We met Jess’s friend Air this morning at 10am. Air was an exchange student from Thailand who Jess was friends with in high school. She was excited to see him, and he instantly became our personal tour guide for the day. We got to ask him tons of questions and it was nice to have someone fluent in both English and Thai.
(Khao San Road- where we're staying)
Our first stop was at the Grand Palace, we were glad that we were actually made it inside this time. The Grand Palace is beautiful with tiny details and lots of gold and shiny tiles. It was built in 1782 and has both Western and European style to it. The Grand Palace was once home of the King but now it houses government offices, temples and a meeting hall where the King has conferences with World leaders. The grounds cover 218,000 square meters and are surrounded by 4 walls. Inside there are temples and the Royal Monastery of the Emerald Buddha.
After this we took a ferry boat for 3 baht and crossed the river, which took a couple minutes. On the west side of the river is Wat Arun (The Temple of Dawn). The Temple has the steepest stairs ever, but it was worth the climb because the views of the river and the city were spectacular. The scariest part was walking down, I was sure I was going to fall and tumble hundreds of feet to my death. Luckily, I gripped the railing with all of my might and made it to the bottom safely.
We took the ferry back across the rivet and had lunch near Air’s university. He showed us his University and the building where all his classes are held. I was impressed with how modern the facilities and buildings were!
We had some time to kill so I decided to get my fortune read for $3USD. I was told that I was going to be very successful by age 27 and own my own business, that I would be married at 28 or 29. I will have a boyfriend in April. Although he thought I didn’t have the best luck with love (great- just my luck). He also thinks that I will only have one child. My parents and family will be health. I will be health. I’m a faithful partner, but a past love hasn’t been faithful to me that really hurt me. My work will involve travel. I will meet my husband through travel and/or work. I thought he was pretty accurate about most things that have happened in the past, lets keep my figures crossed that he was right about how much money I will be making!
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Weekend Market called the Chatuchak Market. It’s even bigger than the night market that we visited the night before. It was very overwhelming, especially in the hot weather. People at the market had maps just so they could find their way around! I bought a few last minute things that I’ve been looking for. I’m not sure when I’ll be back to Asia (hopefully sooner rather than later), so I needed to stock up on a few handbags and wallets!
On the way back towards our hostel we made a quick stop at the hospital because the rash on my back is still horrible. This hospital visit went much quicker than Jess’s experience in Patong. It really helped to have Air with us to translate! The doctor wasn’t sure what caused the rash but seemed to think that a lot of it has to do with my backpack. She prescribed a strong prescription strength antihistamine and some special cream for me.
We headed back over to the Kao San area and had a Thai dinner. Afterwards we had to say goodbye to Air. He was really great to spend the whole day and he even insisted ton paying for dinner and our bus and ferry tickets. What a great guy! Jess and I walked around Kao San road and did a little more shopping, of course! We finally were able to haggle with someone and get DVD’s for 50 baht ($1.60)! Everyone is selling them for 100 baht ($3.30), and wouldn’t go lower than 60 baht. We had originally said no to this mans price of 55 baht and walked away. But minutes later, when we were half way down the street, he came running up to us and offered them at 50 baht each. We spent the rest of the night picking out DVD’s and testing them out to make sure they were good quality. Most of them were actually really good quality except some of the ones that ate still in the theaters. Its quite obvious that someone sat inside a theater and recorded it with a video recorder. We still paid more than we did for the ones in Indonesia, which were about 80 cents each, but what can you do?
That’s all for now.
Love,
Katie
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