Bangkok Here I Am!

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So, I am not normally that into hard-boiled eggs, but this one is actually pretty good. Despite the fact that it took me what felt like an hour to open. I am thinking that it is probably especially good to me because of where I am eating it. Freaking Bangkok, Thailand. I am having a continental breakfast in Bangkok. Pretty wild, huh? I promise, I am not being American, I just happen to be lazy and this is what my hostel offers in terms of breakfast. Last night I ate a delicious meal of stir fry chicken with ginger. I said "Thank you" in Thai - or, my version of Thai - and the waitress got really excited. I love that!
So, I am officially at the beginning of my journey, and I am pretty damn excited. I was worried that I might feel a bit awkward in this trip, but it is as if I never stopped traveling - it feels natural again. And this time I am trying not to make the mistakes I made in my past trips - in other words, I am asking anybody and everybody for directions! Last night I was following directions to my hostel that I had printed out. It said to take exit 3 and walk until I got to Silom Road. Well, problem was, exit 3 went two different directions. So, rather than do what I have done in the past and just go the way that I thought felt right, I asked two girls in school uniforms, and they pointed me the right way, which ended up being the opposite way of what had "felt right." So, that is good! I find that people here are pretty willing to help you, just as long as you are friendly and smile. You can get very far with a smile!
So, my journey to this amazing city was, thankfully, uneventful. See, I tend to have bad history with the airline industry. You know, things like being stuck in random countries for 13 hours at a time, or leaving for Boston on time but then arriving like 5 hours late due to having to land in Newark due to wind issues. But this time things were good. My original connecting flight to Chicago was late, and it was going to only give me 30 minutes to catch the connector to Beijing. However, I was luckily very early to my flight, and when I mentioned my concerns about missing my connection to a saintly Continental representative, she arranged me to be on an earlier flight which was also running late. So say what you like about Continental, they are good in my book!
So, I watched several movies on the plane - 127 Hours, which was good but quite grizzly - Megamind, which was adorable - and Red, which was so-so. So, the plane went over the North Pole, which is pretty awesome. At one point, while I was waiting in line, I looked out the window and saw ice caps! We weren't at the North Pole yet, but somewhere in the far north of Canada, but it was pretty awesome! Then I got to the airport, where I was picked up by my hotel - I tried to explain to the hotel guy what a social worker is. He had problems with the concept of "social" and I actually started talking about "social network, like Facebook." I don't think that he really knew what facebook was. I guess that China really doesn't allow its people to use facebook. Maybe? Anyways, I got to my hotel and basically went to sleep. Hehe, my hotel room had a little eccentric terrace that you have to climb through a window to get to! Isn't that cute?
So, today, I am figuring out the program to choose for scuba diving - I am thinking about Scuba Junction, because they have a good reputation and only allow four divers per group. I am going to probably take the SSI instead of the PADI course (which, according to the manager, is just like Coke versus Pepsi) because it saves me 25 dollars in not having to buy a PADI manual which I would throw away afterwards anyway. I am also going to probably go to the Grand Palace and some beautiful temples.
So, for those who are interested, I am staying at the Lub D hostel: http://silom.lubd.com/. It is pretty nice. Good-looking decor! I don't have any photos for this blog - plus, I haven't figured out how to add them yet - but I will take some soon and put them on my next one! So, to sum up, I am doing really well, and I am super excited about my travels! Talk to yall soon!

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Comments

[Kate McGuire]

Sonrisas
Keep smiling! Sending you lots of safe and positive travel vibes from Costa Rica! Love you!