Bangkok
So as you all know i decide to go to Bangkok for spring break before kyle got here. I was really nervous about going because when we left there was a lot of protesting going on. Luckily my neighbor and a couple of friends here are Thai and gave me a heads up on what not to do or bring. I was not to wear red or yellow as those where the two sides colors. Also it was the Water festival because it was the new year there. So what i packed was undershirts and jeans. This worked out perfect cause i didn't care if all my clothing got destroyed in the festival i would just leave it. We got to Bangkok and everything seemed normal other then it was a huge party everywhere. It really didn't seem like there was unrest. One of the girls i was on the trip had planed a lot of stuff out for us. So everyday we had to wake up pretty early to start doing stuff. The Hotel we stayed at only cost 30$ a night and is a "really nice hotel" so nice the king still has tea in it. I would of qualified it as a dump in the states but you know each there own. The one good thing was it had Western breakfast every morning.
Day 1
This day was the day to go see the kings temple and palace. We woke up got or Thai version of eggs pancakes and french toast. I was pretty impressed for being half way around the world where no one eats any of that stuff it was pretty good. We finished eating and then got into a van to go to the Temple and palace. The place was PACKED. The new year was happening and i think this was technically new years eve. From what i could understand there are 9 temple that you go to pay respect to Buddha for the new year. This was one of them so not only was it packed with visitors it was packed with normal Thai people. I have never in my life seen so much detail work. There is not one plan surface in the whole place. The King has the biggest laying Buddha in Thailand.
It was really big not going to lie. It was covered in gold leaf and had mother of pearl feet. The feet where amazingly detailed.
After that we went to the kings palace. This is the first spot we saw any actual military and you could kinda sense the unrest. The palace just like the temple was packed. Also they have lots of dress codes for temples and such. It isn't like America where tourist stuff is a free for all. They would not let you in sandals or if they could see your shoulders or if your knees were showing. We made it into the palace. It was just as huge and detailed. I actually kinda got board at this point. Well it could of been that it was about 100 and 95% humidity and that i really just didn't want to be outside anymore but who knows. The place was cool but once you walked around one place that has every surface covered in some design the next hundred walls are not as cool. But I did take these pictures of this wall that was a story about the religion that I liked.
On the way we went to a Marble temple. This was interesting because they shipped all the marble form Italy in the beginning of the 1800 to make this thing. When we were there you could hear the loud speakers from some protest and saw a bunch of the red shirts being washed in the river.
Then we got taken to this gem factory tourist trap thing. It was really annoying cause i could of cared less about it. We did run into some of friends from OZ there which was kinda cool Unfortunately we did not run into them again and had no way of contacting them. On the way home we did get to see the police outpost for rally
Night 1
Well one of the reason I wanted to go to south east Asia was to get some suits made. My neighbor here in OZ brother owns a shop right down town near where we were stay. I looked them up on the Internet and they had good reviews plus we had the in from a family tie. We call them up and they send a guy and a taxi to pick us up from our hotel. When we go there it was a really populated part of town so we got shot with water guns on the way in. We said hello and instantly i could tell this guy was his brother. It was was like a bigger older replicate of my neighbor. It even sounded like him. I had never really had a big interest in clothing as you all know so this was a little over whelming. I told him what I wanted and he gave me a little help. Actually a lot because there are way to many thing to choose on for a suit. I choose out the fabric and style and what not then sat down and chatted with my friends as each on of went and did this. They gave us beer or food if we wanted it. After that he recommended this place to eat and some food to order and after we ate we could come back to see if the jackets fit. So we went and ate and in two hours he had 4 suit tops made and the dress. Well this is picture of the vest for the 70's style suit i got made. But in the background you can see the options for cuffs and collars.
I was really impressed. I couldn't believe that in two hours all the measurements that had been take would be something that you could see. I left very happy with what happened and we went back to the Hotel and went to sleep big day tomorrow up at 6 Am.
Day 2
River Kwai and TIGERS
So the next day we woke up at 6am luckily Thailand is behind OZ so going to bed early and waking up was easy because we just stuck to our normal sleep schedule back in OZ. We got on the van this time and was taken to a bigger Bus. This time i guess it wasn't a private tour. We drove out to the middle of nowhere for about a hour or so. We got there and it is a bridge that well is a bridge.
There is not much around other then a market selling a bunch of tourist stuff. We went and walk along it and took some pictures. Then we had food at this restaurant included in or trip where they charged a ridiculous price for water but pop is normal price. I brought water on the trips that i got from my local friendly 7/11. That is right even in Thailand the convenience store of choice is 7/11.
Next was the cool part of the trip i thought. It was actually very depressing. We went to a tiger temple. Where these tigers are breed from 2 tigers way back in time and now there a bunch will all these monks. Well we walk in and it is cool cause it is way out in the middle of nowhere in farm country. Tigers i guess are hard to find in the wild there because killing on and selling it would make you about 5 time your yearly income as a farmer. So we went a pet the tigers.
It was cool in till it hits you on how drug up these things are. at the beginning they are just calm and friendly by the time the drug kick in full force they all just go to sleep and or lye there doing nothing. At this point you had to sit and watch them all do nothing then there was another area you could 30 bux to have ones head on your lap and get a picture taken. Then we went home after like 3 hour ride from the middle of nowhere. That night we went street shopping and got the pants fitted and the shirts fitted to make sure everything was going well in the suit area.
Day 3
This day we had another trip planned this was to the floating markets and to some rose gardens. This time it was just us and this old creepy guy. He was just odd and very fake. Idk if he was trying to impress us kids or what. So we Take this bus out to the market which is like a hour and then get on a river boat so we can get to the market.
The boat ride was really cool. There was some really nice house right on the canal ways and then we got to the market. The market it was lots of touristy stuff but a lot of food and normal people stuff. This was the point that bargaining for everything go really old. So you see a price and then most the time cut it in half. Start there and argue for a couple min walk away. Then they yell at you for another price. You argue some more then leave and then finally come to a price that is like 60% the original price. I never thought I would say it but it is really annoying to have to bargain for everything.
Then we went to royal rose garden and saw some elephant show with a traditional show that was kinda cool. Of course there was random crap to purchase ever where and people heckling you about it. After that we got taken to this teak carving place. It was cool and had lots of really nice craved pieces.
They were selling them for lots of money and wold ship them home to you. I couldn't believe how some of these people where buying sets of furniture and shipping them home. Some guy had his name on like 5 or 6 sets of stuff.
We went home and got the final fitting of our suits. Made some small changes and then went home. We got this picture before we left.
He said our suits would be done in 2 more hours. We then decided to go to this restaurant he told us about on the 55 floor of some building that was just built. It was cheap for being one of the Top floor restaurants for about 30$ American we had drinks and dinner. This is use at the bottom of the restaurant i want to wear my 70's style one with my matching shirt to this chick in the group. (she copied my fabric choice).
The place was nice it was really quite way up there compared to the city level. I had pigeon which i thought tasted more like beef then chicken but i was happy with it. Then we just went home the next day my last.
Day 4
Well this was the last day before I had to go home. We went to this giant shopping area to get food and just look around at all the stuff. We got there and milled around forever just looking at stuff i bought a fake watch that surprising keeps good time and is automatic. After that we went back to the hotel to find out he King was having afternoon tea there and they came to check our rooms to make sure i guess we were not going to kill him. We then went and got a Thai massage for 10 bux for a hour. I was looking forward to this in till i found out what a Thai massage was. If you don't know imagine you are in a wrestling match that you will lose and never can make a move on the other person. I was in all these weird shapes being pushed on and what not. I did feel better but during it i felt like i was gonna get a broken bone. After this we packed all our stuff up and went to the airport. The plane ride home was nice it was only half full so i had empty seats next to me.
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