Our first day in Bangkok was quite successful. We ate breakfast, found an ATM, bought water, and even sent a quick e-mail to the folks before 9am. Roger picked us up at 11:30am and brought us back to the Atlanta. This hotel has a lot of character. The lobby and restaurant still maintains a 50's motif. The owner wrote and displays a guide to Thai culture with many interesting footnotes that I have not read in any other guide. The menu at the restaurant also includes information not only about the food and how it is made and served, but also on Thai table manners and common mistakes farangs (foreigners) make. Roger used to be a freelance writer and food critic. Dinner was a great treat!

The exciting news today is that I made my first purchase at a market and had to bargain to do it. I needed to buy another shirt. I only brought 1 short sleeve with me. There was a cute shirt for 90 baht. I said in Thai to the salesperson "pàet-sìp" which means 80. She says to me in English "99" then gets a calculator and types '99'. She then cleared it and typed '90' and quickly seemed frustrated and said ok. I bought the shirt for 80 baht. Ok so there was not much haggling on my part. But I was a little nervous about this and was glad I had a good experience.