Our First Day in Thailand

I've been here 12 days now.

This land is beautiful and exotic and much of what I thought it would be like. Stepping out of the Bangkok airport into the hot, humid air of Thailand I thought, 'I'm finally here.'

Ashley and I got a taxi outside of the airport and showed our driver the sheet with LARGE all caps letters for the address of the Bangkok Christian Guest house. I felt sure we looked like ridiculous Americans as the driver took one look at the paper with ridiculously large font, looked back at us, and laughed with a typical Thai grin on his face.

On the drive to the Guest house I tried practicing Thai phrases from my little book on the taxi driver. And once again..he laughed. We arrived late, around midnight, and had to ring the doorbell outside the gate. Through the streets to the Guest house we saw people laying on the ground, including children. Expected, but still sad.

We got up the next morning with bright eyes to see Bangkok. We found our way to the sky train which took us to the canal boats. Figuring out which sky train ticket to buy was interesting. I felt like such a child not being able to speak the language, but we figured it out all the same. After getting off the sky train we made our way to the canal boats, bought a ticket, and got in. There were several interesting sights to see along the canal. People washing themselves, beautiful temples or buildings right next to slum looking homes, the Royal Thai Navy, temples.

After getting off the canal boat we walked through the street markets and vendors towards the Grand Palace. When we crossed the street there were some Thai officials giving information to tourists. But the first thing they said to us was, "Oh ma'ams, please do not touch the monks. It is forbidden. When you see a monk--be careful to give him distance." Ashley and I looked at each other thinking, 'When did we touch a monk?' But we just smiled politely and said, "Oh, we're sorry," right as we watched a monk walk past. The officials also informed us that it was a Buddhist holiday and ferangs (foreigners) weren't allowed in the Palace until 1:30 p.m. So they flagged down a tuk-tuk for us and gave him 4 different places to drive us around Bangkok.

I have to say riding in the tuk-tuk was a highlight. The thrill of weaving through the streets feeling like my life could end at any moment was just grand, lol. Don't worry, I don't want my life to end. It was just kind of an adrenaline rush not being used to the driving in Thailand.

He brought us back to the Grand Palace around 1:30. As we walked in through the back entrance a guide walked up very enthusiastically and said, "Hello Ma'ams, would you like a tour guide for 200 baht each?" We looked at each other and said, "Sure, why not?" Tony led us through the paths and told us about the different stories of each building or figure. One actually does not go inside the buildings, except for the Emerald Buddha temple. But each building is so carefully designed and everything is covered in 24 K gold. I have pictures in the Bangkok album on my facebook if you'd like to see what I mean.

We came back to the Guest House and sat down with a couple of Cokes. I think Jet lag was finally hitting us. We had a train to Chiang Mai to catch at 7:30. We told the front desk and they said, "Oh, we can reserve a taxi for you." But around 6:30 it started pouring rain and apparently there was a traffic jam. It was looking like we would have to walk in the rain to the subway with our three big bags of luggage. We started walking, but a the two workers helping us carry our luggage saw a taxi and he stopped. Unfortunately after we got in and he started driving we were also in the traffic jam. We weren't sure we were going to make the train! But we arrived at the station and he worriedly looked at us and said, "Okay, you go now." Translation: you better hurry.