Thursday, January 15, 2009

Khao San Road, Bangkok

We arrived in Thailand around 10 pm last night and the airport was much nicer than I remembered...we got a taxi with ease and I taught Hadas some of my Thai expressions: "Sawatdeeka" which means 'hello', "Khapkunka" which means 'thank you' and "Kortotka" which means 'excuse me'. So beyond that we're useless, but at least the people appreciate that we try ;)

We arrived at our hotel just off the infamous Khao San Road and were fortunate enough to secure the last double room with hot water showers for only 800B/night. 34B/$1 USD. Not bad. Then we saw the room which looked more like a jail cell. But it was definitely sparkling clean. The hot water shower, however, was false advertising. If they mean that it gets hot for 12 seconds at a time sporadically during the entire shower, then I guess you can call it that...

I was anxious to get the layer of Cambodian soot off of me but my shower was less than relaxing. We changed and decided to wander around...Khao San Road was packed with people...mostly tourists. We shared a small plate of delicious Pad Thai for only 25B or about 74 cents. We saw some deep fried insects, various meats on a stick, and all sorts of craziness going on. There are massage places Everywhere and you can get an hour massage for less than $5. Everything is for sale, and everything is negotiable. Use your imagination...

This morning we decided to sleep in, which to us meant the late hour of 9am. We got out and about around 10 and sat at a nice curbside cafe for breakfast which included fresh squeezed orange juice for only 15B! Then we sampled some deep fried coconut custards...very unhealthy, but delicious. Basically these little round thin dough balls filled with coconut cream and then deep fried...yum! Then we argued with a tuk-tuk driver about his plan for us...he wanted to take us to all these places we didn't want to go to, but said he would only charge us 20B. It didn't make sense, I got a bad vibe. When we agreed and he called over his "other driver" we ditched the whole plan...fortunately another tuk-tuk driver told us about the police tourist information center where we met a really nice officer who told us what things should cost and helped us get to the TAT thai authority for tourism or something?

ANyway, it was great. Jeffrey, our Thai travel agent, basically planned out the rest of our trip...I'm going a little over budget, but it will be worth it. Then we went to the Thai Red Cross' snake farm...this is one of a few places in the world where they manufacture snake anti-venoms. They showed us all the venomous snakes and explained the process. I also got to hold a python!!

Afterwards we talked to a Thai researcher who told us about her research study on antibodies for dengue fever. She asked us if we would be willing to participate. So I rolled up my sleeves once again, this time in Thailand. My Thai nurse was a little less talented when it came to drawing blood. I had to be stuck twice, but all is good. Bandaids on both arms! I'll be getting an email from the doctor soon telling me whether I have antibodies to the virus or not...kinda cool.

We had a difficult time getting a ride back to the TAT to pick up our itinerary, but we got there...picked up all our travel documents and then hailed a tuk-tuk to take us to Wat Pho...the oldest Buddhist temple in Thailand, also home to the reclining Budda (fyi: reclining budda images mean that the budda has reached nirvana, or enlightenment). The statue is impressive...it's ENormous! Probably the size of a football field! On the other side of the temple you can drop one badt into a succession of iron pots for wishes/good luck...the Wat Pho is also home to a school and monestary. We were able to sit in on the monk's chanting session...which was really cool.

It was almost time for sunset and too late for us to visit the Grand Palace so instead we hitched a ride on the ferry over to Wat Arun (which means temple of the dawn). We got there just in time for them to close the gate on us! But we did get to walk around the site a little and only cost us 6B. We sipped some dragon fruit juice which was pretty amazing...then made our way back to the insanity that is Khao San Road. Treated ourselves to another wonderful dish of freshly prepared sidewalk Pad Thai, followed by dessert of pumpkin custard...wandered around, got ripped off on a few purchases, had a really relaxing half hour foot massage and then went to the massage school where we were signed up for lessons in Thai massage...

My teacher's name was "Sang" and she taught me the basics of Thai foot massage. After she demonstrated on me, I worked on her while she showed me simultaneously. It was quite a site! Basically, I suck at it! She kept saying "more strong, more strong"...I kept using the wrong hand at the wrong times...it was pretty hysterical. She had a book on foot massage but it was all in Thai, not very helpful. She did let me take notes however...lol. I need more than that!

We then sampled some Thai brews...Chang and Singha beers to be exact and did some people watching...there are a lot of interesting people around here to watch, lol.

It's so weird being back here again. I mean...last time, I just had such a different experience since it was part of school. It's really nice being here and having the freedome to just be able to make my own schedule. There is so much to do and there's so many things I'm noticing this time around that I never encountered before. I really could spend a lot of time here. I remember being here a few years ago and thinking how backward this country seemed to me...but now, in comparison to Vietnam and Cambodia I have a much different perspective. It's all been such a whirlwind that it's hard to really process everything I've experienced thus far...and before I know it we'll be moving on again! Tomorrow...floating markets, a famous bridge, and tigers ;)

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