day one in the city of angels -- heavens, i like this place a lot.

hello from bangkok!
i'm at the hostel, using the wonderfully inexpensive internet! yay!

our day began early, though as you may have noticed in my earlier post, we did not actually leave the ship early. after grabbing a makeshift lunch and finallyyyy getting our passports, we were on the semester at sea bus, heading to bangkok.

i may have mentioned this before, but our ship is simply too big for bangkok. so we are docked in laem chabang, a lovely two-hour ride away. the bus ride was cool and comfortable and before we knew it, we were in the middle of a booming city.

bangkok is most definitely like new york, and we were all very excited to see a city after being in more rural ports. though people talk about the pollution and whatnot, i think its a very clean city.

we oriented ourselves and found the thai people to be incredibly warm, smiley and willing to help us out in any way possible. we found our way to the skytrain station, which i am so in love with, and made our way (1 stop..) to our hostel. i am most definitely the most experienced metro traveler and i'm so glad i was able to get us on board, buy tickets, etc.

after seeing far too many stray puppies, we found our street - sukumvit soi 1 - and meandered down to our hostel, passing a few restaurants, pay phones and a coffee shop :)

we checked in, found the place to be a bit shabby but they lock the doors, so we're safe. we gathered our belongings, checked out the room and made a quick turn around to get out and see bangkok. after some advice on what to do tomorrow, we made our way back to our neighborhood skytrain station and rode (for ~1 usd / 45 baht) to the end of the line, for the chatachuk weekend market.

oh what a sight. its like a flea market, but everyone is on top of one another. despite the crowds and the heat (its projected to be about 95 all week), it was not overwhelming. we were not hounded to buy things and did not see beggars. all we saw were clothes, housewares, street food and every type of knock-off one could imagine.

after overheating at the market, we grabbed nice cold cokes and sat ourselves down in a park to determine our next room. it was nearing 6 and we were starved. we ran into 2 of our sas friends - cassie and andrea - and they suggested we head for the mall. we were skeptical (we want the real bangkok-- not the americanized mall) and consulted my AMAZING lonely planet city guide. its pocket sized, has maps of each district as well as what to do where. its the absolute BEST purchase i ever made in preparing for this trip. otherwise, we'd have been wandering aimlessly.

after watching people play with their pet bunnies (in clothes..) and adorable puppies, we decided to head towards the mall. the book promised lots of restaurants in the area, and we were heading back in the direction of our hostel.

another wonderfully air conditioned and clean ride on the skytrain (i really love it) and we were in siam square, the closest thing bangkok has to a city center. holy malls. i think america could take a hint from these things - they are skyscapers! i took lots of photos, its hard to believe a mall could top the one i saw in south africa, the canal walk.

again, we sought air conditioning and took our first steps into a glittery, shiny and sparkling clean mall. those are the only words for it! we made our way to what looked like a food court (using the touch screen mall map to help us out) and decided on a mixed coffee bar and restaurant. there was a restaurant with the conveyor belts next door, but it was sushi. and we are in thailand, so we should have thai food.

a yummy dinner of pad thai, cashew chicken and sweet lemon iced tea and we were stuffed. it had been decided, as we entered the mall, that a trip to dairy queen was necessary. so onto dq for dessert.

we were unsure of what to do next. we were all up so early, and were exhausted; so going out wasnt really in our future. and we didn't need to shop anymore, so we consulted the now beloved lonely planet book. i really wanted to see a movie - i'd read that the theaters were amazing. and that the movies were in english, with thai subtitles. and again, air conditioning.

after a group consensus, which with 4 people is easy, we headed out of one mall and into the one next door, passing a dunkin donuts! never in my life would i have guessed there would be a dunkin donuts in thailand, i figured the role would be played by starbucks. (there was one of those next door, and a few in the mall).

well, holy mall of all malls.

we've decided that malls are a way of life in bangkok. it's too hot to be outside, so why not enjoy a full dose of commercialism and air conditioning in a giant building?

the NINE huge floors of the mall included an imax theater, a regular 14 screen movie theater, a million (guesstimating) stores and lots of lights.

as i said, malls are serious business.

after walking around with our jaws on the floor, we began to make our way to the top to find the theater. on one level, there was an entire exhibit on barbie and her 50th anniversary. after taking far too many photos on the glittery pink stage, we pressed on; we still had 4 more floors to hit.

we eventually found ourselves at the movie theater. and again, i took pictures. i know that it's incredibly odd to whip out a camera at a mall, but i'm okay with it.

the movie theater was wayyy fancier than any movie theater at home. and it had a bar? i decided against a cocktail and headed for an iced latte for starbucks. i figure, with my movie ticket only costing 5 usd, i may as well pretend i'm in the states and bump it up to 8 usd with a latte.

more oo-ing and ah-ing over the movie theater and then we made our way in and found our seats. assigned seats, no less.

as the movie began, the national anthem is played and the entire audience stood up to pay tribute to their king. that's a new one. though i assume its similar to the way the national anthem is sung at baseball games. imagine that in a movie theater?

the movie, milk, was incredible. everyone should see it. i cried, as i usually do when the stories are real. sean penn, james franco, emile hirsch and lucas grabeel (from high school musical) were awesome. see it. penn absolutely deserved his oscar.

as the movie ended, we knew that we were cutting it close to catch the last sky train. taxis are available, but we like the skytrain. so we hustled our way to the station and caught the very last run, with about a minute to spare.

and now you are all caught up on day one of bangkok! in real time! please please please do not get used to this! i cannot promise i'll ever be able to make it happen again!

tomorrow we will be spending the day on the canals, getting a day pass to hop on/hop off as we please. and then i think a spa will be in order! yay :) then, tuesday is cooking class! i absolutely cannot wait!

as for now, this very full, overtired and sweaty girl is heading to bed. good night from the city of angels (no, not LA, bangkok means city of angels, too. hehe)


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