Wow! I'm in Thailand!!
Hi to everyone reading this. Adam here, sitting in am intenet place in Bangkok a 9:17 pm where i am paying 1 baht / minute. Crazily cheap really, considering 50 baht = NZ$1.80 The others are back at the hotel, probably all sleeping after a tiring day, but i guess i must have slept quite well last night (plus some on the plane) so im out exploring :)
So much has happened in less than 2 days that i couldnt possibly type it all, but i will try to summarise some of it.
Christine and I started by missing our flight to Auckland! ShaRon at the counter next to us made it, but we were apparently too late. So that was pretty exciting. Emily apparently nearly had kittens when we didn't make it on to the plane after her! The wonderful man at the Air NZ counter though got us on the next plane without too much hassle. When we finally made it to Auckland it was great to see Jo at the airport.
We did discover there that despite us never being told, we were travelling via Sydney. So i can now tick off another country - unfortunately though no stamp in my passport to prove it.
The flight to Bangkok was fairly long, but went alright. Then arrived at our hotel here last night at about 11pm local time (5am NZ)
This morning was up bright and early for breakfast and then a team meeting. We booked a tour for the afternoon, then headed down the road to look around. Bangkok is awesome. Crazily different from anything i've experienced before (duh!) but cool. Its great experiencing being the 'different one' although its not a problem or anything, there are heaps of tourists. I dont think anyone bought anything from the shops or from the numerous stalls on the footpaths - i'm still looking for my rolex! Lots of stuff is cheap - food for one, suits (fitted suits, silk shirts, tie for US$60!) and label clothing as well. Also went for a swim on the hotel pool - very nice - on top of the 14th floor.
This afternoon we took a tour to the Grand Palace which was amazing. It is apparently the greatest temple in Bangkok (if not Thailand) and also there was the Kings' Residence. The gold plated building, all built with such intricacy are amazing, almost overwhelming. Will try to get some pictures up at some stage, but of course they can never do the real thing justice! But yeah, was brilliant. Also interesting were the people trying to sell stuff, from post cards to silt paintings to food. They are incredibly persistent. Its also hard to know what is a reasonable price for things - one guy tried to sell me some postcards for 850 baht, when our tour guide had told us 50 would be an acceptable price.
After a mammoth trip back in rush hour Bangkok traffic (honestly, the lights in one direction were green for almost 10 minutes continuously) T, E, S, A, M & F found a nice Thai/Italian resturant for tea. I had fried rice with chicken - very nice - for the grand total of NZ$3.60. Hmm, perhaps im getting a tad too detailed here.
Anyway, i should get back to the hotel. Thanks so much to everyone praying for us. Things are going great so far (although understandably a lot of tiredness)
Don't know when i'll post again, but i'll try and bug the others to do so :)
Love to all
Adam
