Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Bangkok. Slept in. Just before it closed I caught the breakfast buffet that is included with my room. I realized that I had forgotten to obtain my Vietnam visa before leaving the United States, so I took care of that this morning with the very helpful onsite travel agents. Fumigated more clothes. Got today's internet password. Each day my room fee includes 3 hours of wireless internet usage. You can pay for more but you have to check in with the front desk. Caught up on messages. Got advice about wearing long pants versus shorts from G-Wan. Looked for the vegetarian restaurant he recommended. I found it, but it was closed with no hours posted. Bought money at K-Bank. Ate pad thai with tofu, shrimp, and egg from a street vendor. A little too greasy but otherwise perfect. Also got a veggie egg roll. She charged me 80 baht (about 2.70 USD). Drank bottled water I brought along. Browsed street vendors looking for long pants that were lighter weight than the jeans and track pants I had brought. Found and bought some fisherman's pants that I liked for 150 baht (about 5 USD). Wandered the streets more. I prefer the smaller streets where the locals are not as anxious about catering to tourists as on the larger roads. I first realized yesterday that the GPS on my iPhone 3 GS provides my current location even without wifi or cellular connections—cool! Bought coffee ice cream which was disappointing. Back to the hotel via a shortcut I discovered. Washed new pants, set them out to dry. Shower. Checked in with G-Wan but my suits are not ready yet. Checked messages, rested. Yoga: standing warmup practice. Weight training: advanced one-legged push ups. Today I didn't apply insect repellant and although I didn't get mosquito bites I seemed to be bothered by a lot more flies than yesterday when I did apply repellant.