Today was a GREAT day. It was totally one of those where you sit in bed at the end of it (as I am now) and you try to remember that morning or even early afternoon and it feels like memories from weeks ago.
We had class in the morning—interesting lecture about the sustainability and pollution issues in Asia. We thought it funny that our prof had been to Canada but not the U.S.
Hit the pool for a midday dip, grabbed sandwiches (our new go-to food), and hit the road for Bangkok. Bao and Nai and their friend whose name we can never remember took us to the Grand Palace and around town for the night.
Grand Palace was very cool. I’m not super big into doing those touristy big things if I’m not really emotionally connected to it, but this was very cool to see. Everything was so incredibly ornate. We had the cutest tour guide- she was not 5 feet tall but was very feisty. Came in handy when a rando lady leeched onto our tour
We are going to be super lucky if we get out of this trip without crazy cases of athletes foot: we had to take off our shoes 3 or 4 times today to walk in the temples. FEET GET SO DIRTY HERE.
By the time we got done with the temples I felt like a great-grandma: back was all achy and dead legs and was just zapped of energy. I think my back had a spasm or something during my time hunched over the porcelain last week… Actually we were all a little fried at that point. Time for a second wind SO…
We walked over to the river and took a quick ferry across. Had a great dinner overlooking the river while the sun went down. Nai ordered for us and we had a very… local dinner family style. Love family style dinners. As for the food, some of it I love, some of it not so much but it’s fun to try out the new tastes.
Afterwards we walked through a fun little market and tried some desserts while Chad was busy proclaiming “I LOVE IT” after everything he saw. Quickly becoming a motto of the groupJ Felt a little shopping-inspired after Torey found a really cute blouse but I quickly discovered that “Free Size” (their name for one size fits all) absolutely does not include Rosie-Size. I guess that ok… will save me money in the long run. It is funny how big we are. I think my mentality has changed from “they are so small” to “we are big.” Actually it is kind of more like “I feel like an OGRE.” Whatever, its funny.
THEN
We took Tuk Tuks to Khaosan Road. MY NEW FAVORITE PLACE. It famous for travelers from all over to go and shop and hit the bars and everything is open and crowded and friendly and loud colorful. There was a little cart that prints fake diplomas and documents and the display one was a diploma from Central Michigan University. We thought that was pretty hilarious. I bought an orange watchJ I know what I’m splurging on next time we go back: an electronic t-shirt. They are so awesome. I am going to look like the robot dude who shows up at Club Xcel and Kroger all the time. Maybe not that extreme.
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The Tuk Tuk rides are fantastic. You feel like you’re in a go kart racing down the streets. You are definitely caught somewhere in between the adrenaline rush of riding in a seatbelt-less motorized tricycle and awareness of your impending physical doom. Hope Mom’s not reading this.
Note to Sloan: This is a city FULL of bunting. You would love. Its more like flaggy than cutesy decorative, but it gives the streets so much flavor. Makes me think of you and what you have probably assembled for the mantle for spring J
Went up to a restaurant/club/bar thing called Ga Zebo. Haha. This place was the bomb- it was pretty quiet because it was only 7pm or so (felt like it was 1 am) but we had fun just relaxing with each other and having fun with Bao and Nai and unnamed friend. Good music- nothing like “What is Love” to really get you in the mood to have fun.
Spent about an hour there and went back down to Khaosan. Hailed a taxi, promptly fell asleep during the drive, and now we are back home tucked in our “beds.”
As cool as everything we did today was, I’d have to say my favorite part was getting to know Bao better. She’s so kind. She spent a whole day answering our stupid questions and speaking English with us and teaching us Thai and bartering for us and was never short with us once. She told me a few bits and pieces of her life and its pretty remarkable how similar the events are in her life to us but the circumstances are so different. Hmm. And we had a good conversation about our celebrity waan-jai (sweethearts).
I LOVE IT!
Hope all is well stateside and I’ll be on the internet more regularly now that we are getting into a routine. Pictures soon?
Love to America,
Rosie
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