Adventure Chronicles™

04.11.01 - Welcome to Thailand
Bangkok, Thailand

We arrived in Bangkok yesterday afternoon. Aside from the opressive heat (100 degrees with insanely high humidity), we are loving it so far. I (Lisa) am impressed by this city. It has a reputation for being noisy, dirty and polluted, but either it's cleaner and quiter than the cities we've visited recently, or it is getting a bad rap. Although very Western, there is a definite Buddhist influence. The people are shy, but friendly and the area where we are staying, Khao San Road, is a traveller's haven. Kind of like a non-stop party. We found out upon arrival that April 12-15th is the Thai New Year celebration, so we'll be in Bangkok for it. From what we hear, it is a huge party and the locals take pleasure in making sure EVERYONE is soaking wet on the 12th and the 13th. I don't yet understand the connection with the New Year, but considering the heat, getting splashed will probably be a good thing. Still, who knows what they have in store. We shall see, and report back.

We met a couple from New York (Baron and Andrea) and a couple from England (Simon and Louise) in the airport, and enjoyed hanging out with them yesterday. We sampled a little of Bangkok's legendary nightlife last night. Let's just say that it more than lives up to its reputation.

I am loving the food so far - it is less sweet, more spicy and just better than the Thai food we get in the States. Jay is even branching out into some new food territory. He's been consuming mass quantities of Phad Thai. It is even safe to eat the food from the street vendors here, which means you can get Phad Thai, Spring Rolls, Meat Skewers and more just by walking 20 feet down the street. They also have fresh fruit stalls with the best pineapple and watermelon I've had in a while.

Today we caught up on laundry and got our hair cut. Only $2.00 a piece - not bad. We also shipped all of our Nepal shopping home. It was way too heavy to lug around in this heat. Other than that, we sought refuge in places with air conditioning.

Tomorrow, we plan to spend the day seeing some of the many Buddhist temples Bangkok is known for and we may dig into a little shopping. You can get just about anything here.

After the New Year's festival, we will be heading up to Chiang Mai, in North Thailand. Although I am really enjoying Bangkok, I'm looking forward to getting out of the city and into rural Thailand. We hope to do some trekking (via foot and elephant) and to visit some of the tribal villages while up there.

Want to contact Jay and Lisa?

william.gibson@airtreks.com