Four

Where to begin?

Today… well, wasn’t especially… productive.

As a matter of fact, my day’s accomplishments are two:

1) I managed to purchase sheets for my bed (whoo!) and 2) I was able to charge up my pre-pay cell phone for the next three and a half months (for the equivalent of ~$17).

I did make it down to the Pinklao Central Mall, which was probably about the size of the Mall of America (Bangkok has three of these, the other two of which are bigger, or so I’m told). Although it didn’t have a roller coaster inside, it was seven stories tall, and filled with clothing stores, cell phone vendors, tech stores, coffee shops on every floor (including a Starbucks– I’ve lost count of how many I’ve seen) and everything else that you find in an American mall. If you can imagine, it was just as clean, if not cleaner…

I don’t even want to think about how much time and money was spent in various busses, taxis and boats today… but it seems like that’s how most of the day was spent. Fortunately, I’m starting to get a little better acquainted with the area, so hopefully the time spent in mass-transportation will be greatly reduced in the future.

Tonight was spent with Gun, Sarah (probably misspelled, pronounced sah-raa), Takesh, Masako, and a few other of Gun’s friends. After dinner and hanging out at Gun’s apartment for a while (the squirt, squirt game strikes again! bwa ha ha!), we headed down to Siam Square, which is another affluent and well-developed part of Bangkok. Unfortunately, I was barred from the bar (yeah, pun intended… yeah, lame, I know… what-ev…) because I’m only nineteen (most of the exchange students I’ve met are 22 or 23– I’m the only sophomore exchange student… Ar. I’m really kicking myself for not bringing my fake… why I didn’t, I couldn’t tell you, other than the fact that Thailand doesn’t have a state-enforced drinking age, and I read that most foreigners aren’t carded… what-ev… But anyhow, the rest of the group stayed at the bar, and Josh and I headed off and met up with some other students who were in another part of Siam square.

Eventually we made it back to our apartment, where I met Elise and Linda– two of the French exchange students. Ha– all I can say is that they’re French, and … both wonderfully and terribly so. Of course, I can’t but agree with most of their snide and derogatory comments about Americans, and they provided me with a lot of good laughs over the hour or so we stood in the hall outside their doors.

Off of a tip from Heinrick (sp?!) and Lowry, two other students staying at my apartment (German and Finnish, respectively), Josh and I discovered the open roof on our apartment tonight. Although it’s only eight floors high, it’s fabulous– a huge, open area, with a 360 view of Bangkok’s skyline…

And oh, my goodness, was that an experience… so, I went out to go find some food and an internet card (because, apparently, someone caught on to the fact that I was stealing internet…). On my way back, I stopped off at a random street vendor, who gave me a cup of steaming soup for 20 baht. It was very tasty, but… there were large chunks of a dark, red meat in it, with a almost tofu-esque texture. In the dim light, I told myself that it was just some sort of soybean thing, like tofu. When I made it back to the Indra (my apartment), I couldn’t help but unequivocally identify what I was eating as… meat.

Of course, if I hadn’t been raised in a western country, I’m sure that I could have just enjoyed the rest of my soup, without a second thought. For the record, I did finish the rest of my soup… but not without a slight sick feeling in my stomach. =)

Speaking of experiences… Josh and I were walking by the Royal Palace around 2:00AM yesterday, and I noticed a Thai girl, presumably a hooker, making a b-line for me. What caught me off guard, however, was when I heard his voice– it was deeper than mine. Goodness.

I hate how limited my Thai is, and I can’t wait until I start taking the language class.