Back to Bangkok

     Hello hello, Ryoko and I made it back to the big city last week and it's as crazy as ever. Where to start with a place such as Bangkok. When reading about it, everyone always seems to be a loss as to where to start. Only now do realize the depth of their dilemma.

     Well, after the 22 hour trip, I was happy to meet up with Ryoko in a really nice hostel right in the thick of the city. Bangkok is quite large and lacks a defined "downtown." Instead, there are multiple downtowns spread throughout. Our hostel, however, was not so far from one of the more central areas of the city. For those of you who don't know, Ryoko and I will be teaching here for the next couple years, and the area that we landed in is likely the area we will be residing in once we get to work.

     Due to a total lack of city planning while the city was being brought into its current stage, transportation can be insane. Some say Bangkok has the worst traffic of all cities of comparable size. While I cannot vouch for that, I can attest that traffic can be pretty horrible. There is, however, a great sky train system and we will be living only a brief walk from that. The sky train is referred to as the BTS for short.

     In our first week in the city, we spent most of our time running errands. Our first full day in the city, we visited AYC (the company for whom I work), and filled out the last of the paper work. AYC is placing more than 200 teachers this year in a myriad of schools located throughout this huge city. A major concern of ours was that the school where I'm to be placed wouldn't be close enough to Ryoko's school for us to live together. Fortunately we were able to address that problem on our first outing. If there are any preferences for teaching locations, it's determined by a first come first serve basis. Since I contraced with them so early, August of last year, I'm high on that list. My school shouldn't be more than a few stops away on the BTS, making my commute to work quite manageable, maybe less than it was in Seattle.

     Our time difference here is 14 hours ahead of those of you residing in the Seattle area. To all my friends in other time zones, I'll let you do the math. That being said, I previously attributed "jet lag" to simply being tired from a long day of travel. With confidence I can say that it's a little more profound than that. The first three mornings, I found myself annoyingly awake around 2:30-4:00 AM. On the flip side, 4 PM weighed on my eyelids like a pair of anvils. I think the word "immobile" sums up my overall disposition during those first afternoons. Now, however, I'm feeling properly adjusted, back to my usual waking schedule.

     The first week was primarily occupied with checking out different apartments and food. The food here is both awesome and affordable. While it can get a bit spicy at times, there is no shortage in variety and flavor. It does take a few meals to get accustomed to anything spicy. Here, that word takes on a new meaning. Even when we ask for dishes that are only "nip noi" spicy (little), we still find ourselves pacing the meal as if it  each bite was a cooling ember. To aid in our digestion, we've largely stuck to meals that are relatively mild, but we're working on building up our tolerance so we can enjoy the full range of culinary concoctions available. At the end of my last stay here, I could handle dishes that were much more intense than those I've currently been able to stomach so I have confidence that things will improve over time.

     Currently, I'm writing you from Phuket, a beach city in the south of Thailand on the Malay Peninsula. We arrived here yesterday with a friend, Kanami, who we met at that first hostel. Kanami is from Japan. She is taking classes in Thai massage over the next few months. We're working our way to Paneng, Malaysia, where we have to be before the 17th of this month. In the near future I will add pictures to accompany these posts, along with an album or two via the facebook. Thank you for joining me. Perhaps I'll be able to entice a few of you over here to join us in the not so distant future. Until then, Sawadikap!