First Stop

---

After a ridiculously tiring/disorienting journey, we arrived in bangkok. We stayed in the western part of the city, in Banglamphu, by the Chao Praya river. The size of the city was mind-boggling. It made new york (and new york traffic) look like a small town. The lack of sleep and a small dose of culture shock made the first two days a bit surreal. I still haven't achieved anything like a normal sleep schedule, but the first two days were ridiculous.

We did a lot of the normal sight seeing, but some of my favorite memories were just small things. We took a hike off the beaten track into a nearby working class Thai neighborhood, when a rainstorm hit. It only lasted an hour or so, but it was much stronger for that hour than anything we get in Pittsburgh. We ran under the awning of a closed storefront to get out of the rain. Shortly after, the woman who ran the store invited us in to her living room, where we sat out the storm for the next hour, watching Thai news and soap operas. She spoke slightly less english than I speak Thai, which means we had about 12 shared words between us. Despite her poverty, she offered us both drinks, and was exceeding hospitable. Despite a lot of western tourists coming over to Thailand and behaving quite poorly, the general reception we received from the people we encountered was exceedingly friendly and kind.

Our stroll through Lumphini park brought us to the next great memory. After about an hour in the park, we stumbled upon a group aerobics class, which consisted of about 250 people enthusiastically doing aerobics to an amazing soundtrack of thai pop, outside, in 90 degree weather, 100% humidity. It was surreal. There was also one 60 year old man standing next to the group, just dancing to his own rhythm, completely ignoring the aerobics group.

It was a good first stop in thailand, but I am glad to be out of the smog and bustle of Bangkok. The touts there are super agressive. In certain neighborhoods, people are constantly trying to get you to take their cab, or tuk tuk, or buy their tshirt or jewelry, and often things to risque for me to put in this blog. Also, some of the beggars were so cripplingly disabled. It's awful to think that there is zero governmental support net or healthcare for these unfortunates. I think a lot of the buddhist temples do extensive charity work for them though.

---