Bangkok

Bangkok is by far and away the most different city I have ever been to. It takes some getting used to. I hated it the first day, but the more time we spent there, the more I came to like it. The touts are a real pain and once you get over the fact that people are not being friendly when they ask you, “where you go?” or “where you from” or “where you staying” and realize that you don’t have to answer their questions (as Canadians we are so polite), life in Bangkok becomes a whole lot easier.

Highlights from our 5 days in Bangkok:

• one hour foot and leg massages for $9
• visiting Lamphini Park and seeing two HUGE reptiles that we guess were comodo dragons or similar. Even the Thais were stopping to take pictures. They were the grossest, scariest things I have ever seen walking around a park. They were as big as we are and after they finished snacking on a carcass of some sort, they went into the lake and I watched one of them swim and then crawl out into a big drain….I get shivers just thinking about it
• the food. OMG, the food here is amazing!
• buying a Hello Kitty watch for $3 (I’ll be lucky if it lasts for 4 months, but boy is it cute!)
• buying a pair of Diesel jeans and having them custom altered right in the shop for only $21 (we are giants here and finding large enough sizes in clothes is a job in itself!)

It’s funny how you get such pleasure from seeing familiar places like 7 eleven or Starbucks but it’s nice to see things that we have at home.

Some major differences:

• You have to buy toilet paper or pay to get in to most public toilets. It’s always a treat when you find one that’s free and has TP.
• Little things work opposite. Turning on the tap is a downward motion instead of up.
• Squat toilets. Like camping….only indoors!
• There’s a crazy spray hose in all the toilets. I have not and will not try spraying myself with it.