Today is my younger brother's 21st! Happy Birthday Hugh:D It was also the Thai Studies orientation, so Sachiko, Etsuko and I decided to take a taxi seeing as we were splitting it 3 ways and should be cheap. So, got a taxi, told him we needed to go to Thammasat Tha Prachan, and all was good....feeling happy that the taxi driver understood my Thai so easily!! The trip was going well, he was going the way we expected, but then about 1/2 hour later we were still driving, and the road was hardly crowded even at 8:30am....something wrong! Anyways, then I asked him again if he was going to Tha Prachan, to which he replied, no I am going to Thammasat at Rangsit.....Rangsit is like in woop woop, Tha Prachan is right in town....hmmmmm.....so around we turned, got stuck on the expressway (which is tolled) for ages due to traffic jam, and finally, 1 hr later, the 90 baht trip turned into a 400 baht trip to uni for the day! Well, I know my Thai is not good, but seriously. even if you dont say it right, Tha Prachan sounds NOTHING like Rangsit......anyways.....
Thai Studies orientation was kind of useful which was a big step up on yesterday's orientation, but noteably lacking in free snacks..... minus 5 points for that. After, a few of us went to the cafateria for lunch. The cafeteria here is not like most cafeterias or unions etc we have at home. It is all undercover, but there are no side walls, so you can look out over the river and get the breeze coming in which is really nice. So, everything written in Thai, so ordering involves a lot of basic Thai....point and ask what it is, then either smile approvingly as old lady piles still unknown curry onto rice, or pull a face which is her signal to stop and offer something else. This approach worked well and I ended up with rice, stirfry veges and chicken, and pork cakes (like fish cakes but with pork) for a bargain of 25 baht which isnt even 1 dollar now! Then, decided to get a drink from next door....saw what I thought might have been soy mil something so decided to try it....it wasnt soy milk, it was corn juice....imagine juicing a can of cream corn....thats what it tastes like....next time I stick to orange juice. Anyways, apart from that small mishap, lunch tasted fantastic!
After lunch I decided to attempt to figure out how to take the bus back home to the dorm....hmmm this is not an easy task....and so I realised today was not going to be a lucky day when it comes to transport around Bangkok. According to the International Office, the dorm can be reached by taking buses 123, 124 or 201....according to the bus driver on each it definately CANNOT be reached by these buses....according to the nice old lady on number 124, I can buy an apartment on route 124 instead of going to the dorm however......so, went to the International Office to ask exactly which bus to take....no help at all, getting tres sick of unhelpful international office, but, after yesterday's lecture on how we should never get angry in Thailand, I adopted mai pen rai attitude (its ok, dont worry about it kind of attitude) and left...even though I did not feel very mai pen rai at all. So, being unable to return home on the bus, I opted to take the housing tour, contemplating a move to somewhere which does not involve buses 123, 124 or 201. This turned out to be a good move, as one of the places served us ice tea and cake. However, I still think I should try figure this bus out and stay where I am anyways.
Got back to campus, and still being unable to return home and now even more unhappy about not being able to get the bus home coz I realised I had forgotten my camera...hence no pictures of corn juice, pork cakes or ice tea unfortunately:( So, to lift my spirits I headed back to the cafeteria where I found comfort in a plate of chicken rice:) James is happy again and ready to face transport challenge number 3 for the day. How to get from Thammasat to Sala Daeng.....I decided to take the boat up the river, its just no boats seemed to stop at my pier that were going up the river...so after much waiting I just took a boat across the river, where the up and down the river boats were stopping. Arrived at central pier, then managed to test out my new BTS card which I got from the bank when I opened an account! Sky train up to Sala Daeng and got there just in time! Met David, Sine, Nuchi and David's girlfriend for dinner at Bannana Leaf. Was really nice...tried a few new dishes...all the names of which I forget. But Sine and Nuchi did their best to improve my Thai skills. At one stage I spent about 15 minutes trying to master the name of the dessert I wanted, only to be told after all that that they only served that dessert on weekends.....hmmmmmmm Anyways, was a really nice night and good way to finish an otherwise annoying day of transport...oh well, mai pen rai, just look forward to tomorrow when I will sample some more uni cafeteria cuisine!!!
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