Well day 1 in the slums is over. It's pretty much what I expected. It's stinky and squishy and sticky, but the people make it inhabitable. We took 29 little (5-8 year olds?) to the movies this afternoon to see "How to Tame Your Dragon" in Thai! I really enjoyed it even though I couldn't understand the dialogue. The kids are great and I'm looking forward to spending more time with them.I'm staying on my own at the Homestay in the slum. It's simple, but I like it.Tomorrow I am going with some kids to the dentist to have their rotten teeth pulled so they don't damage their adult teeth. Should be...fun.
I've just spent my first night in Bangkok at a hotel near the airport. Getting backs checked in at the airport took hours and I was well and truly ready to get on the plane and sit down. Funnily enough, I was sitting next to one of the girls who works at Esther House, so it was nice to have someone I knew for that leg of the trip. I arrived at KL parched as and went to McDonalds the quench my thirst but they didn't accept eftpos! I didn't have any Malaysian currency. I ended up going to a restaurant that served local food. 1.2 Litres of water and a delicious Kway Teow Soup later I headed through immigration and got on the plane to Bangkok. The kid behind me decided it was fun to kick the back of my chair for the whole journey and he didn't speak English so I couldn't tell him to stop. It was pretty annoying but I was so tired I just slept through most of the flight. Passing through immigration at Bangkok has to be one of the best (and fastest) experiences I've had.My hotel was really nice, apart from being a bit noisy it's great. I was still really tired (after pulling an all-nighter to finish an assignment) and I went to sleep at around 7pm.My driver will be picking me up any minute now to take me to the Barkers, who live and work in the slums.
