7/1/13

Bangkok

After a night of sleeping on and off on the night train, I was woken up by a crazy Thai lady who peeked through the bed curtain saying "Tea? Coffeeeeee?!" over and over. She woke everyone up around 6:15 even though our train wasn't due to arrive until 6:50. I was so tired and in no mood to move. I quickly changed back into my shorts and got off the top bunk because a man came around and put all the beds up and the seats back together.

We were all tired and pretty grumpy, the worst part was that we heard the train was going to be an hour late... But it ended up being 2 hours late. We basically spent 15 hours on that damn train... Sad part is, that's 3 hours less than my flight home from Singapore! Yikes!

We got our things and headed over to a cramped little restaurant for breakfast. We hardly fit inside with our luggage. I ordered an overpriced bowl of fruit and yogurt with a pinch of Museli and a pineapple shake.

We then grabbed our things and walked over to our hotel about 5 minutes away. After checking in, (early!), we headed up to our rooms for a rest and a shower. Laura and I decided to meet up with Kristine around 11:30 to take the sky train to MBK, which is an indoor mall with everything from clothes to electronics to souvenirs. They also have tons of knockoff goods, too.

My shower felt amazing after being on the train for so long. We met up with Kristine and walked to the train station which was right outside our hotel. Of course as soon as I stepped outside I started sweating again.

The train system was easy to use. We took the metro 2 stations and switched to the sky train for 3 stations. We got off right at MBK and headed inside. It had multiple floors (I think 7?) of tons of shops and restaurants. It was nice and cool inside which was such a big change from shopping in the night markets. We looked around at purses, souvenirs, and of course, clothes. Kristine ended up getting a couple things. I got a green floral robe and some little Buddhas. Laura got a purse and a new backpack. We ran into a few of the other girls from our group and then headed for the food court. There were tons of Asian and western choices. The Pizza Hut and KFC were formal sit down restaurants. After checking the prices, we settled on Subway! Some of the items were different than at home but it was still cheap ($3 for a meal) and yummy.

After about 4 hours, we decided to head back to the hotel so we could relax before dinner and our last night out.

At 6:00, we headed downstairs. Most of the girls were dressed up in dresses for our last night out. We took tuk tuks to Khoasan Road, which is a total backpacking district with hostels, shops and restaurants. Apparently, Kristine had been left behind at the hotel! Chen had gone back to get her and then we all met up together. We went to a restaurant and sat in the back room. We all ordered our food and Chen gave us a farewell speech. I ended up getting a spicy basil noodle dish that was wayyyyy too basil-y and had limp noodles. Charlotte and I shared spring rolls that were okay but too small. I definitely made better food at my cooking class.

After dinner, we walked over to a pub and said goodbye to Chen. It was so sad! We took a group picture and then individual pictures with him. Most of the group decided to hang out at the pub but Kristine and Paula and I went shopping along the street. We each bought some tank tips and I bought a hair flower. We then headed back to the pub to have some drinks. There was a table of drunk guys next to us that kept insisting to sit in our laps. Luckily, after a while, they went away.

Santi decided to eat a scorpion. It was hilarious to watch. He said it tasted like beef jerky. We then headed out to another bar that advertised that they don't check ID's and they have "very strong cocktails." I ordered a pineapple fizz and it was extremely strong. We started talking to some guys and girls at the table sitting next to us and then played a few rounds of drinking games. One involved interlocking arms and slapping the table and the other one was "Zoo." The bar was playing good music so everyone was in a good mood. We started taking a ridiculous amount of stupid pictures. I then decided that I wanted to eat a scorpion so we found a guy selling them and I ate a little one. It really did taste like beef jerky!

After that, we went on to another club that was way expensive. I didn't drink anymore and just decided to hang out at the table and chill. A lot of the girls started dancing but I was getting increasingly tired. Finally around 11:45, Santi and Rosie and I said our goodbyes and caught a cab back to the hotel.

I was pretty tired and wanted to make sure I got up for breakfast so I went to bed around 12:45.

Until next time!