Adventures In Thailand.
Friday 8/20/2010
Day 1 air-travel
leaving from the Logan airport in Boston still with the faint tastes of the Penang restaurant's delicious prawn mee still on my lips me and the Rents(parents) say goodbye to the rest of the fam until again we are together which could be a while. I will be in Thailand for 9 months from Friday 8/20/2010 until 5/15/11 whatever day that may be.
On the airplane for the 8 hour ride to London for our 12hr layover, we head out around 10:00pm as our 9:30pm flight was slightly delayed. we ended up getting into London the next day around 10:00am me not knowing quite what to expect, although my dad had be there before although maybe 20 years earlier, so a vague memory if that.
Saturday 8/21/2010
Day 2. air-travel
The first thing I noticed as I looked out the airplane window out to London was.."their steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car" of course I knew they also drove on the other side of the road, but it was still odd to see.
We started off with our two carry-ons each to the London Tube; the subway type transportation popular there. Unable to find some sort of luggage storage that charges less than 75$ for the lot of our bags, or £8(pounds) per bag with an exchange rate of roughly 1.5 dollars/1pound we ended up carrying the bags with us which was slightly less than ideal. yet we still were able to get around, we traveled to buckingham palace and I was able to see the changing of guards. Something that was a once in a lifetime experience. (pictures to come) We then went to Big Ben heard the chimes, and Westminster Abby where we rested for a while taking pictures walking down the streets nearby and traversing the gift shoppes.
Around 5:00pm we attended the Abby's evensong service. another once in a lifetime experience with the Latin spoken word, all boys and men choir and Bible reading. At last we headed back to the Tube and lastly to Heathrow airport for the 10:00pm flight. Sadly after going through Security my mom realized that she didn't have her purse with her, but had set it down at the gate where our passports were checked. Unfortunately security was not able to find it there either because someone stole it, one of the airport employees had put it to the side and now is misplaced. We are still trying to locate it so keep that your prayers. Finally we got on the plane and started the 14hr flight to Thailand.
Sunday 8/22/2010
Day 3. air-travel
After sleeping most of the flight we were at last at Bangkok. Going one last time through border security we grabbed our bags at baggage claim and to find the van that would be taking us to our new dwelling place in the apartments that are over the church my parents were a part of when they were last in Thailand.
Walking up the stairs to the Cafe and then a few more small sets of stairs until we were at our lovely.. Studio apartment. it is a little crammed having only the one room and a bathroom, but it works.. other than when I have to sleep as my dad renacts a ML5(local magnitude) earthquake with his seismographic rumble.
After I had gotten settled in I went downstairs to check out the place and hung out with some of the guys who go to Newsong Bangkok Church where we stay. Of course I was able to find a guitar and tune it and spent a few minutes playing until my dada asked if I wanted to go out fr a bite to eat. We went to one of the local Thai restaurants that they used to frequently go to just for a quick bite and then back to the house to finish unpacking. it is cheaper to eat out at most of the restaurants than to buy food at a supermarket and cook it ourselves costing around 2.00 for both me and my dad that night. we went for a quick walk around so I got a quick familiarity with the area, a close by mall and local park.
Monday 8/23/2010
The next morning we went out for Thai omelets or Khai jiaao from one of the local street vendors that my parents had befriended last year and had become close to even though she speaks very little english and my parents speak very little Thai. We went through the mall again and walked to the apartment my parent's had stayed in last year. It was beautiful, and perhaps we will be able to move to one of the apartments over there which would be better for me in terms of somewhere a little better to sleep, and a little more breathing room with common room at the building that I can go to to read or work on my computer. We also wen't on a 20 minute walk to a another part of Bankok called carrefour where we went to a nice restaurant for hotpot. it was around 200 baht for all of us to eat. It is around 30baht/doller.
We explored the area, and then returned back to the place all the while I practice the Thai number system.
1 nueng(ning), 2 song, 3 sam(psalm), 4 see, 5 har(ha), 6 hok(ho), 7 jed, 8 bad, 9 gao, 10 sip, 11 sip et, 12 sip song, 13 sip sam...20 yee sip, 21 yee sip nueng, 22 yee sip song...
30 sam sip, 31 sam sip neung... 40 see sip... 50 har sip... 100 nueng roi(oy), 101 nueng roi nueng...200 song roi...300 sam roi.... 1000 nueng pun.......
Tuesday 8/24/2010
That night I stayed up on facebook .. all night until around 8:00am and slept until 11am when we went to the pastor of the church's house for dinner by way of sky train and taxi. I was able to meet more of the people who go to Newsong with Pat the pastor's wife although he wasn't there,their two daughters, Yo one of the teachers and leaders at Newsong about 25 years old give or take, Bee a local who had some amazing stories to tell. even of some things like when she lived in Hongkong as a maid and how whenever some of her friends got lost in Hongkong how they made their way back to the Church they went to out there because that was the only place they new how to get home from. It was a very nice evening being able to practice some Thai, hearing their amazing stories as well as eat a simply delicious meal.
On the way back we walked along the sidewalk along the street vendors and their wares and then to the church where Maria one of the churchgoers and some locals were practicing their breakdancing. Maria is one of our neighbors who rents at the church Apartments with an amazing story of how she ended up in Thailand from Switzerland, but for now I will be trying to get a little sleep. try not to duplicate last night since In a few hours I will have been up 24 hours straight it being 3:11am.. well here is for a new day and a new adventure.
Wednesday 8/25/2010
