Bangkok

For both being in Asia, Thailand and China could not be more different. In Beijing, I could walk for hours down the streets and not see a single white person, where as in Bangkok, everywhere you go there is someone speaking English. Bangkok essentially is just a large, dirty, major city that is full of tourists looking for a vacation of anything-goes debauchery surrounded by beautiful Buddhist Temples. The first thing you notice after getting off the plane is that it is incredibly hot and humid here. I instantly was coated with a layer of sweat even though it was almost midnight. It hovers around 80-85 degrees at all times here. You get used to the sweat after a while which is not a nice feeling. It was kind of odd leaving Beijing where it was snowing and cold to coming to this tropical climate but I have to say, I enjoy the hot more than the cold. The first full day I had to explore Bangkok I decided to go to some of the old Buddhist temples located at Wat Pho in the old part of the city. The infrastructure of Bangkok is actually not very conducive to traveling around the area. Essentially, you have to either walk, take the sky train, take a ferry through the canals, or pay for a taxi. The ferries are fun because you get to see some of the old parts of the city where everyone lived on the banks of the canals that once dominated the city, making it look almost like a dirty, poor version of Venice. The ferry cost around 19 Baht, which is around 50 cents USD (around 30 Baht to the dollar). The only problem is that the ferry only drops you off at stops along the major canal, so you end up walking anyway. To be honest, the old part of the city is interesting, but not all that spectacular. There are many Buddhist temples that are all outrageous colors that make them truly stand out. They are very intricate and covered in gold. I love seeing sights like these, but I am much more into experiencing the culture of a place, so I hopped in a Tuk Tuk, which is a three-wheeled vehicle that is honestly hard to explain, but Bangkok is filled with them. They are more expensive than taxis, but they are so much fun to drive around in. It is essentially a rickshaw with a motor. It is a great way to see the city. As a side note, I mentioned about the scams that occur in Beijing. Bangkok is no different. Well-dressed men will ask you if you need help in getting somewhere around the city and end up taking you to places for jewelry or designer clothes where you are forced to pay exorbitant amounts of money or the police are called. Tuk Tuks do the same thing. They will drive you to designated stores instead of your destination, which is frustrating. Taxis will even not turn on their meters and then force you to pay whatever it is they want after your ride. You just have to be conscientious of your surroundings and not be stupid, and you will get around fine, but it is clear that many people get burned by these scams, and these people have been practicing them on westerners for years. Later that night I met up with my friend Kitson whom I went to Elon with and lives in BKK teaching at a university. I give her kudos for living in this place, especially as a girl. We met at this area that is a haven for backpackers, a road called Khao San. It is filled with cheap hostels, cheap bars, and cheap food. You are hard pressed to find someone who is not white walking along this street unless they are selling some stupid little trinkets to all the foreigners. Nightlife in Bangkok is pretty unreal. The only way I can describe it is that it seems like it was designed by an American male, recently divorced, in his 40s. Everywhere you go you are there are men offering prostitutes, sex shows, and anything else the perverted male mind could think of. You are constantly surrounded by older white males that are walking hand-in-hand with young Thai girls. I enjoyed taking this all in and seeing what life is truly like here, but it just was not my cup of tea. I like to get out of the major cities. It sort of helped that for the past few days I have been staying with Kitson on the outskirts of the city at her University, which is much more laid back and normal. The food is much cheaper here and people are not all about exploiting westerners. In terms of food, I have been pretty much eating curry for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and loving every moment of it. In BKK you can get a curry for around 40 Baht, a little over 1 USD, and rice. Last night we went to a Korean do-it-yourself barbecue that was definitely the most fun I have had eating on this whole trip. For 120 Baht, around 4 USD, we had all-you-can-eat where you pick all the meats and vegetables that you want and cook them on a skillet right in front of you. Some of the meats that I sampled included cow heart, kidney, liver, and intestine, which were actually quite tasty. We gorged ourselves for over an hour and definitely got our moneys worth. But, as I said, I have been getting the itch to get out of Bangkok so myself and a group of Kitson and her friends are taking an overnight bus to Laos tonight and spending about a week traveling around the country. Apparently, Laos is unreal. So cheap, so beautiful, and apparently what Thailand was like 30 years ago (an up and coming tourist destination that most westerners do not know about). Hopefully I get a chance to blog while I am there, but from what I have heard it is a pretty backwards place, for example there are only five ATMs in the entire country, so I make no promises. After Laos I am going directly to Vietnam so I will try and update as soon as I can.