Bangkok; Thailand: part 1

I should have written this sooner, possibly while I was traveling, but I didn't, because, well, I was distracted, but I will in this blog include excerpts from my travel journal when it adds to the flovour of the blog, and add awesom Pictures.

HELPFUL INFORMATION: currency is the baht (/bot/) and 33B = about $1

Part 1: Bangkok
I flew into to Bangkok at 10:30 and was processed through immigrations, and claimed my baggage all just before midnight. I managed to catch the last bus into KhaoSan road (just 150B). I heard many languages around me, and thick, thick european accents. mostly everyone was tired. My first taste of the Thai language just tore me up inside, like a maple syrup over a pancake you're not used to having in the first place, so the syrup--so sweet and syrupy--just cuts at the back of your chest as it slides down inside you. the thai language was smoth, precise, and so very different from the "imnidas" and "ayos" I was used to hearing in Korea.

I traveled on this bus for about 30+ mins in the dark until we reached a dirty, bustling road. Thais shouted from street-side vendor stalls over trinkets, suits, and tuk-tuk rides. Here is an excerpt from my first night:

"Made it to KhaoSan road. Met Marta as we were getting off the bus. She is from
Slovakiaand has a cool Eastern European accent. We ended up getting a
place-->sharing 2 beds 300B/night. we did 2 nights b/c checkout is at 12pm
and it was 130 when we checked in. Back in Korea, it's almost 4am. crazy! And
it's different here--it's hot and humid. there are HOUSES. and it smells
different. like the air is sweeter. and spicy."

KhaoSan was the perfect introduction to the city: hot, busy all hours of the night, dirty and international. I met a lady-man who offered me a massage on the street. I turned him down, not because he was a lady-man, but because I was tired and the last thing i wanted was a street massage as my first thai massage, so I broke away from his vice grip and went to check out some live music at a crowded bar on the third floor of a commercial building. as I walked up the stairs, I heard the lady man shout, "You need to open up your mind, girl!"

I was a little freaked out by Thailand, initially. I was tired of being the foreigner already, and tired of being social. I was in a new strange place that wreaked of nag champa and garbage. and I still had nineteen days to go. Uninterested in squeezing myself into a spot at a lame bar, and looking forward to the next day where I would make my plans to leave this stinkin' place, I made my way back to the hotel, and fell asleep atop the xtra-large towel that was provided as my blanket.