The blond blog bounces into Bangkok!

Hi folks!

I’m not dead, not ignoring you, not forgetting about my buddies in Bern and elsewhere, not locked up in a Buddhist temple training to be a monk… In fact there is no real excuse for my silence. I had plenty of opportunities to write before now but couldn’t be arsed, quite frankly! So if you accept my sincerest apologies for this, I will (try to) amuse you with accounts of my first week in Bangkok…

The quick version:

- The weather is HOT
- The food is HOTTER
- It’s busy but not as chaotic as India (yes ok I only visited 3 cities while I was there, but they are in 2 different states, right, so that is a representative sample…)
It’s not as polluted as I was led to believe
- Thai hospitality is as welcoming as the stereotypes would have you believe
- When it rains it really rains – no mercy!
- I am currently staying in a double-room with air-con and a TV (I even receive 1 news channel in German!)
- There are bright pink taxis!!!
- I have only 3 mosquito bites (considerably less than on my recent short trip to Italy!)
- It took 72 hrs for me to get my first bout of diarrhea
- I had an interesting drink called ‘Bird’s nest beverage’ – reportedly good for the complexion – which I later discovered is made from bird’s saliva. Yum!
- I have a telephone in my room that allows me to receive but not make international calls (bad for you, good for my wallet!) Write to me if you want the number
- I found insurance for my body & my luggage, but not for my laptop – that unfortunately had to stay home :o(
- My catalogue of international team experiences has a new chapter – this year I will be working with a Thai & a Kenyan – and really looking forward to it!
- Thai is without doubt the most confusing language I have ever come across
- BUT, I can say the Thai words for “hello”, “thank you”, “tea”, “coffee”, “rice”, “beautiful” (which unfortunately sounds very similar in Thai to “bad luck”!) and count from 1-5
- Stefan rather meanly suggested that is already more than I am able to say in Swiss German…

Unfortunately I have to call it a night as I need to pass on the one laptop that we have between 3 of us (did AIESEC really exist before wireless internet connections…)

Hugs from the ‘City of Angels’ (as its Thai name means.)

And by the way, who was it who said way back in WEEK ONE that Italy would win the World Cup…? And who was too dumb to bother putting any money on it…?