Smile You're in Thailand

Thailand is known to be an extremely friendly and hospitable place. Lauren and I both received and returned many smiles while shopping or dining at a restaurant. The people were so friendly in fact that you actually noticed it which is certainly a nice thing to notice while travelling abroad.

We arrived to our hotel, Lebua at State Tower, at around 2 PM on the 13th. We were pleased to find our room was a suite which we had booked at an extremely good rate due to the riots which were happening in Bangkok at the time of our booking. Our room had a pleasant sitting area, spacious bathroom, comfortable bedroom and even a deck with a view!

We started out our Bangkok experience by going to a tailor to get tailor made suits, which is one thing Bangkok is known for. It was to be my...Birthday Suit...I am so funny....We got a tailor suggestion from a bell boy who ended up being one of the most helpful hotel attendants Laur and I had ever met for the duration of our stay at Lebua. The Tailor arranged to pick us up from our hotel and we were off. After deciding on our Suit styles and fabrics we were both measured and then brought to our next stop (transportation provided by the tailor again) which was the Siam Paragon shopping center. Here we met up with a future classmate of Lauren's at LSE, Tarn. She lives in Bangkok and we had arranged to meet with her. We grabbed some lunch at a thai restaurant which included a traditional thai dish (I cannot recall the name), sweet and sour chicken (Thai style) and some fried rice. The traditional dish reminded me of a seafood soup. It consisted of a pink colored broth, shrimp, mushrooms, and various vegetables. After our late lunch we headed back to the hotel to settle in a bit.

Later that night we headed out for dinner. I was feeling a hankering for some birthday ribs so we found a little barbecue joint. The food was decent enough but Laur and I were tired, it was after 10 PM after dinner, so we decided to head home for the night.

We started Saturday with a fantastic complimentary breakfast buffet at our hotel. We decided to head for the golden mount first. The golden mount is basically a large steel hill with a building built on top of it and a Buddhist temple on top. We walked the winding stairwell up to the golden peak and checked out the view as well as the Buddha statues inside. It was a fairly peaceful place with a few monks, some Buddhists and many tourists. The view of the "Old Village" was worth the hike and the 60 cent entrance fee in itself. After this Lauren and I did a little bargaining with some tuk tuk drivers (a tuk tuk is basically a little larger version of an autorickshaw) for a ride to the Grand Palace. We started at 20 Baht (about 30 Baht to the dollar) for the ride and a "free stop at a great jewelry store along the way!" No thanks...the next price quoted was 100 Baht then around 80 and finally we settled for a price of 40 Baht which sounds cheap but was still probably twice what we should have paid. We were hot and ready to go. The tuk tuks it turns out are faster, and a bit more comfortable then the autorickshaws of India. The seat in the back is almost a recliner and is very comfortable but when the driver has a predetermined fare he simply wants to get where he is going as quickly as possible to get his next fare. That much was clear. That being said we arrived promptly and safely at the Grand Palace around 5 minutes later.

The Grand Palace was originally built as a home for the much revered Thai Royal Family. Included on the grounds is the palace itself, a few museums as well as a large Buddhist temple complex which houses the famed Emerald Buddha. The Buddhist temple complex was an extremely ornate and unique set of small temples and monuments. It was certainly a unique experience walking around and viewing all of the different sights. The grounds were mostly full of tourists like us so it didn't really have the feel of a serene temple environment. When we entered the central temple where the Emerald Buddha was I had a similar feeling to the one I experienced when I first saw the Mona Lisa. That's it? I thought. Some things have a larger then life reputation and are described so majestically in tour books and on the interWebZ that when you see something that isn't actually the size of a blimp but is more like 2 ft. tall you tend to be surprised at its lack of a shock factor. Do I sound like an ignorant American yet? That being said the importance of the Buddha to certain people was certainly evident in the number of devout Buddhist followers in quiet meditation in front of it.

After the Grand Palace we went on a long walk through several markets eventually making our

way to the Royal Barges Museum. Most tourists make their way to this museum via a water taxi and on our walk there we found out why. The Path was a twisted maze with small signs pointing the direction to the museum. The path wound its way through a local neighborhood of small shacks, bars, and restaurants. At every corner a new sign seemed to suggest the museum was right around the corner. Instead, we would find another local staring at us wondering why in the world we didn't take a boat like everyone else. It was about a 10 minute zig zag walk but after we made it through I was glad we took the less normal path and saw what life in Bangkok is really like for the majority of it's residents. Home means so many different things to so many people around the world. The Royal Barges Museum was a quick visit but certainly worth while and unique. It housed the boats which used to be used in transporting the Thai Royal Family. The boats were long and detailed pieces of art rather then your average row boats. We had arranged for a ride from the museum to our Tailor for our preliminary fitting of our suit. Our driver was waiting for us when we arrived so when we were done strolling through the large warehouse we made our way back to the Tailor and then to Crepe & Company for a late lunch.

Crepe & Company is a tiny little french style restaurant serving a multitude of Crepes. Whether you fancy something for desert likeNutella and banana or something for lunch or dinner like chicken and mushrooms (my pick) or ham and pineapple (lolo's pick) they have it all. After our very late lunch we decided to head back to home base. Laur and I did a little bit of pool siding and later went up and explored the rooftop "Skybar". This place is not for those who see large heights and immediately ponder the awfulness of falling the full distance as I often do. The place was so packed we didn't even order anything but we did meet a Danish man who was a photojournalist with a very nice camera and he emailed us the pic. Thanks again to Magnus! Afterwards laur and I headed back down and got a relaxing drink at the poolside, and much less chaotic, Muzo. Afterwards it was time to call it a day, and a good one at that!

Sunday started once again with that undeniable breakfast buffet. After this we headed out for what would turn out to be a rather frustrating and yet adventuresome trip to Chatuchuck market. This is supposedly the biggest or one of the biggest markets in the world. It spans the area of 5 football fields and is a seemingly endless maze of tightly packed stalls. But lets not make it to the market too fast! On our way we realize we are low on dough...of the actual paper kind...so we stop half way at an ATM annnnnnd no dice. Assuming of course the problem was not with us, we decide to get back on the train and try some other ATM's by the market. This stop only had one. So we get to the next stop and things go similarly well with every other ATM. So on to the backup right? No no no the backup is locked in the safe back at the hotel where it should be silly. This is all we got. So the problem is with the

card so lets us one of those old fashioned looking boxes with the cord that looks like its connected to a phone. Somehow you must be able to use it to make calls. Well unfortunately Calvin, Hope and Holland Christian all let us down when it comes to making a collect call on a Thai phone to your bank. We could never get through. So after a few more last ditch efforts (7 Eleven for calling card/cash back/any sort of hope) we had to head back to the hotel to get the back-up. This was rather depressing. It was probably about a 40 minute trip to the market so we had to trace that back and then do it again to get to the market. However we did finally make it to the market with money and good spirits none the less! Laur was looking forward to shopping in a giant market and I was looking forward to the ride home which meant shopping was over! HA. Actually, shopping in a market like this allows anti-shoppers such as myself to do a lot of sight seeing as opposed to product seeing so I was quite entertained the entire time. I was also paranoid. This market is notorious for pickpocketing and robbery. Our bell boy at the hotel even bothered to mention this which means it must happen quite a bit. But no robberies occurred as far as we know.

After the market was finally over Laur and I were both exhausted. We probably spent around 2 hours wandering throughout the maze. So we headed home got some pizza from a little Italian joint called Scoozis and called it a night. One big day at the market was enough for us.

Monday all we had was about an hour before we had to leave for the airport. So after breakfast we took a quick stroll down to the Mandarin Oriental to check out the famed Author's Lounge. This is a little cafe where a few famous authors (so famous I don't have to mention their names, though if I knew them I might) have penned a few works. It was closed, but we did sneak a peak and we didn't have much time for Coffee anyways! After that it was off to the airport and off to Phuket. Paradise here we come!