Second day as a tourist...

My first morning in Bangkok was greeted by the sunlight and the cool breeze and air conditining. I woke up on the top bunk of the bed, and immediately started googling my Thai phrases. I was going to be ready for this amazing sunny day in the capital. I put on my sunscreen (a prerequisite for any outings) and went downstairs to the lobby. We had a continental breakfast, but most importantly some coffee. I have to say that I am impressed with the lack of jet lag I have experienced so far. I fell asleep at 3 am, woke up at 8 am, and went about the day as if it was any other day. There was no strange feeling that I was 12 hours into the future.
Our first and most anticipated cultural activity was Wat Pho (The reclining buddha temple). While Anne Marie was yoga-ing it up at the gym, I was doing heavy research on how to get to the temple. As someone who has been to major cities before, and been to Asia, I expected Thailand to have a much more exciting metro system. But, from where we are staying (Silom district, the old red light district during the Vietnam war, and still kinda today), there was no easy way to get up the river and to the beautiful place of worship. So we hopped on the metro, paid a wooping 100 baht (3 dollars) on way up the river and got to see the contrast of this developing city. We see side by side decaying buildings, ancient temples, modern architecture, and western hotels. Once we disembarked our dinky little boat, we couldn't miss the temple, and the dozens of street vendors ranging from dried fish to grilled squid to fresh strawberries. We opted from some refreshing coconut water, as the sun was beating down on our faces.
Wat Pho or Wat Po was particularly impressive but I think my favorite part of this cultural experience was the "outfit man", his entire job was to check the ladies' outfits and give them bright green neon robes, as if to call them out on their unappropriate clothing decision. We were spared from the shame, and even given a thumbs up from "outfit man". The reclining buddha is an amazing sight. Not only is the temple itself huge, and filled with small buildings offering meditation and golden buddha statues, but The Reclining Buddha was the most impressive. The legend says that it represents Buddha on his death bed. Wat Pho is also the most ancient and largest temple in Bangkok, and was the start of Thai massage and medicine. There is even a medicinal school inside the temple still operational to this day.
While we were there, Anne Marie and I did some meditation in front one of the smaller temples. During our ten minute mediation session, I couldn't help but break out of my relaxed state to listen to a tour guide. In front of Buddha, there was fruits, coconuts and banana to by specific. Pregnant ladies bring a banana as an offering in the hope to have a baby boy, while a coconut was meant for a baby girl. After I listened to this little fun fact and the ten minutes were up, we continued walking around the sacred place. As I expected, cats were napping everywhere; in the sun, in the shade, on rocks, by fountains. If I was reincarnated as a cat, please make it a thai buddhist cat.
Once out of the temple, we couldnt ourselves and had to buy pork on a stick. We each had a stick of pork and snacked on it until I haggled for some sunglasses. Exhausted from the sun and our walk around the temple, we returned to our hotel to relax in the air conditioning.
The minute we felt better, we went right back out for some shopping in the weekend market, Chatuchak market. The moment we got off the BST (skytrain- sorta the Thai metro but above the roads) we were greeted by stalls after stalls of shirts, jewelry, souvenirs and other crazy little knick knacks. We tried our hardest to haggle, but because we went out closer towards closing time, the shop owners were extremely irritated with hagglers and we failed at haggling. We did buy some article of clothing, rings and sunglasses, and obviously some spicy squid, which resulted in an immediate purchase of Chrysanthemum tea to cool down. During our little walk around the market, everyone froze all of the sudden. At first, Anne Marie and I thought it was a flash mob, and then quickly realized the National Anthem was on. While the national anthem is playing, no one is allowed to do anything, including talking or walking. You must stand still and so, we followed the custom and froze in our path.
After our Thai experience, we were starving and needed to get some food. The truth is closer to the fact that we walked near a stole of broth, smelled it, and our stomach called out to us. We approached the stand and they asked us what we wanted. We hadnt made a decision yet, and we learned at that moment that Thai street vendors have no patience for indecisiveness. The lady started cooking for us a noodle soup with beef and pork. It was delicious and we didn't get food poisoning. As this is my biggest fear, it has opened my mind to try more street vendors food.
That night, we planned our next few day over some Chiang, the equivalent of Natty light.

The next day, our plan fell into the water due a monk's funeral. I say "a monk" but this was a senior monk that was so revered by the Thai population that the Thai royal family attend his funeral (at the Golden mountain). We had been walking all the way to a near protest site, which had turned the street into a ghost town until a man stopped us. He seemed nice enough, but after a talk with a tour guide, he had scammed us. He had recommended a floating market to us, and with our naivety, we agreed to go. After bargaining the price down, we went and enjoyed the boat ride through the canal and saw the old city of Bangkok, the temples at every other block and fed some fish for good fortune. It was a nice boat ride in general, but the fact of being scammed into it was a little upsetting to me. We did have the good conscience to go to Wat Aru, which is a temple that looks like it belongs in the Mayan era. It provided us with a beautiful view, and to be honest was way cooler than the Golden Mountain. The steps were steep and seemed dangerous, but once at the top, we were rewarded with a view that I could only compare to Notre Dame's view of Paris. Obviously as in any temple, I got to pet some fat cats. At the top, we were able to sign our name on this golden tarp they had wrapped around the temple. Our names will be on Wat Aru probably for the next 6 months, or until they switch that tarp.
We took a boat to the other side of the river, and had some Pad thai (agaiiin) and some broccoli rabe rice noodle at a local restaurant near Wat Pho. It was, as usual delicious and revitalized us.
The heat was getting to us, and so we went back home to rest, shower and really plan the rest of our trip. We had two more days in Bangkok and still had so much to do.
After we figured out our trip (and book hostels/ flights/ buses), we went out to a nice-ish restaurant, and had the most delicate salads and tuna bruschetta (an expensive meal for little food, but our taste buds were so sympathetic for something other than rice and noodles. We obviously were still hungry and went to our little market on our street. While Anne Marie was picking snacks for the two of us, I was too busy petting the dirty alley cats, who were so obviously in need of a good rub (unlike the monk cats).
Once back at the hotel, we both struggles with sleep, but we still have a busy schedule ahead of us, including eating even more street food!

Off to the unknown, one more time.

And here we go again. 

March came around and I am off to some new country again. This time I'm going to Thailand, to visit a good friend. As exciting as it sounds, I felt the too-familiar pang of anxiety at the bottom of my stomach before I left. 

Thailand is the promiseland for backpackers and world-the-round travelers. I have been promised cheap cheap meal, and fun fun activities. 

The flight was just a shy of 21 hours, but I flew my favorite airline: United Airlines! Their flight attendants are always willing to help, and the ground staff has always gone beyond the minimal to make sure my trip goes well. 

Not only that, but they have the most important amenity for a long flight. Plugs in their plane! 

Yes, yes, I am charging my Ipad as I am typing this at above 32000ft in the air. Technology nowadays is impressive, and making my travels so much more exciting. I have not had the chance of having a long flight with free Wifi yet, but I am sure I will get to experience it in my lifetime, and then I will be able to post blogs from the sky. 

After four movies watched, and some solitaire played I finally landed in Japan. I had a bit of a layover, which consisted of a sushi-only menu. The airport in Japan is absolutely my favorite. It is heaven for everyone. They accept american dollars without prejudice, continue to speak to you in Japanese (or my rusty version of chinese) and the bathroom are spacious enough for carryons.

There is ALWAYS a staff at EVERY counter, who can help you with anything (including purchasing triple A batteries because this traveler was too stubborn to pack some) and finally they have the best people watching. 

I enjoyed a beer (sapporo, nothing fancy) in the company of a navy man who had just been to Korea on reserve for 18 days. He was heading home now to colorado, and was ready to eat some well made burgers with his family. While I was about to embark in a journey sans burger.

But the best part of this whole airport is the free uninterrupted wifi, which permitted me to contact my mother at 2am to reassure her that I had landed, gotten out of the plane and was sipping on a beer, while she was trying to anxiously go to bed. 

I had to do one thing this time that I had revisited the Japanese airport. Now that I was 23 years old, there was no shame in trying to use those technologically advanced toilets. And so I did. As someone who had spent the last 18 hours crammed in a chair in cotton panties, let me tell you, I feel refresh and ready for another 7 hours on a plane. 

There is something about airplanes that puts me to sleep. I am not sure it is the vibration or the pressure, but as soon as the plane takes off, I pass out. While the babies around me howl, my brain decides to take a nap. Thirty minutes later, I am up and confused as how I got here and why does everyone have a cup of water exepct for me. Yep, it is now my gift to bear along with my curse. 

Well, I arrived in Bangkok at 10:40pm on friday night. After losing a whole day to travel, and having an interesting and confusing sleep schedule, I wasn't sure if I was ready to sleep or energized enough to walk around. I found my bag, found a taxi and headed to my hostel. I have taken taxis before, and I have had drivers who didn't speak english before. This experience was on a whole new level. As nice as my taxi driver was, I think it is time that I learn a bit more thai before I venture into a private car with a stranger. 

As I arrived at my hostel, I met up with Anne-Marie who was waiting for me. After a month apart, we both had so many stories we kept cutting each other off, and before we knew it it was 2am. Yet, driven by the desire to have solid food and our never ending appetite, we left into the empty streets of Silom district of Bangkok. Right around the corner there was a cafe open. Again, the language barrier was a minor obstacle, but the international symbol for hunger (a rub of the tummy with big eyes) got the message across. We sat down and within minutes ordered some food (Pad thai and cashew grilled chicken). Within minutes, I found a stray cat to examine as well. And within minutes of finishing my dish, the little stray cat (named dirty kitten) was given the remaining prawn meat. 

After this well-deserved meal (I had been eating airplane mush for the last 48 hours), we headed to bed, but not without chatting from our bunk bed for another bit.