You talk Thai?!?
I took my first motorbike ride through the streets of Bangkok on Thursday! I was hoping to take a picture of Jenifer, who was on the motorbike in front of me, but I was carrying a jug of water and didn't want to attempt to get my camera out of my backpack. Everybody rides side-saddle, so it's also nece
ssary to have one hand on the back bar for balance. Jenifer turned around and yelled, "Are you scared?", but I said no because we weren't going very fast or very far.
Instead of taking a taxi, it's common (and cheaper) to hop on a motorbike driven by a guy in an orange vest. Our five block ride only cost 10 baht, which is about 25 cents, and worth it, as Jenifer had a blister beginning and we'd already walked approximately a mile from the BTS to my apartment and then down Thong Lo to the grocery store.
Many Thais use motorbikes because they can zoom through traffic, saving precious time when traffic is crazy (which is most of the time). As I'm sure you've heard, there are often several people on a motorbike at a time, and even if it's a family of four, only the driving adult is wearing a helmut and riders are occasionally sipping on a fruit smoothie or an ice coffee beverage.
On Friday, as my KodakGallery pictures show, we headed right from school to the Night Bazaar with a pretty good-sized group of 15 or so for Happy Hour, which turned into a full night out. It was a good time and a nice treat to have German beer instead of the usual Thai-bottled Heineken. I had planned on picking up a few things at the market that night, but the company, the band, and the beverages beat the urge to shop.
On Saturday, Leah and I headed back to the Night Bazaar for dinner and shopping this time. We were there for over five hours and were very successful in picking up everything we had headed down there to buy. The market is full of western travellers and the people watching is a highlight. The products are beautiful and well-priced, especially if you're here on vacation and you have the advantage of your US dollar or, better yet, European Euro wages. Bargaining is necessary and it's normal practice for them to drop anywhere from 25-50% off of their starting price. A small minority of the vendors don't mess around with bargaining; they post their prices, which are already very low, and you are able to simply buy them at that price.
On Sunday, Leah and I went to see our first movie in a Bangkok theater. There are a lot of theaters in this city and one of them is in a mall only 5 blocks from our apartment toward the Ekkamai BTS station, so we walked there for the 12:45 pm show. The theater was extremely clean and very top of the line! Paying for the cheapest seats at 140 baht ($3.50), you get a red, reclining lounge chair. You can pay more for couch seating in what they refer to as the Honeymoon Suite and there are about three other options, but I'm not exactly sure what they come equipped with. You never know here in Thailand; you could get a free massage with a Happy Ending!
We saw the movie Crash http://www.crashfilm.com/ starring Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Ludacris, Sandra Bullock, and Brendan Fraser to name a few. Right before the movie started, we had to stand for the Thai National Anthem, during which they showed images of the King traveling around Thailand and helping the people. There is great respect here for the King and Queen. It's common to see their portraits hanging on stores and outside of buildings. Reminds me of President Bush...kidding, of course.
The movie was fantastic, but not one to see if the purpose of your theater visit is to escape the realities of life, relax, and be entertained. It's about racism in the United States and is quite depressing, but thought-provoking and definitely a movie worth seeing.
Afterwards, we walked a couple of miles to the On Nut BTS station where there's a Tesco store, so Leah could buy a new digital camera. I headed to the UPS Store to ship a few gifts home, finding out that it cost me as much to buy the products as it did to ship them. Leah headed over to our favorite Som Tam (papaya salad) vendor and had a difficult time explaining to the woman that we didn't want the dried shrimp in the salads. I walked over to meet her and could see the stressed out expression on her face. We laughed about our lack of communication skills and she headed off to get some sticky rice.
After about five different vendors wouldn't sell her any rice, she came back to find that the Som Tam woman had put the dried shrimp in our salads. The last vendor told her the rice wasn't for sale, which is a little confusing, and she decided to give up. I went to a male vendor and he gladly sold me some rice. A bit confusing, but our fault for living in Thailand and not being able to speak Thai.
ssary to have one hand on the back bar for balance. Jenifer turned around and yelled, "Are you scared?", but I said no because we weren't going very fast or very far.Instead of taking a taxi, it's common (and cheaper) to hop on a motorbike driven by a guy in an orange vest. Our five block ride only cost 10 baht, which is about 25 cents, and worth it, as Jenifer had a blister beginning and we'd already walked approximately a mile from the BTS to my apartment and then down Thong Lo to the grocery store.
Many Thais use motorbikes because they can zoom through traffic, saving precious time when traffic is crazy (which is most of the time). As I'm sure you've heard, there are often several people on a motorbike at a time, and even if it's a family of four, only the driving adult is wearing a helmut and riders are occasionally sipping on a fruit smoothie or an ice coffee beverage.
On Friday, as my KodakGallery pictures show, we headed right from school to the Night Bazaar with a pretty good-sized group of 15 or so for Happy Hour, which turned into a full night out. It was a good time and a nice treat to have German beer instead of the usual Thai-bottled Heineken. I had planned on picking up a few things at the market that night, but the company, the band, and the beverages beat the urge to shop.
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On Saturday, Leah and I headed back to the Night Bazaar for dinner and shopping this time. We were there for over five hours and were very successful in picking up everything we had headed down there to buy. The market is full of western travellers and the people watching is a highlight. The products are beautiful and well-priced, especially if you're here on vacation and you have the advantage of your US dollar or, better yet, European Euro wages. Bargaining is necessary and it's normal practice for them to drop anywhere from 25-50% off of their starting price. A small minority of the vendors don't mess around with bargaining; they post their prices, which are already very low, and you are able to simply buy them at that price.
On Sunday, Leah and I went to see our first movie in a Bangkok theater. There are a lot of theaters in this city and one of them is in a mall only 5 blocks from our apartment toward the Ekkamai BTS station, so we walked there for the 12:45 pm show. The theater was extremely clean and very top of the line! Paying for the cheapest seats at 140 baht ($3.50), you get a red, reclining lounge chair. You can pay more for couch seating in what they refer to as the Honeymoon Suite and there are about three other options, but I'm not exactly sure what they come equipped with. You never know here in Thailand; you could get a free massage with a Happy Ending!
We saw the movie Crash http://www.crashfilm.com/ starring Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Ludacris, Sandra Bullock, and Brendan Fraser to name a few. Right before the movie started, we had to stand for the Thai National Anthem, during which they showed images of the King traveling around Thailand and helping the people. There is great respect here for the King and Queen. It's common to see their portraits hanging on stores and outside of buildings. Reminds me of President Bush...kidding, of course.
The movie was fantastic, but not one to see if the purpose of your theater visit is to escape the realities of life, relax, and be entertained. It's about racism in the United States and is quite depressing, but thought-provoking and definitely a movie worth seeing.
Afterwards, we walked a couple of miles to the On Nut BTS station where there's a Tesco store, so Leah could buy a new digital camera. I headed to the UPS Store to ship a few gifts home, finding out that it cost me as much to buy the products as it did to ship them. Leah headed over to our favorite Som Tam (papaya salad) vendor and had a difficult time explaining to the woman that we didn't want the dried shrimp in the salads. I walked over to meet her and could see the stressed out expression on her face. We laughed about our lack of communication skills and she headed off to get some sticky rice.
After about five different vendors wouldn't sell her any rice, she came back to find that the Som Tam woman had put the dried shrimp in our salads. The last vendor told her the rice wasn't for sale, which is a little confusing, and she decided to give up. I went to a male vendor and he gladly sold me some rice. A bit confusing, but our fault for living in Thailand and not being able to speak Thai.