Thailand - Part I

So, as you remember if you read this last week, I (Jesse) am now in Thailand.  There is a conference here starting on Monday that I'm supposed to go to, so I made the arduous journey.  Totally worth it, though - this place is amazing!

But more on that in a bit.  First, this is where I left from. More precisely, this is the KFC in Novosibirsk along the way, but it's still an illustration of the cold and misery that I left behind in Siberia.  Although, can you ever be miserable if you have KFC and free internet?  I spent a whole afternoon here just killing time before my flight.

Leaving the -40 weather behind, I then flew to Bangkok.  My first order of business was to get through Thai immigration, which had one of the longest lines I've ever seen (it goes back beyond this picture for about another 40 meters).

With that (finally) accomplished, it was off to the train station!  Bangkok has a really nifty airport rail link, and then you ride the subway a few stops down to get out right at the train station.  I was impressed, but also roasting.  It was definitely time to take off a few layers of coats.

Just to prove that I'm not lying; that really is the Bangkok train station up there (I know, you thought I was being sneaky, didn't you?):

After buying my ticket, I went outside to get something to eat.  There were a lot of stands like this:

and this (where I bought enough watermelon and mango to choke!  I miss fresh fruits as we don't see them in Siberia much):

Finally I found this lady making food for another older Thai lady, with no foreigners around.  I thought to myself, "Now there's the place to get real Thai food!" and waited.  I couldn't really talk to her, but I knew enough to ask for "pad thai" which she understood.  It was really yummy, and only about $0.90 American.

Edit: I got the video to load!  Here is a video of the lady preparing my evening meal for me, so you can see how a real pad thai is made.  I managed to turn it off before you got to see me pantomiming "I will eat here" for you, much to your disappointment I'm sure :-)

 

It looked like this when all was said and done - delicious:

Anyway, after I ate I went to get on the train to Chiang Mai, my ultimate destination.  The train accommodations were super nice; there was even a curtain for each compartment to have its own little private spot!

It was an overnight train, but I woke up the next morning to some beautiful views of Thai countryside:

Once in Chiang Mai I took a tuk-tuk from the train station to downtown.  If you look out the window you can see another one of them in the picture; sort of like a three-wheeler with a roof bolted on.  Pretty nice, and cheap as dirt.

I wandered around the market some, and eventually found another good place to eat.  (Bobbie wanted pictures of the food I was eating, so sorry if there are more of those than you want to see.) The lady recommended a half-and-half split of these two dishes, so I have no idea what the names are (she just pointed at them).  The left is some sort of nutty-flavored bean sprout salad - decent.  The right is a very spicy pork curry - amazing!

I found another girl outside selling strawberries in a cup for about 50 cents, so I treated myself.  At this rate, I'm in real danger of overdosing on fruit before I head home!

For the final leg of my trip, I went to the airport to watch the sunset and catch the shuttle out to the hotel where the conference is being held.  If I get a chance I'll post a video of the lady making the pad thai later, and the next installment should feature more from the conference itself.  Edit: Done; see above.

 

Thanks for stopping by and reading, and please remember to lift up Bobbie and the boys while I'm away!