and headed back to the apartment. All in all I still walked for at least 3 hours again today, but that really pales in comparison to yesterday.

On the walk out to where I was going I passed by a couple street vendors that had food that for the first time looked appealing to me so I figured on the way back I'd grab lunch at one of them. But it was just my luck that on my walk back both of them were gone so I ended up just grabbing lunch back here at the apartment.

I just relaxed for a couple hours here, lounging on the couch and I went to the gym they have here and it was surprisingly nice for its size. Later in the afternoon I decided to go out and walk down the road that my apartment is on in the direction that I haven't walked yet. So I went out and walked a little ways down and it was actually really nice. There were a lot of street vendors with food and small shops. Throughout the city there have been lots of vendors selling freshly squeezed orange juice and I passed one while I was down the road earlier so I picked up a bottle and without a doubt it was the best OJ I've ever had. I also passed by another vendor that had some really good looking food so I picked up dinner there. This vendor only had 3 dishes but all of them looked delicious and unlike a lot of vendors, they were covered to keep all the dirt and other stuff in the air out of it. The food I had was simple but really good and it didn't upset my stomach so I'm sure that if the vendor is there regularly, I may have found a new place for dinner, provided my appetite gets back to normal (today is the first day that I feel like it's beginning to get better).

After picking up my food I stopped at the 7 Eleven nearby and picked up a bottle of Singha, the local Thai beer. After dinner I sat on my balcony, watched a movie and drank my beer and I was pleasantly surprised by the beer. It was actually really delicious so I'm going to have to see if there is anywhere back home that I can get it. I don't have any plans yet for tomorrow but it'll probably be another easy day to let my feet recoop and I might move into the bigger bedroom that I'll be staying in for when everyone else is here. That'll happen either tomorrow or Saturday, not really sure which day yet.

Today, or really more this evening, is the first time that I'm beginning to sort of settle in here and feel comfortable. When I was out on my second walk earlier it was the first time that I felt at ease and that I was really enjoying myself while being out in the city. Not that I wasn't enjoying myself previously, but today it just felt better.

As with most other days I have my couple of cultural notes/interesting things I noticed while I was out, so here's today's list:

1) I should have written this sooner but they drive on the left side of the road here, like they do in the UK. It makes being a pedestrian interesting and a little challenging at the same time. They also drive like maniacs. Lots of the motorcycles also like to drive on the sidewalk which always gives me a little jump when I don't hear them and they fly right by me. Now I understand why they say traffic accidents are one of the biggest hazards to foreign travelers.

2) At the entrance to my apartment there are always one or two security officers and they usually have a barricade in front of the entrance so that not anyone can just drive in. Everytime I walk out past them in the morning one of them always salutes me and I don't understand why. I could understand if he gave me a wai but a salute just confuses me.

3) When the haze lifts from the sky, it is brutally hot. The heat index this afternoon was 98. And it's humid. Enough said.

4) I've been surprised at the lack of insects here. Generally during the summer at home bugs are an incredible nuisance but here I haven't noticed any during the day. I've seen a couple small gnats or mosquitoes here and there but nothing like what I'm used to at home. I'm still sitting out on my balcony now (it may be hot during the day but it is perfect at night) and tonight is the first time that I've really noticed the bugs and that they have been bothering me, and this only started about an hour ago. It seems like all of a sudden the mosquitoes just came out of nowhere.

I'm sure there were more things I meant to write but I'm absolutely exhausted right now and really can't think of much else. I hope you all realize that while I am trying to be as thorough as I can with these, there will be plenty of things that slip through the cracks each day (like the fact that they drive on the left here. you'd think I would've remembered to write about that sooner) but if I forget to mention stuff that I feel is important I will do my best to add it onto later entries. Keep sending the messages and comments. I really appreciate them.

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Photos

Nescafe
I couldn't not take a picture of this

Lottery Authority
I thought Dad would enjoy this.