Culture shock; I've never gotten culture shock before, but if there was a time I'd guess I was going through it.. it was when I first got to Bangkok. It was soo different from Europe and home, and anything else I've ever experienced. I met with my friend Anna, who teaches English there, and that's when it hit me. She met me at my hostel, and we went to one of the more busy areas of the city. All along the sidewalk there were tables and booths full of anything you could think of; sandals, pumas, jewelry, fruit, food, watches, electronics, stickers, scarves, winter hats, etc... Anything you can think of, they probably sold it. These were on both sides of the sidewalk, so you had to walk single file line and squeeze between the people, coming from the other direction, and around the people who stopped to look at things.
Then we found a place to eat on the street, I had noodle soup and you eat it with chopsticks! Go figure lol. But there are spoons to drink the broth if you'd like too. And it was in front of Anna, that I admitted that I thought I was going through a bit of culture shock. Which is so weird because I have never felt soo intimidated by a culture/city before!
I got used to it quick though. Right away I met a lot of people at the hostel. On my first full day there, I went out to see all the temples with 2 Canadians that I met in my dorm. It was really great; we took a water boat to the furthest point we could and then as we got off and were walking, and a guy stopped and started making conversation with us, asked us where we're from and where we're going.. next thing we know, he got us a tuktuk for the day for only 20 baht.. that's less than a dollar! He drove us to all these places, dropped us off and waited for us to return.. temples, Buddhas, and then finally to Khao San road (which is the BIG backpacker/tourist street in Bangkok). It was soo awesome to have our own little driver for the day.. and all for 20 baht.. that's 7 baht per person.. you can't even get water that cheap here. We then walked around the Grand Palace, which was absolutely gorgeous. That night we watched a movie in the hostel (lame I know), but I was jetlagged! And it was soo nice to just relax.
Throughout the next few days in Bangkok, I went through China town, which was definitely something that got me used to the culture and shopping differences here. We started off walking through what seemed like about a block through a building of kiosks with stores behind them, and on both sides of you... A long isle of them. And then before we knew it, we had walked about 30 minutes and about 5 blocks through this looong building/shopping area. It was CRAZY! After, we decided to find China Town from the outside and there were lanterns completely lacing the China Town center, it was pretty cool. I kept seeing TONS of stickers and was soo tempted to buy them to put on my students' tests and papers.. How funny would that be!? Getting a random Asian sticker with their symbols all over it on your paper! I think it'd be funny.. not sure what my students would actually think though.. I need feedback guys.. should I get them before I leave Asia??
Then, I had my first bubble tea. It's my new obsession... On average, after I tried my first, I had about 2 per day while in Bangkok.. Hah! Oopsies!! Sooo not good for me... But it is sooo dang good.. so now whenever I see one, I get it, because outside of Bangkok I don't know if they're as accessible.
A funny story though, it happened when I first arrived to Bangkok, Thailand:
Getting money = huge problem...
After I landed.. I tried to get money out of my AAA debit card, and it wouldn't work.. no matter How many times I tried or ATMs in which I tried.. still didn't work. Problem. I needed to pay for a taxi to my hostel and then once I got into Wi-Fi, I could call someone to make it work. Well, I remembered that I had 15€ from Mike back in Nuremberg (because he had to lend me 50€ to send a package home, because I couldn't get money off of it then either) and then I Also remembered I had some US dollars deeeep in my bag.. so I got to exchange those notes #awesome! And pay for a taxi to my hostel. I was able to pay for the room with my credit card, Thanks God, and then I went on their Wi-Fi when I received an email from my mum that... Drumroll please... My debit card doesn't work in Thailand! So that was absolute 100% HORRIBLE news!! But I had enough to get me by the next few days.. I just had to think about the best way to get some cash, because this is SE Asia, no one uses a credit card. So I really only had 2 options, Western Union or a cash advance on my credit card. Sooo the cash advance would end up being a lot more expensive, so we went with the western union idea, and my mum wired me some money from my bank account to Bangkok on my 4th day. What a WONDERFUL woman!
So later through my week in Bangkok, we discovered the 6 floor terrace. It's beautiful! We spent multiple nights just hanging out up there, playing cards, and meeting a bunch of people. It was gorgeous and incredibly awesome to have in the middle of a big city.
I also at one point walked through the richest mall I think I will ever walk through in my entire life: the Siam Paragon. There were metal detectors in order to get in. The mall is soo westernized, it's ridiculous!
Some notes:
The Thai people I've been blessed with meeting, are some of the sweetest people I've ever met.
Also:
Taxis here are pink and blue! Bright pink and blue! And sometimes orange!
<3
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