October 19
Hilarious Bench/Ad in Bangkok
This is the summary of my first full day in Thailand. It
also happened to be my birthday.
I woke up in the morning stupidly early for some reason,
even though I was still very tired. I guess the flights and a few hours here
and there of sleep will mess up your sleep schedule for sure. At least we woke
up on time for breakfast at the hotel. Breakfast is served in the hotel
restaurant and was buffet style. There were many foods I didn’t recognise, and
foods I wouldn’t normally eat for breakfast. Dishes like curry chicken for
example. I decided to play it safe and go with toast, a croissant, and
watermelon. It felt good to eat fruit again after the not-so-great airplane
food.
After breakfast, we checked in with OEG. I was also able to
buy a phone, and the OEG staff helped us set it up. Many other people
participating in the Teach in Thailand program were also checking in and
setting up their phones. One of the OEG staff lived in Canada for a year during
high school. It’s been nice to find Canadian connections – most of the people
in our orientation are from the USA. It’s also amazing the variety of accents
that exist between us, some more subtle than others. I wonder what I sound like
to the other participants...eh?
Anyway a big group of us decided to wander around our hotel.
We stopped at a 7-11 for various items. 7-11s are everywhere in Thailand: I
think I’ve walked by 3 just in the vicinity of our hotel. You can buy almost
anything there, including food, alcohol, electronics, and top-up cards for your
phone. After that, we found a market that featured almost anything you could want
– clothes, food, jewelry, sunglasses, movies, odds and ends, you name it. I
bought an adaptor for my laptop (the hotel room doesn’t have 3-pronged outlets)
for 20 baht. I could have bartered if I wanted to, but I felt slightly
ridiculous for buying an adaptor for less than a dollar Canadian. There are
food stands and restaurants everywhere, making all sorts of items. Stir fries,
noodles, pastries, or fresh fruit packages.
The Market - I don't know the actual name
In the afternoon, a smaller group of us decided to go more
into Bangkok (the hotel is not very close to downtown) and continue wandering.
To get there, we took a taxi from out hotel to the nearest Sky Train stop, Mo
Chit Station. The Sky Train is basically like the Scarborough train but MUCH
better. It also provided great views of the city. There was a slight mix up
when we got off: for the sky train, the fair you pay depends on how far you
need to go. So you purchase a ticket for x amount, and put it through the
machine to get into the station. Once you get off, you have to re-enter your
ticket to be let out (I guess so people can’t ride for longer than they paid).
We made the typical tourist amount of paying the wrong amount, but we sorted it
out with the help of the transit officers. We got off at Siam station, which
seemed to be a pretty busy shopping district. There was a fancy looking mall,
as well as street after street of small shops. SO many shoes! I didn’t buy
anything as I was mainly interested in taking in the scenery, but some of the
other girls (note: the girl to guy ratio in the program is about 10:1) bought
some clothing. All I know is you can buy shoes for about 220 Baht – about $7.
Things went pretty well – a couple people tried to get us to take “boat rides”
or other... shenanigans, but we politely turned them down and kept walking. We
also stumbled into a park with these really amazing trees. See below for
pictures.
Fancy Mall
Wanderings. Note the Bright pink taxi.
Park @ Siam
After our wander, we returned to the hotel, where I had a
lovely nap. In the evening, Anna and I went for dinner at an outdoor restaurant
across the road. I again decided to play it safe and get stir fried vegetables –
pretty tasty. We ordered beer with our meal, and were brought these MASSIVE
bottles, probably almost 2 pints worth for $2. Amazing... Then it was back to
the hotel for relaxation and a well-deserved early bed-time.
And that was how I
spent 23rd birthday!
No comments:
Post a Comment