Day 1 Highlights: Lumpini Park and Food Poisoning

We spent our first full day in SE Asia in Bangkok yesterday, adjusting to the climate, time zone, culture, and food. Ah, the food. It was either the ice in my morning iced coffee (which may or may not have been frozen from drinkable water) or the crab/pork/shrimp noodle thing I ate for lunch at the food court in the Siam Paragon, but by about 5:00pm I was barfing in my hotel room. I actually feel pretty good about it; I thought I handled it like a pro. A few sweaty, uncomfortable skirmishes with my head over the toilet bowl and then I promptly fell asleep and woke up around 1:00 in the morning feeling 100% better. Diet-wise, today, I'm taking it much slower, like the doctor recommended, just eating little bits of new things instead of devouring entire plates of food I'm not sure of. I'm also looking out for ice, although it's so hot here that iced beverages are super tempting.

Because the sweltering humidity wasn't making me sweat enough.

Travel travails aside, Bangkok was actually really fun. We mostly wandered around and absorbed the architecture and incredible bustle of the streets, taking various forms of transportation to see the city from different angles and at different speeds. We took a fast tuk tuk through Chinatown, the SkyTrain (an elevated tram) through downtown, and a longboat up the river the length of Old Bangkok. We saw the Jim Thompson house, which is an expat residence and silk production center turned museum, and visited a couple of air-conditioned megamalls, but the real highlight was spending the morning in Lumpini Park. Lumpini is in central Bangkok, surrounded by towering, half-finished skyscrapers, but it is surprisingly calm and was full of wildlife. As we walked a loop around the park, over a floating island, past tai chi classes, and through an outdoor gym, Maia and I saw about six new, cool bird species, snakes wrapped around tree trunks, and giant water lizards things swimming in the ponds. Check out the pictures on Maia's blog, since she got the better shots with her awesome new camera. We also had some fun trying out the outdoor exercise equipment including a Tony Little syle swinging walker thing.



Pumping iron in Lumpini Park.



Today, we took a train out of Bangkok and are cooling our heels in a little bar in Chumpon, waiting to catch the overnight ferry to Ko Tao, and island were we hope to do some snorkelling, hiking, and beach-sitting. Will report more when we arrive there!



Maia under a big silk thing at the Jim Thompson House, Bangkok.