Bangkok, Thailand

I spent the weekend in Bangkok, and it was so much fun!

Caroline, Josh, Hannah, and I left for the airport right after class on Thursday. We arrived in Bangkok at 7:30 PM, and after checking into our hotel, we searched for a placed to eat dinner. Bangkok is so different than Phuket! I thought the roads were crowded in Phuket with all the crazy drivers and motorcycles, all of the shops right up against the road leaving no room to walk along the street. Bangkok was even more crowded. The streets were wider and jam packed with cars and buses. The dozens of motorcycles were still present, but they were weaving in and out of the cars and zooming through intersections without any regard to the traffic lights... so it was yet again another weekend of being scared to cross the road. Interestingly, I never saw any pedestrian get hit by a car, and I never saw a car accident. I wonder what the Bangkok accident rates are... it seems like they would be astronomically high because of the utter disregard, or in some cases, nonexistence of traffic laws, but I bet it's surprisingly low. These Thai people definitely know what's up.

Our hotel was not near any restaurants. Instead, as we were walking, we passed by numerous tailored clothing shops, beaded necklace shops, massage and manicure shops, and so many roadside food vendors that it made me wonder is anybody actually buys anything. Everybody runs practically the SAME business, advertising the same products and even the same prices! There are tailor shops just lining the streets, all advertising the same thing- custom-made, completed in 24 hours, etc. There were four massage parlors alone next to our hotel, not to mention the family-run restaurants in the middle of the sidewalks! How does a consumer choose, and how do these families make any money when everything is the same? No wonder they are all out in the streets hastling anybody that walks by, they're all competing for business.

We found a local food spot in a well lit alley. It was crowded with people, which means the restaurant must be good and safe. Of course, the food was delicious! I ordered chicken and cashewnuts with rice. There was also pineapple sauteed with the chicken, yum! Hannah ordered chicken with basil leaves, and Caroline got some fried duck, which was very tasty! Some of the other menu items included Brocori (haha broccoli!), Pig Entrails Salad Thai Style, and Sour Fermented Pork Salad. yummmmm?

Later that night, Hannah and Josh got on a bus for Cambodia, and thus began the adventures of Caroline and Ryann in Bangkok! It was neat because we were the only students from our entire program in Thailand that weekend. We were truly on our own, in our own hotel room, organizing our own trips, having our own fun, traveling wherever we wanted to go... I felt like an adult, and it was weird.

On Friday morning, Caroline and I enjoyed the most amazing breakfast at the hotel. It is the best breakfast that I have eaten while I've been out of the US. I had an omlet with onions, mushrooms, and tomoatoes. I had some toast with jelly, fruit salad, potatoes and bacon, and lots of little pastries. It was delicious! After breakfast, we took a bus to Kanchanaburi province, about 3 hours outside of Bangkok. During World War II, Burma invaded Thailand and set up a Prisoners of War camp in Kanchanaburi on the River Kwae. The POWs were forced to build a bridge over the river for the Death Railway. This railway was later bombed, but it has been restored as a memorial to those who lost their lives building it. Caroline and I visited the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery and the JEATH Museum. The museum has a replica of the huts the the POWs lived in, and as you walk through the hut, you can look and pictures and read newspaper articles about the prisoner camp. From the museum, we took a long boat down the River Kwae and got off at the bridge. We spent some time walking along the bridge and taking pictures. There was an INCREDIBLE rainbow overhead the entire afternoon! It was a circular rainbow that completely surrounded the sun! I'd never seen anything like it before, and it is definitely a sight that I will never forget :) Oh and I also paid to use the bathroom! Crazy! It cost me 5 Baht. haha!

After visiting the bridge, we took a train about 25 kilometers outside Kanchanaburi to Wat Pah Luangta Bua Yannasampanno Forest Monastery, also known as the Tiger Temple!!! This monastery serves as a nature preserve. Animals live on the property and can come and go as they please. It reminded me of the Yellow River Game Ranch that my mom and dad took me too when I was little, minus the fences. These animals were completely free- wild pigs, cattle, horses, goats, peacocks... But of course, the reason that Caroline and I traveled so far outside of Bangkok was see the tigers! 

The first tigers to arrive at the monastery about ten years ago were two cubs. Their mother had been killed by tigers, and the cubs were left alone in the jungle to die. Some locals found them, and brought them to the monks to be raised. This soon became a trend, and the monks eventually found themselves raising a dozen abandoned tigers. The monks are currently in the process of building a new habitat for the tigers, but we visited the tigers in the old Tiger Canyon, which is a gorge that you walk down into where all of the tigers play and nap during the day. 

Playing with the tigers was absolutely AMAZING! They were so cute, and so fun, and just adorable! I love tigers! The big ones were beautiful, but kind of boring. The little tigers cubs were my favorite. They liked having their bellies rubbed, so cute! The youngest cub I played with was three months old, and his name was Lucky! Such an amazing experience and totally worth the trip!

When we finally got back to Bangkok late that night, I found a restaurant that served Penang Curry with Shrimp, which is my favorite Thai dish at home, and it was even better in Thailand! I also chose one of the tailor shops and decided to get a business suit tailor made for me. They took my measurements that night, and by the next day they had my suit completely made. I had to go back a few times for small adjustments, but in the end I am very happy with my suit. I got matching pair of slacks, a skirt, and a jacket, all wool and cashmere with silk lining on the inside, a dark charcoal color, and all tailored to fit just me! I went to bed that night excited about my suit and the tigers and looking forward to another amazing breakfast the next morning.

Of course, I was not disappointed- breakfast was phenomenal yet again! After eating, Caroline and I took a bus to Siam Square which had two of the craziest malls I've ever been to! One mall was 8 stories tall! It had an aquarium in the basement, ponds and rivers and trees in the main lobby, restaurants on the 7th floors, a movie theater and an Imax on the 8th floors, and shops all in between! It was insane and I was so overwhelmed. Caroline and I found a shoe store that was selling shoes for 50% off, so of course we each got a pair. I was trying to decide between a black business pair and a purple fun pair, of course I chose the purple fun pair! I also bought some tank tops from another store, all for half price, so combine half off with Thailand Baht, and you get a REALLY good deal. I was such a happy shopper, except for the fact that I still can't find a nice dress... that's on the top of my list. We ate at the biggest food court I have ever seen. It took up an entire floor of the mall- food stalls, restaurants, a grocery store, counters just serving food for take out... it was overwhelming. I got some satay chicken on skewers with rice, and then I happened upon a Flavored Sticky Rice stand. They had big bowls of yellow sticky rice, blue sticky rice, red sticky rice, etc. I asked the guy what flavors they were, but he didn't understand me. I got some coconut-flavored sticky rice with a coconut and brown sugar spread on top- so DELICIOUS!

After our Bangkok shopping extravaganza, Caroline and I went back to the original little streetside restaurant, and I ordered chicken with basil. It was good, but not nearly as amazing as the Chicken with cashewnuts. Then, Caroline took me to get my first pedicure ever! It was fun, and only cost about $7! Once again, I went to sleep anticipating an amazing breakfast the next morning.

The next day, Caroline and I went to Ayutthaya, Thailand's ancient city that was built in the 14th century. Our first visit was to the Summer Palace, home of Thailand's royal family. It wasn't a one big mansion, it was a huge estate with dozens of mansions! Each member of the royal family has their own mansion and staff, including the little princes and princesses. How crazy is that?! There were also a few beautiful temples on the property and a tall pagoda that you could climb up to the top. After the Summer Palace, we went on to my favorite place of the day- Wat Maha That. This was a temple that was in complete ruins because it had been bombed by the Burmese invaders during WWII. The Burmese broke the heads off of every Buddha statue in the temple! Some of the larger Buddha statues have been restored, and they wear orange robes, which I found to be pretty neat. Afterward, we visited the Cremation temple, which really wasn't that spectacular, and then we went to the Reclining Buddha! It was 42 meters long and 10 meters high, and of course it was wearing an huge bright orange robe!!! It was really cool! After seeing all the temples, we took a cruise down Chao Phraya River that runs right through the middle of Bangkok. Along the river, we passed the Grand Palace and Wat Arun, the Temple of the Dawn.

During our trip, we learned that the Thai people associate each day of the week with a particular color. The day the king is born on determines the national color for his entire reign. It is considered good luck to wear the color of the day you are born. Thailand's current king was born on a Monday, so the country's national color is yellow. Tuesday is pink, Wednesday is green, Thursday is orange, Friday is blue, Saturday is purple, and Sunday is red. I was born on a Friday, so my lucky color is blue according to the Thai people. 

The trip to Ayutthaya completed my trip to Bangkok. We got on the plane later that day to head back to Singapore, but no worries, more adventure awaits!