In Thailand

I'm finally in Thailand... I started in Ayuthaya, which was the capital of Thailand until sometime in the 1700s, I think. I made the decision to start there because the Lonely Planet book I had told me there was a train that went directly from the airport. That seemed like the easiest option, rather than having to navigate through Bangkok after a 17-hour flight.

Had I looked at the book a little more closely, I would have learned that Bangkok recently built a new airport. With no train access.

It took me about two hours to get through customs and then navigate through the airport. Then I had to take a shuttle bus to the nearest bus station, a minibus all the way across Bangkok to the northeastern bus station, and a long-distance bus to Ayuthaya. All said, about a four-hour trek.

I met some nice Thai men on the buses, so each of them helped me find my way through the bus depots and onto the right bus. The first guy knew English pretty well, so that ended up being really easy. The second guy knew some English words but wasn't too sure how to string them together. We had an hour-and-a-half long conversation on the bus ride across Bangkok and I have absolutely no idea what we were talking about.

When I told him I was going to Ayuthaya, he said,
"Yes. Where are you going?"
I tried again, "Ayuthaya."
"I am," he said. "Where do you go?"
"Ayuthaya?" I asked, trying a different inflection.
"Yes," he said politely. "I am Thai. But where are you going?"

This is when I figured out the problem. Me saying "Ayuthaya" apparently sounds like "Are you Thai, ya?" It was like an unfunny version of Who's On First? I got out the tourbook and pointed at Ayuthaya, and he said, "Oh! Ayuthaya!" That's when I realized the Thai writing in parts of the tourbook was going to be an invaluable resource.

I lost the tourbook less than 24 hours later.

After a night and morning in Ayuthaya, I walked to the ferry to cross the river to the train station so I could get a train to Bangkok. The dock-like thing to wait for the ferry was scary because you had to cross this rickety wooden plank to get to it. Then you just sort of jump into the little boat as it floats in and out and I'm assuming I forgot the tourbook sometime during my fear-ridden state of falling into the water.

Anyway it worked out OK in the end -- there was an expensive-as-hell bookstore at the train station in Bangkok, and I was able to buy a new Lonely Planet book there for 975 baht. (about $30) For comparison's sake, that's more than the three-night stay at my guesthouse in Bangkok will be.

So the information desk people at the Bangkok train station were incredibly helpful (unlike the information people at the airport who are... not), and I easily found a bus to Banglamphu, where I met a nice Aussie who walked me from the bus stop to the guesthouse where he's staying. It overlooks the river and is supposed to be a relatively quiet neighborhood, but still close to everything in Banglamphu. He also pointed out some of the sites en route from the train station.

I just got back from a vegetarian restaurant hidden just off Khao San Road. I was just about to give up on finding it when it was suddenly right in front of me. That kind of thing's been happening a lot over the past day and a half, it seems. Either that or I'll unintentionally walk in a complete circle and have to start all over again.

Maps seem to be useless here. There are very few road signs; and when there are road signs, they rarely include the Roman spellings; and in the rare instances when they do include the Roman spellings, it's spelled so differently than what's on the map that sometimes you don't even know it's the same road.

It's a little better in Bangkok than Ayuthaya, at least. Although I'm sure I'll get completely lost tomorrow when I try to go to the Grand Palace.

Ayuthaya, incidentally, was interesting. It's full of ruins of ancient temples that you can walk through. For some of the temples, the ruins are so extensive that it looks a little bit like the remnants of a tiny village.

I got into Ayuthaya after dark, so after making my way to a guesthouse, I ventured out to the night market for dinner. It's completely not-touristy, so I realized quickly that ordering food was gonna be tough. I walked to the food stall with the most vegetables on display and I asked the lady if she knew any English. She gave me a menu with English on the back and I thought I'd hit the jackpot. I ordered glass noodles with vegetables and got glass noodles with calamari, shrimp, chicken and a bunch of other meat-type ingredients I didn't recognize. So much for vegetarianism here. On the plus side, a Very Nice Man brought me a glass of ice water just as my mouth was starting to feel like fire.

I wandered through ruins all morning today, and then headed to Bangkok and lost my tourbook. The minute I got into my room at the guesthouse in Bangkok I turned on the fan, stripped off all my clothes and lay spread eagle on the bed while the fan blew on me. It's SO HOT here. And humid. My skin is perpetually sticky from an amalgamation of sweat, mosquito repellent and sunscreen. It's damn sexy.

So I guess that's about it, so far. Tomorrow I'll spend my birthday at the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, and a bunch of other famous Bangkok landmarks. Sunday I'll check out the Weekend Market and Monday it's off to the Konchabari Province to pet tigers. Then I'll hit up Chinatown back in Bangkok on Tuesday and get an overnight train up to Chiang Mai.

I'll post again at some point...