One Night in Bangkok...

Andrea, my awesome friend from San Francisco "reluctantly" offered to come spend a week with me in Thailand :) on my break from volunteering in India.  We started our journey through this beautiful land in Bangkok.  Bangkok is a little overwhelming at first, but we had a fun time and really packed a lot in to our first day there.

Our first experience after checking in to our guesthouse was being taken around Bangkok in a Tuk Tuk by this little guy below.  We were told it was only 20 baht for him to take us around to all of the temples.  He took us to a not-so-impressive temple first, and then took us to a tailor that and had us try on wool coats...in Bangkok...in 100 degree weather.  We didn't buy a coat, surprising I'm sure :).  So after the tailors, he took us to another temple and then ditched us. haha.  We are 99% sure we were part of a scheme where the Tuk Tuks take us to places where their family works and if you didn't buy something they have no use for you.  Little by little we got more street wise here.  Thai people are really really nice, but there are definitely some funny little schemes to get your money from us stupid gullible Americans.

 Buddhist Monks during a special ceremony.  The mother of one of these Monks was there because her son was becoming a Monk.  She was so proud and it was very sweet to be there for that experience. 

This gargoyle cracked me and Andrea up.  We made fun of him the entire week.  He just looks so doofy.  We even gave him a personality.  In our heads he would say things like "Heyyyy heeey guys, wait up.... hheeeeyyy, durrr".  It's the little things :)

 Khao San Road

And on to some Wats (Buddhist Temples)

There was a HUGE funeral the next day for a Thai princess that passed away.  They had a lot of stages and different ceremonies pumped through large speakers and big screens.  We decided to take a load off and lay on the grass for a while and hang out with the locals.  

It got even more gorgeous the later it became. 

On the way back to our guesthouse, I stubbed the crap out of my toe and it started bleeding from every corner of my nail bed. If you know me well, you can probably use your imagination as to what words flew out of my mouth at the moment of impact.  This was just the beginning of what Andrea and I like to call "when Julie's toe tried to commit suicide". Stupid long 2nd toe.  Always getting in the way!  (don't be jealous of these sexy finger toes... I know you all secretly wish you had a 2nd set of hands located on your feet like a chimpanzee)

Our First Thai Dinner in Bangkok!!

Nom Nom Nom.  This food was amazing.  I ate Green Curry any chance I got after this tasty dish!

And SEAFOOD!! The prawns were gigantic!  But we did have to take the shell and eyeballs off...that was a little gross.  Under all that is Pad Thai.  

And dare we forget to mention dessert?!  Mangoes and Sweet Sticky Rice.  This was the first of many of these.  I could eat this food all day long.  

During dinner a torrential downpour began, and didn't stop all night.  SO, we tried to waive down a taxi but they wouldn't take us home because our guesthouse was too close for them to make the trip worth it.  Instead, we sucked it up and ran through the monsoon or whatever it was.  Basically we swam home and I probably contracted some weird diseases through my injured toe and all the river-like puddles we ran through. And to be honest, the rain just added to the fantastic 1st day in Thailand.  We laughed the whole way back.  

One last thing...totally unrelated to Thailand, but I am so excited to see these little guys again in a few weeks!