the world for more than it simply is

Have you ever seen a monk on the BTS skytrain system? Chances are he is not the monk that you perceive him to be, but rather he is a local dressed as one in order to dupe foreigners into giving him cash. Yesterday, after a breakfast on wooden skewers consisting of fried fish, wonton wrapped quail eggs, and some other meat item, we met up with Hac’s friend Matt who was staying in the area at his grandmother’s. He explained to us that these travelling ‘monks’ frequently seen on public transport and in the malls were depised by the locals. If they were monks, what reason would they have going out to buy movies, games, and porn? Adding to the humor, sometimes these people would ‘bless’ foreigners for a bit of cash.

The other day we had explored the shops of Siam Square and adjacent MBK. Great area for spending cash really–the teenage after-school crowd in their uniforms are commonplace here. In the middle of Siam Square that day was a promotion for a coffee drink with girls dressed in gold outfits and dudes in gold full body suits handing out flyers and talking into microphones. Hilariously, I was approached by one of the marketing girls who put the microphone to me expecting a response, to which I said ‘No Thai’. We spent the day in this area purchasing t-shirts and whatnot. Likewise, I had a fried wanton dish at Nooddi for breakfast and a green chicken curry dish for lunch two hours later at another place.

Back to yesterday, Matt took us around town via BTS. We hit several shopping plazas including one called Pantip Plaza. After purchasing several cheap things that may or may not be useless, we headed over to the Saphan Taksin BTS stop to go on a city tour boat ride. The boat ride included a stop at a floating market, views of the city, and a stop at Thonburi snake farm. At the snake farm presentation, I had a boa put on my shoulders. Later on, we ate dinner near Asok at a place selling Thai-style steak with sticky rice. Good as hell, but too much sauce burns your tongue. That was soon amended with some bottled soymilk from Seven Eleven. After a brief stop over at Matt’s place, we headed to the bar nearby where the beers were pricey and Westerners were common. The band played some Thai rock music along with an Eric Clapton song. The girls who worked there were a plenty, yet not much of a sight. What made me laugh though was seeing an old balding white man making out with a lady boy.

Afterwards, the night continued with a stop at McDonalds–I know I said I wouldn’t eat that here, but soberness was not with us. The menu special of the area was the Samurai burger; basically it is a piece of pork lathered with teriyaki sauce and lettuce.

This morning the CIEE director, Brian, actually called to discuss visa matters. The information he relayed could have been easily e-mailed, but oh well.

 
Arrived here in Bangkok yesterday afternoon after a two hour flight or so. Getting out of the airport in Ha Noi was remarkably slow as we had to withdraw additional funds to pay a $14USD airport tax. I have heard that this tax does not really go towards anything useful; it most likely goes into the pockets of the government. An additional airport expense was for the baggage I was sending aboard the aircraft–the weight limit is 15kg, and 7kg for carry-on. Thus, I had to shell out $40USD for a bunch of items I brought here from the states that are not really necessary.

After getting through immigration in the Bangkok airport, we went in search of bus number 29 to avail. Therefore, we waited in line to take a taxi to Asha Guesthouse. An interesting thing I immediately noticed was that they drive on the opposite side of the road here; the steering wheel is on the left side instead. The place I am currently staying at is full of foreigners and seems to be situated in the middle of a neighborhood, but is a ten minute walk away from the city’s train system. Next, Hac and I scoured the local area for some good eats. Around this area, there are probably over five 7-11’s. We were informed beforehand by the desk clerk not to eat at KFC or McDonalds as there have been several cases of food poisoning at those locations. The question that popped into my mind was: why would you eat that while in another country? Foods that I ate included grilled meats on sticks, some sort of meatballs, a fried Thai pancake with mussels and bean sprouts, and some Thai che.

 
However, the process of buying goods here was a bit difficult as I have yet to master a few of the many useful Thai phrases. I do know how to say ‘hello’ (sa-wa-dee), which hasn’t really come in handy when making purchases. Last night I wrote down a list of Thai phrases from the guidebook I have. Hopefully within a few days I will have a basic understanding of the phrases associated with buying things. Today, I will be seeing the sites around the city of Bangkok. Well, more later.