It all started May 1, 2011, my plane left Salt Lake City. We arrived at the LAX airport and had to wait 4 hours for the connecting flight to Taiwan. The flight was slightly late, but after crossing an ocean, it equaled a lot late and we missed our next connecting flight to Bangkok by an hour. Well another 6 hour wait to actually get to Thailand.
The airport was interesting and pretty empty. There wasn't a soul besides us for hours.
Then, a hop, skip, and a jump away, WE MADE IT TO THAILAND!!! And we got all of our luggage safe and sound! We sure had a lot of it. Thank you again everyone who donated supplies for this school!!!
It's kinda blurry, but you can see how we all had at least 2 large suitcases (some had 4), a carry on, and a personal. It was fortunate they had these carts. :)
My first impression of Thailand, it was HOT! We got some stares because we were 5 beautiful white girls. The driving is scary!!! They use the other side of the road (which I am still getting used to) and they don't use lanes! I don't even know why they have them. Half the people here use motorcycles/scooters and they weave in and out of traffic with no fear. One of our taxi drivers stated that they were like mosquitoes, watch out for them, they are everywhere and they are dangerous. I thought we were gonna die a few times, but all of our drivers were very good at swerving through traffic and getting us to our destinations on time.
The fist thing we did our first morning there, was to wake up at the crack of dawn to go to the floating markets. The only way to get to this market is by canoe. I'll let the pictures explain. :)
View from our canoe. Yup, those are all shops.
Hello fellow traveler!
Kinda blurry, but you can see the variety of things to buy. They are all very persistent.
Outside of the temple
We got to put gold leafing on all the statues.
Back in the boat again, we continued down the river, only to find...
This guy showing of his snakes, and when we started taking pictures, we had to pay. Dumb tourist traps.
But we got to hold the snakes!
Thank you Dad for raising me with snakes, or I would have never been able to do this.
After the floating markets, we went to see the Grand Palace, The Temple of the Emerald Buddha, The Temple of the Dawn, and many other buildings/temples (I don't remember their names).
Temple of the Emerald Buddha
(which happens to be made of Jade)
One long mural depicting the history of Thailand
Every building has 2 statues to guard the entrance.
Bottom made with gold leafing, the top, real gold
Half bird, half man
If you rub an elephants head, it brings good luck. The elephant statues' heads were worn smooth
Made of glass, crystal, and china
Us lookin pretty
The Emerald Buddha. The first person to find this thought it was made of emerald. Later they found out it was jade, but the name stuck. This Buddha has 3 outfits for each season. Hot, cold, and rain. Pictures weren't allowed inside.
A super cool lion/dog
Mural depicting the epic battle between good and evil. Monkeys and Demons. Monkeys are with the elephants of course.
The Grand Palace
He stands there all day. He can't talk or smile. We were joking around and I saw the corner of his mouth twitch ;) We also cant touch him.
The best tasting bananas EVER! They are called "Lady Fingers"
Two bites and your done. CO CUTE!
Temple of the Dawn
We decided to climb these steps
Each was almost to my knee!!!
Those who made it to the top
I made it!!! (For you Glenn!)
The first day also included a Thai deep tissue massage... we were all limping and on the verge of tears as we left the building. I did find random bruises all over my body, but a few days later I felt great. At the end of the day, we boarded an overnight bus to Phuket (12 hrs away).
To be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment