Day 6- Sawat Di Thailand

First day in Bangkok is in the books and it couldn’t be more different than in Tokyo. The people and their outlook is probably the biggest change. In Japan there was a quiet confidence about everyone, a respectfulness, a warm yet cold feeling if that makes any sense. I admire the way they carry themselves. Though I have a very small sample size so far, the Thai people are much more open, much more in your face. Extremely friendly and very outgoing, but a definite brashness to them. Whenever I have been approached by someone or have asked someone a question its pretty awesome. They try to show me how much English they know and I try to whip out the few thai phrases I’ve picked up on- sawat di is hello, sabai di is how are you, kop kun is thank you… lost in translation or not, it always pretty much ends in laughs and a shrug of the shoulders

I’m staying in an area that is well known for its shopping (which is already a bit foreign to me) and if I had to describe it I would say its like if Vegas were made of shopping malls. There is every level of shopping you could ever find, from the expensive huge fashion stores to the small knockoff boutiques, all in one place. It’s interesting. I definitely didn’t get a very good idea of what Bangkok is like last night in my tuk tuk ride from the train station. It seemed like I was in a quiet part of the district but then I walked out the door this morning… nope. The traffic isn’t so much as crazy as it is just dense, jams everywhere and taxis, tuk tuks (a motorized carriage) and motorbikes galore.

So far my favorite part has been the food. Today I had Dim Sum which is more a way of serving food than a way of preparing it. Its kind of like an endless stream of appitizers… I also had Som Tam and it might be the best thai food I’ve ever had (Kyle that’s a challenge to your mom). It was a cabbage salad with a small portion of rice, a few unidentified vegetables and a braised beef. It was spicy as ever but delicious. There are some form of American fast food on every corner but I have no idea why you would ever want it.

I used my Chevro-legs to cover a pretty sizeable chunk of ground around my hostel today but my roommate, Sun-Ta from South Korea, showed me some cool areas and tomorrow I’ll be hitting up Western Bangkok which is a more historical/cultural section…

Here are some of the day’s pictures: