First days in Thailand

The sunset from our apartment in Bangkok

Stepping out of the airport in Bangkok was like walking into the blast of a heaters fury, like breathing in a warm potato smoothy. So many new smells and sounds! We were pretty exhausted from our journey, having woken at five in the morning at Klaske's place, saying a sad goodbye, and then practically running to the train station with all our luggage through the deserted suburban streets to catch two trains, and three planes to Thailand. We arrived almost exactly 24 hours later with hardly any hiccups except that I left my dearly beloved cell phone on the plane in Oman! (I think it slipped down the back of the seat in front of me.) I'm praying that it will be tracked down though. I do feel rather sad without my camera, email, Viber and WhatsApp plus my books I read on my phone. Boohoo.

We were picked up at Bangkok airport by a driver connected to the dentist we had come to see here. Josh felt very grateful that he wasn't driving as the highway was total chaos, though I'm expecting it will look worse in the city centers. Sometimes the cars move along at a crawl and chug out their fumes to add to the already thick pollution, and other times they're fighting their way through the scooters and motorbikes with people piled high on them, and the big stinky trucks, pushing their way into any tiny gap that is to been seen.

We had both hoped to get some work done on our teeth in Thailand as the service is reputable and about half the price of any work in NZ. But of course, with this being the end of our journey we didn't have as many $$ left over as we'd have hoped to have so that means the dental work we are getting is now much less. But that's ok, just being here is amazing, and we'll come back with two crowns done! There is always the option to come back again of course which is quite a nice prospect.

The dental service offers transport to and from any appointment we have so we were very pleased to climb back into the air-conditioned car again to our accommodation. It turned out to be quite far away and took about an hour to get there, though sadly 'there' wasn't quite where we needed to be. Somehow the address was muddled up and we were dropped off a few blocks from where our rooms were. But it all worked out very nicely as three lovely Thai women who were entering the apartment we were camped out under lent us some internet so we could find the proper address and then called our landlord! Then they walked us through the dark streets with us dragging all our gear behind us, trying to avoid the cars and motorbikes, the piles of rubbish on the narrow, uneven pavement and the construction works which seem to be everywhere to the place we were meant to be (luckily only about three blocks away).

The sidewalk along the main street

I was getting a little worried about what our accommodation would be like as we were really in a run down looking place, with tiny tumbledown shops and street vendors carts with small scraps of food on offer and rubbish lying around. (Would we have a toilet and water from a tap?) There were tall buildings on either side of the streets all painted in various colours with wrought iron gates decorating the facades. Some of them looked quite nice, though the ground level always looked like it was a plastic rubbish collection station or an abandoned junk room but with people living out their daily lives in there.

This is the street we are staying on. Already it feels familiar and we have started calling it 'our' street. We buy most of our food here and now the stall owners wave to us when we walk by which is quite nice. Originally everyone was staring at us, and I could see them counting us as we went by. 

Colourful facades on the buildings.

This is just opposite the entrance to the apartment block. This old lady is always sitting out here for most of the day in the boiling heat selling lotto tickets.

Our apartment is fabulous though. We were met at the desk by an elderly German man, who showed us up to our room on the 13th floor (but named 'M' cause of bad luck associated with 13!) and we walked into a very tidy, air-conditioned unit with nice furniture and wonderful beds! We all had showers and got changed and then Josh and I ventured downstairs to find somewhere to get some food to bring back to the girls. We had been told it might not be the safest to eat from the street vendors (food poisoning)  and besides, they almost always only sold meat, but luckily for us, we found a stall which was more like a kitchen and they made each meal from scratch. I think it was Chinese though, not Thai but still very tasty. And it only cost us $6 NZ! We went back there the next night for dinner too.
After dinner, we all went to sleep and we kept sleeping for 14 hours! Must have been doing some catch-up after that day with no sleep.

View from our window to the street next door. There aren't so many street vendors on this street.

We ventured out a bit further than our street the next day to another part of the suburb we are in where there are lots of market type shops and also to a mall where we found a Tescos supermarket where we bought some rice and coconut cream to have for breakfast. We enjoyed looking at all the vibrant stalls and admiring all the new types of fruit we've never seen or tasted. Each day we've bought a few different types to try and have enjoyed the new tastes and textures. My favourite is the dragon fruit which is bright pink and when peeled it is white with tiny black seeds, a bit like a kiwifruit. It has a slight kiwifruit tang to it too. Just scrumptious!

At our local fruit stall. Those little bananas are really delicious and ripen very quickly. They are much richer in flavour than any I've ever had before. Those little brown grape looking things actually are more like potatoes to look at but are white soft fruit on the inside with a taste that's a cross between passion fruit, feijoa and lemon. Amazing!

Coconuts

We have all found Bangkok pretty amazing so far - with all the many contrasts to Europe. People are living so much more simply, and in a way that most westerners would never dream of. It's very inspiring to see people surviving on so little: no sinks or taps in their 'makeshift' kitchens (which are actually not going to get any less makeshift); no aircon of course; living directly on the street and selling very little produce; but making ends meet and living for each day.

 But there is also a gaping contrast in the way the wealthy live here. On one street you can see slums and then huge fancy, shiny cars driving by or towering mansions of polished glass with marble entrance ways right beside dilapidated buildings with no walls and wiring hanging out like vines from a tree - both inhabited by people from Bangkok. It's a starker reality of the difference between poverty and wealth. One we don't always get to see if we live in our cosy and comfortable neighbourhoods. If you're reading this blog, then chances are that you - along with me, are in that top 5% or whatever it is who get to live in the shiny building and drive the fancy car. For me, it's a good life, but when I see it looking like this I'm not so sure it's a good life at all. Not if the others have to live as they do to let the wealthy live as we do...

In the last few days, we've been discovering a bit more of Bangkok, but I'll write about that in another blog. Look out in the next day or so for another update!

P.S All these photos are taken by Esmae and Josh.