Bangkok!

I just spent the last 5 days in Bangkok. Since I don't start teaching until the 15th, I decided to go up there. Luckily my dad (who is officially THE MAN) hooked us up with his holiday inn points, so we got to stay there for free, in the heart of the city. But this is no ordinary holiday inn...it was the holiday MANSION...seriously like the 4 seasons but nicer. Anyway, Sarah and I got there, were blown away by the amazing hotel...and invited Gabby and Rachel to stay with us. Then later, Laurie and Courtney came to stay. Bangkok is basically ordered chaos...difficult to describe, but awesome! I can't go into detail of the whole trip, though I would like to, because it would take too long. So here are a few highlights:

The Erawan Shrine: Basically you make a wish at this shrine and if it comes true you are supposed to hire Thai dancers and musicians to perform outside of it. Needless to say there are tons of dancers and musicians outside.

Wat Pho: The oldest and largest temple in Bangkok which also houses the "reclining buddha". This buddha was ENOURMOUS, gold plated and his feet were covered with mother of pearl detailed pictures. The wat was beautiful and there wasa lot to see!

Chatauchak market: Pretty much the largest market I have ever seen in my life. I saw about 5% of it.

Khao san road: a bunch of white people...great bars

Our hotel: In-fricking-credible

tuk-tuk drivers: sketchy and take you to dark alleys to see "ping pong shows" against your will.

all in all...mostly good, but I am not a big city girl. Although I must say it was easy to navigate, despite the dirty smellyness of 80% of the city!
We met up with the others from our group placed in Bangkok for teaching, and about 12 of us just ran around the whole city. It was so fun to see everyone!

The transportation coming home was less than great. We got on a bus, which should take about 3 hours maximum to get back to Ban Phe. This bus stopped at EVERY city, and sometimes even in the middle of the highway to let on random people. The "bus attendant" kept coming up to me, singing to me, turning off my ipod, and trying to touch my hand. He kept saying "I like you", and singing to me in Thai. I tried to tell him the feeling was not mutual...but he didn't understand. He also would not let me look out the window. I kept opening the curtain and then he would immediately run back and shut them and say "NO CURTAIN". When I asked why I couldn't look out the window, he said something about it being too hot, even though it was cloudy outside. The bus let so many people on that at one point a woman sat next to me, and plopped her child on my lap for a good 45 minutes. It was about 3 people to a seat and others standing in the aisles. Oh and did I mention this bus ride took 6 HOURS, and then dropped us off in Rayong (15 minutes away form ban phe) in the middle of nowhere with no explanation. We hopped on a taxi and made it home...barely. Oh and there were no bathroom stops...nope, not one! OH and to top it off, the driver blasted (and I mean MAX volume) bad Thai pop music all through the bus.
needless to say I am glad to be back. I am staying at the TEFL school for a couple days but might go to Koh Samet for a bit to lay on the beach while I wait for my job to start.
Pictures to follow!
xoxo