Bangkok to Auckland

July 18th (cont...) After sightseeing during the day, we went to backpacker central, Koh San Rd. We felt like we had to at least SEE it. It was, as expected, full of souvenir stands, hotels, and hostels, but also some CHEAP street food. We were quite excited to find spring rolls for 10B each and mango sticky rice for 25B (an ENTIRE mango was cut up on top...all for less than a dollar).

We then walked (and it was NOT close) all the way to the fancy mall in Bangkok, the Siam Paragon. Both Matt and Ton had told us about going to see a movie there and paying US prices, but having an open bar and some food included. WELL...we went, and read all the signs and asked 3 or 4 employees to explain the tickets to us. After about 35 minutes, we gave up. Although we both realized that this was NOT a big deal, I think homesickness set in a bit at this point. The frustration of not being able to communicate and not being in charge of our own transportation (unless we walked) and just living in the unfamiliar just seemed overwhelming at that moment. We calmed ourselves with a huge diet coke and an hour at an internet cafe.

Then we decided that we were going to have fun despite our setback and we walked into a 7-11 and bought quite a few treats that we would NOT find at a 7-11 in the states. We enjoyed the treats and some Thai wine coolers (it was the best we could do at 7-11) in our hotel room while playing yahtze. It was pretty hilarious.

July 19th-

Quick summary - we shopped.

A little more detail - we figured if we were going to shop, Thailand was the place to do it, so we had a Thai shopping spree day. We picked up some souvenirs and both bought jeans for NZ. Mari liked so many that she finally narrowed it down to 3 (that's right. Mari bought 3 pairs of Thai jeans). They tailor them right at the shop, and her tailoring turned into a fiasco. They were too short, then they fixed them...still too short. They ended up giving her new pairs of all 3 and shoving her out of the shop. They're a little long, but I guess we'll fix that at home. :)

We left Bangkok at 7:30 pm for our 12 hour flight to Bangkok. We LOVED Thai airlines and wish we were flying with them again.: great service, great Thai food and screens at each seat for movie watching, game playing, etc...It turned out to be great for me because, despite being a great sleeper on this trip, I did NOT sleep on this flight. (maybe ONE hour) Mari and I both watched Alice in Wonderland and the Temple Grandin movie. I also watched a TV program about Thai cooking and a couple other things. In the morning, we started Avatar, but didn't have time to finish it before we landed.

Our first day in NZ was pretty relaxed. We took our time getting organized at the airport and talked to the visitor information booth people about our plans. Then we went to rent a car...Mari agreed to take the first driving shift. Driving on the left hasn't been TOO bad for either of us. The hardest thing for BOTH of us is remembering that the turn signal lever is on the other side of the steering wheel. We always turn the wipers on when we want to turn!

In Auckland, we drove toward Mt. Eden and grabbed a sandwich and some soup at a deli on our way. Our first intro to NZ was a good one. The women at the deli gave us two DELICIOUS blueberry, lemon muffins for free! We took our food up to Mt. Eden and enjoyed watching the sun begin to set over Auckland. We both spied Eden Park Stadium from there and thought about how great it would be if the US had rugby stadiums... :)

Other than a little more driving around, that's pretty much all we did in Auckland. We are SO glad we have jeans. It's quite cold and only going to get colder as we drive further South.