Bangkok!

After our trip to Chiang Mai we taught for a week, and then we were off again! This was our week-long vacation, and we were heading to Bangkok, Cambodia, and then back to Chiang Mai. We took a van down to Bangkok after class on Friday…that was quite the ride, haha. We got into a 16 person van and had room for another person or two…well, we made a couple more stops, and ended up filling our van with 17 people, a dog, plus our 7 backpacks and luggage for the week. 

We didn’t really understand how the other people could travel with literally no luggage, one of the great mysteries I guess. It was pretty cozy on our ride down, so we were happy once we finally arrived. And by arrived I mean the driver dumped us on the side of some random road in Bangkok and left. We took a couple taxis to our hostel, and settled in for the night.

We woke up the next day super early and got in the van we had booked for the day. It was much nicer than being squished into the van like we had been the day before. We drove to the floating market first thing to beat the crowd which apparently gets pretty crazy. It was a bit more expensive than we had expected, but we just sucked it up and paid. I bought some coconut water and mango sticky rice, but the souvenirs were waaaayyyy overpriced.

 We also made it to a temple around there. 

After the floating market we headed to the rose gardens and paid like the $2 to walk around. It was a pretty area, and ate lunch there. 

Our next stop was the Grand Palace. After changing into long pants we met up with our tour guide. Which we hadn’t realized we were going to have, and was another surprise price-wise. It was an expensive day in Bangkok to say the least, but he told us all about the area and buildings that we wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. 

He also brought us by boat to Wat Arun, and the Reclining Buddha. The Buddha hadn’t originally been in his schedule, but he included it for us when we asked. 

 The van dropped us off at Terminal 21, a giant mall in Bangkok, and we went to a nearby Mexican restaurant that we had heard about from the missionaries.

 We liked the Salsa Kitchen more, but they had a nice salsa bar. 

We hung around the mall that evening and ended up going to see a movie. 

Me and Abby also layed on the floor in the hallway of the theatre because…carpet. 

We went to church the next day. It was really nice being able to understand everything without needing translators. I love our ward in Phitsanulok, but it’s still nice to just be able to hear and understand everything without having everything translated. 

After church we headed straight for the airport for Cambodia!