Day one in the books

The first day was interesting to say the least. culture shock is in full bloom. I didn't write down the address of my hostel, only the name, so it took a grand 2 hours to find once I got to khao San road.

food is just a little bit more expensive then I had thought. I walked around for about 30 minutes before settling on a place to eat. yellow curry with chicken (my favorite) for 110 baht. 1 us dollar equals 30ish baht with the exchange fees so about 4$ for something that would be about 7-8$ in the US. (I also got a beer for 70 baht, a Heineken) I am hesitant to indulge myself with food cart meals, but today I will challenge myself with the idea

my day started with sleeping in the airport for 5 hours. I then took the train into banglamphu, the main tourist hub. from the train I was driven around in a 'tuk-tuk' for 2 hours. a tuk tuk is basically a trike with a seat in the back. my tuk tuk driver was helpful in getting me a cellphone from the mall. 495 baht for a cheap cheap text and call only phone. it costs 1 baht per minute to call back to the united states. incredibly cheap. but I made the mistake in letting him take me to a travel agency. they overcharged me for my bus ride to krabi on Friday, 1100 baht instead of the competive rate of 700-800. I guess you live and learn and a ten dollar mistake is nothing for what I learned from it. anyways, two hours of tuk tuk riding with Mao cost 340 baht, think of what a two hour taxi in Seattle would cost.

I also think most of these tuk tuk drivers only know a couple phrases, 'where are you going my friend, I take you'. I've learned rather quickly to not even give a response. Ignoring feels more natural every time I pass by a local, sad but true.

I'll also have to get used to 9 other people coming into the room at night. Eventually I'll sleep better once I up with Thai time.

Today i am going to go to the grand palace complex. time to explore some 18th century temples. Its a day for your exploration in my family, my sister just arrived in Texas and will be arriving to her new home of San Antonio tonight! Trust me, we didn't plan both leaving home within 24 hours of the other.