A Viewpoint of Bangkok, Thailand

Sawadee(hello) from the plane en route to Phuket. We’re on a no frills airlines called Air Asia that is very similar to Jet Blue. Funny, they are selling a whole range of goods including the requisite food and beverage as well as unusual items such as simm cards and toys.

In retrospect, I could have explored Bangkok a bit more. A good sentiment given that I’ll be returning in six days. However, I’m already ready for a change of scenery that Phuket will provide. Although I’m very much a city person, I like being outdoors. I’m looking forward to a beach day, scuba diving at Phi Phi, and exploring some other islands on a sailboat. My new friend Varun owns the boat Jabuticaba so we may go on Saturday. I’d also like to see the Old Town and the Big Buddha. I have a friend from Hong Kong who is taking a month long yoga teacher class in Koh Samui, further north, but I’m not sure that I’ll have time to visit him. I need to be back in Bangkok by February 24 to start my adventure travel tour to northern Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam.

Stephanie has been an excellent travel companion and we are having a great time. We’ve traveled locally in California together and had many sleepovers at our respective homes in SF and NY but in the seventeen years that we’ve been close friends, this is our first trip together. We’ve made working out, cultural sites, food, fun, spa treatments, and general openness as our approach and priorities for this trip. We are constantly laughing at others and at ourselves.

Jetlag has only an issue later in the evening. I find myself tired around 11pm and then wide awake at 5:30am. I woke up at 6am yesterday morning. Instead of forcing myself to sleep, I went downstairs to Business center to send emails and upload photos to Facebook. We had a good run at the gym but consequently, we were too tired to go out after drinks at Lebua. A friend had recommended Sirocco at Lebua State Tower and the view did not disappoint.

I’ve been averaging about one massage a day. We had the best and cheapest massage of of trip in Chinatown this afternoon-- $5 for an hour plus tip! Lunch nearby was very good. We started with sautéed pea shoots, a delicious garlic and black pepper crab claw dish and spring rolls. We tried a beer called Tiger Beer that I had not tried before. We found the wholesale district and Steph had a very successful day shopping. I purchased my first item of the trip, a Buddha made of tiger eye.

The food has been excellent and relatively inexpensive. We ate a very healthy vegetables and rice dish for two for $4 this evening. We’ve been looking at outdoor stalls that have fresh food and are busy. Pointing to other people’s dishes is the most effective method of getting what we want. I wish I could speak the language. The only words we know are hello(wich also means bye) and thank you(goes a long way in any language). We’ve tried the other words but totally massacring them! Thai is a tough language.

The flight from Bangkok to Phuket is only one hour and ten minutes. Sam’s place in Patong Beach is only 45 minutes away. Almost landing, time to turn off the computer…