Friday, October 06, 2006
Wednesday: I joined my Aunt and Uncle on a trip back up to the Precadet school to pick up my cousin Ake. It was a beautiful day so I got to really see the mountains and lake. And I got to do zip line and kayaking. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it. The area was so beautiful it would have been nice to camp there for sometime but I don't know if that is possible. It's so nice to see country after living in cities here.
Thursday: Yay!!! Dana came!! I woke up ridiculously early for no apparent reason since her train wasn't coming in until 9 am. But no worries. I picked her up we headed over to my other aunt's house and dropped off our stuff. We jumped over to Siam Paragon and spent the afternoon and evening there. We ate pizza and saw 2 movies. We saw Death Note which was this really awesome Japanese movie that had both Thai and English subtitles. After that we grabbed some Starbucks and then went to see The Devil Wears Prada.
Friday: We hung around the house in the morning. Then went out to Kao Suan road and Siam Paragon again to eat Japanese food and catch another movie. The food was amazing. It was so nice to have a few days of just western food. We also found the huge supermarket in Siam Paragon and did a little shopping there, which was awesome. We also had the weirdest run in with another AFSer. We were just getting on the escalator and suddenly Dana pulls me back and turns and says “hey Max” Max is a German AFSer who we hung out with at the last camp and who I believe lives in the Northeast. Turns out that he was in Bangkok to visit his host cousin and had just arrived. I don’t know how it is possible that in a city of 10 million in the biggest mall we could just happen to run into another AFSer especially one that doesn’t live in Bangkok. We caught up a little and then he had to go to his cousins house so we split up. Then we headed over to Kao Suan Road to see it at night.
Saturday: We went to Jatujak market in the morning and did some more shopping. Then we headed off to central mall to grab lunch. The place was crazy. It looked like any mall in the States. All the signs were in English only the directions had Thai along with English. We ate pizza hut, had Starbucks and then it was time to meet my aunt. We meet and then ran off to the airport. We left from the new Thai airport which is huge and definitely not close to the city. I'd say at least an hour and a half away. It was however quite beautiful. We didn't get scanned until we reached the departing gate and so movement was fast no lines. It is made mostly of glass and Dana and I spotted some guys up on the glass roof cleaning and fixing things and took some pictures. The flight was short just about 1 hour. We reached my house around 7 and then had dinner. It was a special night of this huge festival that's going on in my town to celebrate the Buddha. And I have to say that this festival is actually festive and is quite fun. We drove and walked around my town until about 10 30. There was a competition for these huge displays showing the life of the Buddha. They were awesome. Most were done in a mix of glow in the dark and black light paints and had waterfalls and parts that moved.
Sunday: We got up to tambon with my family. Then we headed out to see the boat parade (both with the floats and with actual boats on the river) The parade was pretty cool. Each float had people in front of it the first group dancing in costumes and then the second holding signs and the last right before the boat were pulling it along. They believe that if you go and help them pull the boat it is a big tambon and brings you good luck. Unfortunately Dana was pick pocketed at one point. Luckily we discovered she still had here drivers lisence and she was able to cancel her bank card within the hour so all should be okay. It was scary and it sucked but it ended up with the best possible outcome. After doing everything we could for that situation we went out on a boat to see the floats in the river and to see boat racing. It was cool to be able to see my town from the river and it gave me a different look into the set up. After that it was home and napping thank god.
Monday:
Dana and I slept in. I had gotten way too much sun the day before but luckily I woke up feeling better. We hung around the house most of the day trying to organize our stuff and just relax. We went out in the afternoon to see my town and more of the festival. Then we came back home and made an amazing box of macaroni and cheese thanks to my parents.
Tuesday: (today) Getting ready to hopefully head off to Koh Samui tomorrow with my family. And who knows what else.
Pictures to come soon!
Bye
Thursday: Yay!!! Dana came!! I woke up ridiculously early for no apparent reason since her train wasn't coming in until 9 am. But no worries. I picked her up we headed over to my other aunt's house and dropped off our stuff. We jumped over to Siam Paragon and spent the afternoon and evening there. We ate pizza and saw 2 movies. We saw Death Note which was this really awesome Japanese movie that had both Thai and English subtitles. After that we grabbed some Starbucks and then went to see The Devil Wears Prada.
Friday: We hung around the house in the morning. Then went out to Kao Suan road and Siam Paragon again to eat Japanese food and catch another movie. The food was amazing. It was so nice to have a few days of just western food. We also found the huge supermarket in Siam Paragon and did a little shopping there, which was awesome. We also had the weirdest run in with another AFSer. We were just getting on the escalator and suddenly Dana pulls me back and turns and says “hey Max” Max is a German AFSer who we hung out with at the last camp and who I believe lives in the Northeast. Turns out that he was in Bangkok to visit his host cousin and had just arrived. I don’t know how it is possible that in a city of 10 million in the biggest mall we could just happen to run into another AFSer especially one that doesn’t live in Bangkok. We caught up a little and then he had to go to his cousins house so we split up. Then we headed over to Kao Suan Road to see it at night.
Saturday: We went to Jatujak market in the morning and did some more shopping. Then we headed off to central mall to grab lunch. The place was crazy. It looked like any mall in the States. All the signs were in English only the directions had Thai along with English. We ate pizza hut, had Starbucks and then it was time to meet my aunt. We meet and then ran off to the airport. We left from the new Thai airport which is huge and definitely not close to the city. I'd say at least an hour and a half away. It was however quite beautiful. We didn't get scanned until we reached the departing gate and so movement was fast no lines. It is made mostly of glass and Dana and I spotted some guys up on the glass roof cleaning and fixing things and took some pictures. The flight was short just about 1 hour. We reached my house around 7 and then had dinner. It was a special night of this huge festival that's going on in my town to celebrate the Buddha. And I have to say that this festival is actually festive and is quite fun. We drove and walked around my town until about 10 30. There was a competition for these huge displays showing the life of the Buddha. They were awesome. Most were done in a mix of glow in the dark and black light paints and had waterfalls and parts that moved.
Sunday: We got up to tambon with my family. Then we headed out to see the boat parade (both with the floats and with actual boats on the river) The parade was pretty cool. Each float had people in front of it the first group dancing in costumes and then the second holding signs and the last right before the boat were pulling it along. They believe that if you go and help them pull the boat it is a big tambon and brings you good luck. Unfortunately Dana was pick pocketed at one point. Luckily we discovered she still had here drivers lisence and she was able to cancel her bank card within the hour so all should be okay. It was scary and it sucked but it ended up with the best possible outcome. After doing everything we could for that situation we went out on a boat to see the floats in the river and to see boat racing. It was cool to be able to see my town from the river and it gave me a different look into the set up. After that it was home and napping thank god.
Monday:
Dana and I slept in. I had gotten way too much sun the day before but luckily I woke up feeling better. We hung around the house most of the day trying to organize our stuff and just relax. We went out in the afternoon to see my town and more of the festival. Then we came back home and made an amazing box of macaroni and cheese thanks to my parents.
Tuesday: (today) Getting ready to hopefully head off to Koh Samui tomorrow with my family. And who knows what else.
Pictures to come soon!
Bye
