Travels and Arrival!

Well, well, well. I made it! I survived 24 hours of cramped legs, crying babies, and about 6 warnings/notifications about the dangers of swine and bird flus. Right now it is the 26th and around 11 pm here, meaning it is about noon in D.C. I first flew to Seoul and discovered the culinary delights of Korean Air. What a fantastic airline! I was outfitted with “spa socks”, a mini toothbrush and toothpaste, a blanket, an eye mask, water, wine (!) , and constant food. The fare was beyond your normal honey roasted peanuts (although those were the first thing we ate!). The fantastically neat compartmentalized food (with warmed towels for afterwards) woke me up from my daze of reading He’s Just Not That Into You, studying Thai phrases, and watching silly movies. I really need to include photos for you to get the full affect, but they are not uploading! Look at the facebook album!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019317&id=1083750203&l=d271f518ed

I had a really hurried time window of 15 minutes from landing in Seoul to get on my next boarding call to Bangkok. Luckily the plane arrived early and I had exactly 5 minutes to upload pictures to facebook and to include Kim Jong-il in my status!
I arrived in Bangkok around 9:30pm pretty tired after over 24 hours in transit. I couldn’t find Daniel where he was supposed to be meeting me! I kept being hounded by taxi drivers and frantically walked up and down the terminal looking for the waify kid who was supposed to lead me for the next 7 weeks. Daniel nowhere to be found, and I managed to get security to allow me to borrow a phone! Daniel came quickly with a beautiful lei of orchids! We waited for two more volunteers, Crystal and Stacy, exchanged our dollars for Baat, and drove to Yuppa (Daniel’s stepmom) ‘s house in Bangkok.

By this time (around 12:30 AM) I was shocked to `see lots of people milling around in the street outside a local 7-11. Vendors were already setting up for the morning rush at 5 am, a time when the Thai sun isn’t super sweltering and the produce is fresh and lush. The stares started as soon as I got off the plane. In fact, the today we rode to the market in the back of a pick-up truck and a little kid riding on his dad’s lap in the front of a motorcycle (dangerous?) pointed at his nose when he looked at us and giggled “Farang! Farang!” which translates to foreigner.
This morning I woke up at 5 to go running before it got too hot. I first fell into a fish pond in front of Supa’s house, then got chased by a pack of dogs. The run improved as it went on, however. I ran through a poorer neighborhood with metal shacks as houses and tried to run-and-wai (a respectful greeting/bow) and got mostly smiles and stares from the passerby. I later found out that it’s REALLY weird to wai while moving and it would be better for me to simply smile and say “Sawatdee ka” rather than try a full on bow. I’m trying though! There are a lot of Thai rules that one must keep track of. All shoes are left at the door. One must be careful not to point one’s feet, ever! And walking over food is an absolute no-no! Before I came to Thailand I didn’t think that was too much of an issue, but we eat all of our meals on the floor.

The food has been absolutely fantastic. I can’t get over the sweet Thai iced tea and coffee that sure is a zinger at 6 am! I love the fresh fruits and noodles. Everything is soo good. My favorites so far are the rolled coconut flour tortillas with spun sugar inside. The Thai watermelon and pineapple are so much sweeter than in the States and the exotic fruits which I don’t even know the names of are truly amazing!


Today is Friday and we did a lot of Thai culture activities today. Tonight we are going to a monastery to see monks chant! I move in on Sunday with my host family! Here's to cold bucket showers outside and lots of adventure with 1 partial English speaker in a family of seven! I hope to make another post by Monday, but internet is pretty shotty. Right now I write from one of Supa's friend's cell-phone shop that has the only wireless in town!

Highlights:
Got a thai cooking lesson courtesy of Supa...papaya salad and lemongrass soup!
running in muddy ricefield!
street.food.
beautiful temples.
RON RON RON (hot hot hot in Thai).