First day in Thailand

Sawàt dii ka!

There is an interesting peculiarity to the Thai language. A man would say sawàt dii krap and a woman would say sawàt dii ka (which means hello). It's different from Romantic languages in that the feminine modifier refers to the person, not to the object or phrase. Adding the words krap or ka to a phrase is considered polite.

I'm afraid that's the current limit of my Thai, though!

The hotel is beautiful and yet again I am struck by the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes for the guests to enjoy their experience. I accidentally opened the wrong door en route to the elevator and found a man sitting in a dimly lighted room on the floor, folding towels. It seemed in stark contrast to the luxury found outside the door.

Today we leave at 7 a.m. for Teparuk Rd plant. I'm up early so that I can squeeze a short workout into my schedule. Looking back, these blogs are heavily weighted towards exercise. What can I say? :-) I am determined not to come back from this trip with five extra pounds (and it's harder than you think with the bewildering variety of food). I have the time... I'm still waking up absurdly early... why not?

Of course, its always possible that Derek and his dad have finally rubbed off on me!

Chôk dii (or chôk dii ka) - cheers!