This is incredible.  The blazing night lights of the city as the plane nears its runway have me in a trance.  It doesn’t help that I have hardly slept in the past 24 hours, but that’s beside the point.

We touch down at 2:15am local time.  The Bangkok airport is as bright as high noon and full of people coming and going.  My excitement has me feeling surprisingly awake.  Bags in hand, we walk towards the automatic doors exiting the airport, and the hot humid air hits me like a brick wall.  I love it.  A taxi is easy to find, and much more luxurious than a Canadian taxi (I believe it was a Mercedes… not too shabby).

Fifteen minutes later we arrive at our first hotel, a little place called the Siam Piman Hotel.  It has cute traditional rooms with balconies.  In Thailand, “traditional” rooms typically include traditional bathrooms.  This will always include a bidet.  If you’re not familiar with bidets, this can be a separate ‘toilet’ fixture with a jet of water, or it can be a separate hose with a nozzle (sink sprayer-ish) attached to the wall beside the toilet.  Both are used for cleaning yourself after using the washroom, and if you are in a bathroom in Thailand that has the luxury of plumbing, you’ll likely find a bidet of some sort.  Thai bathrooms also often include an “open-concept” shower – a shower head on the wall that is not separated from the rest of the bathroom by the glass doors or shower curtains we’re used to.  Often this means everything gets wet, and there is minimal privacy, but it is different and new and fun for the most part.  At our current hotel, this shower also has convenient wooden shutters in the wall which can be opened up to share your shower experience with the rest of the hotel room!

Thai breakfast is included; though it is far from the bacon and eggs we’re all used to.  The most common breakfast food is Joke, which is a kind of thick rice porridge.  You can read more about my favorite Thai foods in my Must-Try Thai Foods post.  Oh, and of course the staff is incredibly friendly, quick to help us with our bags, describe the area to us, and help us with our first few Thai words before we venture out.

Hitting the streets of Bangkok is absolute sensory overload.  The area is closer to the airport than downtown; meaning more independent shops and residential areas than skyscrapers and business-people.  It is absolute perfection.  Power lines hang in tangles masses intertwined with tree branches, stray dogs wander around in awkward packs, and it seems like every street has sprung to life with a morning market.  We don’t have to walk far to find hot coffee (much stronger coffee than you’d expect – be prepared to add lots of cream and sugar) and some food to snack on.  The air is thick and heavy, and with every step there is a different pungent odor.  This can take a while to get used to… it’s not all bad smells, but it’s not all good smells either.  The market vendors offer everything under the sun; from food and clothes, to technology and décor, and more.

We wander through the streets aimlessly and blissfully, crossing a main highway using one of their many open-air pedways.  This is when we meet our first Thai locals.  There was no discussion, as we spoke no Thai and they no English.  However, as the young couple motion for us to follow them through the crowd, we oblige.  Following from a close distance, they keep glancing back to ensure we are still in tow.  Five, ten minutes go by and we start to wonder where we are being taken, and if it is smart to be following strangers in Thailand when we hardly have our bearings yet.  But soon we arrive at the face of a small, yet striking temple, laced in gold and flowers and surrounded by a perfectly maintained garden.  The couple removes their shoes and enters the temple, and we follow suit.

Inside, they show us the ropes.  We each get a bundle containing a candle, three incense sticks, a flower, and a small square of gold leaf.  Approaching the statue of a Buddha, we kneel and spend a few moments in silent thought, prayer, contemplation, or whatever you’d like to call it.  Whatever feels right.  Peace.  The candle (symbolizing comprehension enlightenment) is lit and the bottom is melted so it will stand upright on the edge of the altar.  The incense sticks (one for the Buddha, one for the Sangha (i.e. Buddhist community), and one for the Dharma (i.e. Buddhist teachings)) are also lit, and inserted into sand to burn freely.  The flower (typically an orchid or a lotus, symbolizing the Buddhist teachings’ purity) is also left on the altar, and the gold leaf is pressed onto the statue.

The kind Thai strangers smile at us as they leave to continue on with their day.
A pretty extraordinary experience for day one in the Land of Smiles.  I feel exhilarated and calm all at once, and can’t wait to see and do so much more.

For more details on Bangkok, and the amazing things to see and do, check out my posts Bangkok-Things to Do (Part I) and Part II.

If you have any questions or comments about my experience in Thailand, please post them here.  I look forward to hearing from you!