Thursday, August 12 is the queen's birthday, and to celebrate we took both Thursday and Friday off of school. Considering we've only had 5 days of school so far, it was a pleasant surprise to have such a long break so early in the school year. But I couldn't take a break; not yet. I went in to school to work on my classroom on Thursday, and even though it didn't feel like I accomplished a lot, in the four hours I was there I managed to complete two weeks-worth of lesson plans. I am still no closer to figuring out the curriculum map, but at least I know what I'll be doing for two weeks. After doing some classroom decorating, I decided to call it quits and grab some dinner. Upstairs. Literally, the restaurant is called "Upstairs". And just before I got there, I realized I had locked my school keys in my classroom. It's a good thing I got so much done. So now God was forcing me to take a break and have fun. Okay Lord, I get the picture. :) I will try to have fun.Dinner, however, was amazing -- I paid the equivalent of $9 for a steak dinner. And I had an excellent view of the gym and those frequenting the gym. :)
Friday was fun-day, and it was a day of exploring part of the downtown area. I wanted to go to the ritzier part of town, so dressing up was in order. Of course, by the time I got dressed up (complete with make-up) and looking amazing, we walked out of our apartments and into the rain. It would rain on my parade. Not one to let weather control my mood, I was still quite happy, and ready to explore. We made it to the Siam mall (can't remember what it's called) and walked around. I picked out several choice rings my future fiance could possibly propose with, and found the perfect silk shop to buy Christmas gifts in (if I were rich). The girls and I decided to make the trip worth it, and go to Ocean World in the basement of the mall. Sketch, one would think, but it was totally worth the 525 baht I paid. There were over 3,000 varieties of fish including sharks, eels, and sting rays. A shark and I bonded through the glass, I made kissy faces to about 4 different fish, and got sprayed in the face at a 4-D movie. Afterwards, we searched for the Pratunum Market several blocks down the road and quite literally stumbled upon it. I thought we had a few more blocks to go, and then all of a sudden the sidewalk turned into a sea of sellers and their wares. Open markets are pretty much the same throughout Bangkok, (this coming from someone who's only been to a couple legit markets), but once you've seen one, you've seen them all. They have the same layout, the same items for sale, but it is still fascinating walking through them! The one thing that was odd was that there was an abundance of hair for sale. I have no idea if it was real or not (it sure looked real), but there was ponytail after ponytail, stall after stall of hair for sale. And the costumes -- wow. I think if I ever decided to join a cabaret, I could stock my entire wardrobe from this market alone. There were feather head pieces, masks, and shimmering tube-tops galore. Although I didn't make my purchases from these stalls, I did buy a few gifts and whatnot before it was time to head out to meet up with another friend for dinner. We ended the night with a quick stop at the Thai version of Wal Mart for some random household goods.
Saturday was an adventure of transit. It's 11:56pm so the day is almost gone. However, we started a late morning with a hop from taxi to skytrain. So far so good. But when we changed lines, we got on the train going the wrong direction and ended up one stop farther in the other direction. After getting kicked off the train, we had to sheepishly pull out our maps and look like the typical lost tourist. Finally I gave up and asked a worker which train we were supposed to get on in order to get to Hua Lamphong. Wouldn't you know it, we were going to have to get on another skytrain then switch to the subway to make it to Chinatown. Subway, here I come!
After taking the longest escalator in the world down several stories and taking a bumpy ride through the tunnels, we finally emerged into smoggy air at Hua Lamphong. Since we had no idea which way the entrance to the subway was facing, and since our map was less than helpful, we spent another five minutes trying to figure out which way to go from the station. We finally gave up and followed a Thai sign that looked like it was pointing to Chinatown and their temples. It wasn't until several blocks down the road that we realized there was no hope of us finding the alley-market on our own, so we buckled down and got a tuk-tuk. Something I disdained simply because it was so touristy. I live here. I'm not a tourist, despite what the map, sparkly purse, and aviator sunglasses say. So I grudgingly paid the 40 baht and climbed in, ready to be a spectacle for Thais crowding the streets. The ride took longer than I thought, further reassuring me that it was, in fact, a good idea to get help finding the market after all. When we finally found it, wandering the market quickly told us that this market is much like the others, only with some small twists. Most things were sold in bulk, and some sellers were unwilling to sell things individually. I attempted to buy a pair of sandals, but the man said I'd have to buy the whole pack of six. Why would I need six pairs of the same flip flops?? And the jewelry -- I have never seen such a density of cheap costume jewelry and hair accessories in all my life. Would I buy these plastic knock-offs? No, but it was overwhelming to experience. The food carts along the road were quite fantastic, however, and I succeeded in finding coke-in-a-bag, spring rolls, and fried dumplings. It was wondrous.
The night ended with Mexican dinner with a co-worker and his family and a discussion about soccer, students, and Phuket. I fell in love with their baby boy and contemplated kidnapping him.No worries though, I haven't stolen any children...
yet.
Coke in a bag?? What is that?? LOL Does the soda really come in a bag?
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun break :)