in Thailand!

so this post is a bit boring, cause we just got here, but I'm trying to document everything... so here it is!

So I'm in Bankok in an "internet cafe"... more like a set of computers in the middle of a mall. It costs 40 baht per half hour, which is just over a dollar. The conversion rate at the airport yesterday was 37.02 baht to the dollar.

The plane ride was long and tiring, but we made it. It was strange to realize once we got here that we had lost an entire day due to travel! The first leg (Dulles to Tokyo) was a 14 hour trip, which was long, but there were movies and books and sleep and japanese airplane food to amuse us. Then there was a three hour layover in the airport, which I mostly spent sleeping on the floor. There didn't seem to be many food choices in Tokyo aside from strange Japanese dried or pickled fish. There were a few western things to eat like ritz crackers and chocolate, but I didn't see any restaurants or realy anything too appetizing. I'd suggest you bring something for the airport if you think you might be hungry, or else you'll just have to tough it out til you get back on the plane, where the food is actually pretty good. I slept for most of the second leg (tokyo to bankok, which took 6 hours), then we all went thru cutsoms and immigration, got our stuff, and headed outside to be picked up by a bus to the hotel. A guy from the hotel met us and gave us leis (flower necklaces) and eventually our bus showed up.. a huge shiny double decker! We drove into Bankok to the hotel, about half an hour, where we were served some kind of chilled sweet tea (I think it was made afrom a flower?) and got our room keys, went to our rooms and got settled.They brought us coconut water in a coconut (I'm feeling pampered) and we went to sleep.

I didn't realize until this morning, but the view from our room is ridiculous! Bankok is HUGE, but you wouldn't know it from arriving at night. We are on the 14th floor, and it seems like you can see the city going for miles and miles when you look out the window. There is smog and buildings so far off its hard to believe its still the city.

I've yet to explore beyond the city block of the hotel. We woke up this morning relatively rested (I slept most of the night, waking up only a few times) and had brakfast at the hotel. There's a buffet with all kinds of food, thai and western. I had mostly western food, I guess.. though already I'm seeing that I'm going to be eating tons of strange fruits! I had some this morning (I have no clue what this fruit is called) that was kind of like a cross between watermelon and kiwi: it had a thin pink rind, and a white fruit with lots of little black seeds, like those in a kiwi. It was soft and smooth, silkier than watermelon but just as juicy. Strange, but cool! I'm gonna try to avoid really spicy food for a few days to get myself sort of adjusted. Someone else in the group said that some of the thai food this morning was really spicy, which proves something I read in a book, that thais will eat basically anything anytime of day.

After I finish with the email, I think I'm gonna go walk around bankok for a few hours, We are all meeting at the hotel this afternoon to take the skytrain to the grand palace and walk around there. Tonight we're eating laotian food together as a group. Tomorrow we are meeting with Sulak Sivaraksa, one of the premier engaged buddhists in Thailand, at his home here in Bankok, then traveling to Hua Hin which will be our home base for the rest of the trip.

I love you all and miss you. It looks like I will be able to easily get online, so feel free to comment on this post or email me.