The first weekend in Thailand

I had been waiting for this moment for months....I never really thought it was actually going to come to fruition....but there I was on the airplane, on the way to Thailand! In Chicago, I met up with a gal named Cailin. She is from the Boston area, and I was given her information a few weeks back because she is not only in the same program as me, but at the same placement location. It was very nice to have a friend from the beginning of this unknown adventure! Cailin and I got to celebrate New Years in the backseat of a cab! I wish I had a better story...although I was in Bangkok! From the beginning we had struggles and many unknowns. Our dear local friend who met us at the airport and took us to our hotel, didn't seem to know anything about the opening weekend activities that we were supposed to have, and that we came early for.
We were a bit messed up from the 13 hour time difference (into the future!), so at 2am our first night there we decided to hit the streets for some grub! Street vendor food is ridiculously cheap. Mostly around 35 baht, which is about $1.
The next day we took a cab to the US embassy, to get checked in and such...but, I assume because of the holiday...it was closed! So we took off to do the next most important thing...buy a cell phone! For safety purposes mostly. After a bit of a struggle, we got one...and it only cost us about $25! At about 6pm we got back to the hotel and decided to take a short snooze before venturing out again. I guess the traveling and time change had something else in store for us...for we ended up sleeping through the night!
We were supposed to have the next two nights covered by our organization, but there was no record in sight. Finally at the last second, they called to reserve it. It's a good thing we slept through the night because we had to get up at 5:30am! At 7am we departed on a half day bike ride and boat tour of Bangkok. It was the craziest bike ride I've ever been on! We traveled through crowds of people at dozens of markets, through the back alleys, inbetween peoples houses, along the river dock, through a semi-jungle like area...some spaces were so small that you had to get off your bike! Then a few times we would put all our bike on these long boats and ride the boats for a while, taking in the city from a different view.

I will get pictures up as SOON as I can! Apologies in advance for that! The craziest thing about this city, is that it truly seemed as though half of the roads were water roads. Houses and building were built on the water and you can only travel through alot of the city by boat. It was unbelievable.

What seemed like 10 hours later (in reality was 3 and a half!) we stopped at a little place where they had people in little boats on the water, making food. Another lady on our ride and I decided we HAD to get some Pad Thai! (one of my favorite dishes!) It was the BEST Pad Thai I had ever eaten! The best part...it was only 25 Baht, which is about 65-70 cents! When we got back from the ride, (after sweating profusely!!), we decided to take a nap...which turned into a 4 hour snooze!

We finally forced ourselves to get up...mostly because we were hungry! We looked at our lonely planet books to find a new neck of the woods to investigate. When our cab driver pulled up to drop us off, we looked at each other with excitement! It appeared to be a very happening spot! We anxiously started walking down the crowded street of people. There were tons of people, tons of food vendors, live music, and even more people selling clothes, shoes, purses...whatever your little heart desired! We decided the most important thing was to eat and get a cold beverage. After satisfying our hunger and thirst, we hit the streets again. A few purchases were made....and it wasn't a cold cut deal from the beginning....you had to haggle with these folk. Right away they see that you are American and think you have money and jack the price up. Good thing my dad raised me right....to be tight and to always try to get a good deal! He would have been proud!
We had trouble sleeping that night due to our monstrous nap...but, we awoke the next day and had to pack up all of our stuff to leave for the bus station. (I even got some fried potatos for breakfast!). Well, my computer time is running out....so I will have to save some of the stellar stories from today for a later date!