Happy New Year everyone. As I write this, I would guess that some of you are still celebrating; we have been in the New Year already for about 19 hours! That's right, we're in the future.
We have experienced so much in the last 6 days that I'm not sure I'll be able to capture it all, but I'll do my best to give the highlights. Bangkok is a crazy city. It assaults your senses with the constant noise of motorbikes, tuk tuks, music, cars, people. You do not get a rest from it. There are commercials playing in the trains, huge screens on the street playing videos and music, and a cacophony of sounds and music coming from the shops and street vendors. There are significant and obvious differences in class; with huge, extravagant shopping centers directly next to impoverished shanty towns. Tyson and I unfortunately found ourselves in one of those shanty towns while trying to locate a computer store near Siam Center. I directed us down an alleyway that I thought would get us where we wanted to go, but I was wrong. We wound up in this rabbit warren of tarps, stagnant puddles, motorbikes, cooking food, and "shops" selling sweets and other knick knacks. The sky was covered by tarps or other structures and the living conditions were terrible. We never feared for our safety but we were very uncomfortable as it felt like we had walked into this underworld of poverty and were walking through living rooms. To the credit of the people who lived there, they hardly flinched at all to see two white kids walking in a place they are probably never seen.
We finally made our way out of that place and located the computer store we were looking for. We had been advised to get a small travel computer before we left on our trip, but thought that it would be too much to carry around. After realizing that it would be easier for us to upload photos and videos and to write blog postings if we did have a computer, we thought we'd try to get a deal in Bangkok. The place we wound up was INSANE. Picture 4 floors of computer equipment, cameras, printers, ipods, dvd players, stereos and any other electronic equipment you can imagine. Now imagine stalls and stores full of this stuff. With flashing lights. And each place playing different thumping music. After our experience in the shanty town, this place just pushed us over the edge. We were officially overstimulated. We failed in our attempt to find a cheap computer and quickly got ourselves back to the Skytrain and to our hostel. We were so happy to have some quiet.
We have experienced so much in the last 6 days that I'm not sure I'll be able to capture it all, but I'll do my best to give the highlights. Bangkok is a crazy city. It assaults your senses with the constant noise of motorbikes, tuk tuks, music, cars, people. You do not get a rest from it. There are commercials playing in the trains, huge screens on the street playing videos and music, and a cacophony of sounds and music coming from the shops and street vendors. There are significant and obvious differences in class; with huge, extravagant shopping centers directly next to impoverished shanty towns. Tyson and I unfortunately found ourselves in one of those shanty towns while trying to locate a computer store near Siam Center. I directed us down an alleyway that I thought would get us where we wanted to go, but I was wrong. We wound up in this rabbit warren of tarps, stagnant puddles, motorbikes, cooking food, and "shops" selling sweets and other knick knacks. The sky was covered by tarps or other structures and the living conditions were terrible. We never feared for our safety but we were very uncomfortable as it felt like we had walked into this underworld of poverty and were walking through living rooms. To the credit of the people who lived there, they hardly flinched at all to see two white kids walking in a place they are probably never seen.
We finally made our way out of that place and located the computer store we were looking for. We had been advised to get a small travel computer before we left on our trip, but thought that it would be too much to carry around. After realizing that it would be easier for us to upload photos and videos and to write blog postings if we did have a computer, we thought we'd try to get a deal in Bangkok. The place we wound up was INSANE. Picture 4 floors of computer equipment, cameras, printers, ipods, dvd players, stereos and any other electronic equipment you can imagine. Now imagine stalls and stores full of this stuff. With flashing lights. And each place playing different thumping music. After our experience in the shanty town, this place just pushed us over the edge. We were officially overstimulated. We failed in our attempt to find a cheap computer and quickly got ourselves back to the Skytrain and to our hostel. We were so happy to have some quiet.
2 hours later, we were making our way to the western side of Bangkok in a cab on our way to catch the bus that would take us to the ferry that would take us to Ko Tao, the gorgeous island we are on now. The two cab rides we have taken so far have been terrifying to me. The shoulder of the road is used as another lane and the lanes themselves seem to just be "guidance," staying between the lines is optional.
We arrived safely at the bus pick-up spot, where we were supposed to check in at 7:30pm. There was already a line to check in when we arrived at 7pm so we joined and expected we'd have time to grab some dinner before the bus departed at its scheduled time of 9pm. Ha. Wrong! Apparently, the bus can leave whenever it feels like it. And we were informed that we had 10 minutes to get food and get on the bus. Given the fact that we are not ready to eat what i affectionately call "street meat," we were left with buying potato chips, raisin bread, and a snickers bar at the 7-11 before boarding the bus. Let me tell you, Tyson was NOT happy. In addition to feeling frustrated and rushed, he was quite disappointed with the bus accommodations. I think he was expecting some VIP bus like the kind he had ridden in in Argentina and advertised on the ticket ("first-class, VIP service!) but alas, our seats only reclined partially back and the knee room was spacious for a 4-foot-tall Thai woman. After eating a bit, Tys settled into his seat and passed out while I watched Bangkok disappear behind us.
There is so much more to report,from the ridiculous late-night bus stop, to the 6am taxi cab ride in the back of a truck to the beauty of this island and our fabulous New Years Eve, but that will have to be for another post. We are hungry and cheap Thai food awaits!
We are working hard to figure out how to upload photos and videos but are having some technical difficulties. Actually, we're not working that hard but we are trying occasionally and will hopefully have something for you all to look at very soon.
Happy New Year to all. From the future, this year is off to an amazing start.
Oh, in case you were wondering, the title of this blog post came from a t-shirt we saw on one of people we walked by today. We thought it was hilarious. What do you think it means?
ha! I walked through that same shanty town.
ReplyDelete