Hi Gram,
The past few days have been pretty alright. A good mix of reading, getting some work done on my computer, and a couple of excursions to the outside world. I’ve been sleeping well and taking it easy. Today, I decided to skip the morning walk since we had some walking planned for later in the day. We headed down to breakfast and grabbed our usual. They change up some of the offerings every day, but there’s always yogurt, either fried or scrambled eggs, salad, and some sort of chicken, so I have some combination of those each morning. Nattiya has her routine too, although she favors more of the Asian noodle and protein combinations that they change up each day. After breakfast, I came back and worked on my computer for a bit, doing my brain exercises and playing around with some images.

Around noon or one, we decided to head out on a little adventure. Nattiya wants to start investing, so we stopped by a couple of banks to ask about their offerings. Investing over here seems to involve a lot more mystery and middlemen than back home, but we got a couple of clues to the puzzle. There’s still more to uncover and figure out, though.

After the banks, we headed to the Treasury Museum, where we learned about the evolution of spending in the region, starting with shells all the way up to the current set of bills and coins. It was really interesting to learn how money has changed over hundreds of years, and I wish I’d taken more notes. Something I like over here is that you’re expected to take your shoes off before going inside. So we wandered around the museum barefoot, something that would never be tolerated in America but that I found quite nice. After the museum, we rested a bit then headed out for dinner.

For dinner each night, we just wander in a random direction until we find a restaurant that looks good and give them a try. Tonight, I had Chicken Pad Thai and a place named “Pad Thai”, and it was decent. Not the best I’ve ever had, but the whole bill for both of our dinners was 150 THB (about $5)! We wandered the streets for a little longer, peering into the shops, before winding our way back to the hotel. I’m going to read a little, then probably get to bed early.