Today was our first day in Bangkok! So far, I miss Chiang Mai. It's so different. Bangkok is dirty, hot, and touristy. There are “massage parlors” everywhere, tattoo parlors everywhere, “ping pong” shows (involves ping pong balls and ladies with talented pelvic muscles), and dozens of pad thai street vendors.
Anyway, we left Chiang Mai at 5am, and ate yogurt and granola bars for breakfast on the bus ride to the airport. When we got there, we went through sorriest excuse for security. It was an old metal detector and a bag scanner right next to the door. Arty went through too, even though she didn't have a boarding pass. It was confusing. Then we got our boarding passes, and Arty led us to the Bangkok Air lounge, where we had free food and coffee! Yay! Anyway, Arty left us, and we went through another weak security check (shoes on, laptop in the bag, liquids in the bag, left the sweatshirt on, didn't ask for a boarding pass).
The flight was short and I slept the first half, but then they brought out breakfast (cheese roll and fruit), and I kind of drifted in and out of sleep again. I couldn't sleep again because we are already descending and I had to chew gum to keep my ears from popping. Didn't work. My ears hurt for a while.
When we landed, we got our luggage and met our tour guide, Tony. He is originally from Chiang Mai, so we could understand his slow accent better than maybe a person for Bangkok.
Tony brought us on a boat tour of Bangkok, the Venice of Thailand. The city has a canal system built into it from when boat was the fastest way to get around. We saw some wats, and stopped at one and climbed the tallest pagoda in Bangkok. The stairs got steeper with every level. Ascending, no problem. Descending, I was clutching to the railing like an old woman, creeping down sideways. My thigh hurts. We also went to a part of the canal with a lot of fish, and fed them fish. The fish are Asian Carp, which are trying to be eradicated in the US, but they're protected here in Thailand. Interesting. The boat transportation was interesting, but I was hopping in and out with no problem at the end.
We finally checked into our hotel, which is the fanciest in the old city. (Although the old city is described as “bohemian heart of Bangkok,” which basically means it's full of dirty hippies and beggars.) Anyway, it's also fancy because it has a pool and fridges in the rooms, and our shower has a bathtub! Ooh... Xee and I live on the 6th floor with about half our group.
When we got to the hotel, we had some time to go and eat, then went to do presentations all afternoon. It was a little boring, but it wasn't bad. We were there for about 4 hours. After, we tried to find dinner for cheap that wasn't pad thai, which is everywhere. We ended up getting rice noodle soup with pork (the other option was liver). Then for dessert, we had roti (chocolate), then mango and sticky rice, then ice cream! At the ice cream place, we were approached by students to take a marketing survey for their class. After they left, two other students asked us the same thing (same class, different group). They gave us a postcard after to thank us.
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