VolcaNO

These past two weekends have been all about Bangkok.  Last weekend was Halloween which meant all out craziness for us American college students here in Thailand.  Still exhausted from our 3 weeks of travel, we were all excited to spend time in Bangkok.  On mischief night AKA October 30th, me and some friends decided to go to Siam Paragon to try and see Straight Outta Compton.  We ended up not being able to see the movie and ended up at Scout's Guide to Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse.  The movie was pretty awful and stupid, but it was relevant to Halloween and super cheap for a really nice theatre.  The movie cost $5, and the seats were more comfortable then any American theatre.  That night a big group of us decided to watch The Babadook since the next day was Halloween.  We were all fairly petrified especially since we all think C Building is haunted.

The next day was Halloween and we hung out.  The weather was gorgeous.  It was super sunny and 95 degrees in Bangkok.  Wanting to enjoy the day and relax, we decided to go down the street to a hotel and sit by the pool.  It was so relaxing and bizarre to be tanning on Halloween.

That night the teachers threw a Halloween party/pregame.  My parents read this so I am going to leave out some details of the night, but we all went a little wild and crazy.  All of us got really into finding a good costume.  By 9:30 all 38 of us were drunk.  We then ventured to a local club, RCA.  In line to get into the mobbed club, it started down pouring.  Drunk and soaking wet, I was back on campus at 1AM (a fairly early night for us).  Waking up, I realized that my phone was gone.  So for the past week, I haven't had a phone....

All of us woke up the next morning, not knowing what happened, hungover, and many of us without a phone (it wasn't just me who lost their phone).  A group of us went to BKK Bagel, a bagel shop that has NY style bagels.  They aren't anything like Noah's, but it was a cure for the hangover.  We hung out and recounted the night.  Carissa and I decided to relax the day away and saw Straight Outta Compton, so yes, I saw two movies in one weekend.

A normal school week started though we were all getting excited about leaving for Bali that Thursday, and getting to miss class.  Tuesday night was spent booking hostels and looking at volcano treks and surfing lessons we were going to do while we were there.

A group of 15 people were leaving on Wednesday morning for Bali.  We woke up to find out that their 6AM flight was delayed and then cancelled.  A volcano in Bali had erupted and the volcanic ash had caused the airport to close.  Not knowing what the status of our flight was going to be, all of us were just kept waiting.  These are the hiccups in study abroad travel....a volcanic eruption stops you from flying.

The next 2 days were spent getting emails about our flight getting rescheduled, delayed, then cancelled.  On Friday, all of us knew that it wasn't worth it to go since the flight alone is 4 hours, and we wanted at least 3 full days there.  We had the option to reschedule the flight or get a credit.  With such limited time left, I was able to request the credit and will most likely use it to go to Laos and maybe an island.

Knowing that we were staying in Bangkok, we all decided to go explore the city.  On Friday, we woke up late (sleeping in was a requirement this weekend) and went to the Jim Thompson House.  Jim Thompson was an American who came to Thailand in the 50s and helped the Thai Silk industry become successful again.  Jim Thompson went to Malaysia to visit a friend in 1967, and never came back.  Still to this day, no one knows where he is.

His home that he built in Bangkok is now a museum.  The house is built right along the Klong (the sewer river), and it is made almost entirely of teak wood.  The house is absolutely gorgeous, and built within a ton of trees.  Jim Thompson collected a lot of Thai and Southeast Asian art and pottery that is still in the house and on display.  It was interesting to hear about his life, and to see how an American became so influential in Thai culture and history.

We then headed to the Chao Phraya River where we went to Asiatique Market.  To get to Asiatique, you get on a boat that drops you off at the market.  Pulling up, Asiatique looks like a boardwalk on the Jersey shore.  There are lights all along the waterfront and tons of restaurants and shops.  The most recognizable feature of the market is the huge ferris wheel in the middle of the market.  We walked all over and shopped.  We got a burger for dinner and then rode the ferris wheel (we had to extend our day of being a tourist..)  We got back to campus completely exhausted and we knew we wanted to do more on Saturday.

Saturday I woke up and went to JJ Market.  JJ Market is a famous market in Bangkok and in Thailand because it is the largest market in Thailand.  I think I saw 1/4 of the whole market and I was there for 3 hours.  It is absolutely huge.  Everything you could think of, you can buy at JJ. After walking around and shopping tons, we got on the BTS and went to Ekkamai.  This weekend there was a popup market at Ekkamai.  We got Mac n' Cheese Burgers for dinner from one of the food trucks there.  That night, we all went out to one of the clubs in Bangkok and danced.

Sunday, I woke up and had to do homework (I am a student...)

This weekend that started out as a 5 day trip to Bali, turned into a weekend of Bangkok.  I got to see things and do things that I wanted to do before I left.  A lot of peoples parents are here visiting, so keeping busy and seeing things kept my mind off of being homesick while everyones parents came.

This coming weekend, Kristy, Carissa, I are traveling to Singapore.  We are going to see our friend Prianka, and we are all really pumped.  The weekends are passing quickly and our time here is going super quick.  We are just trying to take in all in.

Well, I just got back from Singapore which means this post is really delayed, but it is ok....

My adventures in Singapore will be up soon.

Love from 12 hours around the world,
Kate