Written June 2nd
I found out today that it is much more pleasant to do my laundry at 7:30 in the morning rather than waiting for the splintering hot sun to warm up my oven of a room to begin at 10. But, who really wants to leave their cozy room at 730 on a Saturday. Today was different though, because I didn't do laundry last weekend and I am slowly, but surely running down on my clothes supply. Since I am leaving for Bangkok early tomorrow morning, I knew I wouldn't get another chance. So, on a good note, I did my laundry, hung it up to dry and was off to work and was only a few minutes late. Lateness doesn't matter as much here as it did in the states. At my previous job, if you were 6 minutes late, you could be written up, get a warning, or maybe fired if it happened often enough. Here, you get a greeting of 'Hello', "you are getting so skinning', and today, '…pom…'. OK, so there was something about my hair today, but I didn't understand it. My hair is in its normal, low ponytail (its got to fit under my helmet), that it is always in, so I don't know what is so different…maybe they finally realized that it just doesn't look very good, even on a fair skinned, blue-eyed girl. Yes, my hair can do with a good blow-dry and curling iron or straightener and it would be fabulous, but alas, I have neither, and if I did have them, my hair would be a loss the minute I stepped outside of my room. Now, back to laundry, as soon as I hung my dripping clothes up to dry (its good to leave a good amount of moisture in so there are less wrinkles – I tend to burn my clothes when I use an iron here), I start to hear a rhythmic beat in my room. Normally, I would just think that the pigeons were having their usual races across my roof, but today, with no sun blaring down into my eyes, and a cool draft coming through the windows, I knew that this drumming was rain. Great! I finally decide to wash my clothes and it is raining. Normally, I wouldn't care, I would just let my clothes hang outside for another day, but I am leaving tomorrow…all I can do is hope for the best. Good luck clothes…do me proud and be dry when I get home tonight.
Written June 6th
I have been in BKK since Friday. I came in for a simple appointment with a doctor on Saturday and ended up with a procedure done (ugh), so I've been chilling in hotels for the last few days to be sure that I am good to head back to site. I talked to the PC doc this morning and he cleared me to head back tomorrow…7 hour bus ride here we come! Tonight, (Monday night), I have splurged on a nice hotel to stay in. Satalite TV, King size bed, free wifi, bathtub, and rain shower…ah, now this is the life. I am spending way more than I should, but I am super excited to check in later today. I was supposed to have wifi in the hotel that I stayed in last night, but that place did not live up to the expectations that it gave me last night; hence, I am spending a little more money tonight. Oh well. I'm sure it will be nice and relaxing before I head back to cold showers, heat, and work. **To family and friends in the states – I promise, I am fine. The doctor sucked, but nothing is wrong with me…promise.
Anyways, I have to tell you about this hospital. Now, from what I understand, it is the best hospital in Asia, but I was told this weekend, that it is actually the best hospital in the world…lucky me living so close to it. Now, this place is GORGOUS! I just wanted to sit in it for hours and people watch (not a polite thing to do in a hospital), lounge in the chairs and sit at one of the many Starbucks that were throughout it (it was almost like being back in Seattle). From what I am told, the rooms (if you have to stay overnight) have flat screen tvs and you will get a keyboard so you can use the tv as a computer if you want to go on the internet. Yup, if I need to stay in a hospital, this is the place to go.
Now, before this weekend, I hadn't had any Starbucks coffee since coming to Thailand. I have had gross 3 in 1 coffee, and when I can find it, coffee from stands that use beans, but not good ol' reliable Starbucks. I'll admit, its not the best coffee in the world, but it is more of my comfort drink. Well, this weekend, so far, I have now had 3 drinks from there (one of which I am drinking right now – Iced Vanilla latte). I would be online right now, but they want to charge me 150 baht for the internet, where I could have (and should have) gone to the café I went to yesterday and gotten wifi for free…but I would not have had the double chocolate muffin that I just finished eating. YUM!
So what did I eat this weekend you might ask: Salami Pizza (which I wasn't supposed to eat), double cheeseburger and cheesy fries (McD) 2x, ham and cheese sandwich, ice cream (The real stuff that you scoop), coffee, bagels, a bite of a delicious cheesy baked potato (I might have that for lunch today), pasta carbonara (sp?)…and some other stuff, but I can't remember.
***20 minutes after writing post: Ok, had my baked potato with cheese and bacon bits…yummmmmm
Oh, and I went and saw Hangover 2. So, I didn't like the first movie at all. Maybe it was because of all the hype behind it, but I went to see this one because 1) I haven't seen a movie since being in the states and 2) because this one was based in Thailand. Every person I went with said it was a disappointment, but me, because I had such low expectations, I actually thought it was funny and laughed throughout. Now, this is not to say I want to see it again, but it was worth the $4.50 to see it. And, the seats were super comfortable (better than many places in the states). The difference is, that in the states, before the movie starts, you don't stand up to give tribute to the president or for the national anthem. In Thailand, before every movie starts, you stand up and give tribute to the king. They play a slideshow/movie of him while a song plays, then you sit down and watch the movie. Strange, but kinda cool at the same time.
So, that is my life at the moment. I am roaming around BKK until it is time to check into my hotel. I can jump right onto the BTS and be there in minutes when check in time arrives (BTS is like the monorail/lightrail – takes you around the city so you can avoid cabs, tuk tuks, and traffic). Getting to my hotel was a nightmare yesterday; I kept going in the wrong direction and ended up walking through many streets of BKK (mostly residential) before I finally gave up and took a tuk tuk. I negotiated the price down though, so it wasn't too bad. I will give one thing to the hotel from last night…man! That bed was amazing and comfortable. That is probably the only prop I can give it though. When you still have chairs wrapped in plastic lining the halls and horrible lighting in your room, it doesn't look that nice. My tv ended up sucking, and the wifi didn't work. Well, I guess one other good thing was one of the front desk ladies. She got such a kick out of the fact that I know some Thai that she was very accommodating. I really liked her. If the place was nicer, I probably would have just stayed there tonight too…oh well.
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