the world’s BIGGEST market

allegedly.

 

I actually buy into that.

 

I met up with a co-worker on Sunday morning for a run around Benjasiri Park next to our hotel. it was muggy. it was painful. but it happened.

 

we decided to visit the Grand Palace and then on to the Chatuchak Market. it’s 35 acres filled with everything you could imagine. you name it, they sold it. and then some.

we had a very tough time negotiating with cab drivers getting one to take us there. we were told the grand palace was closed for lunch and that we should go directly to the market. and by directly he meant that we had to stop at some jewelry expo so that he could get a kick-back. awesome.

 

we finally made it to the market and we were just overwhelmed. when we started walking around we realized how massively huge this market can be.

there was food, high end clothing, low end clothing, fabric, metal goods, shoes, purses, junk, jewelry, beads, and then some. just wow.

 

this little guy was jamming and I used our newest toy, a little video camera, to capture a little bit of the sounds and sights:

Tara and I at the market

 

after some delicious coconut ice cream and a foot massage we bargained our way into going to the Grand Palace. Or so we thought.

Our cab driver dropped us off and we soon realized that he must have just been tired of the traffic because it was not the grand palace. it was a nice giant buddha, but no palace.

so we got conned into going to two more kick-back locations and THEN to the Grand Palace. But by the time we did all of this, the Grand Palace was closed. we were sad pandas.

 

I took some photos of the outside but we were not allowed inside.

we negotiated another cab driver to take us back to our hotel and we planned on meeting up again for dinner. when we met up we realized how bad jet leg was hitting us and we went back to bed!

 

today (monday) was an extremely long, tough day so I’m thinking a massage is in order. yes, for those of you counting that is number three. for a total of $20.

one night in bangkok

I made it to my hotel safe and sound late friday night/early saturday morning. I managed to sleep a few more hours on my tokkyo to bangkok leg but I still felt like a walking zombie and crashed pretty quickly.

I did manage to laugh as I passed my hotels display of moon cakes. I had enough of those last year in Hong Kong but couldn’t resist the photo op. they even had free samples. no thanks.

my internal alarm clock woke me up at 7:45 even though I had no call time. I had to sit in on a session in the afternoon so I planned on taking a few hours to walk around the hotel and check out my surroundings. but when I woke up I was starving which = overeating on the mondo huge breakfast buffett and I didn’t feel up to walking around. so I took a quick mid morning nap and met up with my team for lunch and work.

 

after we finished up we were all ready to play tourist so we took a tuk tuk-like contraption to a little part of the city with lots of restaurants.

 

that ride was . . . . interesting. that’s erica on my left and tara on my right.

we went decided on a little bar with an outside patio for people watching. have I ever mentioned how much I love foreign diet coke? yum!

and then we wandered to a restaurant with a huge patio called Zanzibar for dinner. I wanted to try something I always get at home so I had their Pad See Ew.  it was good, more vegatbley and less soy.

I don’t know if it’s all of bangkok or just or part of town, but it’s teaming with cats. they’re everywhere and no one seems to mind. this little guy found a good resting point below the chair at the table next to us.

feeling adventurous we decided to walk back to our hotel. if I had to choose one word to describe hangkok it would be overload. overload of the senses. sight, smell, sounds. it’s intense.

 

a lot of the sidewalks are also bike paths. I thought was kinda funny/scary so this one is for you alex:

 

everyone has told me to get a massage here. that’s always on everyone’s list of suggestions. everyone told me how inexpensive and awesome they were so to cure a little jet leg I deicded to take their advice.

 

it was AMAZING! I had an hour long foot/neck/back massage for 250 baht = less than $10. Shut up, right?!

 

I may have nodded of twice. and we decided that it would be our nightly ritual. heck, an hour massage each night is less expensive than one, one hour massage in the states. love!

 

so this morning (I’m 11 hours ahead) we have plans to play tourist. we want to visit a few temples and check out one of the markets. oh, and get a massage.

getting there is half the fun

not really. I lied. 14 hour flights are about as fun as a root canal.

 

I’ve become such a cranky flier. the couple sitting next to me kept their light on and voices raiser the ENTIRE flight. I now hate ipads and every person that uses them. all of them.

 

hence my crankiness.

 

when I boarded I was welcomed by this guy:

 

who doesn’t love a good menu?

 

I watched bridesmaids. funny. but not as funny as I thought. love story mixed in. lame. then I watch country strong. that’s a very, very sad movie with a very, very sad ending. beware. somewhere in the middle I grabbed about 3 1/2 hours of sleep and ate all three meals. and I finished up the latest edition of pirates of the carribean as we landed. I actually liked that one.

 

so I sleep walk to the bathroom in tokyo and find this in the stall.

 

yes that is a toilet with its very own remote control. I was confused and tired and couldn’t figure out how to actually flush the toilet instead of playing the “flushing sound” on the remote. good times.

 

I’ve got another 6 hour leg ahead before I touch down in bangkok. fingers crossed I double my sleep.

The Princess’s New Clothes

This Labor Day break we went to Charleston and our favorite Island to visit family.  As a bonus we picked up a sweet new sweater for Kate hand made by Rosemary!

 

 

Fits perfectly and looks terrific!

surprise thai trip

last fall, I was lucky enough to go to hong kong. next week? thailand.

about two weeks ago I get an email from my boss asking me how I feel about going to honk kong and australia. I replied in a bout 2 seconds that I was very interested.

after drilling down to the details and hammering out my schedule it turns out the trip is actually to Bangkok.  so I went from a trip to Canada to Thailand and I leave next week.

it’s been such a whirlwind that I haven’t had time to plan out my tourist schedule. i will only have two play days so I have to make the most out of all my time there. a few friends have offered suggestions but if anyone out there has friends or friends of friends that have gone,  I would love to hear more!

 

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