Chiang Mai

On Monday evening, Bean and I boarded a bus and rode into Chiang Mai, arriving around 6 AM (yawn!) We were greeted by the lovely Nice Place Guest House staff, and fairly quickly persuaded into staying there. It was a good deal, clean and I was really excited about the hot showers. I had not taken a hot shower since leaving for Ban Phe ... So that was a kicker.

Kyle and Shannon arrived soon after, so Bean and I went to meet them. We quickly decided to grab something to eat and explore the town. We walked all day, looking at the different wats and taking pictures with Larry Bird. Larry is a Pirate Parrot that our group of friends has become very fond of. Since we got him, we have taken him anywhere we can. He recently went to Costa Rica and has made a number of trips to Las Vegas. So if you see any photos of a Pirate Parrot, or hear me mention Larry ... You know what I'm talking about. We concluded our day with setting up a 3 day 2 night jungle trek and going to the Night Bazaar.

At 9AM on Wednesday we loaded into a songteau with 4 others and were off to the jungle. We had driven about 3 hours before we arrived at the first hilltribe where we had lunch. After letting lunch settle, we started out on our first hike of the trek. We hiked about an hour and a half before arriving at the second hilltribe where we were to stay the night. Needless to say, after hiking for that long in the heat and humidity, we were all tired and in need of a shower ... But at a hilltribe, showers are hard to find. So we were dirty and stinky together :) They made us dinner and some of the children from the hilltribe did a dance for us. It was really neat, considering we walked up and saw nothing but 3 huts and a little pig pen. We went to sleep fairly early on our bamboo beds and tried to get a good nights sleep before starting the hike again in the morning. Unfortunately, the good nights sleep thing didn't happen for many of us, but the whole experience was well worth the exhaustion.

We ate breakfast around 9 and hit the trail again. We hiked in for about 2 hours before we arrived at the third hilltribe, which was even smaller than the second. Before having lunch we hiked up to a waterfall. Sadly, the sun wasn't out and only Bean, Kyle and Valentina (another trekker) got all the way in, because the sun wasn't out and we didn't want to hike in wet clothes. Of course as soon as we left the waterfall and started eating lunch the clouds broke apart and it was hotter than hot ... Such is life. After lunch we started on the second half of the hike. We got about an hour into the hike and it started pouring down rain. So we did the last half hour in the rain. The end of this hike took us the the elephant camp, where we got to load our things and ourselves onto the backs of elephants. It stopped raining, just enough for this to be very pleasurable ... Not too hot, not too wet.

I'm not completely sure how I felt about the elephant riding experience (morally speaking) ... although I did have a blast. There were two very young elephants with us, although we did not ride them, we were on their mama's! The younger of the two elephants would get stuck somewhere, or start sliding down the side of a hill in the mud and freak out, squealing and running towards his/her mom. It was great entertainment. The other young elephant was a trouble maker. He/she would run up the hillside and go exploring. The keepers would be yelling commands and get very little response. When it finally decided to re-join the group, it would nudge the keepers playfully, and the keepers would laugh and knock it on the head with a stick (not abusively, I mean we stepped on their heads ... so it couldn't have hurt it ... or so I'd like to believe). So after a lot of laughs, we got off and did another half hour hike the fourth and final hilltribe.

The fourth hilltribe was a bit bigger than all but the first (which was of considerable size in comparison to what we saw of the other three). It was the same sleeping arrangements, only this time we had mosquito nets ... with big holes ... hmmmm ... effective. So we wore a lot of bug spray and stayed covered. Kyle was the only one to get attacked too bad by mosquitoes ... They got his face, poor guy. Again, they made us dinner, and then we sat around playing games, where if you mess up, they rubbed the sut from the cooking pan on your face. We all had black faces by the end of the night. None of us slept well this night. I had a panic attack because I'm afraid of the dark and I couldn't find my head lamp or flash light, then someone else freaked out for some other reason (no one really knows), then Bean walked in his sleep and sat next to Emily 2 (there were two Emily's on the trek), who freaked out because Bean wasn't there before, then someone stepped on Kyle, then Kyle realized his face was getting eaten by mosquitoes and had to get under a mosquito net .... then .... I think we all just tried to sleep, but without a whole lot of success. So the exhaustion continues.

The next morning we had breakfast and did an easy hour and a half hike to the river where we hopped onto bamboo rafts, that none of though to check for durability. Bamboo rafting involved about 4 people standing on bamboos tied together with reeds. They all stand an equal distance apart to distribute the weight and the persons in front and back steer. The water is fairly calm, so it's not dangerous, unless you get stuck on a rock and the raft comes to a complete stop so you go flying forward onto your knees and hit about 4 rocks with the same knee as you slide down the river. Which is, of course, what happened to me about 5 minutes into the trip. I was fine, and thought it was hysterical ... But I definitely had some bumped up legs to prove it. Not long after we get the raft moving again, we realize that one of our bamboo sticks is loose ... AKA if you step on it, your leg will fall through and you have to get it out. That happened to all of us, even our driver (who we're convinced had never actually driven one before) at least twice. We got a good laugh to say the least. So after an hour and a half of "relaxing" rafting, we returned to shore and hopped back onto the songteau to Chiang Mai.

Later that night we went to see a Muay Thai match, which is Thai Boxing. It's a pretty brutal sport, and they start really young. I was not too keen on watching 7 year olds beat the cr&% out of each other, but the older boys were kinda fun (teenagers and such). We even saw a knock out (note the enthusiasm here). We were going to stay to watch the 1 or 2 adult matches, but really, we had had enough after 2 hours.

On Saturday (yesterday), Kyle and Shannon took a flight down to Koh Samui, and Bean and I stayed in Chiang Mai for the day to take a 7 hour Thai cooking class ... Which was awesome. We got to go to the market and make all sorts of yummy stuff, like shrimp in coconut milk, spring rolls, papaya salad, yellow curry paste, Chiang Mai noodles and deep fried banana. We needed to be rolled out of there.

At 6 we boarded another bus back to Bangkok, and arrived at 6AM. We've just been hanging out like zombies ... We're too tired to do anything crazy, and we catch yet another bus tonight at 6 to go down south to hit up the islands. We should be at Koh Pangan by 11AM tomorrow. I downloaded a ton of pictures, and I will have even more when I get Shannon and Bean's.

Ban Phe Week 4 (a little late)

I'm going to try to break this up a little, because I'm not sure I can stare at the computer screen long enough to get everything down in one sitting. I'm in Bangkok for the day, so I'll have plenty of time to come back and update everyone on this last week :)


The last week of the course was intense. 4 days of teaching practice and a lot of preparation, however all in all it went well and again, I had a blast teaching.


We spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evening eating killer western food at Su's restaurant on the beach, and every day at lunch we savoured our dishes at the restaurant across the street. Come Thursday evening, TEFL International took us out for a farewell dinner. We went to a Thai BBQ sort of place where you go pick out your own raw meats, noodles and vegetables, then you cook it all in/on a funky little pan/pot at your table. It was a great night with most of us trainees and a lot of the TEFL Intl staff. Afterwards we found a pool hall and played/watched other play pool all night. We got to sleep in on Friday and were presented with our TESOL Certificates! All the hard work was finally over (until we get jobs and have to do it on our own for 5 classes a day instead of just one!)


On Friday a few of us caught the bus and headed back to Bangkok. Jess and I stayed with Kelli at her apartment just outside of Bangkok. Her place is on the 19th story and has a great view of Bangkok's skyline, as well as a river (not sure which one). After a 4 and a half hour bus ride, and 2 hours on the sky train/subway with my back pack on, I was exhausted ... We all went to bed quite early and enjoyed being able to sleep in.

On Saturday, Kelli, Jess and I went to Khao San Road, because Jess had never been there and I needed to get a place for Bean and I to stay, as he would be arriving much later that night. After walking around a little while we went back to Kelli's place to relax before going out, and just sat on her porch watching the cars drive by. Bean arrived around 12:30AM that night ... I almost knocked him over when I saw him. We ended up staying out until 4AM (his jet lag and my excitement was no match for sleep).

Sunday, Bean and I just hung out, walking around Bangkok, enjoying the food and the company. Shannon and Kyle arrived late Sunday night, but we didn't get to see them until Tuesday in Chiang Mai, which I will talk about in my next post, because my eyes are starting to burn :)

Last thing, for now, Dave, one of the trainers, presented me with another possible job opportunity that it looks like I might be taking up. It's not teaching English, but working at TEFL Intl to help train/observe the new trainees. It's a short term, part time thing, but it sounds perfect for me. It would give me some sort of income for the month of October and my accommodation would be taken care of for most of the month in a place I am comfortable and enjoy.

I am posting more pictures, although I'm not sure when I'll get them in order. There are a ton ... Enjoy!

Ban Phe Week 3

I guess I'll just start from where I left off ...

We spent Sunday exploring a bit more of Ban Phe. It's bigger than we gave it credit for, but we continue to hang out on our street and along the beach. It takes too much energy to walk that far in the hot humid weather. It would be nice for some variation, but again, we're all a bit too tired/lazy :)

Monday was spent in the classroom ... We all crashed pretty early ... It was a typical Monday, slow to start.

Tuesday was another day spent writing a lesson plan. My trainer put me in contact with a school in Bangkok that is sponsored by the princess. It would be teaching "little monks" ... The school has about 800 students, grades K through 9, who are mostly from low and middle income families. I am not sure where they need me, but they need native speakers, and my trainer, Dave, has recommended me, so my chances seem alright. The pro to this scenario is that I have safe housing in a "royal compound", and I'm working under the princess, which is quite the resume builder. The con is, it's in Bangkok, and the pay is less than stellar. So, I'll take the next month of traveling to soak it all in and try to decide what I want.

Wednesday we had teaching practice again ... We had to get up early and sit in a stuffy van for 40 minutes ... but it all paid off. I had a great group of students and it all went really well. When we got back to the school, it was back to lesson planning ... UGH!

Thursday was an awesome morning for teaching. I was really comfortable in front of the class and got through the lesson without feeling like I rushed it. The kids were laughing and having a good time from start to finish. It was a great feeling.

Since we did not have to teach on Friday, we were able to relax a little on Thursday evening. Helen and I went with one of our trainers (Ji) to get facials. It was great to just enjoy ourselves and not think about our next lesson. We ended the night at the night market for dinner ... It was an awesome day.

We had to observe a class on Friday morning, which isn't too bad, but we had to come back and start our lesson plans for Monday. We all left the classroom at 4:45 sharp to start our weekend. We headed to a small bar/restaurant on the beach and had a beach BBQ. The woman (Sus) made a huge bonfire and we roasted our own sausages on the beach. She even went out of her way to get potatoes to make us potato salad. She also has some kittens that I fell in love with. One is tabby, and he's really playful, his name is M because he has an "M" on his forehead. He was playing in the surf, it was hysterical to watch a kitten as small as he is chasing waves. The other two are much more calm. "Blacky" is ... you'd never guess ... black, and she's the sister, a jealous kitty who loved my lap :) I didn't catch the other's name, but it's a beautiful coffee color, and he took some real warming up before he would give you any attention. It was also Natalie's birthday, so I got to talk to her which was really nice. Mom and dad got back from Cabo, so I got to talk to them as well for the first time in a week ... I really can't believe how quickly this all is going by!!

Yesterday (Saturday), Helen and I were on a mission to get Jess to a doctor, because she's been ill for the majority of the class and nearly fainted on Friday. We got with the owner of the school and got her to the doctor, who gave her some anti-biotics and anti-bacterials and sent us on our way. Helen and I then headed to dinner with Jenny (a woman who works at the school), where I got 2 glasses of WINE!!! It was a pretty crummy merlot, but I really wanted red wine, and no one has it by the glass, so I took advantage.

Today I woke up late and came downstairs and Jess still wasn't feeling well. She didn't feel she described her symptoms properly and wanted to go to the hospital. So Helen and I took her to Rayong Hospital. It was a beautiful hospital, we were all quite impressed. It was a little on the pricey side, but only in Thai standards, certainly not U.S. standards. So Jess is feeling better emotionally and physically. However, she still seems pretty emotionally drained from being away from home and feeling so ill (and who can blame her?)


So now, I'm procrastinating. I've finished my lesson plan, made my materials and cheat sheet, but I really need to run through it a couple more times. We teach tomorrow, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week, so come Friday when it's all finished, I think I'll be drained and ready to start my vacation with Bean, Kyle and Shannon ... Only one more week!!!

Oh man! I almost forgot!!! For dinner tonight, we went to Sus' place again. She doesn't have a menu, you just go in and ask "can you make 'this' tonight?" and she tells you if she can or cannot, or you walk by and she says "I'm making spaghetti today, come over for dinner" and you just show up, pay one price and eat as much as you want. She doesn't do a whole lot of Thai food, but she is an excellent chef. Today was spaghetti with ... drum roll please ... REAL PARMESEAN CHEESE!!! I think I piled it a mile high. I have been dreaming about cheese, and I finally got it. Tomorrow she's making mustard chicken and pasta ... I just hope she has more cheese laying around for me to devour!

Ban Phe Week 2

I can't believe I am half way done with the class already. The last two weeks have flown by. I have a lot to write today ... brace yourselves.

Last Monday, Kelli (a friend from the course) and I went to the Ban Phe night market. On our way there we ran into some elephants on the street. It was exciting at first, but then it just looked so sad and unnatural for them to be on paved streets, eating the weeds growing out of the sidewalk. But, I can officially say I've seen elephants in Thailand now! And to top it all off, within minutes of seeing the elephants, we saw a monkey being held by some woman on a motorbike! We felt like we were at the circus, but we got a good laugh out of it to say the least ... I mean the monkey was just unreal. By the time we got to the night market, we felt like our quota of excitement for the night had been used up, but the market was really neat. The prices were great because they get so few tourists there (we saw one other westerner there ... it was awesome), so we didn't have to bargain much, which is always a plus for me. Tomorrow, one of our trainers is going to take us there again and show us where to get the really good stuff for super duper cheap.

School was nuts this week. Monday night and Tuesday night we had next to nothing to for homework, but on Wednesday it got crazy!!! Wednesday we had to do our lesson plans and prepare for our first teaching practice for Thursday. We had to create a bunch of materials and practice practice practice. We were all nervous wrecks, knowing we were going to have to get up early and teach our first hour long lesson! A bunch of us ended up drinking a few beers across the street at the restaurant just to get away from it all ... before we knew it, it was 11pm and we still needed to do one more run through, shower (because by the end of a humid day, the last thing you want to do is crawl into bed all sticky and gross) and go to bed!

Needless to say, we were tired and nervous as can be come Thursday morning. I had to start my lesson at 8:30, and I was freaking out (pacing around the room, nervously babbling, the whole bit). My class of ten 15 year olds walked in, and away I went. It was so exhilarating! It's good to note here that Thai students are very well behaved, but I was very lucky to have a class that was talkative and excited to be there. They made everything seem so easy, and since they were such good participants, I felt really good about it! So ... I survived day one of teaching practice with no scars!

We had to do teaching practice again on Friday, so we went through the whole process of lesson planning, practicing and creating materials again on Thursday, but most of us went to bed significantly earlier :) Friday's lesson did not go as smoothly, but that's why it's teaching practice. I couldn't get my language consistent, and when you're teaching a dialog, that's really important. So I learn and move on to the next lesson (which will be this Thursday).

Friday night a few of us decided we should hit up some of the karaoke bars that are scattered all over. Unfortunately, the first karaoke bar we went to didn't turn out to be karaoke. Apparently they also have bars for people who actually have talent. Oops. We requested that we sing Zombie, by the Cranberries, because Thais seem to REALLY like this song at karaoke bars. We know this because the one down the road can be heard from the school, and we hear this song played up to 4 times a night, and the Thai accent with it is priceless. Anyway, so they call us up on stage and we realize none of us really know the words. Since it isn't a karaoke bar, they only play the back music, which means we have no idea what the melody is ... So it was 3 farang (Thai word for foreigner, meaning something like alien when literally translated) up on a stage singing terribly and laughing hysterically. We were basically boo'd off the stage. So we paid our bill and got out of there. We then went to the karaoke bar down the road from school and accidentally ordered a large beer, that turned out to be humongous (we called it "literally large")! So we called everyone we knew (which isn't very many) to come help us drink our yard high beer, and retired by midnight. Someone got some good pictures from this evening, none of the karaoke mishap, but the beer mishap is there as well as some of us learning traditional Thai dance. When I can get them from her, I'll be sure to post them.

Yesterday (Saturday), Jess (another trainee) and I went into Rayong (a city near Ban Phe) to do some shopping. We took songteaus (covered flatbed trucks with benches in the bed of the truck) to the mall. Jess is a tiny thing ... smaller than a lot of Thais. So shopping in Thailand is not too hard for her, because she's their size. I on the other hand am bigger around and taller than most, so it's a bit of a struggle. Jess and I were in a shop, and like normal, the woman working at the shop starts bringing me clothes and saying "I have big sizes!", I thank her and start trying it on. Too small, or ugly ... nothing worked. Jess starts trying on things, and things are too big or ugly. She was a very nice and friendly woman, but she looked at the two of us and says to Jess "you need to get fat" then looks at me and says "you should give her some of your food"!!! I was warned that Thais are very honest and find humor in size, so I was waiting for a moment like this one. I almost keeled over in laughter when I saw that this nice Thai woman was giggling at her clever comment. Jess didn't know what to say, but luckily I was in a good mood, I thought it was hysterical.

After a long day at the mall, we came back to Ban Phe and had an Australian Roast at a restaurant owned by an Aussie. I had roast lamb and veggies and boy was it good. We were all in seventh heaven eating our western food. We love our Thai food, but there is something so comforting about eating something from home (even if the US doesn't do a "proper roast", it still tasted like home).

Today has been a lazy day. Lots of reading and a walk to Old Ban Phe to see if the Kodak store was open (in case you were wondering, it wasn't).

So things are good here, I'm having a blast and finally feel more at ease. Can't believe how fast it is going ... But it feels like forever since I've seen anyone. Weird how that works :)

I'm off to bed ... Goodnight!

Ban Phe Week 1

I am trying to download some pictures right now ... so check the picture link to the right, there might be something new!

Where to start!?!

Let's see ... Last Sunday was orientation, and while I was quite nervous before, I left feeling really exhilarated about taking the class. Come Monday, I was ready for a full day of school. They space things out quite nicely, so the days seem to go by pretty fast, but there has been a ton of homework every day. It hasn't been too bad, but there is a lot of work. We met with kids on Thursday and Friday which proved to be far more difficult than I was expecting, but I guess that's why I'm in school for it :)

Besides school, I have spent a lot of time at the bars on the beach to do homework, because they're actually quite quiet and it's nice to get out of the school since we live there and spend our entire days there (plus we can have a beer to cool off). The bars are really cool ... The waves come so far up you think you'll have to move your feet so that the waves won't get them, but that hasn't been a problem yet. There are quite a few pictures (if they're not up now, they'll be up soon ... I promise).

The weather has been crazy. There was a great thunder storm on Monday, and a short rain every day, except for Friday when it rained all day, and this weekend when it was beautiful.

I suppose I should dedicate some space to the lovely bugs of Ban Phe. The second night we were in our rooms, a girl found a 3" cockroach in her bed ... on the same night, another girl found a giant spider in her bedroom. We were all creeped out to say the least. Later in the week, the same girl who found the spider, found a cockroach in her bed. I have a pet lizard in my room. He is super small, but I have named him Leo and I like to believe that he eats all those creepy crawlies that I want out of my room (I have also invested in mosquito/flying insect killing spray and raid plug ins ... not to mention the scent of 25% DEET that I have sprayed all over me at all times). So we can all thank Leo for keeping me sane :) and the bugs away.

Let's see ... What else? The FOOD! I love Thai food. And I love Thai restaurants. The restaurant across from the school is the best. It is run by two related families , they have three daughters who are at school all day, and a 3 month old boy who they carry around all day while they work. It's awesome. I had to explain to them that I like watching them cook, because they thought I was being impatient waiting for my food, and now when they see me look, they tell me what they're making.

Ban Phe may be small, but I love that I've been here for only a week, and I feel like I'm part of a community already. Ok, so maybe I'm just part of the community on my street, but it's a community nonetheless. I'm also enjoying being alone more here than in Bangkok. Bangkok was just too much on my own (I know I keep saying that, but it's true!) I also think being alone here feels better, because I know I can always go back to the school and hang out with someone who wants to procrastinate doing his/her homework and visit with me.

I think I've only left out our trip to the Rayong Night Market, which was cut short due to rain, and yesterday's trip to Koh Samet ... which was beautiful. White sand beaches, and complete serenity. The pictures say it better than I can.

I apologize for the mumble jumble ... I'm in an internet cafe with five people playing five different computer games all at full volume (talk about a headache!)

Thank you for all the emails. Despite loving it here, I really miss everyone, and the comfort of being surrounded by people who know me. It's hard keeping your guard up all the time.

Bean, Kyle and Shannon ... get here quick! I miss you!

Ban Phe

Well, I'm finally out of Bangkok! After four days, I have decided that it was too much for me on my own. I was nervous about meeting up with my fellow TEFL classmates, but as soon as I sat down with them, I knew I'd be fine. Three of us met up at the airport to take a shuttle to Ban Phe. It took about two and a half hours to get here, and when we pulled up to the school/place we were staying, we weren't so sure what to think. Sure, you can look down the street and see the ocean, but there was nothing we could see on the short street but a laundry place and two restaurants. We got "set up" in our very basic rooms. It has a double bed, which is nice ... a bathroom, which is alright, despite the lack of hot water ... a bureau with one drawer and 5 hangers, which is so so, considering I had no "off button" when packing. But, it has AC and that's what really matters at this point :)

We quickly decided that we needed to put on our bathing suits and hit the beach. And as quickly as we decided to put on our suits, we decided that the beach wasn't quite as inviting up close as it was from the school :) Apparently the "nice beach" is down the road a bit, away from Ban Phe ... Which turned out to be a lot more than our little street (thank goodness). After exploring a bit, there seems to be quite a few restaurants and markets ... Although there isn't much in terms of nightlife ... which is why I'm sitting in an internet cafe at 9PM writing a blog :)

We are pretty sure there are only 10 to 12 of us enrolled in the 4 week course, and there aren't many westerners in the Ban Phe area, so it may be some close corridors by the end of the month, but hopefully well worth it. The 4 classmates I have met so far seem great, so I'm not worried ... But it may be a long month of card games and studying.

I'll be posting more photos soon of Ban Phe and my tiny little room :) The class starts Monday, and I had to sign something today recognizing that the class can be very stressful, so send good thoughts my way ... I haven't been to school for a while, and grammar is not my forte, so this could be interesting.

I'm Here :)

Alright ... I'm finally sitting down and doing this.

I'll start with the flight ... I basically slept the entire way, which is nothing less than a miracle. I actually sat next a guy who has been working at an international school in Thailand for 4 years, of course this information didn't come out until we were landing, as I was asleep most of the flight. In the Taiwan airport I was chatting with a man who was on his way to Thailand to teach at an international school as well. He then pointed out other people he had talked to who were going to be teaching as well, which was comforting.

When I arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday, I loaded my stuff into my shuttle. Despite not feeling jet lagged, per say, I was still feeling totally overwhelmed. So when I got to the hotel around 2:30pm, I walked down the street to the internet cafe to call home and check my emails. I then walked around a little, but quickly decided that I would resign early.

Before leaving the US, I had booked a tour for Wednesday morning. I thought I would be able to sleep until at least 7, but I woke up at 4:30 in the morning ... So while I wasn't feeling jet lagged the evening prior, I clearly wasn't quite so lucky. Fortunately I was able to turn on my iPod and watch the Office for a couple of hours, and met up with my tour guide at 8:30am. Cool thing about my tour: I was the only one on it .... Not-so-cool thing about my tour: I was the only one on it. I was really hoping that I would meet some people so that I wouldn't feel so alone in Bangkok, but hey, I got a private tour of three wats!

We went to Wat Pho first, home of the reclining Buddha. We then got onto our private shuttle and went to Wat Traimit, home of the golden Buddha (really cool story ... abridged version ... it was accidentally found about 50 years ago. The 3 meter tall Buddha had been covered in cement. When they tried to move it, the cement cracked and they found the 18k gold Buddha beneath.) Then we moved on to Wat Benchamabophit, which is a beautiful, newer temple made of marble. After that I was taken to a gem gallery ... ha ... beautiful, but I just wanted out.

When I was finished listening to how great Thai gems are, my tour guide was kind enough to take me to the MBK Mall to buy a phone. I was so overwhelmed with the chaos that I bought the first phone I was introduced to, and left as quickly as possible. I don't think I'm cut out for the whole "bargaining" thing, but I guess I'll just have to learn.

When I returned to my hotel, I decided that I really needed a 2 hour Thai massage :) So I got one. It's such a good deal it's impossible to resist (I'm not going to lie, I got another one this morning.) I went to dinner soon after my massage (I had Pad Thai, that rivaled Bean's ... But Bean, yours is still number one in my book, no joke. I had some for lunch today that didn't even come close to yours!)

Today, like I mentioned before, I got another 2 hour massage (I better not make a habit out of this), then walked to the Royal Palace. On my way there, a young girl stepped in my path and poured bird food into my hand ... I told her I didn't want any, but she just looked at me and said "In Thailand, it's free, it's good luck" ... I still tried to give it back to her, but she wouldn't take it. Before I knew it, there were two more people trying to give me bird feed ... I was surrounded!!! So I threw what was in my hand and tried to walk away. Then they all started telling me I needed to pay them (as if I didn't know that was coming ... I've been to TJ before, you can't fool me). So I caved and tried to give them 20 baht (about 60 cents) ... That wasn't enough ... At this point I'm getting fairly flustered and just want out of the situation, so stupid me gave each of them 100 baht, for a total of 300 baht surrendered (about 9 dollars). They kept harassing me, but I finally stood my ground and got away.

So I finally arrive at the Royal Palace, with only a 300 baht scar. It's 250 baht to go inside to see the palace and Wat Pra Kaeo, however I got there 5 minutes after they closed Wat Pra Kaeo for the day ... So I gave up and walked back. Perhaps tomorrow I will see the Royal Palace :) Just when I thought I was really fed up with Bangkok, I opened a map to make sure I was going the right way, and a man seemed to read my mind and say "Khao San Road is that way" and pointed me in the right direction.

The thing about Thailand so far, is that everyone (bird feed people aside) has been nothing but helpful and kind. I think I'm going to try to do another tour tomorrow to keep me busy ... Then Saturday it is off to Ban Phe. I definitely think I am ready to get out of Bangkok and meet some people. Everyone here seems to come in pairs, and it doesn't make for the most inviting atmosphere to just go introduce myself. I also think the crowds and smog might drive me crazy if I'm here too much longer ... Show me the beach!!!