Lovin' Thailand

Every now and then Steph and I look at each other and say, "Did you ever think we'd be here?" We remember when Australia was about the most exotic destination we could imagine visiting and we never thought we would actually be able to go. Now we're in Thailand. Despite the sensory overload, we are absolutely loving it. We've been here for about 8 days now - three nights in Bangkok, three in Chiang Mai, with a night bus each way between the two. We're currently on our way to Siem Reap in Cambodia. What are we doing?? We have no idea. Here is a few thoughts about our time so far in the "Land of Smiles."

People
They really do smile a lot. After being in Egypt, you are conditioned not to trust anybody and especially a friendly local on the street, as jaded as that sounds. We can't believe people here are letting us just look at their merchandise in the markets, and if we don't want anything, we can say 'thank you' and walk away without anyone running after us. As for the friendly locals, I really think they mean well (or at least, I really want to think that). We've run into a few on the street and they are very excited and nice but they inevitably tell you about a jewelry shop that is having a sale or try to take you to a travel agent to buy bus tickets. Everything runs on a system of kickbacks and commissions (the in's and out's of which I think would be fascinating to learn), so some of them may be trying to earn a little money, but many of the people we have talked to just tell us about the places to see in Bangkok, show us where they are on the map, and help us negotiate a cheap price for a ride. I've heard businesses send people all over the city to redirect them to their shop, but I don't want to believe it. As with everywhere we've been, the people that aren't trying to sell you something are very nice and fun to talk to.

Making friends while walking around - this one tried to send us to a travel agent

Getting Around
This is where it really gets interesting. There are heaps of ways to get around Bangkok, but my favorite is probably the tuk-tuks - motorcycles with a little buggy strapped to the back. Steph doesn't like them because she thinks they're too dangerous, but I think they are fun and exciting. You can only take so much of the fumes and hair-raising excitement, though, and they always want to take you to their "sponsor" so that they can get a, you guessed it, commission. Do I look like I need a new suit? If you don't like tuk-tuks, taxis are nice, air-conditioned, and still very cheap. A 10 to 20 minute ride across the city won't cost you more than 2 or 3 bucks, you just have to make sure they use the meter and don't let them give you a set price, which will be at least twice as much as the meter will be. The Skytrain is basically a high-tech metro system set on raised tracks above the streets of Bangkok, kinda like the monorail at Disneyworld. The standard fare is about 70 cents, but be prepared to get packed into the cars during peak times. Finally, of course, you can walk. It's a good way to see Bangkokians (is that what they're called) going about their everyday lives and to experience the sights, noise, and smells (both good and bad) of the city.

View from a tuk tuk

Food
Ahh, the food. It's awesome. You can get anything you want, and on the cheap too. We spent about $20 total for our first two meals - one at a little chain noodle shop and the other at a cool cook-it-yourself bbq restaurant, but probably haven't spent $20 total over the next 6 days! The street food is a little crazy, even for us, but it usually smells good even if it doesn't look so appitizing. Food courts, we've found, are the way to go. They range from a small collection of stalls (similar to the street food carts but more organized and usually with english menus) to huge areas full of fancy restaurants and chain fast food places. The cheaper ones are our favorite. They operate on a coupon system, so you go to a lady at a small kiosk and exchange money for coupons. Each stall only makes a few things with no two stalls making the same dish. So, you just find what you want, give them your coupons, and in a couple minutes are served with a big plate of noodles for about a dollar. Steph's favorite is the Pad Thai and mine is Pad See Ew. So good.

Steph at her favorite counter - Pad Thai

Chow time

Pad See Ew is the bomb

Then, there's the markets. We generally stay away from anything with meat in it, for hygene standards, but simply can't stay away from all the amazing treats on offer. Thai's love sweets and, coincidentaly, so do Steph and I. Thai pancakes, banana pancakes, deep fried bananas, candies, fruit smoothies, and sometimes even cotton candy and ice cream. Nothing is more than a dollar. Most things are about 30 cents. We went wild at a market in Chiang Mai yesterday and gourged ourselves sampling all the different treats. It was fantastic.

Thai pancakes - thin crispy crepe with meringue

Banana pancakes with chocolate sauce - be jealous!

Shopping
In the past, I've wondered if I have an allergy to shopping (I'm not joking). Within a couple minutes in a department store, I get very tired and irritable. But here I seem to have an immunity as I can actually stand the shopping and in some cases enjoy it. As usual, you can get everything under the sun if you look hard enough. They love malls here. In one central area of Bangkok, there are at least 5 huge malls right next to each other. Our favorite is the Siam Paragon, which has very fancy stores but a killer food court and supermarket in the basement. Krispy Kreme just opened a store here and it is a huge hit! Everytime we've gone by there is a line at least 2 hours long and we see people with shopping carts with 6 dozen doughnuts in it! I told you Thais love their sweets.

Krispy Kreme madness!

Wait! There's even more outside!

The malls get progressively lower quality and aren't really that interesting until you get down to the cheapest form of a mall - the market. Markets are seemingly on every block around here at all hours of the day. Some are food markets, some crafts, and some are generally tourist markets where they sell knock-off goods and souvenirs. All of them are colorful, loud, chaotic, and a whole lot of fun. You are expected to negotiate the price (and you better, because their first offer will be way too much) and they've adopted the calculator negotiation method. They'll type their offer, you make your eyes real big in disbelief and type in a counter-offer. Upon seeing this, they throw their hands in the air and say "no, no, give me more" and this goes back and forth until you come to an agreement. It's good fun. Often times you're arguing over what equates to pennies, but it's all part of the process.

Massage
The Thai massage is legendary, if not for it's quality than for it's price. You can get a two-hour massage for as cheap as $5, maybe even less if you want to take your chances. These places use girls with no training, though, and can often be a front for...umm...you know. So, Steph has been going to some of the fancy massage places where a two-hour massage costs a whopping 15 bucks! Needless to say, she's been getting a massage every chance she gets. We even tried one of the fish massage places, where the little fish nibble at your feet to clean off the dead skin. I'm not sure how effective it was, but it felt really strange and was worth the $2 each it cost us.

It feels like tiny shocks all over your feet

Besides shopping, eating, and exploring we've done a few notable things in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, so they'll get their own posts - coming soon!