Day 1: Jetlag

Taking a 24+hour flight is known to risk jetlag. Thus, I have actually already slept tonight: we fell asleep at 9pm Bangkok time (9am NYC time), and now I can't sleep (at 2am). Thus, I wander to a bar:

Erica has it worse. She crashed midway through dinner and is in a coma now (a figurative coma, parents, don't worry). 

Our first day in Bangkok was pretty cool. The thing about Bangkok -- which everyone we know who've been and all the guidebooks say -- is that it's kind of a shithole. And it is! For instance, our hotel, Lamphu Tree, sounds nice on paper: it's along a canal, has a pool, etc. But the fact is the canal smells like feces, so that actually is not a good selling point. Here it is. 

It's also surrounded by what I like to call "abject poverty." But that's ok; at least there is a friendly cat. 

After arriving, we took a ferry tour of the City. It actually was more water taxi than tour  (we missed the tour boat by a minute), but was still cool. The river, Chao  Phraya, is the heart of Bangkok--a polluted, smelly, but still scenic organ. 

After dinner we walked to this fancyass hotel for dinner. 

(above, Erica, 5 seconds before falling asleep in her nan). 

Dinner was good (but that's where Erica crashed), but the walk to dinner was even cooler...because we walked through a bunch of open air fish markets that sold such illumaries as catfish, lampreys, crabs, prawns, snails, and other grotesques--all stored in very confined quarters:

Well, that's about it for day one! I got kicked out of the bar, because apparently even in Bangkok bars close at 2am, and made it back to the hotel safe and unmugged. Tomorrow we will go to temples. 

Taxi Cab Confessions ;)

We made it to Bangkok! Flight wasn't even that bad. We are now in a cab with an English-challenged cab driver heading to Lamphu Tree House, our first hotel. Thailand is so far pretty cool.