Sawatdee krap

I've arrived in Thailand, safe and sound, and even have a roof over my head! Just a quick recap, as I only have a few minutes before I need to head out. Also, the keyboard at this Internet cafe sucks, so I'm having to go back and correct a lot of stuff.

I arrived without trouble on Saturday, although of course I had to go through security three times - Beijing, Hong Kong, and Bangkok. I had a little trouble getting the bottle of Margarita mix through Beijing (they kept saying I had to declare it), but I played stupid. After I opened it and the customs agent took a whiff, he must have decided there wasn't enough alcohol in it for there to be a problem.

Recall that my itinerary is officially with Cathay Pacific (to Bankok). The firstl left was operated by Air China though, so they could only get me checked in to Hong Kong. Air China was nice- I watched part of some movie in French (with English subtitles) and they came around with a hot towel often. I was even given a free model of an Air China 747 because I was in business class and it's Chinese New Year.

Just a note to you travellers out there: when making international connections and switching airlines, it is easiest to deal with carry-on luggage. The benefit is that I didn't have to go through customs and back just to retrieve my luggage and get checked in again. All I had to do was go to the transfer desk and get my boarding pass. I also had to go through security again, as it seems like they keep international arrivals and departures quite separated. I did have to go through security though. It was nice to leave my laptop in the bag while going through security... it made the whole process easier. The Hong Kong airport is amazing. I took a few photos, but I won't post them here as they're not very interesting. Toward the end of the trip, I'll post everything to a gallery so you can see all of the photos if you like.

In Bangkok, I had to go to the transfer desk again to get checked in for my Thai airways flight. I also tried to find a place that would sell a SIM card for my phone and an ATM so I could load up on baht. Unfortunately, they don't sell SIM cards at the airport and my only option for cash was an exchange station. Not knowing the situation in Chiang Mai, I figured I would change 200 RMB, which got me about 800 baht, enough to get started. I gave Sean a call from a phone at the airport to see when we can meet up- looks like Wednesday will be best.

In Chiang Mai, I went through Thai imigration and found both an ATM and pay phone. I loaded up on a couple thousand baht and started calling guest houses. I found Smile House for 350 baht/night and since it was midnight and I was tired, I took it. The room was basic but clean.

Sunday was a bit of an orientation day for me. I got up at about 7:30 and went to Wat Suan Dok just west of the old city to check on a meditation program that was supposedly offered on Sunday nights. Well, the program changed to Tuesday nights, and was cancelled this week anyway, so I wouldn't be able to do it. I met a couple novice monks (and have a photo that I will post later), and we chatted until lunchtime about Thailand, the language, differences with English, their life, etc. Turns out that Sunday was Buddhists day and today is Novice's day, so there's a lot of celebrating going on right now.

Once back in the city, I bought a SIM card and started to hunt for replacement lodgin. Smile House seemed to have a lot of people who were into trekking, and generally had an odd environment. I lined up the Pagoda Inn, which is also clean and basic, with a much nicer courtyard area. The room unfortunately does not have a window (except in the bathroom) and has a double bed, but they charged me the single price, 250 baht/night. Since I'll only be sleeping there, I didn't mind too much about the window, and as for the price, it's busy season apparently. By this time, it's about 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

With all of that sorted out, I decided to head to the bus station to get information on the schedule to Nan, near Sean's location. It's quite a long walk,m but I stopped at a small market along the way. If you've ever wondered where the random crap from garage sales ends up, it's all along this street. They had some VCDs and Levi jeans and other stuff too, but of course I didn't buy anything. On the plus side, many items had marked prices and were very cheap. At the bus station, I decided to buy the ticket to Nan right away- 295 baht for the 4-6 hour ride, in air conditioning. Not too shabby. I depart tomorrow in the early afternoon. Finally, to close out the day, I browsed the Sunday market on Tha Phae gate. The notable nearby attraction that I didn't visit was Starbucks Coffee. My 5 baht bottle of water was more than adequate. Lunch and dinner at the market cost a total of about 50 baht, and everything was quite tasty. I had some egg wonton sort of thing in a sweet sauce (a dessert item it turns out), some quarter-sized fried egg with soy sauce, and pad thai (Thai style noodles). One of the oddest things about the market was the music that was playing: Christian rock. I'm not sure if it was intentional or if the DJ just didn't know. Seems like kind of an odd thing in a mostly Buddhist state. I thought about going out to a bar, a club or heading to the Night Bazzar, but I was still tired from the short night before, so opted out.

This morning, the roosters were crowing early, but I stayed in bed until 7:30 again. Unfortunately, the shower was fairly cold and uncomfortable, but that motivated me to be quick. One note on the shower that I initially thought was odd, but have since grown accustomed to: the shower simply hangs on the wall in the bathroom and there's a drain in the bathroom floor. Of course, at the door, there's a little lip to keep the water from leaving the bathroom. The shower is slightly separated from the toilet at the Pagoda Inn by a partial wall, but at Smile House, that was not the case. It's a basic setup but works well in this tropical environment. I wouldn't be surprised to see the setup at a beach house along the oceanfront or in Hawaii.

I bought a banana for 5 baht this morning, but still felt quite hungry and succomed to the temptation of the regular American breakfast for 95 baht (including fresh squeezed OJ and hot tea). Then began a further celebration of food. I took the Thai culinary course offered by Gap's House. This lasted from 10a - 4p. The class started with a tour of a local food market, offering all of the typical things-- vegetables, coconut cream, meat, fruit and fruit juice, and of course, various insects. (Insects are not a major ingredient in Thai food however. We were shown them mostly for the wow factor and everyone took the obligatory photo.) We cooked about 5 things for lunch, made roses from tomato peelings and some sort of flower looking thing from an onion. Don't think that's really amazing or anything, because once somebody shows it to you, you realize how easy it is. Really cool nonetheless, and I look forward to dressing up a serving platter some day. We also made a few items for dinner and I have those in some styrofoam for later. Among the items we made are green curry chicken (with homemade green curry paste), stir fried chicken with cashew nut, fish souffle, Thai fish cake (with cucumber sauce), and lemongrass soup with shrimp, plus some item that I'm forgetting. Food for take-away (mmm, dinner tonight!): Thai spring rolls (to be dipped in some plum sauce that they provided us), pad thai, and steamed pumpkin with coconut custard. An overwhelming amount of food actually. More on traditions around Thai meals later.

If it isn't obvious, things are very cheap in Thailand from the perspective of a foreigner.

Anyway, now I'm off to Wat Suan Dok again for 'Monk Chat.' After that, the Night Bazzar.

Tomorrow, I'd like to head up to Doi Suthep (if there's time), and of course, the afternoon will be spent in transit to Nan, where I'll be meeting up with Sean and unloading this heavy bottle of Margarita mix (among other gift type things).

Back to Chiang Mai on Thursday, and I'll catch a flight to Bangkok on Thursday evening, where I will meet up with Thana.

Sawatdee krap!