We (not so efficiently) packed and ate breakfast, learning about the violence that is occurring in the international airport here. Thank goodness we arrived a couple days ago! We navigated the skytrain with our backpacks and (very efficiently) went through a number of taxis before we found one driver that spoke some English and was able to show us on the map the route he was going to take. This worked quite well as he didn't try anything funny with us. We got there in record time and paid so much less because he actually went straight to our destination.
We arrived at the Royal Hotel and left our luggage there for the day. We then strode over to the Palace. Knowing they are strict on clothing requirements, we brought along our scarves in case. They wouldn't let us in with our three quarter pants on, but by wrapping the shawl around our legs (which ended up covering just about as much leg as our capris) we were somehow ok. Confused by the logic, we walked through the giant complex. Here there were exhibits on arms, coinage, many royal valuables, and even an exhibition on what the (smallish) emerald Buddha wears in the hot, rainy, and cold seasons. So adorable! Other than some more ridiculously ornate temples (Alicia had 'Wizard of Oz' songs stuck in her head again! We can't believe that places like this actually exist!), we saw the royal palace and the coronation hall. We loved that the Thai entered for free and we had to pay five dollars. They get us every time!!! This would never happen at home. If we'd only looked Thai we could have gotten in...
It took us a while to see all of the buildings and when we finished looking at as many statues, paintings, and decorated temples we could, we walked to the nearby Khao San road for some safe and quick street food. We got chicken phad thai (good but greasy) and pineapple before grabbing water and heading back to the hotel for our stuff. We made it to the mini bus at half past three, and luckily there were plenty of seats left so that we could pay for a seat for our luggage. It was tight, but not so bad. The ride was short (only an hour and a half) and we got to see some of the countryside. We arrived at 5:15 and waited a little for Katie to get back from her run. She took us to her clean and new apartment and happily began to settle in and catch up.
After showering, we met up with her fellow American teacher and neighbor Britney and headed to eat dinner. After eating we all hilariously piled into a tuk-tuk to get to the Thai version of a Costco supermarket. It was insane! We both experienced culture shock as we walked around and looked fruitlessly for Thanksgiving pie-making ingredients. We were going to be getting together in a friend of Katie's apartment tomorrow to make a good old "American" breakfast with real maple syrup, pancakes, and eggs. We bought a lot of fresh fruit to make a salad (so exciting for Karla). We were sad we couldn't find cinnamon to make pumpkin pie, but we were still happy that we had cranberry sauce sent by Katie's mom in a care package.
Getting home was more difficult with the stuff and we had to split up into two rickshaws. Racing home (Alicia and Katie's won), we went upstairs and settled in. Night!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
1 comment:
Quelle aventure! et que de beaux souvenirs à raconter à ton retour!!!!j'attends les photos pour en montrer aux enfants!!!nous pensons bien à toi Alicia,continue à) bien profiter de ce voyage extraordinnaire!!!big bisous les " 3 C"
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