The Sassy Peach : A glimpse of Thailand-Bangkok

So I have done a terrible, terrible job at blogging about our travels since living in Korea. Pardon me for being wrapped up in all the other aspects of living there...(see every other blog for details). We went to Japan in February, Thailand in June, and St. Lucia in July, which doesn't count for our Asia travels because its not Asia...but, anyway. I'm going to try to add some of our travel experiences to the blog because for one, I probably won't remember it in 10 years unless I write about it and two, so that you guys can see that I don't always hate everything and everyone I come into contact with. ;)

Our first stop in Thailand was Bangkok. This city has a very different feel to it. It is very care-free, eccentric, and unpredictable. The air is hot and sticky. The people are friendly and extremely tricky, but in the form of being helpful. For example, we walked down the street right after arriving at our hotel and this nice little older lady helped me cross the street. The reason for this was because I was lagging behind the crowd and well, to put it simply, if you're in the road when the light turns green, you get ran over. Traffic=crazy. She was so sweet and giving us all kinds of ideas about things to do in town. "Do your wifey like jewelry?" she asked Luke. She said, "you go here, to da jewelry mart, good price for youuuu, I speak Thai, I tell tuk-tuk drivaa to take you to jewelry and wait for you outside while you buy nice gifff for yo wifey." She got really pushy. Turns out, this was the first of many experiences lije this here. After we arrived at a small private building down an alley, Luke and I decided she had gotten the tuk-tuk take us to her cousin's jewelry store.

There are floating markets, river boat rides, and beautiful temples to see here. The nightlife is also good, however, we never made it out to any bars or clubs. Touring the temples and stuff during the day was super tiring. Prices are dirt cheap for the most part. A tuk-tuk ride (not a cab, more like a fast golf cart) cost about 10-50 cents, cabs are cheap, and Chinatown has great things...like jewelry. I am pretty sure I found where Forever 21 gets their accessories, for a lot cheaper. The only thing that was really pricey was the food and drinks at our hotel. $25 for a glass of wine.We stayed at Lebua Hotel in downtown Bangkok. It had a great view of the city and the river. We toured temples and the King's palace, where Luke had to have on long pants and I had to cover my shoulders and have on a longer skirt. Our hotel warned us that when we went to the palace, there would be men at the first entrance (there are 3) that would tell us that the palace was closed. We got there and there were men dressed in guard uniforms that said "palace security" on them and they told us that the palace was closed, but would reopen at 3pm. One guy then gave us a map and directions to another temple that we could visit in the meantime. I walked away from him, but Luke let him tell him all about the other place before he decided that it was another scam! :) Who knew Luke was more nice than me?!?! We walked down further and sure enough, the palace was not closed at all.

The architecture and colors of the buildings were amazing! But it was so hot. We ate dinner at the hotel every meal because I think I have what you could call a food phobia, so I can't talk much about Thai food and restaurants. Poor Luke never gets to try the dirty street food when we travel. While I think I am doing him a favor by not stopping to get random food, I do tell him I will go with him if he wants to eat it...I just can't partake in all the yummy goodness with him.

The upsides: the sites*the shopping*the experience of being in a city with such a different vibe than other places*the temples and other amazing buildings*the adrenaline ride that is the tuk-tuk...nothing like darting across raging lanes of cars in a motorized golf cart*the good prices*the palace*the markets*the people are really nice for the most part*

The downsides: the tricky people preying on tourists*melting my chi straighter into a puddle of plastic by using the wrong outlet*its kind of dirty*the smell can put you on your knees at times*prostitution is legal*sometimes things feel a little sketchy*the stray dogs and cats :( *

We took so many pictures, but here are just a few....