This was probably a very wasted day but I was still excited
to ride on a sleeper train. And surprisingly it was very relaxing. The
next morning, I was in Bangkok. I went to a this hotel because it was a
pickup location for my next tour. The front desk staff was less than
helpful though but finally I was able to notify the tour company that I
was waiting for pickup. I met this funny couple from New Zealand. As we
were visiting the famous Buddhist temples we saw actually ceremonies
held by the monks. The New Zealand man lagged behind at one temple to
pray and later mentioned how his daughter was sick and it couldn't hurt
to pray wherever he could even if it wasn't his religion. That was
interesting theory and I am sure with all the spiritual activities
around us one can't help but feel encouraged and motivated.
 |
| Our tour guide |
 |
| Real gold Buddha |
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
At the end of the tour they took us to a gemstone gallery.
It was beautiful to look at but I was not about to spend all my money on
rubies and sapphires. After checking into my hostel and eating lunch, I
got ready for my Thai cooking class. It was a fun class because the
teacher was such a comedian. He had a joke for everything but he was
still informative. I guess that's why so many people were returning
visitors. I met many other travelers including a girl from North
Carolina who was studying abroad in Thailand. I tried to get some advice
from her on what to do for my last night out but she was more
interested in talking to the guy next to us about what to do for his
bachelor party. A older couple shared an observation I had that when
they see other foreigners they just walk past and ignore them. Except
with other black people, that happens to me too.
I was hoping to find someone to hang out with my last
night. I wouldn't mind going to a cabaret or ladyboy show or even to see
some Thai boxing. Since I didn't know what to do I decided to go to one
of the popular night markets near the cooking class and pick up some
souvenirs. I left with another girl from the cooking class who was a
flight attendant from Hong Kong. On the way to the metro I saw a huge
rat and made a gasping noise. As soon as she heard me, she took off
running in the street without even looking back. It was hilarious.
Eventually she slowed down and I caught up to her. She said she was
scared of stuff like that...that's why she didn't want to walk alone.
She was nice though. When I got to the night market I saw a lot of the
same stuff except there were go go dancing bars on the side. I only had a
little money left so I had to be wise.
I had no energy for bargaining and I guess the vendors
didn't either. Some looked like they didn't want to be bothered while
others basically ignored me or pushed me out the store by following
behind me so closely. I saw these beautiful silk pant skirts and asked
the price. Since it was too high I started to walk away but the lady
wanted me to bargain down the price. I kept walking when suddenly she
yelled out an ultimate low price, something like $3. When I walked back
to her to ask her if she would really sell it at that price, she just
ignored me. I found some art and bought it for the price the lady told
me but I think it was overpriced. I only had enough for one more thing
and I gave the amount left over to a beggar on the street. Then it
dawned on me that I need money to pay for the train ride back to the
airport!
I took the metro part of the way and walked the rest of the
way to my hostel because I started to panic. When I got to my hostel I
wanted to confirm with the staff how much the train cost to go back to
the airport. I was short 10 baht! I don't know why but one of the staff
members gave me the whole fare to the airport. I felt so bad but
thankful. The people of Thailand really are kind and generous. As you
can assume, I made it back to Korea ok...let the shoving begin. I
thought my vacation would make me miss it but I only missed the
bathroom.
P.S. - I am going to avoid flying China Eastern because they
always stop at Shanghai Pudong Airport which is the worst. I wrote a
very detailed feedback form explaining why it's the worst. It deters me
from ever wanting to visit China.
Classes resumed and I had to plan classes with no set
guidelines. It was a more relaxed 2 weeks. It was a little sad because
those were the last classes with the 6th graders. I didn't even get to
say goodbye to my favorite class on the last day. Not only was it
goodbye for the 6th grade, it was also goodbye to the principal,
vice-principal and my head co-teacher. It was my first time going to a
retirement party and it was so cute. The principal's family came, there
were special video messages from the students and teachers, the teachers
did a cute dance wearing toy headbands and there was a special tribute
video. The principal even shared his gift of playing the saxophone...and the gift of spam!
My roommate happened to also be a designer and everyone
kept praising her. When I told a couple people I did that too they
just ignored me so I was a little jealous. All they see you as is a
teacher once you say you're a teacher. Later on, each team made dinner
together for a cooking competition. As soon as they said start everyone
was off doing things and I kept asking what I should make or do to help
but no one was really responding. It was a little unorganized to me
because there was no leader to sit down and lay out what each person's
contribution should be. I seemed to be the only one left out of the loop
until one of the organizers asked if I wanted to make something on my
own. I figured I would do an omelette but it just turned into a square
fried egg that they used for the bibimbap. But it was one tasty egg! The hosts judged our team dishes but I think it was a tie.
We finished it off before enjoying music by the bonfire. My phone had
stopped working for no obvious reason so I was a little down about that
throughout the day. I didn't get to record the bands but they sounded
great and one of the singers gave me a box of truffles for valentine's day. It was
also my first time sleeping in a hanok during the winter so I didn't
know what to expect. The rooms use floor heating so the back of my body
was warm while the front was cold. I woke up with a headache. The rest
of the day was a repeat of cooking together with no direction so I just
relaxed on the side. The hosts were really sweet and gave everyone
homemade soybean paste. I wish I knew how to cook it. The rest of the
week I was sick, again, so I stayed in the house the whole time.
