Unexpected Surprises!

Phil, Kealan, me, Keiko and RT enjoying our 150-Baht ($5) Ray Bans :)

Wow, what a day!

I am sitting in the Bangkok Airport, although if everything had gone as planned, I would have been in Phnom Penh by now. But there was a slight messup in our flight plans...


Our entire group arrived at the Bangkok Airport around 6 am to check in for our 7:30 flight to Phnom Penh. We are divided into 5 groups, as determined by last name. So although we all fly together, we stick with our groups to ensure that no one gets lost and we can easily keep track of everyone. So, I am in group 5 since my last name starts with a 'T.' Well, turns out that the Thai airline overbooked the flight and all 8 of us in Group 5 (Ryan, Kealan, Diana, Keiko, Mira, Phil, RT, and myself) plus a girl in group 4 (Meghan) did not have seats on the 7:30 flight. We manged to get a flight at 6pm, so we had A LOT of time to kill before our flight. We got in touch with Peace Corps and asked if it was ok to leave the airport, which it luckily was, so we decided to explore Bangkok a bit. We asked around to find out what we should see on such little time, and many people suggested we go to the Grand Palace, a famous complex that houses the royal residence, government offices and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. We were able to pay to leave our stuff in the airport and we split up into a group of 5 and 4 and took taxis into the city, which took about an hour.


After getting there, Kealan and I were not dressed appropriately to enter (my shoulders were too bare for Thai standards, and Kealan's ankles were too exposed), so I had to rent a hideous man's shirt, and Kealan got a cute skirt (see pics below).

Part of the Grand Palace

Me, Keiko, and Kealan















The Grand Palace was absolutely BEAUTIFUL and so intricate. I cannot fully express the beauty of it, and pictures can only show a fraction of what I saw! It was so different from anything I have seen, which is to be expected as I have never been to Asia before. After stumbling around the complex about an hour, we decided to get some Thai food, which was absolutely delicious. We wandered the streets for a bit and the aromas filling the streets were pleasant and nauseating all at the same time.

Yes, this is a monk with a monkey in glasses and a dress!



There is kind of hectic feeling to this wonderful city that cannot fully be described. When we were taking our taxis into and back from the city, I was nervously swaying back and forth as the taxi cab driver calmly made his own traffic lane and weaved alarmingly close to motorists. It's similar to all the travel books I've read and what I've expected, but 10 times better. The varying levels of English spoken was also something interesting, and I am practicing using body language and miming to prepare for my first few weeks in Cambodia.


So we arrived safe and sound back at the airport around 2, and now we're just waiting around killing time until we hop on our plane to Phnom Penh. Oh yea, the humidity here is overwhelming, but I think I'll be able to adjust just fine. I am excited to get to Phnom Penh and start learning Khmer- this not-being-able-to-communicate thing is kind of annoying, so I'm anxious to get my lessons started.

And in case I didn't mention it, I am loving EVERY minute of this journey. Even the unexpected mishaps are proving to turn out quite wonderfully :)


Love and miss you all!