Saturday was my first day in Bangkok. SHORT VERSION: I had a productive, interesting, and enjoyable first day. I jogged in Lumphini Park across the street from my hotel along with lots of locals. I had a great lunch of pineapple curry at the Atlanta Hotel (which I highly recommend for food or accomodations). Then I took a cab (not the fastest way around town but I didn't know any better at the time. And my cab driver was helpful so it wasn't bad) to the National Museum where I learned some history, saw art and architecture and learned more about the Buddhist religion. Their gift shop was great too. I could have stayed at the museum longer but they closed at 4:00. Since it only cost $1 and its easy to get to (now that I know my way around) I may go back and see some of the exhibits I missed later in the week. Then I decided to try to figure out the public transportation to get back to my hotel and that worked out great. I (eventually) figured out how to take the water ferries to the skytrain (think BART raised up like it is in Walnut Creek). The rides were fast, convenient, and cheap. And I got to see a lot of the city that way. For dinner I headed over to the Suan Lum Night Market conveniently close to my hotel. The market is huge! And festive with live music and a ferris wheel and tons of people shopping and eating and visiting. My dinner (pad thai $1 and a glass of red wine $2.50) was very good and amazingly cheap. And I shopped for quite awhile buying many of the gifts I was hoping to find (for many of you) as well as many I didn't know I needed (for me). Bargaining is commonplace and as long as you keep it light and fun its pretty successful. I probably paid more than I needed to and it was all still a really good deal. I actually had a lot of fun and you know I don't like shopping. The city of Bangkok is very dirty, congested, polluted, smelly, and busy. I'd have to say its not a pretty city. You can find everything you want or need (from Burger King to a fancy Thai dinner, camping gear, high tech equipment, or street food) and there are parks and the public transportation is great but I can't say I'd love to live here. Something about the city is tiring. When you learn your way around it's better but more in a way that's interesting to visit than appealing to live in. When you get off the streets and up into the sky train or the overhead walkways or use the river transportation, its better. And the shops along the sky train are cleaner and better stocked. And although there are plenty of street vendors selling buddhist amulets, food, or other items they don't hawk at you so that is better but the streets are very very crowded, traffic is awful, and the city smells, everywhere. Thailand is well known for selling sex and there are suggestive undertones all over town, it seems to be a pervasive force in the country even though the government is trying to clean up the illegal activities. The food is good. The city is international and modern while also retaining its historical landmarks. The people are almost all buddhist and very nice (the service industry is almost nice to a point of it being too much). But the pollution and congestion are a bit much. And the guidebooks are right, don't try to walk around Bangkok. Its too big and congeted and polluted. Once I picked up the public transportation I enjoyed myself much more. The weather here is warm and humid. Less humid than Singapore but very warm. All in all I'm very glad to be here learning more about Thailand. LONG VERSION: The first thing I needed to do was decide where I was going to be staying and what I was going to be doing while in Thailand. I thought a lot about my options and all your advice and read my book and decided that due to time and logistics of traveling alone and my preferences, that I would stay in Bangkok the whole week and take a couple day trips from here. I know a lot of you are going to say I'm missing out by not going north to see the Hill Tribes or south to the beautiful beaches. I am going to go north to Ayuthaya (the previous capital of Siam) for a day trip and south to a local beach for a day but traveling alone with the amount of time I have, I decided I'd enjoy my week and experience more of Thailand by staying in one base and really soaking up as much as I could instead of rushing around with my luggage. And I checked out a few other hotels in Bangkok but decided to stay at the Dusit Thani where I spent the first night. It is at an extremely convenient location and has all the amenities I want at a reasonable price. You could definitely stay in Thailand for less than I am spending. In fact, I think that there are two great ways to see Thailand: - come with a fun group and do Thailand "on the cheap". You can easily stay in some great places for $15/night and spend less than $3 on every meal. Food, clothes, etc are all amazingly cheap here and if you came with a fun group and went to some fun places you could just hang out in Thailand and enjoy the mellow life. - or come with a lot of money and stay at the really nice resorts with luxury accomodations. Even the expensive places are a good deal and you can really live it up in Thailand if you are willing to. I'm sort of running a middle ground which is good for me on this trip but probably not ideal. I want a few more conveniences since I'm traveling alone and don't have a group to entertain me or help me (english speaking hotel staff, a work out room, a pool, internet connection, good location) but I am unemployed and still have a lot of traveling to do ahead so I want to save some money. So I'm paying a little more than I need to for a room (but still a really good deal) but eating for almost nothing. I routinely spend less than $4 for every meal, I love the public transportation system, and shopping is a great deal. So once I got the hotel situation settled and I got a workout in, I headed out for lunch. I had heard a lot about this quirkly hotel called the Atlanta. I had decided not to stay there but I knew the restaurant was good and I wanted to see the place after reading about it in a short story. I walked (which I now realize was not the most efficient way to get there but it was my first day) and it was interesting to see the city on foot but I had walked all morning looking at hotels and walking here is not that enjoyable so I was really glad to finally arrive. The Atlanta is one of the oldest hotels in Bangkok and was a favorite of the hippie backpacking generation when they came through Thailand before it was 'discovered'. It was founded by a German expatriate and its motto is good clean safe cheap accomodations. period. nothing less, nothing more. The decor is retro and fun. The service is surly and they don't really speak English. The rules are strict - no sex workers allowed, no offensive behavior (Thai people consider the feet the lowest part of the body and it is very offensive if you point your feet at someone so putting your feet up on a chair, for example, is very offensive), and they reserve the right to kick you out for any reason. There is a sign at the desk that says 'at these prices, no complaints' and the menu has a long note basically saying that the restaurant is for guests and anyone else is lucky if they staff decides to let you eat there so behave. Apparently I was well behaved because they feed me and it was quite good. I wanted to see the National Museum and learn as much about the history of Thailand before I went to any other sites so I hailed a cab. The ride was long because of traffic but it was interesting. My cab driver was very friendly and gave me tips about avoiding the crooks who try to rip off tourists and he pointed out sites along the way. Unfortunately I only had a couple of hours at the museum but I saw alot. I read about the history of the area, battles with Burma, the royal family lineage, and recent political history. I learned about the rise of Buddhism in Thailand and saw significant Buddhist art including a beautiful golden seated Buddha. There are a few key images of Buddha - seated Buddha, reclining Buddha, standing Buddha, and walking Buddha. There are other images in other countries like laughing Buddha but those four are the main religious images. I'm still learning more about this. See future journals for more about Buddhism I'm sure. Then walking around town to find the water ferry was interesting. I walked by a famous amulet street market which is most popular Sunday morning but I guess they set up early because it was bustling Saturday evening even in a light sprinkle. I bought a small amulet of the seated Buddha like the one I saw on my first day in Thailand. The streets are very crowded but at least the vendors aren't hawking at you. It was interesting to walk amongst the monks and be careful not to bump into them. The ferry ride was fun. It was crowded like everything else and the sights and sounds and smells were hectic and the ferry runs with a fanatical precision. When the ferry stops you have about 1 minute to get on or off and there is no waiting around for you if you are stuck behind someone or having trouble, too bad. They are quick! The skytrain was really easy and actually comforting to take because its so much like BART and all the stores along the skytrain are very clean and modern and being up above the city you get a little break from the dirt and pollution and smells of the city (you can still see it all but its a little removed and toned down) and it feels less hectic. So after a long day of everything being hectic and crowded and new I really enjoyed the short train ride right to the door of my hotel. After a little rest I walked over to the Suan Lum Night Market which is just about two blocks from my hotel. It was a lot more fun than I thought. My first impression was how huge the food court was. There is a huge stage at one end of a football field size warehouse where a live band and singer are performing American dance music. From the ceiling there are a couple of huge flat screen TVs showing European football and there are food stalls along one side of the room and alcohol stalls along the other and hundreds of people in the middle. My dinner really was very good and very filling. Amazing for $1. And I had a great time and shopped longer than I expected. All in all a great first day in Thailand.