Thailand began with the taxi ride..

i got to bangkok a few hours ago, safely and soundly, albeit a little sweaty ;)

it was an "interesting" adventure from the airport to khao son road (a well known backpacker's area), and finding an available hostel. the Thais highly revere their royal family, and apparently the mother of the queen or something passed away earlier in the week, so they were holding a funeral ceremony around the area i was trying to get to. my taxi ride was already supposed to be long from the airport and it kept getting longer, being blocked after waiting in long ques of traffic jams, and turned around by police and streets full of people wearing black.

it was all of a sudden midnight. add to that, once we figured out a successful detour, my driver then didn't know where the hostel actually was exactly (even though i showed him on trusty little Lonely Planet map.) we finally arrived, but New Siam guesthouse was full. i went to 3 other hostel places on the same street while carrying my huge hiker's backpack, laptop bag and two 50lb suitcases. locals were looking at me pretty weird. my nervousness grew, as all of the places were booked full, before i arrived at my current place. how fitting it is called Happy House. cuz i was definitely happily relieved. for the most part. i know THEY must be happy, because they charge twice as much as the one i was originally planning to stay at (still i'm now only paying $15 for a clean aircon room with private bath). cheap by american standards, but a little pricey for backpacker-style accomodations in thailand.

needless to say, during my first two hours in thailand i was sweating a little bit, both physically and figuratively. but hey, that's what i signed up for, right? and so the adventure begins.. ;)

now, time for some sleep...

- D