Women

Amy Says:

Sawat dee ka everyone! Yesterday was our first full day in Bangkok and while exciting and fun, after sweating and being somewhat short on temper - I went to bed exhausted at about 10pm. It's now 4:30 in the morning I snuck out to find the one computer in the hotel being used by an employee. Luckily, he caught on that I was waiting and left. Some of the white letters have been rubbed off of the black keys on this keyboard so forgive me if I miss a letter or two. I was never a very good typist. So, I going to make these blogs hurmorous and I'll still try - but hey now, it is 4:30 in the morning. Not sure about this one.

I should be doing some research so I'll have to keep it short. We leave tomorrow from here and at this point have no idea where we are going. The Thai New Year is this weekend and we had no idea it would be an issue for us finding a place to stay. Because of timing, we may be forgoing Chnag Mai and Ko Samui all together. There is an island called Ko Chang we ay try and get to if we can. It has elephants, monkeys, waterfalls AND beaches.

Briefly, our first full day here was fascinating. We found our way around quite nicely though it being Sunday, found many places like the Grand Palace close early. We left the hotel about 11 am and made our way by Skytrain (very clean and easy) straight to Shangri La hotel for a cocktail. I know you've all been chomping at the bit to find out about this, so I must say, the locals do NOT wear tank tops - at all. Sleeves are the way to go. Which is too bad, since at the last minute, I packed about five.

Anyway, we walked around a bit in a no so nice area before we made it it to the Shangri-La. So we got the culture shock part of i t over (or so we thought. ) Crossing the street is no problem. Yeah - you just go for it. Sometimes there might be some one crossing with you (like a monk) and its no problem. After our way too expensive cocktails, we took a 65 cent river boat up the Chao Phraya River to the see the Largest Reclining Buddha, I'd always seen pictures of it and actually have a foot long reclining buddha somewhere in my things. After that, we just walked, and walked and walked. Evnetually making it to a food market and past what looked like but was probably not, an impromptu flea market.

Found Khao San rd which was awful. and the our first Taxi home (30 cents). You get used to feeling sweat slide down your skin here and you have to not pee as much (a blessing really). The food so far has been top notch. It all reminds me so far of Chinatowns - New York, San Fran, Hawai'i. Loud, dirty, fascinating, old, beautiful. Chris has been fearless with her camera and has got some excellent shots. Me - more timid. I need to get over that.

Well, the line for the computer has started !!! so off I'll go. Here's hoping today will be calm and easy. We try for our Vietnam Visas today. Miss you all. Love love...A