27 painful hours after I left Minneapolis I finally arrived in Bangkok. So exhausted and overwhelmed by everything. The city is HUGE and crazy. I have been to large cities before but they all pale in comparison to the business of Bangkok. My cab driver seemed like he had a death wish on the way to my hotel but as it turns out everyone seems to drive pretty carelessly in this city. Got myself a good nights sleep and I was ready to hit the town and explore. I asked the front desk of my hotel where would be a good place to go and they recommended downtown Siam. So I jumped on a Skytrain and went to check it out. Pretty cool stuff. Enormous buildings and shopping malls everywhere. It felt just like home so it was maybe not the best first Thai outing for me but I still had a week so wasn't to worried.
An Idea of the traffic in Bangkok
The next day I had to report to a new hotel for orientation. I was pretty excited and nervous for this. I was ready to meet people and hopefully find other teachers that lived in/ near my town to hang out with. I checked in and immediately joined a group of people to go explore Bangkok with. We took a train into the city (our hotel was almost in suburb territory) and decided to try and find Khaosan Road. Touristy area near the river with lots to do. On our way we cut through China Town. I know, still not a whole lot of Thai stuff in my life but that will come, promise. China Town was very interesting though. It was market that never seemed to end, with streets so narrow you had to walk in a single file line. We had to keep on our toes because as it turned out motorcycles would zoom down these narrow, people jammed streets, and we were just expected to jump out of the way!
China Town
That night we went to Khaosan Road. This is a big "Farang" or Westerner street for night life. Bars everywhere with cheap Thai beer. So we bar hopped for a while and then called it an early night since orientation was starting tomorrow. Had to be awake and with it for the first day after all.
Khaosan Road
Orientation was great. I learned a lot about Thai culture and the Thai school system. I wish I had learned more about how to teach English as a second language but it's been fine so far! The program included a few "cultural outings" which was great because they took us to some of the biggest tourist sites in Bangkok. First we went to the Grand Royal Palace. The palace was enormous, amazing, and soooooo different from any kind of castle or palace I have seen before. It was here that I first experienced what it was like to be a celebrity. People kept approaching me to have their photo's taken with me, which of course I was awkward about. I always agreed but looked obviously uncomfortable most of the time.
My 15 minutes of fame...
A few shots of the palace
That night we then attended a classic Thai theater performance. Could not take any pictures there sadly but it was pretty interesting. It was completely in Thai (obviously) so it was a bit hard to follow. Cool to experience none the less. The next day our training in Bangkok had come to an end. We bussed out to Kanchanaburi (the town I am living in) for the last two days of our training. Such a cool town. Very relaxed little river town in the mountains. I am pretty pumped to be living here. It was here that we went on an elephant ride! This was maybe one of the highlights of the week for me. Riding an elephant isn't something that happens everyday after all. Or at least in America it doesn't happen everyday.
The elephant camp
After the elephant excursion we took a float trip down The River Kwai on bamboo rafts where we got a chance to swim and cool off from ride in the sun. With our long day not over yet we then boarded the bus again and went to see the historic Bridge Over The River Kwai. This is a very dark part of the history of the town and an important thing to visit.
Bridge Over The Rive Kwai
The night/ orientation came to a close with a dinner on a barge that was pulled up and down the river. Awesome views. Dance party ensued. Gangman Style was played roughly every 30-45 minutes. Karaoke happened. It was a blast and a GREAT way to end the first week we had together. Now it's off to meet our school coordinators and head to our placements! Finally getting to see where we will live and what our towns will be like. Can't wait! More to come. Lovin Thailand a ton so far.
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