Day Two: Putting a Tiger in my Tank

We had an orientation meeting with Bill about the apartment building, neighborhood, and city.  We also received our first assignment to make a map of the surrounding streets.  Two students came in last night and another this morning.  After the meeting, the seven of us went out for lunch.  As soon as we picked a place down the street, the skies opened up and we saw our first Bangkok afternoon monsoon.  I had chicken with cashews and dried chillies and it was great.  After this we walked to the mall and I went to the grocery store in the basement.  I purchased some bananas, mangoes, and some peculiar fruits called rambutan.

Then, we came back to the apartment and rested for the rest of the afternoon.  Some of the other students had a desire to go to the Dubliner, a restaurant that boasts both authentic Irish and Thai cuisine.  The restaurant was a stone's throw from Laurel's hotel, so the five of us took the BTS there.  As we had already chosen a non-Thai restaurant, I decided to go all the way and order a pork chop.

                                                          

Aside:  Last summer, my roommate Rob's brother visited Thailand.  He gave Rob this shirt upon his return.

Rob has worn this shirt religiously about once a week since then.  Therefore, I decided before I left that I would try Tiger beer and try to find a similar shirt for myself.  The Dubliner was the first restaurant I have found that had it, so I got one.

It was a good beer, and I look forward to tracking down a Tiger Beer tank top sometime soon.

After dinner, we walked around a little, but soon took a cab home.  We learned that cabs are cheap, but take a very long time on a Friday night.  The five of us got back for less than four dollars even with the meter running through heavy traffic.

A few observations:  

1.  Cats and Dogs are everywhere.  They are not all strays, many have collars but just are free to wander the streets.

2.  Telephone poles are made out of concrete.  I assume this is because wood would rot in the constant high humidity.

3.  Pieces of toilet paper are about 1.5 times the length of American toilet paper.

4.  Because it is the rainy season, it is usually overcast, so I have not been sunburned yet.