Bangkok Bound

We have been in Japan for 3 months now, and our travelers visa was about to expire, so we needed to leave Japan in order to obtain our Japanese work visas. That's how it works in Japan, one must leave the country, apply for a work visa at the Japanese embassy in another country, and then re-enter Japan under your new status. So we left Japan to go to Thailand!

Before we left Japan we had a visit from our brother in law Brian who made the trek, while on business in Tokyo to visit us for the day in Sendai. We showed Brian our city, the studio and life here. We had a terrific time, it was wonderful to have family visit.
I think we have become so used to Janglish that we didn't flinch when we passed a pub called "sperm" - this was Brian's spot he called our attention to it- here's the sign....

Bangkok... I need to preface saying that being an American living overseas really opens your eyes to the way the rest of the world views The United States. When we arrived at immigration entering Thailand- the Thai immigration officer looked at our US passports and said- "America, Boo!" And this is a person who deals with foreigners all day everyday. So with an uneasy giggle we entered Thailand. At least in Japan they were not rude to gaijin to their face...

That was the only negative in our Thailand experience, on the whole we found Bangkok to be a fascinating, vital city. The people couldn't be nicer to tourists, and everyone we encountered in Bangkok, regardless of education level spoke English. This is a huge difference from Japan, Japanese people who are fluent in English is rare.

All of the Thai people we encountered LOVED children. From the most stern soldier and government worker to the waitresses in the touristy restaurants and random people in the subway, walking around with caucasian children was like walking around with rock stars.

Thailand is a study in contrasts- right next to the most beautiful, elaborate and ornate shrines are buildings that are literally falling apart right into the river, with people who are living inside them. The malls and shopping are some of the most sophisticated I've ever seen, all food courts are gourmet and meticulous, while there are stray dogs and cats running around right outside. The BTS subway and train system are advanced and get you where you need to go, but to cruise around the city, nothing beats a tuk-tuk.

In Thailand Buddhism rules, and there's no shortage of beautiful shrines with buddahs everywhere you look. Shrines, are places of worship where you'd go to pay respect to sacred religious icons in Buddhism and Hinduism, who in turn could grant you love, happiness, good fortune, success, luck or even fertility. There are enormous structures the most famous being The Grand Palace and obscure like the one we stumbled on. This shrine we visited was rarely open to the public, so we happened upon it and got an amazing tour from the guard. He explained how different buddahs represented the days of the week. I wish took more pics of all the different buddahs. There are also spirit houses everywhere.

Buddha for Sunday :
In Pensive Thought The enlightened Buddha stands with hands crossed over his abdomen

Buddha for Monday :
Standing- Stop gesture with hand

Buddha for Tuesday :
Reclining Buddha

Buddha for Wednesday Morning :
Standing-Holding an alms bowl

Buddha for Wednesday Evening :
Sitting-Retreat in the Forest

Buddha for Thursday :
Meditating-Sitting in the yoga posture

Buddha for Friday :
In Reflection (Deeply Thinking) Standing- Hands are crossed across the chest

Buddha Image for Saturday :
Sitting in meditation

We got around by river taxi to cross the river and take us to sights such as the snake farm. The snake farm is a zoo where you are encouraged to buy food and feed the animals. The snakes put on a show with their handlers. You get to hold snakes, feed monkeys, peacocks and enormous lizards- sorry Peta. You wouldn't find this petting zoo in the states!

Other cool modes of transportation includes the BTS skytrain and tuk tuks. These are 3 wheeled covered motorcycles that speed around the city with a family of four in tow. Motorcycles are encouraged and as prevalent as cars. At every major intersection you will see a pack of bikes.

Shopping is outrageous in Bangkok- there's nothing you can't get. Counterfeit or real there are great bargains to be had. The only issue is making the calculations in your head of baht (Thai currency) to dollar so you know how much you're bargaining! There are 35 baht to 1 dollar so there's really no easy comparison when doing quick negotiations.

All in all there's about a thousand things that we did not get to do and see and look forward to visiting again soon.

As soon as we returned with our work visas we became eligible to register and recieve an alien registration card which allows you to get medical insurance through the state and a Japanese drivers license, and open a bank account and basically be considered a human being instead of a tourist.
Well we returned to Japan on Thursday night, recieved our Government insurance cards on Friday, moved into our new house on Saturday and on Sunday Zack got an ear infection. So off to the doctor we went, our first experience with a Japanese physician.

Insurance through the government for a family is the ridiculous price of $10.00(yen equivalent) and you pay the doctor 30% for a visit, which comes out to $5-$10.00. The doctor saw Zack, diagnosed the infection, prescribed antibiotics, pain medication and ear drops all which amounted to $10.00. It is accessible to everyone, the only drawback being the wait time for a popular doctor. But- it was a positive experience which left me wondering why we can't make healthcare as efficient as his in the US.