Have you ever felt like a entire city is zooming past and you are just standing still? Like the entire World knows where to go and you are lost? Well, the last two weeks have felt like that. I miss my family, my friends, Texas comfort food, running into someone I know and Bella's kisses. Gavin broke up with me after two and a half years and I am having a bit of a hard time. The breakup was a total shock to me. Luckily, I have an amazing travel friend that keeps me moving and a great support system of friends and family back home. Really amazing people back home that have reminded me to have faith in God's plan and that they love me. I truly appreciate every email, phone call and word of encouragement. I know there are more hard days to come but the light will shine again. Heck, I am living the dream of seeing this beautiful World that God has created for us!
Enough boring stuff, here is what I have been up to!!
1/13 - Bangkok, Thailand
We woke up about 530 am to head to Bangkok. We took a bus to the border, walked through the exit and entrance customs and got into a smaller van to finish the drive to Bangkok. For free, we got a 15 day visa into Thailand so we will most likely have to extend or leave to another country before Jan. 27th. It was a very crowded 4 hour van ride but exciting to see another country.
We arrive at our 5 star hostel, Saphai-pae Hostel. It has computers, super clean, nice beds, ac, hot showers (about 7 days without a hot shower is hard!) and a restaurant. It is a little out of the main part of town but it works! We had dinner at the hotel as the journey to Thailand was a bit exhausting.
1/14 - Bangkok
The benefit of not traveling with a group, as I did in Africa, is you get to sleep in! It is nice to relax and take a morning slow. We woke up and took the taxi boat down to Tha Tientsin stop. We got off and got to explore the Buddhist temple of Wat Pho. A massive (and this is an understatement of how big) laying down Buddha was in the temple. He was gold and the shoes had to come off, shoulders and knees had to be covered to go see him. He was housed in a temple with detail on every corner. It had a bunch of mirrors, colors and gold all around. Just a site to see! We then walked to The Grand Plaza, the former royal residence. What a complex! Just the most detailed buildings and temples that I have ever seen. And one right after another. They are had difference but all equally as impressive. I found myself comparing these Buddhist temples to the beautiful Catholic Churches in Germany and Italy. I want the back splash of my kitchen to look like one of the flower temples. Dad - I took a close up of the work for you! I might need a project when I get home! We spent a few hours just getting lost and looking around the plaza. We then crossed the Chao Phraya River and went to the Wat Arun Temple. It was impressive and had a great view of the city but was not as well maintained as the grand plaza temples. We headed back for dinner at the hostel.
1/15 - Bangkok
Don't laugh but I submitted a picture to Glamour Magazine of Jordan and me standing in front of a Angkor Tample holding the Glamour Magazine. There is a page in each issue that features girls taking their Glamour cool places and just maybe they will pick our photo from Cambodia! Mom - I gave them your cell so let me know if I am going to be famous!
We had lunch on the side of the road at a noodle shop. It was really good and kinda of like pha but with pork balls as the meat! We headed to Wat Traimit Temple with the largest pure gold Buddha. It was pretty impressive. We traveled, with our crazy tuk tuk driver, to the Golden Mountain which had a Buddha sitting on the top of a hill. It had great 360 views of the huge city. We then headed to China Town. The market was great. It had really narrow streets and tons of stuff to buy including hair pieces, purses, food, fruits, and bags. Just everything! Our tuk tuk driver went a little nuts when we told him we would not stop at three silk shops so he could get free gas. We walked home and it was nice to see the city by foot. The roads always seem to be packed. It is much easier to cross the streets here as they follow the traffic lights unlike Vietnam. In the evening, we took a boat to a very fancy night market. We had dinner at the market but everything was too expensive for me!
1/16 - Bangkok
I had the best bacon for breakfast that I have had in 4 months! Yum! We relaxed and read up on the whale sharks in the Philippines and are hoping they will be there! Big dream of mine to swim with them!
Then, we headed to have a Thai massage and facial. See Jordan really is taking care of me! It was a nice boutique and the lady popped just about every bone in my body. Compared to my other massages, they use a lot more of their body parts when giving the massage. Like at one point, her entire body was on me (not in a dirty way) Haha! And it only cost $35 for 2.5 hours of pampering! In the evening, we headed to the backpackers area. Not sure why we are not staying there but we will next time we come thru Bangkok. I went to people watch and it was good! Lots of shopping, drinking, smoking and weird people. It was fun to get out and meet some fellow travelers!
1/17 - Bangkok
We are on a 10 pm night train ride to Chiang Mai, Thailand. It will be a long ride but excited for a new city. Not sure the plan for today!
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