THAiLAND... part 1

how do i even begin to describe my trip to 'the land of smiles'.... it was amaaazing & amazingly fun. me, maggie, & khaleedah- wouldn't have been the same trip without them! first, we BARELY made it to the airport on time. it was close. Bangkok for 5 days. Immediately (& not surprisingly) it was verrryy different from Singapore. Same way Malaysia was. There was lots of traffic, it was dirty, & the taxi cabs were hot pink. Taxi took us to the wrong hotel but it was all part of the adventure. we got there late in the afternoon so we spent it getting settled into our hotel, eating, & getting ready to go out & socialize.  the next day we hopped onto the skytrain & went to Chatuchak Market. It was MASSIVE. apparently there are over 15,000 stalls here. & they sell everything. clothes animals homegoods plants & on & on. it was a little overwhelming & kind of frustrating, even after we got a map. we stayed for not very long because there was just wayy too much to look at & it was hot. went to the Siam Paragon after, a mall which is the complete opposite of Chatuchak outdoor market. It was like Beverly Hills status with all the high class shops. still very massive tho. don't have the money to shop there so we continued next to MBK. another HUGE mall. like 7 floors or something. I would say it was a mix between Siam Paragon & Chatuchak. The building itself was very nice, but the inside was nuts. each floor was packed with stores & stalls & department stores & little vendors selling every fake good you could think of. so bizzare. & cheap. cheaper if you could bargain it. perfect. this place was awesome & we spent a good amount of time buying stuff & becoming good hagglers. & they had RedMango there- which tastes just like Pinkberry!! 

waiting for the skytrain...

puppies for sale at the market- it looks like Pikachu when she was a baby & not all chubby!!!

niiiice mall

this long day of shopping & interacting with Thai people led us to this conclusion: Thai people are legit. i want to hang out with them. they just seem like cool people in a cool city. no offense, Singapore is a fine & dandy city-state. but its' citizens seem.... uptight? probably cause you get the death penalty for everything. Thai people on the other hand, they got some swagger. Also, i should mention- there is a king. & he is THE KING. the king of Thailand is a hero to everyone there, and everyone loves him. there are shrines & pictures of him everywhere. from huge billboards in the streets to inside every little store. it's awesome. people wear shirts that say 'long live the king' & have bumper stickers proclaiming their love for the king. bad-mouth the kind & you are in big trouble. no joke. & they don't love him because they're forced too, it's genuine affection. this is quite a difference coming from a country who couldn't be happier to see the ruler of their country leave office in a few months. i would also like the say that the written Thai language is beautiful. no idea what it says or how to read it, but it looks really pretty. 

would never see this in Singapore

so anyways we headed back to our hotel to get ready for some more socializing that night. we're getting some food from a street vendor when an elephant walks by. no worries, there's just an ELEPHANT walking down the busy streets of Bangkok. it was the coolest thing i've seen. saw another one a couple nights later & got to feed it!! Martin & Magnus were also in Bangkok so they came over & we all went out. Next day we all met up again at Khao San Road. This is an incredibly bust street full of shopping & drinking & hostels & lots of backpackers. we did some more shopping & lots of eating. the street food in thailand was allll soo yum. & SOO cheap. well i guess everything was cheap. as fun as it was it was also exhausting. there are so many people trying to sell you things. & there are an unnecessary amount of tailors. you can't walk 10 feet without someone asking you if you want a suit made. or a wedding dress. haha. at night it gets worse. you can't walk even 5 feet without hearing "ping pong show??" i won't describe what the 'ping pong' show is because there might be some underage readers here.       

soo crazy, he was just hanging out

next day we went to see some of the temples. beautiful is the only way i can describe them. first we went to Wat Pho, where the big reclining buddha is. i knew it would be big, but seeing it in person was.... indescribable. it's 150 feet long & 50 feet tall. he's covered in gold leaf with mother-of-pearl designs embedded onto the soles of his feet. the entire temple grounds was so pretty i can't put it into words. the pictures really don't do it justice but you can get an idea. we went to a few other temples and i felt a great sense of well-being at the end of the day. made me feel so.... holy? I've taken a Buddhism class before but seeing its most holiest sights was quite the experience. Our last full day in Bangkok we went to a Thai cooking class. it was SO MUCH FUN. i'm not kidding. probably one of the funnest days of my holiday. (holiday, because no one here says vacation). made some delicious food & i can't wait to try & make it for you guys when i get back home!! i promise it'll come out better than my chicken. actually, i don't promise that. but i'm gonna try really hard! we met a couple here who not only just graduated from school in Alabama, but they just got married in august too. instead of wedding gifts, they did this online thing where they got "gifts" of money for a trip around the world basically. it's pretty much all paid for- what a brilliant idea! when they get back, they're moving to Pasadena, California (like 20 minutes from my hometown) because he got a job there. i thought they were pretty interesting. 

that more or less sums up the time i spent in Bangkok. it definitely is a city where you wouldn't be able to get by on only english. but i had a wonderful time there :)  oh & p.s. there are a lot of hookers & ladyboys. 

& more p.s.- i have soo many pictures! i'm trying to get them all on facebook but it takes forever. i know i keep saying that. here's some from malaysia (finally) and other good stuff

thailand pics will eventually make their way up.....