In the BKK

Before I arrived here, with all the research I compiled and articles I read, I still did not know what to expect.  I had read just about everything you need to know about this vibrant city; but still felt nervous when I groggily awoke at Suvarnabumi Airport.  What I saw from pictures gave me all kinds of expectations, with the top photos usually consisting of skyscrapers, recent protest violence, and thai bar girls.

Everything went smoothly in the airport, apart from not getting the proper stamp in my passport.  After 27 hours with virtually no sleep, I had not thought to show customs my visa, and they stamped a random page for a 30 day visa.  I did not realize this until about a week later.  We had heard to be extra careful about getting a cab from the airport, as some try to rip you off with unmetered taxis.  However, I knew I would not make that mistake again, after what happened in Roma a few years ago (sorry Jeanette).  So the ride went well and luckily it was 11:30 at night, so there was only light traffic.  We stayed at a hotel called Imm Fusion.  I assume the Thais tried to spell Inn, but as usual with their spelling, failed.  The place was fine for just a few nights, especially for the 13$ we paid.  On our first day we managed to ride the entire BTS skytrain and MRT subway completely through, which is a major accomplishment, but absolutely pointless.  We tried to find some apartments that we not even remotely close to where we were.  Within those few days, we tried do as much sightseeing as possible before Shannon started classes on the 9th.

So, one the first things we saw was Lumphini Park.  Despite housing tens of thousands of red shirts and enduring countless bloody encounters with the Thai military, the Park seemed untouched.  The atmosphere was as if nothing had even happened.  The attitude seemed as if no one wanted to remember what just happened.  No memorials, no signs, no nothing.  Like a massive protest and civilian uproar never occurred.  However, if you do go towards the Central World Plaza (a massive mall in the central business district), the main building is fried.  Shannon was very disappointed in this as it was home to the  infamous Forever 21 store.  I still get chills when I walk by it on the skywalk late at night after classes.  So anyways, Lumphini is now home to local and foreign joggers, families, and the world's largest iguanas.  Its a little uneasy walking in a park where your typical squirrels are giant predatory reptiles.

The city itself is absolutely amazing.  It can be extremely overwhelming and yet sometimes peaceful (but mostly crowded).  Every once in a while I have to venture out during rush hour in the morning, where train employees (this is their job) push you into the train where everyone is packed like sardines.  This would be a italian gypsy's paradise, but I have yet to encounter any pickpocketers (maybe because here, I am actually bigger than most people).  On every street you will find street vendors with just about any type of food.  I fancy a good crepe dog (chicken hot dog wrapped in a pancake) from crepe dog lady who parks right under our BTS station Surasak.  At night, everything is lit up like christmas, whether its the enormous buildings, pimped out tuk-tuks, or the red brake lights from the never ending traffic that plagues this town.

Our next goal was to find an apartment.  We only looked at three and we pretty much knew we would end up at Sathorn Saint View.  It was the best option for the price, and it had a rooftop pool.  Our room was a bit old, but we liked it a lot, until the horse sized rat decided to eat our leftovers left on the counter.  But that will come later.  The walk to the BTS station is quite interesting from our place.  It involves winding narrow street, alleys, and avoiding speeding motorbikes and pollution spitting tuk-tuks.  We always have the option of taking a minute long taxi bike to the station, but its not worth it when we can just walk the 7 minutes it takes.  Other than that, its a pretty basic serviced apartment; friendly staff, cleaning service, restaurant (which we still have not been to), and mini-mart (aka cheap BEER).

The city is divided into many different neighborhoods.  There are two main BTS lines, Sukhumvit and Silom.  They interchange with each other and the subway.  This makes getting around super easy.  It can get pricey though, as trips vary depending on the distance traveled on the train.  Luckily I don't have to deal with the crowds, as I do not get up till usually 10:30.  Shannon on the other hand, has pretty stressful commuting days. But she does get to see the monks (bikkhus) in the mornings when they collect their food from people, as they can only eat what is donated by the public.  Anyways, back to the neighborhoods.  They range from luxurious expensive expat communities to the slums of Klong Toei.  We live in a good mix of both westerners and thais.  Most expats live on Sukhumvit road, where you may never see a thai.  This 8 lane road is filled with overpriced american sports bars and british pubs.  There are certain areas to avoid on Sukhumvit, however.  Nana plaza is a block or two of ladyboy go-go bars, or as they call them here, ping pong shows (which sucks cuz I like the game ping pong).  Also to avoid is the go-go bars on Sois 23 and 24.  But they are normally easy to avoid, just walk the opposite direction of most middle aged white men.  Along the MRT subway, it is mostly thai communities and developments.  Shannon knows more about the northern neighborhoods, as she commutes there every day for classes.  The old town is a makeup of khao san road, chinatown, and the grand palace area.  Khao san road is a backpackers haven.  The tiny road is home to numerous amounts of nasty cheap hostels and pubs.  However, if you are in the mood for cheap drinks and meeting interesting people from around the world, this might be the place to go. Chinatown is like every other chinatown I assume (I have yet to go), and the grand palace I will explain later.  The city center, or central business district is where all the extremely nice malls and government buildings are located.  Webster is located right in the middle of all of it.  These are only some of the neighborhoods we have explored...there will be more to come.  

Sawadee krap, Grungtep!

Sawadee Krap, or hello from Thailand, and to whom ever might read this (which might only be Shannon).
So, after much thought, and procrastination with grad school homework, I've decided to go ahead a be that guy, and blog about our adventure in Thailand.  I know Shannon is posting a similar blog, but this is the NOT so PG rated version. So here it goes...

It has been exactly one month since our arrival in Bangkok, and it has flown by.  It seems like yesterday when we were still waiting in Chicago for that 20plus hour flight to Tokyo and then Bangkok.  However, we have seen and experienced many new things since arriving, from filthy exciting third class train rides to ancient cities, to trying not to stare at overly tall lady boys and dirty old men getting off at nana plaza.  Ultimately, I do not know where to start, since it has already been a month, so I will just categorize as I keep posting up until the present (which I may never catch up to).