Abroad Trip Day 20 - Bangkok!

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 6^th 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.

Day 20 - Goodnight Sarajevo!

Tonight is our last night in Sarajevo. I had a lot of fun here, but I wish we had had more free time during the day. This morning, we went to a tunnel museum, which is in a house which turned into a tunnel in 1993 and then into a museum in the lat 90s. The tunnel goes under the Sarajevo airport, which was under UN control, but with Serbian forces on either side. It was the only way out of the city, but the UN had no authority and could not show favoritism, so any Bosniak going across the runway was shot. Ergo, a tunnel. It is 800 meters long, 1 meter wide, and 1.6 meters tall. It was used to bring food, water, electricity, and fuel into the city while it was under siege. Also, materials for producing cigarettes were brought in, turned into cigarettes in Sarajevo, then exported. They produced 100 million tons of cigarettes during the almost 4 year siege. Crazy, eh? But life goes on, even if you have to run zigzag down a street to get to school under sniper fire.

We then ate a quick lunch and went to the courts, where soldiers are tried for war crimes by the ICTY (international criminal tribunal of former Yugoslavia), which is the first war crimes tribunal since the Nuremberg trials after WWII. It will take about another 15 years to complete the trials. So far, about 800 people have been charged with this court. We were hosted by an American judge, Patricia Wehlan, who has been working in Bosnia with the UN.

After, free time! We ate in a fancy place, but a place where you must go down some obscure stairs and ring the buzzer to be let in. I was apprehensive at first, but it was delicious and relatively cheap! I had vegetable potage, or algae soup, chicken somethingorother which was like a chicken, rice and tomato casserole. Amazing! For dessert, I ordered the special pancake, which was a crepe with chocolate, walnuts and ice cream wrapped in the middle, and covered with some walnutty sauce and chocolate sauce. Amazing!

Anyway, then we did some shopping. LaVana bought a coat, shoes and a couple scarves. Meichen bought some scarves, and I bought a chessboard. I am such a nerd. Lol. It's a really nice, portable chessboard though. It is only 35 KM (Bosnian Marks) which is 17 Euros, so $25 or so. Marks to Euros is easy because its 2 to 1, but the US is .75 to 1 Mark, so it's a little hard to calculate in my head. We are only in Bosnia for another night, so I should spend my Marks before we get back to Croatia, where I should spend my Kuna before we get back to Slovenia, where I should spend my Euro before we get back to the US, where I should spend nothing! : )