I Get by with a Little Help from My ... Frodo

Location: Soi 1 Guesthouse, Soi 1 Sukhumvit, Bangkok

Adventure of the Day: Braving the busy, bustling, Bangkok.

Bang! Kok

I’ve been in Bangkok more than one week, and it both feels like I’ve been here forever and that I’ve only just arrived. I’ve seen so much and yet only a fraction of the city. That, compounded with being completely on my own in Asia for the first time, job hunting, and the general hum of anxiety over the impending floods hanging in the air, and it’s been quite a wild ride.

It’s so surreal to think I’ve been in Asia for six weeks now. The culture shock/emotional freak out was bound to hit me sooner or later, and it chose this last week or so to do just that.

What really set me off was walking away from the Triangle Lodge last Friday, away from half of our little group, David, Hannah, Hayley, and Meghan. And I was walking toward Bangkok and the split from Joe and Kate to be completely on my own.

But what comforted me in that time of uncertainty? Of course it was those oh so familiar words of the sage Frodo and Bilbo Baggins.

Yes, as is the case in most big moments in my life (and let’s face it, most every moment in my life) I got a very sound piece of advice from LOTR.

And look at it this way — no matter how bad the possible floods in Bangkok might be, they can’t be as bad as Mordor. 

 

Bye bye, Koh Phangan.

So after a crazed 10 minutes running around the piers at Koh Phangan, a 2 hour ferry ride, a total of 3 hours on various buses around Surat Thani, 12 hours on the night train, and one hour sweating profusely as I lugged my giant suitcase around Bangkok I arrived at the Soi 1 Guesthouse, on Soi 1 Sukhumvit.

While the last week has definitely been an adjustment having no Sam to my Frodo, the great thing about the Guesthouse has been being able to meet some really great people — both the staff and the people passing through. It’s been so great, I’ve decided to work and stay there for a month!

No joke. As I get placed into a permanent teaching position through the SIAM agency I’m going to join and look for an apartment in the area of wherever my school is, it’ll be really nice to have a home base, a schedule, and a little bit of petty cash. Free room and board, Wi-fi, laundry, and a huge collection of (mostly pirated) movies to watch, and I just have to take care of any bookings or check ins that happen during my shift from 4 to midnight every day.

So I’ll have plenty of time to work on lesson plans once I start teaching. And tons of time to sort through my photos and retroactively post about everything that’s happened. As Bangkok gets ready for the incoming water, y’all back in America get ready for a deluge…of stories!

More to come…