A Weekend Tourist

After orientation ended on Friday, the weekend of sightseeing began! I couldn't believe that I had been in Thailand a week without seeing much more than my dorm and its surrounding sois (streets), Chulalongkorn University (Chula, for short), and the JJ or Chatachuk Market. So, everyone went out to dinner at a hole in the wall place where we were the only white faces around. I was having a great time until (at the end of the meal) I caught a glimpse of the dishwashing facilities... large rubber trash cans overflowing with murky water, bits of food, and our dishes. Ew. On the positive side, I am still alive.

After the death-defying dining came to a close, we piled into cabs- literally five of us on top of each other to save a bit of cab fare. An international friend from our dorm, Daisuke, directed us to the clubbing section of town. I felt horribly under-dressed and over-clothed (probably a new word, but hopefully it gets the message across). Apparently, I am more fashion-challenged than in the US. It's official. Anyway, we went to a super-swanky club called Route 66 and danced the night away... until we (not me exactly, but part of our group) sort of got kicked out, but that's a different story.

Saturday involved taking the BTS skytrain down to a bridge where we hopped on a water taxi and headed to the Grand Palace area.

• First stop: Wat Pho, home of the giant Reclining Buddha. Impressive, but the entire wat (aka temple) compound was either under renovation or in need of better upkeep. I'll post some pictures when I have a chance.
• Second stop: street hawkers for fresh pineapple, fried bananas, and vanilla ice cream with sticky rice and coconut milk. YUM.
• Third stop: Wat Phra Kaew, home of the Emerald Buddha inside the Grand Palace complex. Everything was colorful and shiny and gold... lots of gold. I got a kick out of the Emerald Buddha's three seasonal costumes- hot, rainy, and cold. It's like the King plays dress up three times a year. Okay, technically, it's the Crown Prince who changes the Buddha's headdress these days (someone else changes the rest of the costume) because nobody wants to risk the 80-year-old-longest-reigning-living-ruler's life on a climb up to the top of the ornate, three-tiered platform on which the jade Buddha meditates.
• Fourth stop: a couple palace museums.
• Fifth stop: Wat Aruna, the Temple of the Dawn. My favorite wat so far! The wat's exterior is concrete covered in broken pieces of china, giving it a colorful, trashy-chic look. I climbed the steeeeeep stairs up the wat's facade and indulged in amazing views of Bangkok while little bells on the surrounding spires tinkled around me. Ahhhh...

After the long day of sightseeing, I had (yes, had) to treat myself to a Thai massage. Because my feet were so sore, I plunked down my 159 baht ($5 ish) for an hour-long, amazing, relaxing, sole-soothing rub down. I can't wait to try a full-body massage soon. :)

Finally, today I went to the Evangelical Church of Bangkok with a couple female Fulbrighter friends. I miss my Lutheran churches in Coeur d'Alene and Houston. The three of us went to the Vimanmek Mansion after church; a jaunt I really enjoyed despite my exhaustion. Speaking of exhaustion, I'm off to rest up for another week of orientation, Thai language classes, and lesson planning 101!