Day 1 1/1/14 "Street Exploring"

Wednesday 1/1/14

We made it to Thailand! After three flights, two layovers, and thirty hours of traveling we arrived at the International airport of Chiang Mai. I must say out of all my international traveling experiences this was by far the easiest. Everyone we spoke to in the airports spoke English, the flights were on time, and our baggage was timely. We couldn't have asked for a better flight.From the airport we caught a taxi to our hotel for a flat rate of 120 baht ($3.6 usd). After we checked in to our room and showered, we decided to explore our surroundings a bit. We walked down the street and came across a little outdoor restaurant. The menu had a wide variety of options, most of which was Thai and some american items like pizza, fries, and American style breakfast. We went with pork egg rolls, shrimp pad Thai, pineapple orange juice and a large beer. The meal was delicious, by far the best egg rolls and pad Thai I've ever had. As we sat there eating our meal we kept saying "I cant believe we are in Thailand". Although we were half way around the world from home things still felt a little familiar. I think  being in a foreign place with someone you love is a lot less scary than traveling alone, it provides a sense of security and comfort. Many things about Thailand reminded me of Brazil which brought a sense of nostalgia.One thing that was surprising to me was the large amount of white tourists in the city. There were many Europeans and a few other Americans. After our delicious meal which was about $8 usd we walked around town some more. We decided to walk off the beaten path and go  down a smaller side street. This ended up being a great decision. We stumbled across a really cool temple with beautiful architecture. There were three buildings all of which were surrounded by a walking path and garden. The buildings had statues of elephants and gold dragons. The temple was open  to walk through but because Ryan was wearing a tank top we couldn't go inside. We decided we would come back another day. After the spontaneous temple excursion we continued down the street where we walked pass a bar that was playing SOJA. The reggae music pulled us in and we decided to sit down at the bar and order a drink. We ordered Mai Thais and listened to SOJA. The bar was small and open with a fun vibe. The bartender started conversation with us for a bit, asking us where we were from and why we came to Thailand. He kept asking us about Miami and if we had ever been. After we finished our drinks we made our way back towards our hotel and stopped in at seven eleven to buy a bottle of water and some beer for the hotel room. We ended up not being able to buy beer. We learned that you cant buy beer at seven eleven before 5pm and it was 4:30, so we skipped the beer and stuck with the water. When we got back to the hotel room our jet lag kicked in and the adrenaline of excitement wore off. We turned on the tv and found the movie gladiator playing in English. We watched the movie and passed out around 7pm. Our First day in Thailand was a success! :)