July 5 to 6—Two Days Getting Settled in Bangkok

Dear Family and Friends,

Thursday, July 5, boy were we tired when we arrived at Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi Airport. The plane ride was awful. We were in the front section of the economy class, in seats banged up against the wall to where we could not recline an inch. We were not anywhere near last in line when we checked in, and Dani felt those seats should have been reserved as last resorts for late passengers. Dani no longer recommends Lufthansa, an airline that she loved in the past flying long distances when she received a fun box of chocolates and pampering kits for comfort. We will be checking that our seats back to Germany do not present the same situation!

Somehow we managed to change over money and figure out what bus to get on to get as far South as possible towards our potential apartments. We had two options lined-up for the three to four weeks that we planned to spend in Bangkok—one apartment in the Sathon district and one a bit further South in the Yan Na Wa district. We attempted to phone each potential landlord, but were unsuccessful all afternoon even after a friendly tuk-tuk (a three-wheeled covered transport taxi) driver showed us how to work the phone, which numbers to leave off (the country code) and which to add on (a zero at the front) when calling within Bangkok.

We then resorted to an Internet café to e-mail the apartment-owners and to e-mail our parents to let them know we’d arrived, although exhausted. At this point, we decided to pick up some lunch while waiting for e-mail responses, and found a nice-looking restaurant with English descriptions on the menu. The waiter opened the door for us and said, “Welcome, please come in, relax and take your time.” So sweet! We ate and drank what we wanted, and the meal was quite expensive by Thai standards—but really cheap for us coming from the strength of the euro—$8 for us both including a tip (not necessary in Thailand, but always appreciated).

Still no word or means of contact with the landlords, we were tired, and function for Dani was on the downslide. We had walked up and down unknown streets in the downpour of the day’s monsoon, wearing our emergency ponchos, sweating profusely in the heat and humidity and exertion of carrying all of our baggage for a few miles around town. Thailand is 'The Land of Smiles' and we encountered many as we walked. However, some of those smiles included laughing at us and asking if we wanted a ride in their tuk-tuk or cab! And perhaps we should have taken them up on their offers, but we would not let the weather keep us from our healthy-walking lifestyle. We finally opted to find habitation for the night, and Martha left Dani on the street with our usual collection of connected baggage to find somewhere to rest our heads.

For five hundred baht (about $15 American), we got a place with air conditioning, a bathroom en suite, screens on the windows, a little table, a couch, and a small television that we never turned on but that may well have had cable. Plus, there was a little Internet café right next door that allowed us to check our email one final time as our room was being prepared. In all, a great find, and we had showered and crashed for the night by 5 PM.

Friday, July 6, we awoke at 2 AM and finished off the last of Martha’s poppy pastry from Werden, Germany, before going back to sleep until 11 AM to conclude our 18 hours of sleep!! Well rested, we left the hotel about 1:30 PM after deciding that we would try to connect with Sheila about her open apartment space in the South, Bangkok's Yan Na Wa district. The idea of living with a grad student in a posh apartment complex high above the noise of the street was our ‘gut reaction’ decision, although the hotel where we stayed on July 5 was right around the corner from our other apartment option.

Back on the wet, muggy streets with our bags re-wrapped against the second day of pouring monsoon, we walked and walked into the Yan Na Wa district, making a wrong turn that led us down a road past the Bangkok Garden complex (www.bangkokgarden.com) that was on the next parallel street. The street over (Soi 24 off of the main highway of Narathiwas) was unreachable until a major intersection because no cross-alleys connected the two Soi (side-street) blocks. We did find some delicious and refreshing green tea along the way, however, which helped to ease the burdens of the hot, muggy day.

We finally connected with Sheila on her boss/neighbor’s phone as she was at an Internet café looking into month-to-month online access for the apartment. We were still a ways away, however, than the half-hour we predicted (high rises here are like in Las Vegas … they are not as close as they appear), especially after our wrong turn. Martha bought some water to get change and called Sheila again when we arrived to one of the apartment's two lobbies. Anyway, we enjoyed some time in the air-conditioned lobby in the meantime!

Sheila has turned out to be a good choice for our apartment mate, as our guts predicted! She is working with an NGO called Palang Thai (http://palangthai.org/) on fellowship as a grad student from Stanford (which we try not to hold against her even though much of Martha’s family comprises Berkeley grads!). She's through her first year of working on her electrical engineering Master’s Degree. Officially, she works just across the hall with a wonderful couple (Berkeley grads, of course) who moved to Bangkok seven years ago and have two small, adorable children. Chom’s mom lives in the neighborhood, as well, and the family heads back to the states annually to see Chris’ family and other folks in the United States. Wonderful people who have dedicated their lives to improving the quality of life associated with energy consumption’s impact on villages throughout Thailand.

We gratefully accepted cold glasses of water from Chom's mom, dropped our bags in the large living room, took a tour of the residence and the amenities of the complex (pool, gym, sauna …), and decided to stay! Sheila took us down the block, kindly buying us lunch at her favorite vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant, and headed back to work on her policy paper writing. We enjoyed putting together fresh spring rolls (we hadn’t really eaten yet that day) and drinking the most amazing banana fruit drinks. Thankfully, Doug (Dani's stepdad) had made spring rolls for us after their trip to Vietnam, so we knew what to do with the ingredients! Martha had forgotten in the eight years since she’s been to this country just how wonderful and refreshing their fresh fruit drinks can be!

We dropped back by the apartment to get the keys and headed over to the Tesco/Lotus shopping complex, enjoying our first bit of 'sight seeing' with the local cuisine, gorgeous fruit, unknown items, and familiar items with unreadable Thai descriptions. We spent a couple of hours getting some supplies, including towels for bathing and swimming, laundry detergent for hand-washing our things, hair gel, a new mouse for the computer since the laptop’s mouse pad had stopped working, and flip flops. We also exchanged enough money to pay for three weeks’ rent and had another bite to eat at the local chicken fast food restaurant. Back at the apartment, we did the first big load of laundry by hand, shared our purchases with Sheila, unloaded our packs to settle into our room, and talked into the night, getting to know each other for the first of many late nights together! Great news to learn that Sheila is a Night Owl as we are!

Much love,

Martha and Dani