Finally In the Land of Smiles
I still don't think it has fully hit me that this is where I live now. What a whirlwind of a few days it has been. Surviving my first international flight alone. Meeting so many interesting and cool people. Not only seeing, but eating food I have never been exposed to. Walking the streets of a foreign city and having water constantly poured on and squirted at us, or having clay smeared across our faces by locals. So many new and memorable experiences in only a few short days. I am extremely eager to explore as much of this country as I can!
Here's an embarrassing photo I took of myself to document the wet dress and face of clay for Songkran
My expectations and reality seem to be pretty far off. Not at all in a bad way, things have just gone a bit differently than I had imagined they would. For example:
The Flight to Thailand (actual bulleted list I made while on the plane)
-definitely not as bad as I thought it would be, slept about first 10 hours
-best plane I've ever been on (even facial sprays in the bathrooms! snagged an eye mask, too)
`missed the first meal due to sleep
`ham and cheese on a hoagie
`some snacks I have never seen before including a soy sauce smelling cookie that tasted like seaweed... actually not terrible
`scrambled eggs, beans, and potatoes with fruit, a yogurt, and a roll
`some more funky snacks which i declined
`beef and potatoes, a roll, a yogurt, and more fruit
For over 24 hours of travel, I have little to no complaints about the flight. I chose to fly EVA Air because my original plan was to fly with two other girls in my program, though I realized just a week before flying that I had booked an entire day before theirs. Being that one of them had already selected EVA as their airline, it made my decision a lot easier. Otherwise, I probably would have drove myself crazy comparing airlines. I have no regrets about the choice and would certainly book a flight through them again.
Flying out of JFK on a full moon and arriving in BKK to the celebration of Songkran was more than enough good energy to start off this new adventure.
The First Few Days (also a list of bulleted thoughts throughout the past couple of days)
-Amazed at how simple it was to actually get through the airport security, baggage, and find transport to the hostel. We did totally get ripped off (700 baht for a 3-400 baht ride) but hey... it is what it is. Some could say a rite of passage?)
-Couldn't understand the cab driver but we all laughed a lot hahaha
-Made it to the hostel which turned out to be beautiful and super comfortable - aside from living on the 5th aka top floor and dying of heat stroke every time ya walk up
-Walked the streets and explored a little bit of Sukhumvit which was pretty interesting - we got our first lesson on Songkran, getting soaked by local kids and having white clay rubbed all over our faces -- something I welcomed as a good sign into the first day. The purpose being to bring luck and prosperity and I'm all about that
-Passed out by 6 pm woke at 12am back to bed at 4am and up by 8am, the first night of sleep was rough to say the least
-Have been waking up at 6:30 am just about every morning which is fine, get to make my calls home while most others are still sleeping
-Going into the second day, we all met up and walked around for a while, had my first street food, I tried pork on a stick which was actually pretty tasty and then eventually found some lunch which was rice with fried crab and peppers. Very tasty!
-Walking back in the heat was more than unbearable, but before heading back to the hostel for our mid-afternoon nap, we grabbed some waters from 711 and some fruit from a stand right outside
-We also were fortunate enough to meet Susie aka Fat aka some other name I can't remember. She's a real life Thai party girl who told us all about her gay boy friends and their endeavors (most of which I did not understand...)
-Later we headed out to Khao San Road where we were unfortunately met with disappointment because the street was shut down just as we arrived. We did make the most of it though and went to some bars to explore.. we all went home in wet clothes hahah
We all tried a different local beer, some great, some not so great. Later we tried some Singha (the equivalent, I suppose, to an American Bud Light)
This past day we all made sure to dress pretty casually in preparation for full Songkran festivities. We took the train down to the Siam Center and found some food, some type of noodle dish which was one of the best things I have had yet. Aside from the roasted duck and egg noodle soup I ate this morning. Anyways, we did some shopping and then found a couple of tuk tuks to take us into the water gun fights. This basically consisted of walking down a main closed-off street with the locals and having water guns shot at our face and body constantly. Not only was this one of the most fun things I've done here yet, I think it ranks pretty high on my list overall. The festival began on the day I arrived and ended the following Saturday. I am appreciative to have witnessed such a holiday not only for the obvious fun of it, but because I was able to watch a an entire city cohesively participate in the fun with such goodnature. No one was angry when cold water was spilled on them, they either had no reaction or laughed in the spirit of it. I can't imagine that happening for a day, let alone consecutive days back home. Although walking around with sopping wet clothes for three days wasn't the most comfortable feeling, the happiness and good-naturedness of the people surrounding us made it somewhat enjoyable.
We found a bar later which proved to be worth stopping at for multiple reasons. The drinks were fine but what really made it memorable was the pool located directly next to the drinking patio. The really entertaining part though, was when they had people were sparring above the water. It was quite an experience. There were also a couple of local kids who a few of us got into a little water-gun shoot out with. A little boy and a little girl. Very cute and very stealthy, indeed.
So many small things have happened in just these past couple days, I don't think I could manage to write them all down. That only leads to me believe I will be experiencing more beautiful little moments than I had even anticipated. I wasn't expecting to feel so safe in this place so soon. Not to say I feel like I could get around no problem, but in a lot of ways it just feels comfortable. The midday heat and humidity is definitely something I will have to acclimate to, however I am happy to deal with the perspiration. I can also admit that not all of the food I have tried has been particularly appetizing but nonetheless, I am excited to keep perusing the many street vendors and markets for foods that I fancy.
(favorite meal so far: roasted duck with egg noodles and soup)
I think part of me thought I would miss home immediately. I'm happy that part was wrong. I take comfort in knowing that making the leap here was not even close to as scary as I thought it was going to be. As I write this sentence, the cleaning lady at the hostel, who has seen me now everyday and for multiple times a day, looks over at me and flashes the biggest smile with the same kindness and warmth as if we were meeting for the first time. It is in these moments, the small quality exchanges, that make my heart happy to be where I am.
The language barrier hasn't been much of a problem either. I have gotten by solely on the phrase "Khun ka" or "thank you." I feel somewhat like an idiot for not having attempted to learn more than that but honestly, khun ka seems to be the most important phrase I could have learned. For I am thankful and full of gratitude to sit on this side of the world.
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