Well, today was much much better than yesterday.  I got to the hotel around 1:00am, slept until 6:00am when my body decided it was time to get up.  Later in the morning I met up with 6 of the other teachers in my program and we headed out check out parts of Bangkok.  We went to the Chatuchak Weekend Market which boasts to be one of the world’s largest markets.  It was pretty big, hot and crowded.  But there was coconut ice cream so I was a happy little kid.

We wanted to go to the Grand Palace after and couldn’t figure how to get from the train station to the Grand Palace.  A couple of tuk tuk drivers showed us where it was on the map, but it was closed due to a holiday.  They suggested we do a boat tour instead and see a different temple.  Apparently this is a common scam where someone will tell you where you want to go is closed and then take your to their friend’s place to spend your money instead.  Still, the tuk tuk ride was fun.  The boat ride was fun and interesting, but longer than I would have liked.  It’s very interesting how some people live in big houses and next door is a tiny shack that looks like it might fall into the water at any moment.  And then next door to that is a glittering temple.  The temples are amazing, ornate and beautiful, even the smaller ones.  We ended up another Temple, Wat Pho, that has the largest reclining Buddha statue.  It was so large, I couldn’t get a picture of the whole statue.  There were many temples all within the grounds of Wat Pho, but unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to explore a lot.  Then we got into way overly priced tuk tuks to go back to the hotel.

We had a meeting with Xploreasia that evening to introduce everyone and get the general info on tomorrow and the weeks ahead.  By the time we were done with the meeting, I was ready for bed, but needed to eat.  Most of us went to a night market for dinner.  The food was great.  Then I went to bed early.

Overall, it was a great day and I feel so much better about my choice to move abroad.  I’ve always known it’s going to be great, but the fear of the unknown has been very big lately.  The fear has retreated quite a bit today!  Yay!

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore