Still Alive: Bangkok Pics I

Hey guys :) It's been a long time since I posted anything, so this is just gonna be like a giant mess of photos all jumbled up. I'll try to make some sense of it, but bear with me. I just got back from my week long winter break, so there's gonna be a lot. This break, I went to Bangkok for a few days and then Bali for a few days. Felt like two totally different vacations. Bangkok was a hot, dirty, jam packed mess and Bali was a relaxing, gorgeous, gracious place (so spoiler alert: I liked Bali much more).

Anyway, I left on Christmas morning and flew into Thailand. This is what my make-shift Christmas tree looked like this year.

We flew into the DMK airport in Bangkok which (and I'm not exaggerating) is the biggest dump I have ever flown through. Plaster falling from the ceiling, broken everything, and an hour long line to even get a taxi. Then, when we were driving to our place, there's these giant portraits of the king literally all over the place. Thailand was shaping up to be quite a weird place. 

After we settled in, the next morning we went to Wat Pho which is a temple housing the famous Reclining Buddha. Everything was shiny and everything was grand. 

Even the doorways were beautiful. I don't have a picture, but the part I really didn't expect was that every time we entered a temple we had to cover our shoulders and......knees. Didn't expect that. So, every time I would walk into a temple, I had to take off my shoes (and hope someone didn't steal them), put on a covering, and put on a skirt over my dress. Needless to say, it was tedious. 

These pagodas look small until you realize that that brown box at the bottom is the roof of an entire temple. These things are huge.

Now, this picture is literally my favorite picture from the whole trip. The colors were absolutely phenomenal because the sun was starting to set. Everything was shiny and pointy like an aggressive drag queen. 

Here's everyone's bff the King again. 

After that, we went to go meet up with a friend I had made in Hong Kong that is from Thailand. What's better than having a local show you around? 

She and one of her friends took us to this local market to this like hole-in-the-wall totally-wouldn't've-given-it-a-second-look kinda place but omigod you guys, best Thai food ever (sorry Kate). 

I couldn't fit all of the food we had in one photo, but believe me when I say we couldn't have fit any more food onto the table had we tried. Chicken, pomegranates, tomatoes, shrimp, you name it. They really did right by us. 

Also, why must people in Southeast Asia be continuously reminded to not stand on the toilet like a toddler??

So, we did some shopping and some hanging out in the park. 

Then we had a night out in Bangkok (yes, just like the song, haha). 

Then, the next day, my coworker Jadelle and I rented a tuk-tuk for a day and went around sight seeing. (Tuk-tuks are those bikes that you can ride in the back).

Here's the palace the king lives in which we were also allowed to go in because it was Thai New Year's Day. 

Pad Thai!! Guess how much this was. Just go ahead. Make a guess. Alright, I'll tell you, it was the equivalent of $1.50. Whaddup. 

Then, we went to the floating market the next day. 

Now, I'm going to be honest here. I'm going to skip the next part of the day because it is entirely too depressing and dark to include in these trip photos. We went to a "Tiger Temple" that was a sad excuse for awful, pathetic people to make money off the misery and degradation of live creatures. I didn't know what I signed up for, but it was one of the most disgusting experiences of my life. 

In addition to being disgusted with the treatment of the tigers, I couldn't believe the dark, bloody mess I saw when I encountered the elephants. And no, I don't mean bloody like the Brits. I mean bloody as in actual blood from the torture these "people" put the elephants through. I won't go into detail because it is very upsetting and I want this to remain light, but if you have time, please take a look at what these elephants have to go through so that white tourists can say that they've ridden an elephant on their vaca.  What they do to elephants in Thailand and all of Southeast Asia. 

I was really affected by this experience and thinking about it makes me physically ill. If you have a second, please check out this non-profit that helps elephants like the ones that I encountered and rescues them. Save the Elephants

I'll continue in the next post.