Boat Day and Market Day

I am fighting off sleep as I write this, so bear with me. Spent most of the day walking around in the heat, but I'll get to that later.

I think most everyone has gotten a chance to check out the pictures I posted on Facebook, and for those that haven't you can check them out here.

The first day in Bangkok was full of excitement and exploring. Millie, Cassie, Gina and I explored a local park on our own and walked the 2.5k track that went through and around it. Then we met up with the group and took taxis to a dock and got on a surprisingly rickety boat that took us on a tour of the waterfront. Bangkok has many river channels leading from the Lord River that people live on and use to get around or sell you things. We got off the boat to visit the snake farm where they milked a cobra right in front of me and I got to feed adorable Thai deer by hand - it tickles! Then we were off to Wat Aran: the Temple of the Dawn, where I think I climbed some of the steepest stairs known to man kind. It was a really cool place, and when we got back down to the bottom I treated by self to the best drink ever:

A chilled, freshly opened green coconut (oh my gosh, I'm so dead I was about to write pineapple). When coconuts are still green, they hold coconut water, which is sooo much better than coconut milk. They are ridiculously refreshing, too. I might have to order another one at dinner tonight...

After the temple we headed back to the Guest House, which has a website! Check it out here. We then hung out until 6:30 when we went to dinner at this awesome restaurant down the soi (street). I had some really good prawns, but the best part was desert: fresh Thai mango with sticky rice and coconut cream. Next time I have it I will definitely take a picture - it is nothing if not drool-worthy.

At the end of the day, I was happily exhausted and counted the three blisters on my feet as badges of honor.

On to today, we met around 11 a.m. and got on the Sky Train to go to a huge outdoor market. There were a lot of interesting sights to see that you can't catch in America (I totally saw a cart of roasted and fried bugs for consumption). My group got totally and completely lost and finally found our way to meet back with everyone at the local police station where the very friendly Thai policeman asked us about our trip and told us about himself. He was from Chicago - go figure! Super nice guy, and I found a map of Bangkok and a map of Chiang Mai there for free, so that worked out rather well.

I'm super sore from the long, hot walk around the market, and most of us were so out we were pretty much falling asleep during dinner (myself included). Tomorrow evening we leave for Chiang Mai on the night train. The trip is around 14 hours BUT I get to sleep horizontally! Wohoo! We should get to Chiang Mai Tuesday morning, so I will update you when I get settled.

~Abby