made it

I made it!

After 35 hours of flying and airports, I made it to Bangkok! The flights when pretty well and I even had a window seat with a seat open next to me from LA to Taipei, which is an unheard of nicety. I must say that I was very impressed with the airport. It is a very interesting building. Check out that concourse! I met up with my fellow program participant Vanessa in Taipei. She has since proved that she is an excellent travel companion and is exceedingly optimistic, which is a good trait to have under our conditions. We were picked up at the airport by a wonderfully nice driver and driven through Bangkok where we got our first glimpses of this gargantuan city.

It is hard to believe that Bangkok is so eclectic. There is obvious hardship in the city, but then there is a lot of prosperity too. Right alongside hovels there are brand new car dealerships, and across the street from a ramshackle building you can find a huge mall. There is a lot of trash in the city, but the majority of people you see are immaculately dressed. It is certainly extremely different to me. Many of the buildings are rundown but have a certain charm to them, and things like the wiring down the street make me wonder… Maybe a little sub-par to dad's standards! There are many stray dogs in the city and they make me sad. I came across this interesting blog about stray dogs in Bangkok a while back.

On our way to our hotel we turned onto a soi (sidestreet) that I swear the car couldn’t fit down. Though littered with garbage and lined with some places I wouldn’t like to stay in. However, our car stopped and we transported our luggage to a little golf cart which drove us the rest of the way to our hotel. Sitting on the back of the cart, we looked back at our old driver who was laboriously walking after us. He shrugged and said in his terrible English: “exercise.”

Our hotel is very much like an oasis in the middle of a crowded and less-than-immaculate neighborhood. It is absolutely beautiful with plenty of greenery and water sculptures. The staff here is fantastic! They are so much fun to be around! I have already learned some Thai from our main hostess, Anna. Her English, which she learned from customers, is quite good, and I’m able to just act silly when I don’t understand her. Our room is great and has “aircon,” and is very clean. I am so happy to be in this little paradise! I highly recommend this hotel! It is called Charlie House Pinklao.

We spent the remainder of the day (okay… just the next few hours we could manage to keep our eyes open during) by strolling around the main road, dangerously buying some food from some street vendors (mostly by pointing at what other people had) and equally dangerously drinking beverages with ice in them. So much for everything they tell you not to do. So far we are still healthy (will keep you posted!).

We met up with another Thammasat student who happens to be staying in our hotel. He is very nice. His name is Matthew. Our plan tomorrow is to check out the University, some apartments, and open our bank accounts. Hopefully all will go well. I’m actually writing this at 4:03 AM because I couldn’t sleep (we went to bed at around 8 PM)!

Arun sawat! (Good morning!)