An Update from Bangkok!

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That's right, I'm in Bangkok. Surprise!

I flew in last night from Guangzhou, landed around 2am Thai time (3am China time) and got to my hotel around 330 am or so. I was too tired to really look at the clock.

Anyway, I'm settling into my apartment for the month and it's quite nice. A lovely little studio. I think I'll be quite comfortable here--much more so than in a hotel or guesthouse. My apt is nice and new, and while the travel is easy it's still further from the city than I'd like. I'm still a 10 min ride from the BTS and either have to take a shuttle bus or a taxi. That feels inconvenient, but I think I'll be in class quite bit or in that area afterwards, so it should be okay. It looks as though there are a number of street food vendors right outside the apartment complex gate, too, so it's good that I can eat around here without spending all my money at 7-11.

Speaking of money, due to lack of sleep and concerns over exchanging RMB, I got completely ripped off at the airport. So badly, I thought she'd made a mistake. Think 20% as the fee. I had thought that exchanging RMB would be smarter than changing to USD and then to Baht, but with USD I would have had fewer worries and probably been able to get a better rate. I didn't catch it until morning, and it's cost me quite a bit more than in the past. I am quite displeased but will just take this as an expensive learning moment. You can exchange RMB at some metro stops and the fee is only 10%. Ah, well, lesson learned.

I've met some of the people in my program who live in my complex, and so far there's a guy from the UK and some men from Pakistan and India who all teach in Saudi Arabia. All are friendly so I'm looking forward to getting to know them more. And I suspect that finding people to eat vegetarian food with me will be a breeze!

The guy from the UK has a Thai girlfriend and the three of us went exploring around the area where we'll have class. It's the same area I stayed in last time I was here, so I was in familiar territory, which makes me happy. First we found the building where we'll be studying to be sure we have no problems early tomorrow morning. We had some fresh fruit on the street, found a restaurant with reasonable prices and AC, and then went grocery shopping so we could buy breakfast and snack foods. Would you believe I bought Peppridge farm cookies today? They're not cheap here, but closer to the US cost than if I were to buy them in China. And the UK guy in my program is having me over for dinner (vegetarian curry!) so I thought I should take something good for dessert. That's all for now. More in a few days.

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