Still haven't slept

Hello from muggy Bangkok. The local time is currently 6:42am and I've been up and wandering around the city since about 5:45. They say the best way to learn about a city is to get lost in it. Well I wouldn't exactly call myself lost at the moment, although I'm sure I'll never find this funky internet cafe again, I'm just currently on a street that doesn't exist on the free map provided by the airport. It's just all part of the fun!

Naturally none of us are really sleeping well yet. Both days we have woken up at around 5am, tried to pretend we are sleeping for about half an hour and then started up a conversation. Today I took it a step further and said screw it, I'm leaving the room and going to explore the city before anyone who could want to sell me anything is up.

You may be wondering how I am going to reconnect with the other boys later. Well, I managed to get a cell phone so in theory they can call me. We didn't actually test to see if they worked yet, but I figured it was worth the try. Buying a cell phone was a crazy and overwhelming experience. We went to this huge mall MBK, which is basically metrotown on crack and maybe a shroom or two for good measure. The entire 4th floor of the mall is full of small little vendors wanting to sell you phones. Great you think supply and demand! I'll find a super cheap phone and a super cheap plan and bob is your uncle. Well, first off it is pure information overload. There are so many people and so many sounds it's like being in a casino. We probably walked around for about 30 minutes before we even built up the courage to talk to anyone. Once we did actually talk to someone the situation didn't really get any better. After a few smiles and acknowledgments that I did in fact speak English and they didn’t we were pretty frazzled. Fleeing the floor with our tail between our legs we regrouped and tried again. This time we went for a slightly larger shop and found someone who was very nice and friendly and spoke English and he set everything up. So now, in theory, as again this has not been tested, I have a phone. So if you get a text from a crazy ass number at some point that could be me!

Another interesting experience thus far has been the traffic. Now clearly we had been warned about this before but until you experience it you really don't understand. We have bravely gotten into several taxis now and made it out fine each time although we have yet to try the tuk tuks. What I really want someone to explain to me, preferably in English, is what the rules of the road actually are. I mean I have experience crazy driving before. Montreal, or Mexican public transit come to mind, but here it really seems like you just drive where you fit, regardless of what direction traffic is flowing. For example, we can be on a street that I am sure is a one way coming at us when suddenly two full lanes of traffic coming from the opposite direction come flying by. It is a little unnerving.

Other than the crazy cell phone experience at the mall and the traffic I think the adventure has actually been pretty tame. We are staying Koh San Road which is famous for being crazy but it seems ok. You get accosted all of the time by people selling you stuff but I wouldn't say it has been “eye opening”. Maybe it was just built up so much that it could never live up, but really it’s just one city block long and aside from foreign people actually being in the majority it’s totally fine. I could also seriously get used to the 25 cent beers though. We haven't really been out to go crazy at night that much, or done the ping pong shows etc however, so it is just possible we are sheltering ourselves as we settle in.

On the food and drink note, the food has been great! I think I could get very used to eating Thai all the time. Mind you this is only after 3 days so I could get very sick of it, but the curries and everything else, even the plane food, was been delectable. We even ate at the rather interesting restaurant yesterday called cabbage and condoms. Yes you read that right. They had carvings fully anointed with condoms, maps of the abortion laws from around the world, and a guarantee that their food would not get you pregnant. I believe some of the funds from the place went to a women’s shelter. So there you go, we got fed, Mike and I had some mountain chicken, and helped people out. We are so noble.

I think the plan for today is to do the more touristy, and interesting things, around town. The temples (Wats), grand palace etc. Up to now it really has just been getting used to the weather, trying to sleep (HA!) and picking up the stuff we need for here. Oh we also watched Iron Man in a theatre last night. AWESOME! Both the experience and the film. You do have to remember to stand up in tribute to the king before the film but everyone else around you does so that’s a pretty easy memory jog.

If you check out the blog: traveldom.blogspot.com as well as the e-mails you can see some pictures. I'll try and keep doing both as we go along. Because even though I like to write a lot, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Ta ta for now. I'm off to see if I can relocate the “guesthouse” and the boys.