Long Live the King

Happy July readers. Let's dive right into my last days in Thailand...

As you know, T works in the showroom at a Suzuki dealership. I haven't told you that his wife works as a trainer for human resource employees. However, they both have a second job. T runs a small shop out of his apartment. The dinner table is the same as the cash drawer and the front door is the entrance to the shop. Gives a new meaning to "work at home". T's parents also work a shop (not their house) a couple of blocks away. It was very interesting to me.

Anyway, my next day in Thailand involved a trip to Chatuchak Market. It was Sunday and I first walked with T and his wife to give offerings to a monk. When he walked by we put food and money in his bucket and then he chanted something in Thai to us and T told me that he told them to pray. It was a very intriguing event, and it was over very quickly. I remember not too long ago sitting through a French church service and now I'm making offerings to a Budhist monk. Mom won't be proud.

T's wife and I then took a bus to Chatuchak market. It is Bangkok's largest outdoor market, and I think it spans nearly 30 acres. I didn't cover all of it, but I did spend a good 4 hours walking around trying to find the cheapest version of the souvenirs I wanted to get. It was very tiring and I was eager to rest. However, I didn't want to waste my last full day in Thailand sleeping so I hoped on the skyrail, transfered to (the wrong) bus, transfered to the right bus, transfered to another bus, and found myself at the Ancient City. What is the Ancient City you may ask? It is a re-creation of Thailand for those short on time and/or money. It is a little park in the shape of Thailand with miniature re-creations of Thailand's landmarks. The student card helped again, and upon entry you are given a bicycle to ride around. It was interesting for the first 5 minutes, but then I realized it was just like Epcot and not what I wanted to do. I wanted to see real Thai temples and landmarks, not cheesy re-creations. I still took several photos and rode my bike around quite a bit to get my money's worth, but I left feeling like I had wasted my time. As you'll see in some of the photos, the details are pretty good. Some of the photos can be deceptive to how scaled down they actually are.

Following my lackluster endeavor, I tried to take the bus back to T's apartment but ended up getting lost in Bangkok. Cities 4, Trevor 0. I finally took a taxi and after eating some yummy fried rice crashed for the night. While I slept Spain won the Euro 2008.

My last day in Thailand wasn't terribly exciting. I did laundry, air dried it in my room, walked around the neighborhood for lunch, packed, said my goodbyes to T, and took a taxi to the airport. Then I blogged adn boarded my flight to Sydney.

I'd have to say that Thailand has been my least favorite place so far. I didn't really connect to it too well, and I didn't find myself desiring to do anything exciting. Sitting on a beach for a week isn't my idea of a good vacation. Don't get me wrong - I had a good time, but it "wow" me.

Thailand photos should be completely updated now! Click on the link in the post below to see them! (Same album as before)