Sawatdee ka!

So, I've arrived in Bangkok and - except for having to flat out run from my first flight to the second when I heard them call my name for final boarding - everything went suspiciously smoothly. The whole trip went by faster than I thought it would, I met up with someone else in the program so I had a cab buddy, and we made it the hotel without any problems. I was waiting for something to go wrong.

We found another program member at the hotel and we only managed a couple hours of sleep before we got up for the free breakfast at the hotel (because, really, sleep or free food?). And then it was time to look around the neighborhood. Bangkok is a little overwhelming, smell-wise. There's a lot smog and pollution, but underneath that are a lot of yummy food smells from the many (many) vendors along the sidewalks. And still things went smoothly. The heat wasn't too bad, I successfully said hello and thank you in Thai (the woman at the register was probably humoring me but I like to pretend), and although I almost got run over by an old woman an a motorbike, I didn't.

And then it happened. The plan was to not sleep and tough it out until the night. But since we were tired, we decided to relax for a bit - read, watch T.V. Nine hours later, we realized there's no beating jet lag. Now it's around midnight, we're wide awake and about to try out vendor food for the first time. And then after, hopefully trying catch some sleep.

Thai phrases:
Sawatdee ka (khrap, for male speakers)/ Hello
Khawp khun ka/khrap / Thank you

Price of a 1.5 liter bottle of water: 12 baht/33 cents