Sawasdee Kha!

Hey You! Falang! Hello! and other greetings from Thailand. So Erica and I arrived into Chiang Mai yesterday afternoon and promptly succumbed to the jet lag we had been fighting off. But let's start at the beginning.

Bangkok. Your beautiful but totally insane friend.
We arrived after 1 am at the BKK International Airport. Despite the late hour it was hopping! We later learned that late arrivals are very common in Bangkok. We taxied to our hostel/hotel in the Thai equivalent of NYC's FiveStar, flat rate unmarked cars that will take you anywhere but don't really know where they are going. But we arrived without too much confusion at New Siam 2 - set back from the street on an alley, colorful, and full of tourists. It had a restaurant in front with open air seating and a pool. Very fun. Our room was pretty plain but that didn't stop us from crashing.

We slept for about 4 or 5 hours and woke around 9, went around the corner and had breakfast at the Wiffy Waffle. It serves waffles, as you might guess. And wafflewiches. It's delicious and the name makes us giggle. We ate there twice.
We started to walk to the Grand Palace but right in front of the National Museum we met The National Theatre Man (we never got his name). He was one of those people you just trust instantly. He greeted us and told us that if we wanted to go to the Grand Palace we would have to change as entrance requires long pants, closed toe shoes and preferably black or white (as the King's sister had just died). We chatted with him for a while and told him what we were planning on doing that day. He directed us to a Wat (temple) with a 40meter tall Buddha that is only open one day a year. So we hopped in a tuk tuk (three wheeled, open air taxi) and sped off. For 40B (about 1.75) our driver took us to two Wats and then some tailoring shops. At the second Wat we met Tanal, a friendly Thai who imformed us it was "Prayer Day" and instructed us in how to pray to Buddha. Then more chatting. When Tanal found out
we were from California his response was: I see movie about California. Call... Sideways. Its about friendly relationship with two men before one get married and they go crazy! Later he asked us if we had seen the news the night before. Thinking it was something about Thailand, maybe the death of the King's sister, Erica and I put on our sad faces only to crack up when he said: Britney Spears go crazy again!
Yes, we discussed what made Britney go crazy in the presence of the Buddha. Shame.

Later, exhausted from our tuk tuk excursions and the trafficy pollution of the city, we came back to New Siam, ate and relaxed. Then it was off around the corner, to explore the tourist rows, streets lined with stalls selling food, fisherman pants, tie dye, sunglasses, thongs, cds & dvds, etc. We shopped a little at a vintage clothing stall, purused some art, then ate at Ricky's - a cafe that served Thai, American AND Mexican (scary) food. To top of the night we got 1/2hour Thai massages. The women take you into a dimly lit room lined with soft mattress pads. There is no space between yours and your neighbors - it's a totally different feeling from the atmosphere of American massage parlors but I really liked it. I like the idea of healing and comfort being communal. I also found it to be more intimate than American/Swedish massage because you aren't just being touched by their hands- these massuers are kneeling on you, leaning you against them, etc. So you lay down and a masseur begins to press and pull you, stretching you, cracking your figners and toes. They bend you into some pretty bizarre positions, not all of them totally comfortable, but you feel so relaxed afterwards.

So yeah, that was our first day in Bangkok. Pretty cool. We were feeling good. Little did we know about what lurked around the corner.

Travel Time: What happens when cross the Pacific

Fun fact: when you're flying for over 30 hrs and through fifteen time zones, you basically lose a day. In this case, julia and I were not on land for most of Jan 8th, but we didn't realize this until we were already in the air. We did, however, enjoy an hour of it in the airport in Taipei, Taiwan.

And the journey, well, it was a journey, but only in mileage and the emotional/mental stability of being able to stay sane on flights (with head colds, bloody noses, and no leg room on the trans-Pacific flight) that are just that long. Let's just say that I think Julia and I make really good travel buddies--we keep each other treading water. Other than that, every flight was on-time and smooth (Portland to LA, LA to Taipei, Taipei to Bangkok), our luggage arrived safely at BKK airport, there were no problems at customs, we got to watch Superbad and The Jane Austen Book Club (really good) on the plane, and my first attempt at saying hello in Thai (sat wat dii) got a pointed in the right direction of a taxi--and I couldn't be more thankful for that.

The countdown begins...

Well, here it is 36 hrs to take off and julia and I are relaxing at her abode in Portland, Oregon...

After taking on this hell of a storm we've got here on the West Coast (and putting on my own chains do it!) Grace (my car) and I made it just fine last night. The weather forecast was predicting snow in FEET over the Siskiyou pass through at least Monday, and well, that just wasn't going to do.

Today was running around getting the appropriate medicines and lotions and bathing suit and plug adapters and nursing the head cold of mine that seemed to arrive in my nose today. Julia is taking care of me though.

So far we've booked our first six nights in Thailand, Jan 7-9 we're staying in Bangkok at New Siam II. After three days wandering through the city, we'll fly north to Chiang Mai and stay four nights at Tri Gong residence. (Don't worry Dad, both we OK'd by Lonely Planet as their top picks!) You can check out the residence's at the links below (if you're curious/worried), and stay tuned...

love, e


New Siam II
http://www.newsiam.net/ns/newsiam2.php

Tri Gong Residence
http://www.trigong.com/