i’ve gotten a better perspective of life in bangkok after being here for a week. it’s my last day here and i feel like i’ll miss the crazy city life a bit. 

a couple interesting things:

there are always people walking around the city, regardless of the time or day. ive seen plenty of people dressed in business attire, walking around at 11 am, 3 pm, you name it. it makes me think that people here don’t even work. but then i remember that during the rush hours (we’re living in the business district, sathorn) every crevice of the skytrain is jam packed. 

thai people seem to eat out a lot more than they cook at home. street vendors are constantly selling their wares to commuters, and i’ve heard from many many people that eating out is a lot cheaper as well. i went to the MBK shopping center the other day, which is essentially an outdoors market put into a 7 story air conditioned building. several floors are dedicated to fashion/beauty/jewlery, and the others are made up of a conglomeration of technology booths, souvenir shops, and food vendors. i call them booths because many of the “stores” are merely products shoved onto shelves with someone standing in front of it. some of these shops are as small as a walk in closet. but back to the food: there were 2 huge food courts. and food was incredibly cheap. 40 bhat (approximately $1.30) got me a pad thai that would have costed me around 7 dollars in a cheap thai resteraunt at home. 45 bhat (approximately $1.50) got me a beef ball soup with vermicelli that would have costed me around 8 dollars in the states. fruit is also incredibly cheap; 12 miniature bananas cost 10 bhat (around $0.30). but some things, like ice cream, are ridiculously overpriced. a pint of ben and jerrys costs 400 bhat (around $13.30).

attire: locals are always pretty well dressed. regardless of how hot or humid it may be, men will always be wearing a collared shirt, button down or polo, and slacks. women will usually be wearing long sleeves and pants/skirt as well. maybe its because we’re in the business district, but spotting tourists is pretty easy because the t-shirts and sunglasses really stand out in the crowd. 

i took a cooking class here, which was amazing! i’ll post some pictures up later. 750 bhat (a little less than $25.00) provided for a trip to the market to pick up vegetables, ingredients for 5 dishes, and a really entertaining instructor. after cooking our dishes, we got to eat all of them :)

overall bangkok was quite fun! even with the outrageous humidity and heat and getting stuck in monsoon rains.

that they serve green curry with rice at KFC in bangkok?

for the next month, i’ll be travelling around asia, by boat, plane, train, car, motorcycle, tricycle; pretty much any vehicle you can think of. 

stop one is thailand. well, i guess my first actual stop was shanghai, but that was for a family reunion and doesnt fall into my books as “travel”. i’ve only been in thailand for a day, but it’s quite an interesting place. the first thing you notice is the weather. yesterday, it was 92 degrees outside with 60% humidity for the most part of the day. however, in the afternoon, the monsoon clouds came in and it felt like the rain was going to knock down some buildings. i had never experienced such rain in my life. every time you go outside for more than 15 minutes, you come back soaking in sweat. 

another interesting thing i noticed today when walking around the street markets is that just about everything is served to you in a plastic bag. pineapple pieces come in a plastic bag, as will noodle soup. i saw someone carrying around coke in a plastic bag, and another person curry and rice. and i’m not talking about putting a container in a bag. think of a miniature grocery bag, and then fill it with food/soup/drink. pretty cool way of doing things. 

greeneggandsam:

For some reason, I thought that this wasn’t the end.

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working on my last high school homework assignment ever

seeing the field come together right before we graduate

reading the few things we have left on senior countdown

its finally hit me that we’re pretty much done.