Bangkok

BANGKOK wow, it only took twelve hours and i am i a completely different part of the world. i went from saying cheers and 'sweet as mate' to saying sa wat dee (hello) and khaawp khoon (thank you). Also, chai means yes, mai means no, and khaaw thoht means excuse me or i'm sorry. this place is not like fiji where everyone speaks english, but i am smiling a lot and trying to learn, and thai people really appreciate this. however, just like fiji, the computers are sub par, so i have a poorly functioning shift key, hence the lowercase. i arrived to the bangkok airport at 10 pm, which is 10 am your time. it was about a 12 hour flight but the service and food was the best i have ever had. a tv in the back of every seat, dozens of movies and tv shows to watch, and really nice (and beautiful) flight attendants. since i was alone, i found the first person i saw with a backpack and started a conversation. lina has been in new zealand working for a year and is originally from germany. we did some research and got a bus to the infamous backpacker ghetto; kohsan road. even at midnight, this place was buzzing with markets and street vendors selling everything from swords to cheap food. we found a place to crash for the night, and have since found a cheaper, more backpacker friendly place called the wild orchid, where we will stay for a few nights. we have been splitting a 'standard double' which is basically a closet with a double bed in it. since we split the cost, it is about 4 us dollars per night to stay at the wild orchid. we spent today eating amazing food (strawberry smoothie and spicy pork friend rice for about 1.50 us dollars) and checking out the markets. everything is so amazingly cheap here. the markets have everything that you could possibly imagine, and there is always room to bargain. i got a nice backpack today for about 7 bucks. when i exchanged 100 usd at the airport, i was given 3300 thai baht, so when if i wanted to i could easily become a millionaire! bangkok is dirty and noisy, but not as dirty and noisy as i expected. everyone is pretty nice, even though they haggle you to buy their goods the second you look at something. i now understand why there is so much hype in the backpacker world about bangkok. you can buy and do ANYTHING here. sounds sickening, but you don't find the bad stuff unless you go looking for it, so it is not uncomfortable or disheartening in any way. one thing i enjoy watching is the cars, motorbikes, and tuk tuk taxis. they drive down any road or ally that they can fit on. there doesn't seem to be traffic laws, and it is easy to get in the way. it is time to go searching for some more great food. i have eaten two meals so far, and the smoothie i drank had ice in it, and i have not gotten sick yet. the food is spicy enough to get your stomach hurting and that is why everyone tells you to be careful what you eat; but i like spicy stuff and i guess i have a tough stomach because water here (or the ice in a smoothie) is supposed to make you sick and i downed that smoothie pretty fast with no problems.