Hello everyone! So I made it to Bangkok, and have been busy ever since I stepped off the plane. I met some west coasters on the plane, and we have been traveling together since. The day we got here, we headed straight for the backpacker's mecca; the cliche road of Kao San...

It truly is the dirty yet undeniably entertaining jumping off point you read about in all the travel books: vendors line the sides of the road, selling everything from extremely questionable food to tatoos to furry moccosins (which I personally don't understand- do you know how hot it is here?!), throngs of mangy dogs lay lazily about everywhere, and a very eclectic mix of individuals wander around aimlessly. Two of my favorites are "towel man, " who is this Thai guy who wears nothing but a dirty towel and wanders around the Kao San Road night and day, and "jesus," who is a fellow traveller staying at the same guesthouse as I, and I swear is a decendent of the Son of God himself. He has the beard and shoulder-length stringy hair and all, and wears flowy white cotton shirts and pants, and everytime he walks by I feel a little nervous for some unexplicable reason. Additionally, I have made friends with a couple street vendors, one of which has a booth that has become our nightly hangout. Yesterday, after a grueling conversation trying to understand eachother, "Pat" (I think it's pronounced like that!) told me I "talk like hollywood." I am guessing this is a very polite way of saying that I speak American. Surprisingly, other than the four Americans I met on the plane over, I have met only one other American. He was actually thrilled to meet us, saying that during his more than two weeks here we are the only other Americans he's met. Most everyone here seems to be from Australia or Europe or elsewhere in Asia. So I'm assuming that the Thai people are more used to Australian or British or other European accents, and that is why we cannot understand eachother. Yes, it has nothing to do with my horrible Thai skills. No, nothing at all. :)

Yesterday we went on a boat ride around the canals (Bangkok used to be called the Venice of Asia- before they started filling in all the canals) and then we had a tuk-tuk tour of some amazing temples, hot spots in Bangkok, and, unfortunately, the tuk-tuk driver's buddy's silk shop. The guys I was with pretended to be interested in buying silk suits, so the tailors gave us free beer, and then the guys decided they "had to think about it" and we left. Overall it was a productive day.

Tonight us Americans will break up into two groups, two of them heading north to train in the Thai kickboxing art of Muay Thai up in Chiang Mai, and the other American and I will head south to Ko Pha Ngan, for the full moon festival, where I will spend the remaining days before my volunteer program starts on the seventh.

I hope to upload some pictures soon, but as surprisingly fast as the computers are out here, they are a bit questionable when it comes to connecting cables and what not. I Hope everyone is doing well, and I'll write when I get down to Ko Pha Ngan!