Bangkok Hates Me

July 1

Walking around today I noticed that passengers on the designated motorbikes for hire do not get helmets. Crazy! And so dangerous! That would have freaked me out way too much. Definitely glad I didn't ride on the back of a motorbike in Bangkok! Possible death averted!!

I had to check in and out again this morning. For like the fifth time (beginning of the Indochina trip included) since I was here. Third time this week.

I am getting sick of the breakfast here. I ate cereal and fruit. A week is way too long to stay in the same place ha. I'm not used to it. Plus, since I'm here for 9 days things don't have to be so jam packed which is nice, but also not. Having so much chill time has really given me way too much time to think about things that I am not really ready to think about yet. School, work, missing people. When you're busy traveling and consumed with things in the moment you don't really have time to miss people. Although being on my own has been nice (I've gotten to set my own pace and do things when I wanted and spend as much time places as I wanted to), it has also made me think about missing people from home. I still don't miss my bed though, or home, or being in one place. Going home will be an adjustment for sure.

I knew my new roommate was coming today as well, so I, being considerate and respectful of other people, went back upstairs to clean up all my stuff and make sure it was nice for her. Up to that point, all my stuff had been all over the other bed and the desk and the bathroom. Ha. Once I thought the room looked nice, I peaced out.

Upon leaving the hotel I didn't manage to escape without the man at the taxi stand trying to flag me down for a trip to Ayutthaya... Still. But, I was pretty pumped because I did manage to make it past all the tuk tuk drivers without them even stopping me or calling out to me. Annd, I didn't even have head phones in. FTW!

I took the metro from Hua Lamphong (right at our hotel which is probably the most convenient thing ever) to Si Lom (18 baht) and then switched to the sky train and went from Sala Daeng to Siam (22 baht). I wasn't even thinking about it. I was just on autopilot. Then, I realized I should have gotten off at the Ratchadamri stop instead because that one is much closer to the Indonesian embassy. I didn't really even think about it since last time we had gone to Siam and walked to the embassy. Oops! I just got some more exercise in for the day. It added like 15 minutes to the walk probably. Not too bad.

Dad had told me he had finally loaded money onto my ISIC student identification card (which can be used as a debit card as well) so I tried withdrawing 500 baht to make sure that works. It did! Now I have a few ways to get money so that's good.

As I was walking, I was also trying to make notes on my iPhone for my blog. And then I thought that if it doesn't already exist, some super intelligent neuroscientist should develop some type of machine in which you just put an electrode on your brain and think and it types what you're thinking. Think how easy it would be to take notes or write papers. Seriously, someone should cash in on that idea. Gold.

When I had been here with Laura before there was a super tall building that you can go up and see Bangkok from... A viewing point I guess. I wanted to go do it that day but she wasn't too pumped (really want to write keen but that's so British) for that. So, after probably 10 minutes of contemplating the order of my morning, I decided to walk out to the view point building first.

I don't really like having a map out because it attracts too much attention. It's already obvious I'm a foreigner but once you pull out a map it's just downhill. Every tuk tuk and cab driver and their sister will stop you. The shop owners get annoying. I've found it's just best to look like I know what I'm doing and where I'm going. So, I navigated my way through the streets based on where the building came towering up in the skyline.

After I crossed the super busy, maybe 7 lane street using the sky walk (thank god haha), I could go left or right. I decided to go right. It was hard to tell where the building was now though so I was just guessing. I knew I would have to turn left again but I wasn't sure when. I went down the next larger road.

I think I entered a new world. This was such a crazy street! Like Thai people all over the place. Super busy, lots of small shops and stalls lined the road and it got really narrow the further down the street you went. It was definitely a clothing/fashion area, but local prices I think. It was Pratunam. And I think I was walking through the Pratunam market actually. It wasn't as bad as being in India, but there was a lot going on. And people walked so slow because they were looking at everything around them. I was definitely annoyed. Who stops in the middle of the street where people are walking! And it wasn't just people it was also motorbikes as well. All the shop owners were yelling out what they sell and how much it was (i learned thai in the week i was in bangkok... just kidding, but that is what they usually yell out everywhere else, at least according to matt). It was crazy. That's pretty much the only way I know how to describe it.

Finally, I came out the other end and saw the super tall building. Yey! I went the correct way! It's also a hotel, and it looks like its a pretty posh hotel. There was a stand at the front that said it was where to buy tickets but no one was there. I asked one of the door men what time the view tower opened and he said 10am. I was really glad it wasn't in the evening only. I only had to wait about 15 minutes so I plopped down on some marble flooring outside (not on the ground, it was like the side of the stair railing but it was a continuation and it was raised... Since that matters...) and wrote in my blog while I waited.

A little after 10am, to allow for Thai time, I went up to buy a ticket. She directed me to the 19th floor. When I got to the 19th floor I paid 300 baht for a ticket which included a free drink and 2 levels on the top (77 and 84 I think). Then, I went up an elevator for a really really really long time ha. From 19 to 77. I was in it all alone so I tried to take some silly pictures with the elevator buttons and myself in the shiny brass like wall. Finally, on 77 I got off and could walk around. There were only a few other people up there which was awesome for me because it meant I could take the photos I wanted without people being in the way. There were a bunch of facts listed about the building and there were also little areas to take your photo that related to Bangkok I guess? I'm not sure. The facts were pretty impressive I guess.
1. The building is about 309m tall or about the height of 182 people standing on top of each other. How tall those people have to be, I don't know.
2. There are 2,060 steps and it takes an hour to reach the top.
3. There are 1,740 window panes in the building and that can be used to build over 200 town houses.
4. The pillars run 65 m below the building and that is about the height of a 22 story building.
5. The area inside the building is about 179,400 sq m, or 30 football fields. I'm assuming that means soccer...

First of all, if you didn't know, Bangkok is fricking HUGE! Like big ass city. It goes on forever. I literally didn't see a stop to the buildings or houses. It is really pretty as well, from above at least. Definitely looks very nice and developed. I could find the palace but that was pretty much the only thing I could recognize.

After I walked around and took photos, I went back in the elevator to the 83rd floor. You have to walk to the 84th floor. On the 83rd floor I took some more photos and got my free drink. Yey Sprite! I then proceeded up the stairs to the 84th floor. And then I had to stop because there is a 2,000 baht (about $70) fine for taking food or drink on the revolving platform. (This country sucks at having bins anywhere. If I haven't already written it down, I have decided that Thailand doesn't know how to use bins aside from in the toilet.)

Oh yes, it revolves. That was pretty cool. And it wasn't crowded with people. I could walk around and move and have space. And take selfies without having other people in them. So that was good. Nice I guess. I went around 2 times. The first time I filmed it and the second time I took some photos. I have definitely begun to master the selfie photos... I'm even starting to be able to figure out where to stand to have the composition in the photo that I want. It's obviously not as good as being able to line things up and then take the photo, but I am pretty impressed with my skills at this point.

After my venture to this hotel I headed to the Internet cafe. This was just a block down from the embassy and it was dirt cheap. 15 baht per hour. There were a bunch of gamers in there. I had about 2 hours before I wanted to head over to the embassy.

The guy didn't speak much English. I couldn't figure out what to do or how to get the computer to work. I think he was frustrated with me as well though because of it. I kept asking him how to get the computer to work and he kept telling me the bathroom was on the second floor... Ok, communication break down for sure haha. I started trying to find a computer and he pointed to one and I say down at one next to it and he pointed again and I moved chairs again. Then, I looked totally confused I'm sure and the guy next to me pressed a button on the computer. Genius... You have to turn it on! After it started up, the guy then entered a password from his master computer and I could get on. It took a while though haha.

I spent those 2 hours uploading photos to Facebook and then headed over to the Indonesian embassy. It doesn't open until 2pm which is really like 2:01 or 2:02pm. I got there around 1:35 and waited outside. It was pretty funny because for some reason the plaque on the embassy says it opens at 1pm when in actuality it doesn't open until 2pm. That means everyone goes up to the door and rings the bell and tries to get in for a bit. Literally everyone did it who was standing there. I didn't do it because when I had gone back last time to get my money, everyone was waiting outside the gate as well. So I had already known not to do that. It was rather numerous though, not gonna lie. I think they put 1pm on the embassy just to watch that happen for an hour everyday through their little camera. Some guys were making faces at the camera trying to get them to let them in.

When the gates opened, because I had been there before, I knew exactly where to line up and therefore I was second in line. That was nice since last time I had to wait a century for everyone to be done before they would even acknowledge my existence. The place is so small though there aren't too many options of places to line up at. There are 3 or 4 windows and maybe 2 or 3 people can fit in a line across the office, it's clear the line has to go back from the first window entitled "visa" and go back toward the door.

When I handed the man behind the counter my receipt I was actually nervous. It would be just my luck that I would for some reason be denied access to Indonesia. Luckily, my visa was there and it is valid long past when I will be gone so things were all good on that front. I'll laugh when everyone else pays like $25 to get their visas at the border. I paid about $46 an I was expecting to pay $50 so that wasn't too bad.

Once I got my visa (we waited maybe 10 or so minutes past when we were let in the office), I headed back to the Internet cafe to finish uploading my photos. Things went smoother on the communication front this time. So at least I learned haha. I purchased 2 hours and had to add on another hour but I got all the photos up. I was working furiously though. 5,300 photos is a lot to get through, not to mention trying to decide which ones to post! Then I had to rotate the ones that weren't the correct way. It was a lot of work!!! And, I had even eliminated a bunch from yesterday as well! I literally had 3 minutes left when I finished. I didn't get a chance to upload any of my videos but that's okay. I wanted to make sure I got up all my photos for my Indochina group because everyone was so upset my photos wouldn't be up until I got home in August. I got mine up before most of them!

By that time it was about 5:15. I had to meet my group at 6. I thought I would for sure be able to get back in time. And then I realized I had forgotten how far of a walk it was to the sky train (which apparently is the #1 attraction in Bangkok according to trip advisor). I was speed walking at this point. I made it to the sky train (Ratchadamri) station and of course, had to wait in a line to buy my ticket. And then wait for the train to arrive. When I was buying my ticket I wasn't thinking and I went to Siam instead of Sala Daeng. When I got off at Siam I was wondering around looking for the metro for maybe 10 minutes. I finally asked someone and she pointed up and then it hit me that I was at the wrong station. Fail again! Then I got back on track and things were fine.

Mostly... Thais walk so slowly even at the train stations too. And when they get off the escalators OMB! I want to punch them in the face. They literally just diddle daddle when they get off the escalator. Like I end up almost running over them. Then in my head I end up looking like one of those cartoon characters getting caught in slow mo behind another character and they're tripping over themselves... Yea. Me behind the Thai people. Ha.

I made it back to the hotel by 6:01pm. I was so scared I was going to get caught in the metro station and have to stop and do the kings song thing. Luckily, I was already up the stairs of the metro by the time it hit 6pm.

When I got into the lobby it was like being at the grand palace again... A fricking zoo! There were like 973 g groups meeting for the first time... Probably only 6 but still, that's a lot of people and a lot of guys with g shirts on trying to find their groups!

At this time I met Marie and David (from Denmark) and they were on the same trip so we tried to find our group together. Bret, our tour guide (he's an Aussie) had taken the group upstairs and around a corner so we didn't find them easily at all. We had to have a few different g reps help us out.

Bret talked for a while and we said our names and then we had 35 minutes until we were meeting for dinner. 7pm in the lobby. Back to set times again!

My new roommate is named Marion. She is from the US! Kind of... She has a US passport but she was born and grew up in France and lived in Singapore for a bit when she was little. She's nice and seems way better than Melissa was already so that's good.

We headed to a restaurant across the street from the hotel (you have to go underground because there is construction and it goes right through the middle f the street. Apparently it's been there for a year and a half and no one knows why or what they are building.). The place Matt took us to was way better. I tried a see lew dish which is long noodles with veggies and I added chicken to it. It was the sweet long and thick noodles which aren't my favorite. You also put chili flakes, fish sauce, and a bit of sugar on it for flavor. It was too sweet for me. I wouldn't get it again. I hadn't eaten since breakfast because I was so busy so I got some spring rolls as well. Those were tasty. It didn't come with the sweet chili sauce it normally is served with though.

We then headed to Khao San road. I'm kinda over Khao San but I didn't want to miss out on the first night of group bonding so I went. Had a beer. Tried Singha instead of Chang. I thought it was pretty good too. I still need to try Leo. Brett says that's what all Thais drink. He also said to leave a tip and he goes to taxi stands instead of flagging them down on the street. Matt never said to tip so I don't know. Also, Erin, one of the girls on the trip (from Ohio and in year 2 of med school), said she had a Thai leader on her last trip because she did the northern hill tribe village trip and he said you don't tip. Brett has lived here for 10 years though (in Asia) so I don't know...

He also got shisha at the bar we were at. Apple flavor. A lot of people had some. It was in a water bong. I still am not into that whole thing so I passed.

Marion wanted to try a scorpion and I told her it wasn't too bad. She didn't want to do it alone so I told her if no one else would do it with her that I would. I didn't end up needing to. At first Erin said she would but then didn't want to but Marion just are it on her own. I don't think she liked it very much. I still don't think it was too bad. I wouldn't eat them all the time though. Bret said his dads girlfriend will watch movies and eat a bowl if crickets instead of a bowl of popcorn.

He also said he has noticed most Asian people do not look at maps, especially the Thais. They don't have a spatial map of where things are in relation to each other in their head. So when you give them a map and point to something he said it is almost worse. They also apparently just go the way they know which could take 20 minutes instead of 2. So that's kinda funny.. Adam and I would do really well her I think. We'd be boss at directions haha.

When she was eating a scorpion I was trying to find my photo and I started freaking out. A lot of my photos had big red Xs on them and said no image dada available. Sooo I started freaking out. Popped the battery in and out, the sd card, turned the camera on and off. Not good. WHY DOES BANGKOK HATE ME!?!

Then I just wanted to leave and go back to the hotel. I was pissed off. I said something in the cab to Katie and Marion and Katie said that she rarely uploads photos abroad because the files can be corrupt and lost. So then I was even happier... I had also been yawning constantly because I had woken up around 6:30am naturally.

Bangkok hates me. Well, Thailand maybe. I think I lost my retainers in Thailand, I lost my debit card (or at least well say its lost...), and I now lost my photos. My passport was with the embassy when I needed to use it to get a wire transfer from dad. Yea... Time to leave Bangkok now. Maybe even Thailand. But the islands are so different, hopefully it'll be fine. Fingers crossed. I can't deal with anymore silly shit.

At the hotel I started madly googling what could have happened. Then I found out there is software recovery data programs, so I felt a bit better. And as I kept searching it said that an earlier model of a Nikon camera was being sold with corrupt SD cards. Then I was more upset. I had already switched out sd card with all the photos on it for my other one, just in case I took more photos and the ones with the red Xs were over written. Then, I found out what I think and hope actually happened.

I guess I should have known this being the big photo buff that I am, but I had no idea. Basically, you can not edit images directly on your SD card. You have to transfer them to the computer first. Usually I always do this anyway because it makes sense, but I didn't have a computer to transfer them to. Supposedly, rotating the image has caused the file to be rewritten in a way that the camera can't read it anymore. It still should be able to be read on the computer. Feeling better now!

The next morning I had Brett pop it in his computer and he said it looks like all the photos are there but he didn't spend too much time looking so I'm not positive. But I think it's okay. So few!

The new group will be interesting. There are 16 of us again. 4 couples who are older. And the rest are all girls around my age. I don't know for sure but I am already guessing the group will not be as close as my last group was. So that's a bummer. My last group was amazing. I miss them haha!

One thing I have noticed is that I has been a lot easier for me to step out of comfort zone here in ways I definitely wouldn't at home. I don't know exactly why but I think it may be because I'm already totally out d my comfort zone to begin with. Plus it is way cheaper here to step out of your comfort zone than it is at home!

Tomorrow night we take the sleeper train to the south! Thai islands, here I come!