Bangkok

You should be able to make comments now, just changed the settings. Typing on a real computer now in our hostel, killing a bit of time before we have to head out to pick up our tickets at the train station. Then, dinner in Chinatown and an overnight train up to Chiang Mai.

To save time, I'm going to throw up an email written by Anna, edits by me. My take? Bangkok is hot. And awesome. Mostly awesome.

Anna:

I'm here, I'm alive, and I'm hot! After 36 hours of travel (although that included 7 hours of sleep so it was much more manageable than I was planning on!) we made it! We legitimately nearly didn't, Sam and AJ came up to the gate in LA at a dead sprint and I was considering whether I should go to Bangkok alone at the time! Sid, AJ's friend, picked us up from the airport which was amazing and took us out to a fabulous lunch- definitely the nicest we'll have while here! We also went to a history museum with them and got some background on the city. They dropped us off at our hotel, which I did a great job picking out. We poked around the Khoa San Road area, bought sarongs, and stumbled upon a vegetarian buffet for dinner. In bed by 8!

*Editor - AJ started waking up around 4.30. Anna managed nearly 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep. We all woke up naturally a bit before our alarm.

Today we got up just before 7, checked out, and took a tuk tuk to the Grand Palace.* We spent the whole morning there and then walked down and did about half of Wat Pho (for free mysteriously! Editor: We knew exactly what we were doing. Security was far for lax than the Grand Palace). We got some pad thai for lunch, finished Wat Pho, and took the boat across to Wat Arun. We climbed up quite high on the temple and got a great view of the city. We headed back across the river, got some dragon fruit juice**, and walked through an amulet market and back to the hotel. It's about 5:30 here now and we're using the computers at the hostel to connect with the world! After this we're going to hail a taxi to the train station to pick up our train tickets and then we'll have an hour to go grab dinner before our night train to Chiang Mai.

*Editor - Tuk Tuk are 3 wheeled taxis. The difference is taxis are car, with nifty things like windows, doors, and meters. For Tuk Tuks, you agree on a set price before you leave. We got our hostel to the Grand Palace for 50 Baht, for an 8ish minute drive.

**Editor - a type of fruit, not a type of dragon.

It's hot, really hot, but I'm just accepting that I'm in a constant state of being disgusting!* We're hoping that there are showers on the train tonight! The skirt and capris have worked out well, I just used the sarong** at the Grand Palace. Unsure how you lost weight here- all of the food looks sooooo good! Its a bit overwhelming trying to figure out what to get at the markets, but with three weeks, I'm sure I'll get better and figure out what I like- I've definitely figured out that pad thai is still delicious! Papaya salad and dom sam are on my list next! And who knows what we ate with Sid- they ordered maybe 10 dishes and we just kept eating!***

*Editor - I accepted this a long time ago. Sam and Anna are having a bit more difficult transition. But yes, we are quite disgusting. I'm not sure if I've ever enjoyed a shower as much as the one last night.

** For our male readers, A type of clothing. From what I can tell, a fancy name for a rectangular sheet a fabric. Anna's has elephants, which is pretty awesome. I use my zip off trousers, and just add the pant legs whenever we enter a Wat (Temple). At the Royal Palace, I was stopped by security, and when I whipped out my pant legs to put on, they said, "Ah ah, smart pants!" in English.

***Correct, we have no idea.

Day 1

Or is it Day 3? We are back in our hostel,Lamphu House, workimg our way through the token shower for our first bath in three days. We also have AC,which is glorious. The hostel is set back fromfdrom the main drag and is wonderfully quiet. we have only two beds,which will likely be a common occurance. As the gentl man i offered to take the single, but the girls would have noe of that. we'll be rotating throughout the trip.

Sid, my moms Thai friend from college, picked us up right on tme. She was with her huxband Bee and their daughter Lisa (AKA Bimp. Or bamp). they picked us up in a hired car and drove us into the city. traffic flowed well until we hit downtown, but even then it wasnt worse than anything i had seen in chicago. They took us out to eat at a nice restaurant facing the Democracy Monument and threw lots f good thai food at us. Afterwards we walked over to a museum next to Wat Ratchanaddaram about the history of Bangkok. It was incredibly pwo royal famiky but was a great orientation to start things off.

ok the girls have gone to bed so this is all for now. I was struggling during dinner tonight, so eleven hurs of sleep, here i come.

Happy Birthday Mrs Miller

Sam wishes happy birthday to her mom,as it is the 28 here in Guangzhou. Anna thanks her mom for the note, and is being careful.

The airport was absolutely dead upon arrival. Admittedly it was six am. The airport also looked the exact same as any modern airport,except the signs were in chinese. Reminded me of Japan in that way.

Not much to report. The sun was a hideous shade of orange as dawn broke and you could see the smog in the air, but we did not venture outside. Had a second breakfast in the airport, after we looked online what the currency echange rate was. And the currency,for that matter, as we had done no research on china. But no matter,as we sit on our airplane that will wisk us away to Bangkok. Adieu.

China

We have arrived. In Guangzhou, at least. Loooong flight,but aside from some rather limited english choices on our chinese airline, nothing much to complain about. Anna took drugs and slept fitfully,Sam and i not as much but we'll be fine. My body is now off by twelve hours.

All together now.

All three of us are on the plane. Anna was sweating bullets for an hour bc she did not have a phone. Sam and I had to run the length of LAX. we met in the ticket line, and sam had to give the lady a piece of her mind to make sure we sat together. Not sure if our entertainment systems work. Anna had to switch seats with some bashful chinese guy to it next to us. we are the first row of economy, so we have lots of leg room. winning. esp fpr anna.

Anna and Sam say hi to their parents who read this blog.

delay

First roadblock. Plane blew a tire,delayed by an hour. boarding now. Sam is having simillar difficulties,but with a smaller time window. hopefully i wont need to cause a scene to hold the plane for Sam. ok, game time

Kindling my adventure

This is a test. I am in the Indy airport taping away on my Kindle. looks like she works just fine. But there is no spellcheck so you will have to put up with more typos than usual. If that is even possible. You will also see a lot less contractions and commas. i can already see m and n will cause me fits.

Leaving was quite stressful for my mom. I think if i was more stressed she would have been less stressed. for me personally, it is just now dawning on me how much traveling i am about to endure. I can sleep eight hours on the pacific flight and still have half of that flight and m entire indyto LA flight and Canton China to Bankok flight. lets all have a quick prayer for a good movie selection. So thankful i only have to do one leg solo. Anna should be in the air, and Sam is in the land of the Mormons. poor Sam is closest to Thailand and LA, leaves first, travels longest,and arives last. But hey thats what happens when you live in Idaho

And so it begins, again

Packed. 14 lbs. This means one of 3 things - I'm a darn good packer, my scale is broken, or I forgot something important. We shall see.

I leave for the airport in 5 hours. Graduation was a mere 5 days ago. The turnaround has been both alarmingly quick and surprisingly unstressful. Anna, Sam, and I are as ready as we are going to be. After a really long time traveling*, we will arrive in Bangkok International Airport to get picked up by Sid**, a lady who was a visiting international student with my mom at Butler. I've sketched out our tentative schedule below.

I'm not sure if I will be able to update this blog that often while traveling. Last year, I did most of my writing either in my dorm room at Oxford or on a laptop on trains. Since we are not bringing laptops (nor dorm rooms), I will only be able to throw up some updates at internet cafes here and there.

*Anna leaves first, from Detroit. I leave at 730pm Eastern Time, arrive at 1030am Thai time, 2 days later. I think this means I travel for 28 hours, and Friday disappears somewhere over the International Dateline.

**Sid's teen-aged children are named Bimp and Bap. We think.

Tentative plans:

The goal is to visit Chiang Mai, Ko Samui, and Angkor Wat (Cambodia).

May 28 Arrive

May 29 Sleep. Possibly wait for Sam to arrive if her travel bad luck continues. And hopefully check out Bangkok. Take an overnight train to Chiang Mai (purchased).

May 30-June 5 Stage out of Chiang Mai. See temples, temples, and more temples. Ride elephants, trek through the mountains, take cooking classes, and possibly a Buddhist retreat. All TBD

June 5, direct flight from Chiang Mai to Koh Samui. We choose Koh Samui over the more famous Phuket because of Monsoons at this time of year.

June 6-8. Sleep, sunbath, and snorkel. Possibly explore Angthong NP.

June 9 - travel to Cambodia via Bangkok. Hopefully the border is open.

June 10-12 - Stage out of Siem Reap, explore Angkor Wat.

June 13 - Return to Bangkok. Possibly via Phnom Pehn?

June 14 - Flex day in Bangkok

June 15 - Noon flight out of Bangkok. Sam, Anna, and I split in LAX after what is ideally a life changing experience.

June 18 - Tim's wedding.

June 22 - Depart Chicago for London.

At the time of writing, June 23 to June 30 is entirely open. Probably me covering Serbia and Bulgaria solo

July 1 - meet my little sister in Istanbul.

Turkey for 11 days, then Berlin-Dresden-Krakow-Budapest. Gina and I are sorting out a few things before we buy flights; hopefully will be hammered out soon since Gina's currently in Troyes, France.

July 21 - leave Budapest for Chicago.

July 23&24 - Martinez family reunion, New Mexico.

September-ish: Become an adult.