Toe Nibbling (Totally Not Sketchy)

So today we moved hotels to our more permanent orientation hotel.  Luckily it was only a couple blocks away, so all the people who were staying at the first hotel just tossed our luggage into a van and we walked over to the new hotel together.  Upon our arrival we were introduced to the program coordinators and received our orientation packets.  We also got our Thai SIM cards and were taught how to add money to them, so I officially have a functioning cell phone now!!!  My previous experimentation with unlocking cell phones also proved useful to some of my new friends here, so that was a plus.  After figuring out some of these logistics, we went to check in.  Interestingly enough, my roommate here is Pam, a girl from Boston I actually met yesterday when she was arriving and I was leaving to go to the amulet market.  So that was a lucky coincidence!

After checking in a group of us went out and walked around the neighborhood for a bit before grabbing a bite to eat. I had no idea what I was ordering and ended up with a dish of snails and dill over rice. I think I would have been fine with the snails but the dill was really overwhelming, so I didn't eat much.  After lunch we wandered down the street for some refreshing coconut ice cream--right in the coconut!  As with everything else in this country it was doused in condensed milk, but hey, I'm not complaining. The bits of coconut were really nice too--smooth and gelatinous.

After lunch we did a bit more to settle in and basically just lounged around reading our guide books for a while.  That is until a group of us decided to get our butts up and do something with the day!  The decision was to go to Chinatown, but after some discussion with Phil (our in-country program coordinator) and the hotel concierge, it was decided we would begin our day at Asiatique and head to Chinatown later in the evening when more vendors were on the street.  We really didn't know anything about Asiatique except that there was a bunch of shopping there and that you took a boat from the Skytrain to get there, but we figured it was worth a shot.  So off we went on our afternoon adventure.

Getting on our way turned out to be rather easy.  We took a taxi to the nearest Skytrain station and had to switch lines once (there are only two lines) before we reached our stop.  There was a bit of confusion as to which boat to get on, but after asking around we were directed to a large line of people also going to Asiatique.  We hopped on the boat, had a nice 5 minute ride along the Chao Phraya river, and then voila, Asiatique!

Very excited to go on the Skytrain

Heading to Asiatique

The river and city

Once we got there we were surprised to find a very Western style outdoor mall.  It was strangely reminiscent of a much more populated outlet mall.  There were various types of shops and restaurants, but needless to say everything here was much more expensive than in most of Bangkok.  One really interesting thing we encountered was a fish spa.  Several of my friends had been discussing their desire to get a fish pedicure earlier that same day.  In one of these "pedicures," you put your feet in a tank of Garra rufa fish.  These fish then eat the dead skin off your feet, effectively exfoliating them.  Well, when we saw the fish spa, we clearly had to try it.  Let me just say that while I am glad I did it once, I won't be trying it again.  It tickled way too much for me to handle.  It was quite odd to feel them nibbling on the arch of my foot or in between my toes...EEEEKK!!!

I really had to bite my tongue and sit still to get this photo

Clean and smooth

We did have a nice time wandering around the area, but decided that eating at Asiatique was not in the cards.  After a nice sunset and final loop around the place, it was decided that we would head over to Chinatown for dinner.  My main goal was to find bird's nest soup since I had failed the previous day.  When we actually made it to Chinatown, the area had come alive after dark in a way I couldn't even have imagined.  The streets were alive with people and vendors, neon signs everywhere.  All the shops had opened up and were selling all sorts of items that I couldn't even identify.  It was a wonder to look at.  In the end I got Pad See Ew, one of my favorite Thai dishes from home, and it was DELICIOUS.  Alas, I did come across bird's nest soup, but only after we had eaten.

Sunset over the river

One of our last views of Asiatique--like the London Eye

Chinatown at night

Another interesting dish to try

All in all it was a very enjoyable trip.  Once again there were issues finding a taxi back to the hotel, but this time it wasn't an issue of refusing to drive the distance, merely the fare.  In the end we did find a driver willing to take us for the meter price, so it was quite successful.  A very nice, if tiring, afternoon.

Today was the first official day of orientation, and I have to say it was both busy and uneventful.  Uneventful in that I don't have tons of pictures and stories to tell, but busy in that we started at 8 am and finished at 6:30.  In addition to basic introductions and whatnot, we split off into smaller groups for Thai language lessons and instruction in basic teaching skills.  It was very informative overall.  We also found out some of our activities near the end of the week, which include a visit to the Grand Palace, the bridge over the river Kwai, and and elephant camp.  It should be quite exciting.  Also, we got to meet a lot of interesting people.  I was surprised to learn that the participants on the program are older than expected--I thought everyone would be fresh out of college, but most people are around my age and there are several in their 30's (the oldest is probably late 40's).  I will also make the observation that there are many more tattoos in this group of people than in the general population, which is hilarious since they are talking about how we need to cover all tattoos.  Upon seeing some of the other people I am rather amused to think I was concerned about covering mine up!  But really just interesting to meet new people from all walks of life.  Seems like people come from a ton of different backgrounds.  It will be great to get to know them better in the next week and over the the coming month.  Anyway, time to get some food and then rest. Sawadee ka.

Oh, and happy Cinco de Mayo!