Guess what? In two days I head back to Bangkok. Now I posted last Friday about how I was leaving on Saturday morning at six am to go to Bangkok and I did, so here I am to tell you about last weekend.
So I woke up bright and early at 5:40 am to go to meet my councilor at my school at 6am. I arrived promptly at 6am and no one was there. Around 6:20am my councilor arrived and around 7:20am all the students and teachers had arrived and we were able to leave. We drove to Bangkok in about 5 and a half hours and made three stops to eat along the way. The weird part is I have been to Bangkok five times and every other time has taken me 7-8 hours. I honestly don’t want to know what speed we drove down there at.
We arrived in Bangkok around 12, then took about an hour to find a place to park. My councilor brought me to the Grand Palace and to Wat Phra Kaeo. The Grand Palace Interior was closed and my councilor was to hot to walk around so I wandered around quickly and took some pictures, but it is so beautiful, I want to go back next week some time and just sit and sketch or something.
Next after sitting and drinking water and coconut on the side walk for an hour, we went to Wat Pho, the temple where the Famous RECLINING BUDDHA resides. The weird thing is if you ask Thai people about Wat Pho they just mention how they give really good massages here, they say nothing and some don’t even know ( like my councilor) about the FREAKING GIANT BUDDHA!! Thailand is so strange. Next we took a ferry across the river the Wat Somethingorother and I climbed up the bazillion steep steps in a floor length skirt with a 20 some odd pound backpack in 90+ degree weather. Yeah, about that… I did however get to sign my name in both Thai and English at the top on a big gold banner. Then I very carefully and slowly hiked back down.
Next we took a river taxi to a random pier where we then caught a taxi to Siam Paragon. My friends Melissa and Alejandro were in Bangkok that night, so I met up with them at Siam Paragon and we went out for dinner then down to Khao San Road. I am sure I have talked about Khao San Road a ton but honestly, I love it there. During the day it sells like hippy clothing, used books and travel equipment. Down little allies you can find youth hostels or Thai people selling the coolest things. Then at night it completely switches and almost magically food vendors appear from everywhere. The road is closed down and tables are set up on the side walks with people selling drinks for super cheap. There are night clubs in every basement , street performers and people are everywhere. Khao San is notorious for backpackers and the younger crowd, but you can find people of all age and rank there. Its really quite the spot.
I spent the night at one of our friend’s Host Brothers Condos and woke up early the next morning to go to J.J. Market. J.J. Market is this 36 acre, hot as hell and crazy as it too giant market, that sells honest too god everything. I spent all morning there sweating like crazy and trying to find my way around. I ended up only seeing a tiny a bit of the market because I got so lost and just kept making circles. That was no problem though because every time around I would spot something new. I bought 7 pairs of dangly earrings for three dollars!! Isn’t that crazy and I bought a long Maxi Dress to wear to temple for nine dollars! Around 2 I met up with my councilor and we went home arriving around 10 pm.
On Thursday I head back up to Bangkok for at least 2 weeks and at the most 4 weeks. I am volunteering at an English Camp in Khorat from the 2-4 and then another camp from the 12-14. My friend Ashlee is hopefully going to come and visit around Bangkok with me for a week or two and do the second camp with me, but as usual Rotary is doing the least Possible to make this easy on us. We keep telling them like you need to talk to each other, but they are like no, make so and so call me, or yes I will call them later, but it is later. So we will keep trying but who knows.
I have a busy day planned for tomorrow, I have to make a student card at Phadungnaree school, meet with my councillor at Sarakham Pittyakom School, go to my second host families house and see if my packages have arrived, go to the mall to buy a new reusable water bottle and I want to visit the new café in town for lunch. Try doing this much running around in 90+ degree heat with out a car…. Yep, welcome to my life!
Xoxo Chantel <3
P.S. I added 29 new photos on my Tumblr, check them out. Also, let me know how you viewing my pictures on Tumblr is working. If you are having any problems or find it a hassle.
http://132daysofadventure.tumblr.com/
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