Lost in Bangkok

I never thought I would be more happy to find home.

Walking in the hot, rainy weather of Thailand, and having no clue where you are is not a very fun feeling.
Right as I thought I had gotten the hang of the city, I get lost.

When I say lost… I mean LOST.

What started out as a quick trip to the post office to send a letter off to California, ended up being a 3-4 hour affair.

With me being lost for at least 2-3 hours.
Bangkok is one of the most tricky places to find your way around.

Oh well. I guess that’s part of being in a new city.

My day started off as almost all mornings here do. Write a little and blog.

Headed to the market to find some food for breakfast.

Contrary to what everyone thinks, finding vegetarian food in Thailand is somewhat of a struggle. Actually its close to impossible at times.

American Thai food has more vegetarian options than you can eat, but Bangkok is a meat eaters city.

With every turn of the corner you find something you would have never imagined.

As my search for food seemed to be a failure, and my stomach growling, I came across a Buddhist lady with food spread out on the table

Whala! My prayers had been heard. Buddhists are vegetarian. Can’t go wrong here. And the price, only 20 Baht(appx. $.60)!? Perfect!
So I pay the lady and grab the food. As I grab the food, she takes my hand and walks me to the monk. She sits me down and tells me to pray. I look, and they gesture for me to give the monk my rice. “ok,” I think, “this isn’t too bad, I don’t need my rice”. Slowly I give the monk each piece of my meal.

How could this happen. Right when I thought I had finally found food, I paid for it and gave it away. Oh well. I guess it was a nice way to become more in touch with the Thai culture.

At first I was upset on how the picture turned out, but on second glance I feel like it really captured the monk’s expression.

Deep fried bananas are becoming one of my favorite street foods

Women in Thailand sit side saddle even on scooters.

After a long search I found a market down another alley with food. At last my search was over.

As I walked past train tracks on the busy road, I couldn’t help but notice how pretty it looked

I decided to take a walk down the tracks and see where all of these trees and vegetation was coming from. Turned out there was a long row of houses all along the train tracks. Actually I wish I could call them houses.
They were more like shacks. As depressing as it seemed, it actually was one of the most pleasant areas I explored today.

I met a boy who quickly became my friend.

It is funny how kids automatically run up to see the picture immediately after posing for the camera.
He kept running after me, waving good-bye as I kept on down the path of the tracks.
He had a joy about him that was unlike anything I had seen.
I am going to try to take a walk down there every couple of days to see him.

In the middle of the slums was a boxing ring.

Many of these small houses, sell food and refreshments.

Walking out I soon found myself in another market.

Went to go get food with my roommate on my way back towards home.

After that it was back to my place to prepare a letter. First letter sent from Thailand. It ended up being 55 Baht. Much more than I expected, but I’m only paying like a dollar for each meal, so no biggie.

Walked to the market and got some noodles. Yummy.

The guy at the noodle place insisted on taking a picture of me. So I decided to post up the first picture of me on the blog.

Although getting lost got me pretty discouraged, I had a great day.

Saw tons more than I could have imagined, and it is only 7:30 PM.