Well, I'm officially on my fourth day here in Bangkok. It's going by so quickly and I'm doing SO much! I do have days where I'm much more homesick than others and cry but some days are easier, especially when I stay busy.
Friday was the hardest day so far. I moved into my apartment in the rain...which wasn't fun. It is the end of rainy season though so it's expected. My apartment reminds me of a dorm. Simple, plain and kind of old fashioned. It's a great price though and not too far from the BTS (the skytrain). I just take a taxi from the skytrain and it is pretty cheap. Once I got here, I unpacked a couple of things and talked to my friend from Louisiana and we met up around Soi Arri. She needed to go to the IT mall so I got to experience what it'd be like to get something for my computer if I'd ever need it. That mall is crazy. There are literally electronics from wall to wall for several floors.
Then we went to get a Thai massage! My first one! It was only 100 Baht for 1 hour, that's about 3 US Dollars!!!! So cheap. I had seen video of Thai massage so I knew it was much different than a traditional massage. They do a lot of bending and stretching and they use their whole body to massage you. They brought us into a room with 5 flat mats and have you change out of your clothes into these weird scrub clothes (they pull the curtains closed so the other people getting massaged don't see you), then they come back and start massaging. They do move the curtains so it's one room and you can see everyone getting their massages. Some parts were painful but over all, it was amazing. My muscles felt great after! Then we walked back downstairs and they give you green tea.
After that we decided to have a couple of beers and appetizers at one of the many prostitute alleys. It's so funny to watch these old farang men in these areas. It's actually quite gross, in my opinion but to each their own. I had a couple of Singhas (pronounced Sing) and ordered some spring rolls. It was funny because the restaurant we were at doesn't even make their own food. She had to bring our order to a restaurant a few feet down and they delivered it when it was cooked. The spring rolls were unlike any other I'd had before, they had these clear noodles and shrimp inside them. It was served with this honey sauce that was soooo delicious!!! Sara told me that is usually served with fried chicken here. YUM!
After gawking at the older farang men, we went to Big C which is the Thai version of Wal-Mart. I'm so clumsy I wiped out in front of the store and wound up with a swollen knee that is all scabbed over now and quite gross looking. It was my first battle wound. I bought a fan and a pillow at Big C for my apartment. The pillows here are crazy, they are sooo thick. Needless to say I woke up with a bad neckache. After Big C, I was pretty exhausted from jet lag and drinking beer at 4 in the afternoon so I went home and unpacked a little. This is when my frustration hit. I started to try and put my sheets on my bed which are MUCH too small! It was annoying and made me miss my bed at home. I got really homesick and frustrated.
The next morning was easier, I woke up and unpacked a little more and then my mentor friend came over around 11:30 for us to go to Siam Paragon and meet her adorable Thai friend for lunch. It was funny because she mainly only eats Thai food and my friend usually only eats western food so we had an interesting time finding out where to eat, especially since the malls were crazy with people because it was a holiday weekend. We ended up eating at Greyhoud Cafe which I'm now obsessed with. It had a nice mixture of food. (Greyhound Cafe isn't actually in Siam Paragon, but in Siam Center)
I had beef lasagna with Italian Sausage. It was delicious. I'd been craving cheese because we are constantly talking about how cheese is expensive and pretty much nonexistent here, so it really hit the spot. We also had bruschetta as an appetizer which was also delicious. Appetizers don't come before the meal though which was interesting. I got my food first and they insisted I start even though no one else had their food, very different than American restaurants. The Thai couple that was with us (super nice and I really enjoyed meeting them) ordered a Thai appetizer that I really liked also. It was a square noodle that you fill with pork and lettuce and spices if you want (I stay away from the spices though). It was so good! Difficult to eat, especially since Thais are very delicate with their food. I ordered a beer with lunch and the guy with us said that I should try one that I hadn't tried before, it was Phuket beer. DELICIOUS!! It was the first light beer I'd had since coming here and it was so good, and of course a product of Thailand.
After lunch, the girls went for a walk around the Siam area at all the markets and shops and everything. I found the most adorable skirt! I love clothes here in Bangkok! :)
One area was full of people. They had a guy singing that was from the Thai version of American Idol. It was great! There were bean bag chairs everywhere for people to sit in in front of the stage too. Nothing like you'd ever see in America!
Then we walked around to the MBK area and I got to see my first spirit house. It was beautiful. They are in front of Thai buildings. Thais believe that theses spirits are in all the buildings so they give offerings to the spirits this way.
Then we walked to see the areas that had been burned during the protests earlier this summer. I really wanted to see Central World because that got a lot of damage but there were other places in that area that were destroyed also. One was a really old theater that they had around that same area here in Bangkok. It's so sad because people who lost money in this were people without a lot of money that really needed their income. The first photo below is what they are doing to rebuild Central World now and the second one is the area around the theater that was also badly burnt.
This next one is the front of Central World. It is difficult to see how badly damaged it was but apparently this was a pretty great mall. A mixture of different kinds of shops and people. There's a sign outside that says this great landmark will return to Bangkok, pretty sad.
After seeing all of these, we went into another mall and looked around. Then it was time to eat again! I'd been craving pizza so we went to The Pizza Company which I was warned wouldn't taste like Western pizza but I really couldn't tell a difference. It was delicious!!! I don't mind the cheese here at all..especially since I love cheese! Then we went to the supermarket because by this time we had been out for around 9 hours and the supermarket would be closing soon. I needed some things for my apartment like milk, cereal, etc. I found Cocoa Frosties that weren't too expensive for imported cereal and had them for breakfast today. Quite good. I didn't realize how much I take for granted having a car and being able to push the buggy out to my car and leave. It's much more difficult here. I had to carry my half gallon milk and two huge bottles of water all the way to the apartment which was a pain. We had to get on the BTS with all of this as well as get into a taxi. Finally arriving at my apartment was amazing! I was so glad we made it. I slept so well last night too after all the walking.
More adventures in store today! :)
