Weekend in Bangkok

A group of us originally intended to go to Chiang Mai, a well-known historical city in the northern part of this country, this last weekend but decided to move it to this weekend to have more time to plan, and instead stick around Bangkok for the weekend. Every Friday the university has a market on school grounds. All I had heard about is to come ready to eat, so I didn’t really know what to expect, but it far exceeded expectations. There were rows of food stalls with typical eats like fresh papaya and mangosteen (a super sweet fruit that looks like a garlic on the inside), smoothies, chicken/pork/beef kabobs, to pad thai, soups, sushi, and lots of mystery food. I had got these doughy breaded balls stuff with octopus, crab, and tuna with a Japanese mayonnaise/basil topping and spring rolls that were both so good. Then there were rows and rows of stalls selling clothes, where I made my first Thailand clothing purchase of a crop top (obviously), but nail polish or pirated cds and two booths that were exclusively selling scrunchies- they’re still big here. We easily spent 2.5+ hours there just browsing and eating and chatting. 

We started the next day early to head to a rose garden a few locals at school suggested we checked out. It was this large park with a small market, hotel, restaurants, temples, a lake, and unbelievable botanical gardens. It was basically a collection of native species, and also had a huge rose and orchid garden, but neither were in bloom. There was a wedding taking place so the tree outside the building the wedding was held had strings of flowers hanging from it and inside the building (which we only saw briefly since it was a private event) there were elaborate carvings and flowers everywhere- very lovely. We would walk into these little sections of the park and find a river and ivy covered bridges, or wild flowers everywhere or big hanging trees- it was awesome. They also had a cultural center where they performed traditional dances and showcased traditional pottery and different crafts. Near there we ran into an elephant and Beth and I took a ride. Elephants are a huge tourist attraction in Thailand, and are often badly abused and/or drugged. Since this was a nature sanctuary, the animals seemed pretty well taken care of. Side note- when we were in Kho Samet the weirdest thing happened. We were standing on the side of the rode, just after the sunset, in front of our hotel which was pretty much in the middle of nowhere and a truck pulls over. They quickly pull two elephants out of the back and two guys hurry them on to the now dark beach and then the truck speeds away- super dicey. Anyway, we had a great late lunch, hung around taking fun pictures and hanging out and then founc a cab to take us home. That night Beth, Meghan, Ratchany and I went to a club in downtown Bangkok called Route 66, which was all of our first night out in bkk except Meghan who was here last semester. It was this row of huge clubs all connected, with hundreds of people sitting in tables out front. If you went into different rooms inside, all well decorated, you’d find live bands, dj’s with crazy lights, music videos and hundreds of people everywhere. I can definitely see how Bangkok has earned its reputation for Asia’s party city.

On Sunday, Beth and I went into the city to find massages (which Thailand is renowned for). We found this strange mall that was like a big Target, but with a huge food court, and a great place for a massage and then had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. I had papaya salad with pork’s neck- super spicy but probably my favorite dish I’ve had here except curry. Anyway, it was an awesome weekend and I’m really glad we stuck around, but I am more excited to go to Chiang Mai tomorrow! Except for the 10 hour bus ride to get there… 

Enacting their favorite animals