[SAWASDEE KAH.]

I couldn't have asked for a better first day in Bangkok and it was super filled so this is going to be a long post! The morning started with an interesting breakfast selection (we tried to steer clear of the "american food") and enough tea to kill someone. After breakfast we met up with our group and traveled to a flower market, Pak Klong Talad, in the city. There were tons of men and women selling flowers, fruit, and street food. Along the way we sampled a delicious pastry, almost like a crepe with a creamy filling and toasted coconut on top, and learned how to fold lotus flowers like the local woman do. The eating we were good at, the flower folding not so much. The pink flower below is the lotus flower, it is very symbolic in the Thai culture and can be found at about every stand at the market. We picked up some lotus flowers to bring as an offering to the Temple of Dawn (more on that later). 

After the market we took a boat along the river and then through the canals to a woman named Jim's home to watch a cooking lesson. Jimh (her nickname- her real name is really long and difficult to pronounce) was a sweet Thai woman who welcomed us all into her home and taught us how to home make red curry with chicken and bamboo shoots. For the cooking lesson Jim needed a volunteer so my mom so graciously volunteered me to be her assistant. I was so embarrassed at first to be standing in front of a big group doing it but it turned out to be really fun helping her. She had me mortar and pestle all of the ingredients together that go into the red curry. Some of these ingredients include red chilis, garlic, lemon grass, coliander, kaffir limes, gangal (like a ginger root), pepper corn, shrimp paste, and I think there were a few others I can't remember right now. After the cooking lesson she served us an amazing meal. We ate deep fried toast with pork and a cucumber sauce on it, I'm not sure what this is called but it was delicious. Then we had the red curry, a mixture of chicken and veggies, and the final entree was loofa (and yes I think this is like the bath sponge, not the core but the fruit off of it, but we have yet to clarify) with pork. For desert she brought us sticky rice with coconut milk and corn (so delicious- I needed my sweet fix) and then pineapple that we dipped in salt, sugar, and chili powder. Last but not least we got lemon grass tea to wash down the whole meal with, lemon grass is supposed to help with digestion and after all that food it was definitely needed. 

Here is Jimh, our teacher, showing us how to combined the red curry paste that I had mortar and pestled with the coconut milk to make the red curry. If anyone wants the recipe let me know I have it! 

After we left Jimh's house we took our boat back down the canal and headed to the Temple of Dawn, Wat Arun. There are tons and tons of houses along the canal and it was very interesting to see how different one house could be to the next. There would be a gorgeous mansion next to a house that needed some work to say the least. Here is a view from the canal of some of the homes along the side. 

We arrive at the beautiful Temple of Dawn which was named by the King in the Dawn time period and apparently he couldn't think of anything clever so Temple of Dawn stuck. I had on some shorts that I would consider to be fairly long and the man stopped me at the front and told me I had to put a sarong on to go inside the temple complex. Then I saw a girl inside who had on wayyyy shorter shorts? Oh well. They call short shorts here "bow-wows" meaning when you bow everyone says wow. Hahaha. Our trip leader was hilarious when he described it to us! The temple grounds was beautiful, here is a view from the river. The river is so brown because of the flooding that occurs in the northern part of Thailand.

We got to climb up stairs to the second tier of the temple. Its hard to see from the picture but the stairs were soooo steep! The minute we got to the second tier it started pouring and we had to climb down right away so I didn't get to get any pictures from up at the top. Welcome to rainy season in Bangkok?

I tried to get some good pictures without getting my camera soaking wet like I was. After the temple we headed back and got ready for a delicious dinner at a restaurant called The Mango Tree. We were brought so many dishes some of them included pork satay, papaya salad(which is way hotter than it sounds), chicken wrapped in some sort of leaf (almost like a tamale that you would get at home), red duck curry served in a pineapple, Chinese morning glory, and a few others that I can't remember the names of now. I also got a local beer brewed in Bangkok called Shanghi which was pretty good. For desert the served beautifully carved papaya, watermelon, and pineapple. Where is the chocolate around here? I'm dying for some, seriously. After dinner we got a 40 minute Thai reflexology foot massage for a whopping 8 bucks. It was so nice and relaxing and cheap enough to get another one sometime soon :) There a massage places everywhere you turn near our hotel. Before heading back to our hotel we stopped at the local night market and I got a cute bag and some sunglasses. The locals like to haggle with you for the things that you show interest in. They show you all of the prices on the calculator and then the second you walk away the price nearly drops in half and then of course you wind up back talking to them.

 

Here's a couple of random facts that don't really fit anywhere but I thought that I would share. In Thailand the entire family usually lives in the same home, and they even all share a bed or sleeping room. When we went to Jim's home she explained to us that her entire family sleeps in one room. Two adults and three children but her youngest kid was 21! I asked our trip leader later about this and he said that it was very normal and that no one needs privacy here like we do in the United States. He also told me that your parents try to keep you at home for as long as they can. This was such a different concept to me because in America I feel like the second you turn 18 most kids look for their own places or move away for college. 

Last cool fact then I need to start getting ready for today, we are seeing the Grand Palace! Pictures to come of course:) There are these lizards that live along the canals called monitor lizards and then can steal babies and chickens from peoples homes who live along the river. They are huge lizards but they are scared of adults and will scurry away if you approach them. If these lizards get into your home it is considered to be a sign of bad luck. When this happens a monk must come to your home 3 times and bless the house to rid it of the bad spirits. I thought it was pretty interesting that just a lizard could cause so much chaos!

Anyways, there are more pictures of my Facebook than I posted on here! I will update later on about our day today!