The Week after Camp!

Ok, several days have passed since my last update, so I'll just sum up the week in this post. Okay so the night we got home from camp, I met Lynne Holden. She would be my roommate for the next four days. I stayed up that night talking to her a bit and she had an amazing story! She was a pioneer that has traveled EVERYWHERE! About 20 years ago she built a steel sailboat, from scratch, with her husband and their kids and they then circumnavigated the world, traveling and teaching the Faith!! How cool is that?! She's been to almost every continent, originally from England. Now every year she spreads herself from Canada to Vietnam to New Zealand in order to teach and visit her son and daughter. I was completely fascinated by her life. She knew so much about travel and I learned a lot of little traveling tricks from her! :) Good person to know. (Lynne, Khung's son, Kay and Khung)

The next day, Sunday, Yu came by around 9am and we headed out the Chatuchek Market in downtown Bangkok. The bus ride was about an hour. This market was famous, huge, and awesome!!! There was no way we could have gotten through all of it in one day. It was set up like alley ways. You looked down one alley and you couldn't tell where it ended. AHH and you could get ANYTHING you wanted there. I ended up buying 2 shorts, silk sarong, silk scarf, 3 shirts, leather sandals, lunch and a couple snacks all for less than 50 American dollars!! Isn't that crazy?! Shopping heaven was what it was. After getting more coconut ice cream with sticky rice, we left the market aroudn 2pm. That night I watched Lynne teach an English class to some older students from around the condo...got some tips for when I go to the school. For dinner we all went down to the weekend market in town where I got Pad Thai and I tried oysters for the first time!! All good stuff!! After dinner I headed back to my room with Yu, Best and Klueiy to paint nails and eat pineapple. Soon after it was off to bed! :) (Picture of the lady who cooked my Pad Thai- Thai style fried noodles)

Monday, Lynne and I planned to go to MBK which is the biggest shopping mall in Bangkok, but I ended up waking up too late so instead we ended up eating lunch and going to Carrefore, the big department store down the road from the condo. Lynne took me around the store and showed me everything like a tour guide. She use to live in Thailand to teach English and she knew a lot about the area. It was funny how she talked to me like I was completely lost... I just let her go on and nodded at everything she said to be nice. I got some food for my room, things I could eat in the morning for breakfast, since I rarely got out of my room before noon. :/ After that we walked down to 94 coffee, a coffee shop like Starbucks but according to Lynne ws much better. Over my Chocolate Blitz we talked about traveling and the condition of Thailand. I never thought about the problems other countriesd might be having. Coming from America, One. I was still in awe of being in a new country and Two. I was completely biased, thinking that America was so worse off than all the other countries. But I learned that Thailand has a really big problem with "Sex Tourism" and they are builiding up there country too fast with no base structure. They try to throw money at problems but it all will end up falling apart. :( It's too bad, it could be an absolutely beautiful country. Later that night there was suppose to be a devotional meeting with the kids but that didnt happen! :( (View of the highway from an overpass on the way to Carrefore)

Tuesday was the first time I washed my laundry completely by hand and hung it out to dry on the balcony! The only downside is the dried clothes can take a while to dry and they come out all stiff and hard. I suppose it's worth saving on electricity. For the morning I hung around in my room and then for lunch I went to the restaurant downstairs all by myself! Not too big of a deal, the restaurant already knew me and ordering was easy. The food was good, as always. Around 5pm Yu and Lynne and I headed down to the Suan Lum Night Bazaar. Getting there was a nightmare. We took a van to the train station and then a train, this all took two and a half hours just to get there! The traffic into Bangkok was horrible! Anyways the market was absolutely insane!! It's a real tourist attraction so things were much more organized and glitzed up compared to tha Chatuchek Market. There was a huge area of hundereds of tables and a big stage at one end where there were live performances. On one side of the table area there was a row of restaurants and the other side was lined with beer vendors. Walking through the market was really funny. Everyone was trying to sell things saying "madam madam, i sell you good price!" while they threw scarfs and clothes on you. Yu and I had a great time laughing at all the sales people. The prices were outrageous compared to the other market, probably because it was a tourist spot. The only thing I got there were a pair of Birkenstocks for 8 dollars. Sweet! :) Luckily, getting back home didn't take half as long! I was ready for bed.

Wednesday I jumped out of bed at 8:30am. Lynne, Yu and two new friends Pak Pung and Khung and I were all headed into Bangkok again to go to another shopping mall. I was really tired from shopping already but I couldn't say no to them! We took a van and then a bus and then another bus into the city and to the mall. Bangkok is a HUGE city. On the way to the mall I felt a little sick, the first time I felt sick since I've been in Thailand. Luckily, it passed without an incident. This mall was huge too. I found the malls so tiring. This one was organized by floors (this one had 6 floors) and its not like American malls where there is one main hall way and stores on either side. They arrange them like like cubicals, so there are about 4 hall ways long-wise and then maybe a hundred little hallways that connect around the stores. I was so tired of shopping already. But Lynne helped me buy clothes that I could wear for working at the school. I was so shopped out and tired by the end of the day. We headed home around 3pm. That night I didn't get a chance to sleep. We had a Halloween party at the house of an American couple back in Bangkok. So we loaded up Vaughan's van and we all headed over. The party was cool and all decked out. I was happy to see that, I miss Halloween being away from home. That party was good but kind of akward. I didn't know anyone and I was a bit out of place not being able to talk to people. I ended up talking to some American people but I was really tired and so we were headed out soon.

Thursday, I had lunch with Khung and Lynne. Today was Lynne's last day so I helped her pack up and bit but mostly hung out in my room watching movies I had downloaded. Around 5pm Lynne was out the door. For dinner Yu brought me some chicken fried rice and we watch some movies. I was still really tired from the days before so I was in bed soon. (Me, Yu and Pak Pung at the Halloween party! ) (Klueiy dressed up and in the Halloween spirit! )

Last day in Nonthaburi! I spent the day washing clothes and packing up all my stuff that had managed to spread out across the room. Getting everything into just two suitcases this time was a bit difficuly but I got it done by some miracle. I still had a lot stuff I was taking though. :( Yu and I went to get breakfast, where I ended up leaving my cell phone! AH! Figures the day before I leave I lose my cell phone! Anyways for dinner Vaughan and Sunata invited me over and after we had a devotional witha couple of the youth. Then we were out the door to get me to the bus station. The traffic was again, AWFUL!! It took us about an hour and a half to get to the bus station, but we got there on time. The bus was nicer than I thought, it was like a Star bus. i waved good bye and I was off on an 8 hour bus ride to Yasothon, alone! AHH!! :/