17 June 2005
WELLCOME To Bangkok
Or so said the sign in the minivan that drove us from bangkok int'l to our hotel (Viengtai). After a solid 24 hours of flying we managed to land in the Thailand in one piece. Our first night was a mixture of over exhausation and sleeping pills. (Ed thinks we should be editing posts, I am more daring after two large Beer Changs).
Lets talk language barrier. I can't understand half the things Ed says. I can understand even less of what the Thai people say. I've tried to pick up a few common phrases and even if I could remember and pronunce them, Thai is a tonal language. So while I try to say "Hello, Good Morning", what I really say is "I would like a fried newspaper and half an orangtan". So we were naturally quite happy to meet two nice (older) Thai women that spoke English. It was also their first day in Bangkok! They were travellers, and just like us were headed to The Grand Palace! What an amazing coincidence! And since they spoke Thai, of course we let them take care of the arragements. Well, the ten minute walk turned into an hour long boat ride costing us the proverbial arm and leg (about 12 us dollars). Lesson learned: Do not trust little old women. Seriously, all of you back in the states, be very wary of nice little old ladies.
Regardless, the boat tour was really awesome. We were in a long tail boat that cruise the canals of Bangkok, passing teak temples and houses built on stilts. Mailboxes hung out over the water way and we fed fish for good karma. We visited Wat Pho and saw the famous reclining buddha (he is one chilled out dude) and got great authentic Thai massages (Ed wants me to point out that they were not erotic. Hi Mr. and Mrs. Bailey). The temples (Wat for you english speakers) are incredible, with ridiculous carved and painted details and wafting incense. Afterwards, we relaxed in our rooftop pool before imbibing on afermentioned Chang Beers.
Hope everyone is having fun/or working realllllllly hard in the western hempisphere.
Seam-ish-tiakrit
Ed and Steve
PS> I made up that last phrase
Lets talk language barrier. I can't understand half the things Ed says. I can understand even less of what the Thai people say. I've tried to pick up a few common phrases and even if I could remember and pronunce them, Thai is a tonal language. So while I try to say "Hello, Good Morning", what I really say is "I would like a fried newspaper and half an orangtan". So we were naturally quite happy to meet two nice (older) Thai women that spoke English. It was also their first day in Bangkok! They were travellers, and just like us were headed to The Grand Palace! What an amazing coincidence! And since they spoke Thai, of course we let them take care of the arragements. Well, the ten minute walk turned into an hour long boat ride costing us the proverbial arm and leg (about 12 us dollars). Lesson learned: Do not trust little old women. Seriously, all of you back in the states, be very wary of nice little old ladies.
Regardless, the boat tour was really awesome. We were in a long tail boat that cruise the canals of Bangkok, passing teak temples and houses built on stilts. Mailboxes hung out over the water way and we fed fish for good karma. We visited Wat Pho and saw the famous reclining buddha (he is one chilled out dude) and got great authentic Thai massages (Ed wants me to point out that they were not erotic. Hi Mr. and Mrs. Bailey). The temples (Wat for you english speakers) are incredible, with ridiculous carved and painted details and wafting incense. Afterwards, we relaxed in our rooftop pool before imbibing on afermentioned Chang Beers.
Hope everyone is having fun/or working realllllllly hard in the western hempisphere.
Seam-ish-tiakrit
Ed and Steve
PS> I made up that last phrase
