2/21 (9pm)
We woke up at about noon then went in search of some grub. Walking out of the guest house gates was like walking into a movie set. There were street vendors lined up on every sidewalk selling everything from underwear to the freshest of fruits. All the building were filthy and the streets were packed with pedestrians trying to barter and better deal. Already we are completely covered in sweat and grimy as all hell but I find myself not the least bit bothered by it (I found that the dirt and grunge never bothered me on this whole trip and that I actually found myself preferring being away from the high fashion pristine hectic life style of Tokyo --dear god I might be turning into one of those hippies!). Thai people are so beautiful (in looks). Most of the women i've seen on the streets (albeit most of them school girls) have been gorgeous! And for the boys I can definitely see Japanese fashion influence (especially with the host boy hair-dos -- bleached hair that didn't quite make it to blonde but orange; was close enough so lets gel it into some sort of tricked out anime sort of hair style look). But for the most part the Thai have a fashion all their own (or stolen from the American 1980's); Black sequin dress for an everyday stroll down the block? I think yes!
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The motor bikes were a common place object. Although
the numbers in Thailand weren't quite as impressive
as those in Vietnam. |
After wondering the streets in what seemed like a daze and asking each other "what do you want to eat?" about a dozen times we eventually decided on this little open aired restaurant that displayed it's meat choices in a little glass case up front and served Pepsi in dirty glass bottles (they recycle their glasses here -- after washing them of course) with a straw. The hot sauce had a dead bug in it and the plate that I ordered (white rice, chicken stir fry) came with a deep fried egg white but I have never tasted better food. The price was even better than the food -- 250 Baht for the both of us (about $7).
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| NOM NOM on the pad thai. |
We spent the rest of the day walking around the little neighborhood that surrounds our guest house. We came across a vendor selling ice cream and couldn't pass it up (I don't know how high the tempts were on this whole trip; I just know that it was hot enough that I almost wanted to rub the cold ice cream all over my face instead of eat it). The girl selling it was this petite little thing who seemed completely excited to sell ice cream too us. I ordered what I thought she said was coconut but ended up being vanilla with chocolate sauce on top; Mikaela got strawberry with techno-colored jellies and chocolate sauce. Both coming to the grand total of 30 baht -- together (15 baht each = 25cents). I love this country.
For a while now i've been having this urge to buy clothes from the SE Asian-y looking store on Waseda doori on the way to school (in Japan) but it's always been far too expensive for my taste (30 dollars for a shirt on sale!?!). Here in Thailand though, the price is more than right. I found me a pair of MC Hammer style black pants that I bought for 380 baht (around $12, I failed at the haggling --next time I won't be so slow!). Mikaela bought an awesome bag that she succeeded in talking the price down on (well done young pad won!). My haggling skills kicked in shortly after this encounter -- I blame the jet lag. Breaking all your big bills is a huge help when it comes to bargaining for anything ( in any country) because you don't want them to see that all those 5000 baht bills tucked away in your money belt when you go to try and pay them. Luckily 7-11's were rampant and reliable places to break big bills in.
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I never did buy a coconut while I was there (we do go hunting
for fresh ones on a later trip though and succeed). |
Before we headed back to our guest house we stopped at the grocery store to explore ( you can learn a lot about a culture just from their groceries). The produce section was amazing; it had dragon fruit and Nashi (Asian pairs) and pineapple and almost every other tropical fruit you could imagine. Although they had no Durian fruit they did have durian chips which I decided to buy and ended up being quite tasty --salty and kinda nutty. I made it my goal to try durian fruit ( the smelliest fruit in the whole) while I was here and though that perhaps working my way up to the real deal would be the best option so I bought every durian flavored thing I came across on this trip. We bought yogurt for breakfast along with beer, water, and snacks (all adding up to135 baht -- 4 dollars). It's going to be awful going back to Japan and having to deal with over priced everything. One interesting fact I learned about Thailand today was that one cannot buy alcohol between the hours of 2-5; no matter the circumstance. Some sort of crazy curfew they have; although it doesn't say anything about drinking the alcohol between those hours if you already have it.
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| so many rows of tighty-whities! |
The hardest part about this day (and probably about the whole trip) was filming. I always forgot to have my camera at the ready because I was so distracted having fun (understandable). I did get a lot of footage though (I think 3 tapes of all of Thailand?) but i'm not taking as many pictures as I would like (it's hard to double fist!) I think Mikaela has me covered in the photo department though (thank god) and she's also become sort of the star of my documentary because i'm always filming her being the host.
Next Time; Thai Royal Palace, giant laying down Buddha and temples.
PEACE OUTSIDE
Jamie
