Ok so the day is not officially over (currently 10:05pm) but I can officially say that I just experienced one of the craziest traveling days of my life. I will list them in bullet points because I do not have the time nor the will power at this time to fully tell the full story (ask about the points when I get back and I will love to tell you about them).
. Despite the humidity and heat in Thailand I am pleased to find that Bangkok does an amazing job with having all of its trains, cars, and buildings air conditioned.
. Josh and I figure we took well over 10,000 steps today and in the heat that took its toll
.surprisingly the trains were easy to take and getting to our destinations were simple
.we took an hour and a half boat ride through the river system of Thailand and let me tell you it was an eye opening experience of seeing a city that is not quite big enough for itself and at some points we saw the poverty of the people here and that was heart breaking
. One of the highlights of the trip was paying WAY too much a for a tuk-tuk (three wheeled taxi bike) ride from one part of the city to another. The exciting part was that our driver thought we said we would pay the fee if he got us there in ten minutes! Let's just say it was amazingly dangerous and all the while exilerating, I never want to do that again but I am happy to have the memory (and also be alive). He thought banking corners at 40 miles and hour and weaving through semis was what we wanted so we let him think that. Safe to say he might have earned the money we didn't know we were having to pay.
. J and I got real Thai massages were they walk all over your back. This was amazing and interesting all at the same time, I still don't know how the lady giving me my massage had such a strong big toe.
. Later in the night I was able to successfully barter with some street venders (first time in my life, very exilerating) for a watch and three pairs of Calvin Klein underwear :)
. After our boat ride we got approached by a different tuk-tuk driver and somehow we got talked into taking another ride around town (we were still both concerned highly from our first experience earlier in the day. This driver quickly told us the price that he would charge us for the rest of the day if we wanted to ride his taxi. The price as roughly 1usd which was an amazing price that we couldn't turn down and since we had a couple hours to burn we told him to take us wherever he wanted for the next couple hours. He hen convinced us that if we went to certain shops he could get free gas,free food, and other random things from the store owners simply by bringing American tourists by. We did not know that we had agreed to this when we got into the taxi but after forming a relationship over the course of the next three hours we didn't mind and besides it made for a great story and it kept us busy and entertained. At one point though I got into an argument with a shop owner over the price of his suits that I never intended to buy (the driver was getting free gas at the time from the shops owner) and it got pretty heated to the point of the j and I leaving on bad terms because the owner was berating me on my idea of how I should know the price differentials of competing shops before I purchased his suit. Needless to say it was a great experience and buying the driver dinner at the end of the night was very fun for j and I (even though he did order two meals and one was shrimp soup)
Well that was a majority of the day and most of those stories can be better told in person and with the right focus I'm sure I will be able to make you feel like your were right there
At this moment j and I are just waiting at our hotel for the rest of our team to fly into Thailand. We are gonna meet them in less than two hours and then board a plane for our final destination of Bhutan!
Until next time
Levi
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