Bangkok

Hello everyone from my birthplace!!! yay!! It's really exciting and strange and new and SO clean. It's so amazing that in a city of over 10 million people there is almost no litter anywhere. It's quite a relief after Delhi.

When my parents got here, they didn't recognize ANYTHING. What used to be the tallest building in Bangkok when they were here 15 years ago is now dwarfed by a score of others all over the skyline. Another change is the highways: now almost every major groundlevel street has a highway directly above it! The whole city used to be canals, and 100 years ago they filled them in to make paved roads. You can imagine how bad the traffic used to be. My parents said it could take you an hour to move a mile. And thats in Asia, where almost no one uses cars! Now they have overhead highways that weave between the buildings. Plus they have an overhead train and a subway system! Everything looks so new and modern. It makes Denver look like a small town. I can't imagine what Tokyo looks like. This is like Tokyo on a mini scale. I wish I had pictures, but their on my dad's laptop and he's using it right now. Plus, posting pics takes time and this is costing me $4/hr to use the internet.

The bad thing is, I've been sick for 4 days. I got sick in India, probably from something i ate, who knows what horrible diseases are all over their food. (trust me, just breathing the air there is probably enough to give you some deadly infection.) So anyways, i got here and i don't feel like eating anything, even if it is Thai food, the best in the world. And i especially don't feel like eating spicy food, and EVERYTHING is spicy. I've been eating rice. Oh, and we're staying with one of my parent's friends, Waew (pronounced like Wow.) She's staying in our hotel with us, cuz she lives outside Bangkok. She works in a pharmacy that sells Western and Chinese medicine, so she's been giving me all this weird stuff that is supposed to make me feel better. She gave me these black pills that said "charcoal" on them, and she's like "take 3." So I was like, hmmm this is interesting, i wonder what it is if its called charcoal. must be some Engrish thing. I took them out of the package and they turn my fingers black, and i discovered they really were charcoal! can you believe that?? she gave me CHARCOAL to help my stomach. But I couldn't really do anything, I had to be polite, this is Asia after all. So I took them. And then an hour later she gave me three more. I ended up taking 4 doses of pure charcoal. Boy was that weird. I looked on the back of the package and it said "made in Germany" so i figure it can't be too bad. Oh, and the funny thing was, she was telling her friend at dinner that night about my symptoms, and her friend was like, "Oh, wow, you should give her charcoal." and when she heard that i had taken some, she was like , "Oh, that's good. she'll feel better by tomorrow then." 999 must be a Thai thing. I do feel better now, so maybe it works.

My parents speak Thai to Waew all the time, cuz they speak Thai better than she speaks English. I can understand some, but speaking is SO HARD especially with tones. I'm lost most of the time. It's still fun to be hanging out with real Thai people and not just tourists. In Bangkok there are a lot of farang (foreigners), like tourists and business people. In Delhi I saw almost NO non-indian people. I mean, like none. it was weird. Here, tho, theres a lot. So I'm glad we know Thai people cuz it's a lot more of a Thai experience. Believe me, tho, its weird sometimes. (like with the charcoal thing)

well, there's lots more but i don't have time now. i hope to post pics soon, maybe some from india too. India is a really beautiful country if you get out of the city. I had a hard time there but there were some awesome things about it too. It was really eye-openning for me. Bangkok is much more exciting and fun, though. India was just stressful most of the time. I miss you all and I can't wait to talk to you about everything. Kou, that sounds crazy with the whole train thing. Hang in there. Oh, and those are AWESOME pics, Scientist. i have to go to france and england!!! and tokyo!! and everywhere. right now, i'm ready for travelling to be over tho. 2 1/2 more weeks to go! wow, meri, can't imagine what its like for you. I miss everyone and i love you all!!!

~amelie