One Week in Bangkok (in numbers) and the World’s Our Oyster & Happy Birthday Suzy and Rob & Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms we know

 

 

We started this blog on an overnight train from Bangkok to Chumphon, en route to the island of Koh Tao, and finished it on Koh Tao in our beachfront bungalow at Tao Thong Villas.

The Asia chapter of our living-simple adventure has started out awesomely.  We arrived in Bangkok after an epic, but super smooth journey from Argentina through South Africa.  Thailand is gorgeous and fascinating and different and overwhelming and captivating.  The beauty of everything about it is staggering.  I’ve been thinking a lot in numbers since we arrived here so I thought I’d do a blog in numbers.  If it bombs with this blog’s fans, I’ll turn the blog-writing back over to Master Gabe.

NUMBERS…….

14/1.5:  Inches of hair Haley/Gabe cut off prior to leaving Bs As

 

31.5:  Hours of travel from Palermo Soho Apartment, Buneos Aires to Tavee Guesthouse, Bangkok

3:  Continents we walked on in that 31.5 hours

2: Hemispheres changed in that 31.5 hours (Southern to Northern and Western to Eastern)

1:  Flu caught en route to South Africa (Haley)

1: Shower we each got in the South Africa Airways First Class Lounge on our layover between back-to-back transcontinental redeyes

3:  Seats we each had to ourselves on the way to Thailand – awesome

5:  Average time we wake up each morning to try to beat the heat

9:  The hour of the morning at which one starts to cook in their own skin in the May heat of Bangkok (seriously)

84/99/95/100:  The lowest temp it has been since we arrived in Bangkok/Average daily temperature in Bangkok/Percentage of humidity in Bangkok/Percentage likelihood when it is that hot that you will throw all firm commitments to be as “green” as humanly possible at all times no matter what, out the proverbial window, and instead use multiple single beverage containers in one day, pay extra for an air conditioned room (and leave the ac on all night), and take taxis instead of public transportation anytime after 8:00am

2:  Times Gabe came close to having an I’m-way-too-hot-get-me-the-hell-out-of-here meltdown  (granted came close, not had, but that’s still amazing)

5:  The number of malls we (yes, you read that right, Gabe and Haley in malls…together) visited in a two day period in Bangkok (relevant fact:  malls have AC)

1:  Pregnancy Test vending machine spotted in a mall ladies room

500/500: Estimated number of plastic bags used between us in BKK for 7 days/The number of times we have said “no bag please”

0/0: Ways to obtain potable drinking water not in a brand new plastic bottle on Koh Tao/The amount of sense that makes

20:  Immediate increase in speed (in mph) of any Bangkok vehicle if they even suspect you might want to cross the street

4:  Minutes Haley was stranded in the middle of a 3-way, 8 lane intersection after getting caught halfway through trying to cross

18:  Age in months (approx.) of the napping co-pilot for a particularly cute taxi ride

9 (at least):  Times Haley has eaten Pad Thai since we arrived

10,000: Number of times hotter the red curry is here than at home

50,000/6:  Amazing options of delicious looking street food in BKK/Options we actually tried because we can’t speak Thai (and between the two of us we can’t eat shellfish, beef and pork so communication is not happening much)

600:  The cost in Thai Baht of a drink at The Dome Skybar on the 64th floor of Bangkok’s State Tower (where Hangover II was filmed)….and, incidentally, also the nightly cost of our beachfront bungalow on the Thai island paradise of Koh Tao.

3/9:  Massages gotten so far – one Thai (Gabe never again), one foot, and one oil/Average cost in $USD per hour

11:  Rating on a scale of 1-10 of our super fun overnight train en route to Koh Tao

1:  The number of times Haley dropped our camera on a cement patio today

1:  The number of broken cameras we now have

>1:  Times Haley will have scuba dived in her lifetime prior to leaving Koh Tao

1000000:  The amount we love and miss and appreciate all of you for being in our lives.

So there’s a few stats for you all.  We are settled in happily to island living for the time being and eagerly awaiting our awesome friend Kumiko who arrives in two weeks to party with us in Thailand.  Until then, we’re going to keep eating lots of great Thai food, scoot around this gorgeous island on our scooter, and maybe partake in some of the epic diving it is famous for.

What gabe wrote before I took over:

It is 5 in the morning and I’ve been up for an hour. If anything was open, I’d be happy to be up in the ‘cool’ part of the day. It is 84F now with a high  of 99F yesterday. Last night we went up to the Sky Bar on the 64th floor of a big building. We tried to get there for sunset, but due to my poor navigation skills we got there a bit after. We enjoyed the view and the drink that cost as much as our hotel room and then ate some Thai food (popular here) and then came home and cranked the AC and passed out.

Other notes:

Haley is sleeping in the hammock on the balcony currently (948pm) and the stars are out and there is a nice breeze blowing through the bungalow.

Gabe is now hoping that he is not getting the sickness that haley had.

We found taxis to be way cooler than tuk tuks in bangkok because: they only try to rip you off once and then you tell them to use the meter and its always cheaper, AIR CONDITIONING… but tuk tuks are fun.

Gabe measures costs in terms of hours of massage instead of baht. e.g., that Wat (temple) just cost me 4 hours of massage… so I could have been lying down getting all rubbed up for hours in ac, but instead I’m walking around with all the tourists looking at buddahs and wearing pants and dying of heat? great. buenissimo. perfecto. listo. Don’t get me wrong, I like buddahs and temples (for the first 10 minutes), just not as much as a massage.

in the main river in bangkok there are millions of fish.. maybe catfish that somehow thrive in the nastiness.

 

Haley threw the camera on the floor and now it won’t work so we may not have any pics for a couple weeks. might be nice.

talk soon