Welcome to Bangkok!

I have arrived! The flight was uneventful...Japan Airlines' version of vegetarian asian food is bland instant rice with over cooked veggies and something like a curry sauce...odd. Stepping off the plane (which was a double-decker 747! very exciting), exhaust fumes and the strange, sticky humidity of tropical midnight wrapped me in a blanket, welcoming me to this land so very far removed from Loa, UT.

I am trying to be thrifty, as I have been and am choosing to continue to be unemployed, and thought I would take the train to my hostel (I missed the last bus), but it wasn't going to come for another 1.5 hours, so I negotiated myself a taxi ride (teehee, bargaining...). Getting in, I noticed there were no seatbelt buckels..this didn't bother me too much since the driver wasn't wearing his either...however, less than 10 minutes into the journey, we saw a very nice, new looking black car flipped over in the left lane, sitting on its roof! The occupants were still climbing out as we drove by. Looked like everyone was ok, but I decided to tie the center belt to the shoulder belt as a makeshift safety restraint. After several seemingly random turns down tiny shop-lined alleys and wider taxi-clogged thoroughfares (not to mention the park full of prostitutes looking for customers), we arrived where my directions said my hostel was supposed to be...no such luck. The driver was exceedingly kind for 1AM, stopping for directions multiple times. Finally, I just figured we had passed it and would follow the walking directions from the train station if he would just please let me out there. He agreed, I paid my $9 fare and low and behold, the hostel was exactly where it was supposed to be, less than a block's walk away. :)

I am glad for the few days' transition I had in Los Angeles...the traffic there is a billion times worse than Loa, and it doesn't hold a candle to the roads in Bangkok! I feel like I'm in a crowded warm-up ring at a horse show, times 10! Judicious use of the horn and a calming hand-wave seem all it takes to claim right-of-way. I noticed there is also a subtle hierarchy among the regular cars, tuk-tuk taxis, and motorbikes...driving into on-coming traffic is common-place and getting cut-off by a vehicle higher in the traffic caste system seems acceptable--perhaps even expected. Some times I begrudge my taxi fares, but I feel blessed not to have to drive here.

I've seen a few of the more famous buddhas, rode on a water taxi, got my first Thai meal (pad thai, for free at a school event of some sort!) and took a couple tuk tuk rides. My eyes are burning from the smog and I am ready to hit the beaches. Tomorrow night, I take an over-night bus to Krabi and hopefully will get to check out some islands and go SWIMMING!!! As I believe I was a dolphin in a past life, I am very much looking forward to this.

When I get tired of lounging on the beach, I will head north to Chang Mai via Ayutthaya(sp?) and Sukothai, both former centers of Thailand, go for a trek to see some hill tribes and ride on elephants(!), then over to Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia for unspecified lengths of time...when this is done, I have teaching or WWOOF-organic farming or monastery living to check out.