Two Weeks in Bangkok (and the world's your oyster)

It's officially been two weeks since I was last on US soil. I'm still having a great time-so many new experiences and things to see!

I realized there have been a couple of random things I haven't shared, so here we go, along with updates.

There are malls EVERYWHERE. It's unreal how many there are. There are definitely bargains to be had-and would be even more if I were more Thai sized, like, a zero.However, I have picked up some fun stuff.

Speaking of being Thai sized, they feed us ALL the time, which I don't think helps. We have breakfast included in our room rate-although I've learned to mostly just eat fruit (the other options are white bread, very very greasy fried eggs, or Chinese style breakfast, which I'm not wild about.) Then, wherever we have class feeds us a snack in the morning and coffee or tea, lunch, and an afternoon snack. It's unbelievable. Luckily (or unluckily?) I am not real crazy about snacks that involve mystery hot dogs, so I'm not actually eating 5 times a day. Not that I'm ungrateful, it's just a lot. Lunches are generally very good, albeit somewhat mild Thai food. I don't think they think us farang can handle the heat. I've definitely been full enough to skip dinner on several occasions though.

Where we last met-Monday evening

After writing my last email, I headed out with a group of friends to an area called Khao San Road. It's a hugely touristy/backpackery area, but it was fun to see. I had some awesome mango sticky rice for 30 baht (less than a dollar) and shared several bucket-with multiple straws- of drinks with friends. A very fun, non-schooly evening.

Tuesday

We spent the morning learning about the theories of Thai traditional medicine, which is slightly different than Chinese traditional medicine, and then put our knowledge to work in the afternoon by having a 90 minute Thai massage. It was about 8 dollars, with tip, and was super relaxing.

We then headed to a wholesale mall, where you can get good deals if you buy multiple items. I picked up a shirt...and a gift for one of you :) There was SO SO SO much to look at though, it almost made my head explode. I'm pretty sure all the pieces at these places end up in Forever 21 and the like in the US, marked up 200%.

My father in law, who is here on the trip as our leader, generously invited me to join him and friends for dinner. We first had drinks on a very swanky rooftop bar, called Moon Bar, watching the sunset over Bangkok from the 59th floor of the Banyan Tree Hotel. These drinks were not the bargain I've been getting-but the view and atmosphere was very much worth it. We went to a modern Thai restaurant in the same building for dinner, where one of the people who was with us (who is Thai) ordered-and everything was just fantastic. The view from the restaurant was also amazing, as we were in a corner of the building in tables set into the floor-and there happened to be fireworks in the distance that night! Very cool

Wednesday

We spent the day at the dermatology hospital, learning mostly things about leprosy. It's still a problem in southeast Asia, although it's really treatable in most cases. It was pretty mind blowing to hear about, since I tend to think of it as mostly a biblical type disease.

We then headed back down to Royal City Avenue, the club district we went to during the first week, and again, it was a great time. The clubs here are so nice-and we had a great seating area for our crew.

Thursday

We took a long drive out to an area called Lopburi to visit an AIDS hospice. We watched our pirated copy of Slumdog Millionare, which I had already seen, but this one had the most ridiculous English subtitles you've ever seen. It was illogical strings of words and provided and extra level of entertainment. The AIDS hospice was incredibly moving-there's a huge stigma associated with HIV and AIDS here, and these people at the hospice are in the end stage of disease. Especially sad, but interesting, was the piles of bags of cremated ashes. There's a misconception that you can contract the disease via contact, so many families won't accept ashes back after their loved ones die at this place. It was worth it to see this place.

We then went to the main part of town, which people called Monkey City as it's literally overrun with Monkeys. There's signs warning you to hold on to your purse and glasses, and monkeys running on the tops of buildings. It's also the city of an ancient city, so we took a quick spin through the ruins. We were all so hot though-so didn't last too long.

All the sweating I did in the sun at the hospice and then in town also made my entire formerly sunburnt back decide to peel off-it was pretty sweet.

Friday

Today we spent the day at the National Chest Disease Institute, learning about TB, SARS, and the threat of a global influenza pandemic. The lecturer was the most engaging we've had the whole time, so it made for a great lecture and discussion. We visited the wards (with masks on-hopefully I won't have a positive TB test in May when I'm due for my next one) and I was again impressed by how little privacy these patients seem to have. These public hospitals also have no air conditioning in the wards, which is unbelievable to me.

We're all pretty exhausted, so tonight we had a fun dinner at a Korean BBQ place, were hoping to see a movie, but all the good ones in English aren't playing anymore, and are now here in the internet cafe. We've gotta pack tonight, because tomorrow, we head to Chang Mai! I'm ready for the change of pace for sure, although could probably still find things I haven't seen in Bangkok.

Before we head out though, we're due to go to a floating market (you go though the market on boats) and have a discussion with a female Buddhist monk.

Hope all is well with all of you! Keep your updates coming!

Katie