Kirk

Ok so the first day was interesting. There have been a lot of moments so far that if I focused on what could seem negative, and there have been a lot of good ones too, I would feel miserable, but I'm choosing to have a different view point. So here it goes.
When I flew in last night after 20 hours of traveling I got to the hostel, and realized that I had somehow lost my bank card on during travel. I honestly have no idea how it happened. It was one of the biggest things I was afraid of happening on this trip and so I was trying to constantly safe guard it, but it still happened.
So being tired I freaked out and wanted cry. I figured out how to call US Bank from Thailand, that was a challenge too. You can't call the normal 800 number you have to find the international number, and then figuring out the pay phone whose instructions were completely in Thai was interesting, but I did it. So yay success!
Unfortunately the bank won't send me a new card while I'm here so I was freaking out on how I would get my money, but they said I can Western Union it to myself, and there is one near my hostel. So just takes a little more planning. Although I was upset and did not have a nice attitude on the phone with the bank teller I spoke to, something I'm still feeling bad about today. I'm having them mail a new card to my sister so she can mail it to me and then I have a credit card and some cash, and I also found out that I got paid close to $700 from some freelancing work I had done a month ago, which got deposited in my bank account.
So after taking a shower and mentally beating myself up all night I got a little sleep and woke up early. I showered and walked down to Lumphini Park in the Silom district of Thailand.

It was very pretty and relaxing. I then came back and had breakfast at the restaurant in my hostel which costed with tip about $5. Which is actually a little more then some of the cheaper places you can find here. After breakfast I decided I was going to try to go see Wat Pho, which is a buddhist temple. This was not as easy as I thought it would be. I tried taking the public buses which was a scary experience. They jerk all over, and I can't really read the signs so I was just hoping to see where I needed to get off.
I got off where I thought was right,but it wasn't, and then there was a guy on a moped who was trying to get me to hire him to drive me. He didn't speak English and I don't speak Thai, but we negotiated to do it for 50

baht, almost $2. This ride put the fear of god in me. He raced in-between cars where I thought my knees were going to be knocked off, ran up on sidewalks through crowds, and then dropped me off and told me that where I wanted to go was up around the corner, then he tried to get me to pay him more than we settle on so we had to bargain again.
When I went up around the corner I wasn't in the right place at all. He had taken me to china town, which is great for shopping, but also extremely claustrophobic. So I walked around for a while, and then hired a tuk tuk to take me home.

The tuk tuk driver convinced me to go to the temple so we agreed on a price he'd take me for, but then part way through said there was too much traffic and gave me a map and took me to a water taxi area. He told me there were two types of water taxis. One was a private charter that is 1200 baht, about about $40 or there's a public one that ranges between 20-40 baht, $1-$1.40. I obviously wanted the cheaper one, but he dropped me off at a pier that had the more expensive one, and the lady selling tickets wouldn't tell me where the pier was that had the cheaper taxi. I almost had a Mob Wives moment on her. At that point both taxi's I had taken hadn't taken me where I wanted to go, and I was pretty thoroughly lost.
Finally someone else told me how to get to the other taxi pier. When

I finally got to Wat Pho it was like the sun opening up and God smiling on me. The temple was beautiful, and they have an amazing reclining buddha.

I'm going to post all the pictures from today eventually on facebook and make it a public photo album so you all can see how cool it was, and totally worth the struggle.
After getting back to the area of my hotel I decided to get a thai massage, which was about 360 baht including tip, about $12 dollars. It's a little more in my area then in some places, but I didn't feel like exploring to find cheaper.
So what I learned is this:
If I look at all the things that didn't go according to plan I could be taken up with all the negatives and life would be miserable, but I can also look at it this way. I learned to use water taxis and walk to get around the city, take things as they come, and live in acceptance, and I also realized to value the friendships I have at home. Going through some struggles when you're traveling alone makes you really wish you had a friend to talk to about it, so these experiences make me remember the love I have for my friends and family. I can either wallow in the negative, or thrive and adapt in what life throws at me. I choose the latter.

Trips:

Shorthand link:

Easing in

Bangkok, Thailand

Learning Curve

Bangkok, Thailand

Leaving On a Jet Plane

Los Angeles, United States

Pre-Trip nerves

San Diego, United States

Heading South?