Jon's Thailand Blog

I flew out of LAX to Bangkok via Taiwan with James. The total travel time of the flight was about 18 hours, including a 4-hour layover, however I left LAX at 11pm on Wednesday, January 2^nd and arrived at BKK (Bangkok airport) at 12pm Friday, January 4^th. The flight was actually not bad at all. I watched a couple movies and got some solid sleep. We had a bus from Thammasat University pick us up from the airport with two other guys from Germany, Max and Ben. In my jet lagged state, it took me about 15 minutes of driving on the highway toward our hostel before I realized that we were driving on the wrong side of the road. Driving here is absolutely insane. Lane lines are pretty much a waste of paint, and turn signals are a rare courtesy. People merge in and out of lanes with no warning, and often no reason, causing a chain reaction of lane changes and braking that surprisingly rarely conclude in an accident. In my week here I can’t believe that I haven’t seen one accident. Apparently Bangkok has some of the worst traffic congestion in the world, and I believe it, definitely topping Los Angeles by a long shot. The really interesting thing about traffic here is the plethora of motorbikes and motor scooters, which it seems like everyone owns. As traffic is almost always stopped at lights or merges, the motorbikes fly up to the front of the light between cars, in the shoulder, and on the sidewalk. Then when the light turns green, all of them take off in front of all the cars.

My first impression of Bangkok was that it was extremely polluted, which apparently it is well known for. Los Angeles easily beats Bangkok in air-quality. There are also a ton of stray dogs everywhere since the population here is about 97% Buddhist and don’t believe in killing anything. It seems like they are all fairly docile and used to humans, so there shouldn’t be any problem with diseases from being bitten or anything.

We spent our first night at the Rambutri House on Kao Sarn Road. It wasn’t bad at all, having clean sheets, AC, and even wireless internet (for a small fee). Kao Sarn Road seems to be a backpacker’s mecca in Southeast Asia, having a hostel and bar every 3 or 4 buildings, often combined. If anyone is familiar with the book or movie “The Beach”, it is where Richard stays his first night in Thailand, which is described by Alex Garland as “a decompression chamber for those about to leave of enter Thailand; a halfway house between the East and the West”, which I felt was fairly accurate. Street vendors litter the streets, offering everything from jewelry, wooden frogs, bootleg movies, to fake IDs, all extremely cheap. Currently the exchange rate is 1 US dollar to about 30 baht. Thus, I have been getting fairly good at dividing everything here by 30 to get the price in dollars. The price of food is the first thing that I noticed. My first meal was lunch at a small restaurant right of Kao Sarn Road, where I got a full place of cashew chicken and white rice and water for about 3 dollars, or 100 baht. Bottled water on average costs 10 baht, or 33 cents. Some of the best food I have had was a plate of Pad Thai (fried sprouts, noodles, egg, chicken and spices) from a street vendor for 25 baht, less than a dollar. The amount of food is also ridiculous. The streets are lined with food street vendors, all cooking and selling food and sweets. It seems everywhere you turn there is food, and someone is always eating.

The first day James and I went and bought local cell phones, costing about 75 dollars for a phone and 300 baht worth of prepaid minutes. A week later I still have 100 baht worth of minutes left. That evening we met Andy, Abby and Dylan, who were all already there, for dinner. Andy is from USC as well, Abby from Texas and Dylan from Australia. One interesting thing about the meals here is that the dishes are brought out one by one at seemingly random times. One person’s meal might come out, then 5 minutes later the next meal comes out. Therefore, we have given up on waiting for everyone to get his or her food to start eating. That night we went out together and explored some of the Kao Sarn nightlife, possibly the best way to break the ice and get to know each other.

The next day, Saturday, we woke up and went down for breakfast at the hostel and met the rest of the group studying at Thammasat that was staying at the Rambutri House, Dylan (Australia), Andy (USC), Abby (Texas), Charity (Hawaii), Meris (USC), Brad (USC), Marney (Canada), James (USC), and Bruno (Canada). We all set off to look for housing. Someone had previously posted a link for the Ratanakosin Island Condos on our Facebook group page, so we decided to check that out first. Upon arriving, we met Justin, who managed several of the condos in the building with his aunt. When we told him that we all wanted to stay there, his eyes got big and in all honesty looked a little scared. However, Justin was amazing, and after looking at several rooms and being treated to a snack in his aunt’s apartment, we all had rooms. The girls were sharing 2 singles, Brad and Andy each had singles, James and I shared a two bedroom and Dylan and Bruno shared another two bedroom. The building is absolutely beautiful. All the rooms are fully finished, wireless internet, amazing views of the smog surrounding the city, a beautiful pool, health spa, gym and restaurant. I have several pictures, which at one time or another will be posted on here. Our group gets along really well, and we are having a blast getting to know each other.

Sunday was spent hanging out by the pool, and then going to Pata Pinklao (Pinklao meaning mall), to guy general things for the apartment. Pata Pinklao is huge, consisting of 6 floors where you can buy anything, clothes, movies, electronics, groceries, cell phones, etc. It even has a petting zoo on the roof. I bought my uniform for school, consisting of a white button up shirt and black pants. Coming in I thought I would really hate wearing a uniform, but it is actually not bad, especially when everyone has to do it. Plus, Thammasat is a really prestigious university, not just in Bangkok, but also in all of Southeast Asia, so you get a lot of respect by wearing the uniform and not looking like a stupid white tourist (which unfortunately we look like the rest of the time).

Classes started on Monday, and it was definitely an interesting experience. The thing that struck me first was what has become to be as “Thai-time”. All the students in our first class showed up about 10 to 15 minutes late, which apparently is totally and completely normal and accepted. The second apparent difference between class here and back in the States is that the Thai students talk to each other throughout the entire class as the professor is lecturing, seemingly not paying any attention. It is also fairly common for students to answer their phones during class and carry on full conversations. These actions receive little or no scolding from the professor, and it seems that he or she is mostly only lecturing at the exchange students than the Thai students, as we are the only ones who seem to pay attention. The classes are all 3 hours long, which is a little intense, given that I am used to classes that are only about an hour and half. We do usually get a 15-minute break an hour and a half in though, so plus Thai-time, it’s a solid 20-30 minute break.

Food on campus is pretty good and equally as cheap. Chicken, rice, soup and bottled water is about 35 baht, a little over a dollar. So far we have been taking taxis to school, and it has worked out well. We usually split it between about 3 or 4 of us, since all the classes start at the same time, and the total fare is around 55-60 baht, so max only 20 a person. The bus system I subject to a lot of traffic and plus none of us can remotely understand the bus lines or schedule; it has been all but ruled out. Since it is still not too hot out, coming home I have started taking a boat across the river (our condo is just across the river from the school), then walking the rest of the way, which is only 10-15 minutes. Perhaps one day I will wake up early enough to try and do this going to school.