Oh Boy, Bangkok

It is an incredible city. It has easily become my favorite international city. In the last 10 years an elevated subway system called the Sky Train has been built making it easier to get around. Even just twenty minutes in air-conditioning makes all the difference in a city with constant and intense humidity and heat. Of course, you can also take one of the many vibrant colored pink or yellow taxis, a tuk-tuk or a motorcycle taxi. My personal favorite is going by motorcycle. This is definitely a more adventurous and sometimes slightly dangerous mode of transportation as they glide through cars and swarms of people, but it's such a cheap, fun rush.

Where I live and in the nearest city of Pack Chong, my roommates and I are usually the only white people, therefore we get a lot of stares, huge smiles, and the children love to laugh and wave at us. When I go to Bangkok I find myself staring at the foreigners, and wonder what part of the world they all come from.

Street food and tiny fresh fruit carts that sell pineapple and guava or fruit juice are on every inch of sidewalk and down every alley. Freshly cut guava has quickly become my favorite snack. The girls and guys in downtown Bangkok are so stylish and hip. Fashion is definitely a forethought here.

My first weekend in Bangkok was unexpected. I stumbled upon a semi-pro soccer game and some teenage kids scored me a free ticket. It was almost more fun to watch the fans who never stopped singing or sat down once. The next night I decided to see a movie and harmlessly chose a random Thai film mainly since it had English subtitles. It ended up being a saucy erotica film. A lesson that when it says 18 and over only admitted, it does not mean due to strong language and violence.

The second time I went to Bangkok was to go with Jamie, since she needed to renew her visa. I ventured out on my own one afternoon while she rested in the hotel room and, oh boy, it turned into an interesting day. A gentleman from Iran asked me to go to the seaside with him for a weekend (he showed me photos on his cellphone of himself lounging on the beach), a Thai boy said he would wait for me to be my boyfriend and two men from Kuwait asked me to drinks. All were nice and polite guys, but I took the safer bet and opted to go shopping instead.

I am heading to Bangkok next weekend to renew my visa and am looking forward to wandering through a few of the big weekend markets. I can't believe I will have been here two months. Only two more months of work as a field assistant to go.

Thank you so much for the cards and packages I have received!! It really makes my week. "The loving are the daring", said the poet Bayard Taylor. Thanks to my friends and family who are constantly daring.