The First Day +

So, we have been in Thailand for about a day and a little bit and I have to say that it is absolutely amazing. What a wonderful country! Half of our trip so far has been the journey to get here, 26 hours of travel, but lots of time to catch up on some sleep. The flights weren't too bad, but it is quite managable and there is usually a cool drink not too far away. We found a very nice hotel in a backpackers' area that is quite reasonable, and one of the rooms even has air conditioning, which,at night, isn't very necessary. It is in a nice, safe area that has easy access to all of the major tourist attractions, including the Grand Palace, Wat Po, and many more.

Last night, the 26th, we were very delighted to meet Dr. Wattasat Siriwong, a Proffessor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. He was an old student of Dr.Robson, one of the advisors for our project, and Dr.Robson helped us to set up a meeting in Bangkok. After getting a little lost, we found Dr. Siriwong and disscused the project, some possible problems, and some other interesting things before he took all four of us out to dinner at a very nice restaurant and we had relatively traditional Thai food. The discussion and the food were both delightful and left us all full and with a feeling that this project will be sucessful and that it will be work woth doing. We needed to make it an early night so we could recooperate from the long day of travel but the first day was a great adventure in a new a foreign land.

We started again early this morning, around 7:30 to make sure we could get a full day of sightseeing in. We started of by visiting the Grand Palace, which was, for someone who had never been to Asia or a Buddhist Temple before, breathtaking. It was so amazing how quickly we can go from normal city, to marvelous buildings and temples. I didn't know what to expect at all, but what really threw me for a loop was the changing of the guard. I've never been to England, but I think that it would be a similar thing there. This Palace had so many wonderful buildings and sculptures that no camera photo could ever do justice. We also visited Wat Po and the Reclining Buddha, other temples, and had some time to just enjoy the Thai life walking the streets. Luckily, (crossing my fingers) nobody has gotten sick yet, and I dont think that it will be a problem. The food is great here, and if you think that you have had Thai food before, there is nothing like authentic street foods here. You can get almost anything you want, they even have Pizza Hut and Subway here. But everything is good and safe.