1st Arrival

Exhausted and somewhat delirious, fortunately we did not need to navigate our way to the hostel ourselves. My Thai friend Werapong or "Joe" as he is known to his American friends picked us up from the airport. I was pleased to learn that he not only would be around that night, but for the next couple days in Bangkok, and that he would take us around the touristy sight-seeing attractions by day and take us out by night. Already from our check-in at the hostel, I can tell you it is GREAT having a local with us (Our check-in rate mysteriously dropped from >2,500 baht to ~1,400 bht (approx. $20 for each of us).

Joe also taught us a few key expressions in Thai (which is completely unrecognizable to English-speakers):

"Kob kun krap" - which means "thank you"
and "Saw wa dee" which means hello/what's up

I'm on my way to fluency...baby steps.

Also, not that it was a shocker, but it is HOT here. H-O-T. Stepping out of the airport, the air that hits you is thick, steamy, and immediately sticky. And this was at midnight (my friend Joe remarked that this was a "mild night" as we walked out of the airport). Due to the extreme heat, A/C is extremely prevalent, however, so we slept very Comfortably last night. The recipe for Comfort here seems like frequent showers and continual applications of Gold Bond. I'm prepared, at least, on that front.

Anyways, today we are meeting up with Joe and he is going to take us around the "must-see" Bangkok attractions (including the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha Temple). More later.

-Ben

written by  bhkann on June 19, 2009 from Bangkok, Thailand
from the travel blog: Ben's SE Asia Voyage
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