Adventure Time with Keri!

Sunday, March 24, 2013

I am once again exhausted. So much walking today!!

This morning (at the time of this writing), on the other side of the world, in a small town where I happen to have a LOT of memories, a certain event took place at my alma mater. (Wow, it’s weird to say that.) That amazing event called Asian Night happened and I was (and still kind of am) distraught that I couldn’t be there. It’s one of the biggest events on campus where the Asian Club has a bunch of countries represented with colorful booths and traditional food from their respective country and then a performance of traditional dances afterwards usually with skits/some sort of plot/videos that we make. I’ve spent hours, days, months, years planning these things for the past 4 years. And yes, I was even the coordinator my sophomore year. So this event is very near and dear to me. All my friends were there participating (or watching…the veterans that came back…haha) and having a good time while AJ, Roy and I were in different parts of the world lamenting the fact that we couldn’t be there (AJ and Roy have also be a HUGE part of Asian Night in the past years). 

So guess what I did? I went shopping at the Chatuchak Weekend Market as retail therapy. Hahahaha. So this place is HUGE and covers about 35 acres, contains roughly 5,000 stalls and is one of the largest weekend markets in Thailand. Wan dropped me off on her way to work so I was by myself. I set off to see what I could find…and turn after turn after turn…led me back to where I was…multiple times…over the course of 2 hours. Haha. I got lost in only one little section! Told ya I get lost easily. I eventually had to get out of there to take the MRT back home…so I started walking straight deviating a few times to look at stuff and finally made my way out! Phew!!  The stuff here is pretty cool and really cheap, especially when you bargain…which I’m actually really horrible at. I headed back home and the only obstacle lying between me and home was getting on the right bus. The reason this was tricky was b/c the buses all have to go in a round about (same direction) and there are two buses (one going the right way and one going in the opposite direction) and you can only tell which is which by reading the sign that’s in Thai…and Lord knows that’s difficult. Go try reading Thai. See how that goes for you. Haha. I hopped on the one that I hoped was going in the right direction (I really could’ve asked the bus driver but I wanted to see if I had, indeed, gotten on the right one without any help) and after a few mildly tense minutes breathed a sigh of relief when I started recognizing landmarks. I made it home in one piece by myself! Whoohooo!!

I lazed around for an hour or two (lamenting with AJ and Roy some more about not being at Asian Night) and then I was off again exploring Bangkok. I should write a “How to see Bangkok in one day” guide or something b/c that’s pretty much what I did today.

This time, I was flanked by Po and her mom. I’m SO extremely thankful that they came with me or else I probably would’ve been lost most of the time, with my luck. Lol. We took a bus to the pier where we then took an express boat along the river to get to another dock and then visited the Grand Palace. Yes, Thailand has a monarchy but the royal family no longer lives at the palace…they live elsewhere. Don’t ask me where, b/c I haven’t the slightest clue. Haha. But they still use the palace for certain events. Anyway, it was sweltering hot under the merciless sun and we were all sweating buckets. The buildings are so ornate and beautiful! There are Buddhist temple(s) on the premises and as a sign of respect you MUST take off your shoes and never point your feet directly at the statue of the Buddha (and no picture taking). Also, in the Grand Palace area, you MUST wear pants or skirts that reach your ankles and sleeveless shirts are NOT permitted. This is also a sign of respect. At one point we went into a museum of all the old décor and lingered there for a while…b/c there was AC. Haha. Po and I stood next to the units every time there was one. The actual palace itself is not open for the public and you must make an appointment (with a large group, as I understand) to tour it.

After we finished with the Grand Palace we took a ferry to the opposite side of the river to see the Temple of Dawn…except Po and I were getting hungry. So we went in search of food, except I think her mom was trying to find a particular place and it wasn’t open…so we took a tuk-tuk (my first ride! Mainly b/c the tuk-tuk drivers like to cheat foreigners so I’ve been wary of them) and walked in every which direction before we settled on some street food. Unfortunately for me, everything had pork in it, so they made me fried rice with eggs and mushrooms. It was so good…street food just tastes really good in general. Haha. 

After our bellies were full, we traversed back to the Temple of Dawn and walked around a bit…apparently you’re supposed to climb up it…but since I was already sweating to death, I decided it probably wasn’t a good idea for me to climb anything. Haha. 

After that, we crossed over the river again and went to Wat Pho (another temple…wat = temple) which is the temple where traditional Thai massages originated and there are lots of statues doing ancient yoga poses. It’s also where the reclining Buddha resides. 

Ok, so funny story of the day. All these places we visited today are free if you are a native Thai and you can just walk in without a ticket or anything (there’s a separate lane). Yesterday, when we were with Nan and Dear, they told us to try and have me pretend to be a Thai and as long as I didn’t open my mouth, I could probably pass as one. So we did (saved me 500 baht at the Grand Palace!) and it worked for the Palace and the Temple of Dawn…and then when we were walking through Wat Pho, they called out to Po (I had already walked through) and she indignantly stated that she was very much Thai. We were laughing so hard b/c they didn’t say anything to me and said something to her! Most people here think I’m Japanese (I get that a lot anywhere I go, actually) but I wore sunglasses to conceal my tiny eyes. Hahaha. A day of success of being a Thai poser. *Jesus please forgive me for lying*

After we were done touring around and sweating like a pig, we headed home via bus and taxi. It was an exhausting day, but I’m so glad I got to see these landmarks b/c they are awesome! So glad to have had my host family take me around too!! Auntie is wicked fast when she walks. She was literally 10-20 steps ahead of us the whole time. Haha. They are seriously the best!

This post is dedicated in honor of Ray Minner. Today (March 24) would have been his 64^th birthday and I know he loved to travel, especially with our orchestra and with his wife, our beloved orchestra director, Mrs. Minner, directing us.