Saw Some Old Stuff.

Lets see some old stuff! Ayutthaya is our plan. It's one of the old capitols of Thailand from around 1300-1700. We wake up early and get breakfast at the coolest breakfast place ever! Well I don't know about ever, but there is a serious selection of breakfast foods from all over the world. So we're really excited. The room only came with two free breakfasts so we sneak mom in, we then get caught and mom leaves. After sneaking out some yogurt and pastries for mom, we take a taxi to the train station.

Bobo is a poser

100 cups of guava juice later...

For 45 baht we get three train tickets to Ayutthaya. The train leaves and then 20 minutes later it stops at some random stop for about an hour. That was kind of a bummer, but we bought some pineapple to munch on in the meantime.

We finally arrive at around noon. After learning when we need to catch the train to go home, we go out and try to figure out what we want to see. Wait what are we even supposed to see in this place? Ruins right? All of a sudden some tuk tuk driver comes up and shows us this map. He says he can take us to 4 different ruin locations for 200 baht per person and get us back in time to catch the train. Mom was hesitant because people here are always trying to rip tourists off, but I figured heck lets do it because we have no idea what we're doing.

On the tuk tuk

The first place called Wat Phra Mahathat is pretty impressive with tons of restored Buddha statues everywhere and some pretty huge ones at that. At the top of the stairs of the temple you could buy some gold leaf and apply it to various buddha statues inside the temple. So in other words there was a lot of sticky gold leaf flying around everywhere and a lot of people in a tiny room putting sticky gold on old stone buddhas.

Bobo matched the ruins

Buddha city

Which one is not like the others?

I didn't know cats could wink

To the elephant camp! Bobo was super excited to ride elephants. Like talking about it endlessly. We arrive at Wat Phra Ram and pay 400 baht each for a 15 minute ride around the area. We climb up the "elephant platform" and get ready to go. Mom and Bobo start getting nervous, but then they are on the ellie and smiling so much. The drivers take us to the photo opportunity then keep repeating 'tip' and we all play dumb like we don't know that he's just trying to get mom to give him more money and finally we start our ride back and while getting off the elephants he tries to get us to tip them again. We get kind of irritated like dude lay off, but you know we play it cool.

Ride on!

Smooches!

Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit is the third place and home to the largest bronze buddha that was restored. So we took our shoes off, walked into the building, looked at the buddha, 2 mins later we turn around and walk out. Ladies try to rip us off some more. 1000 baht for a postcard? Yeah totally going to pay that lady. So we get back in our tuk tuk and go to the fourth place.
At Wat Mahathat there is an entrance fee for foreigners, but by this time we are kind of fed up with paying all these apparent "foreigner" fees so we act like we're part of a tour group from France and walk in with them. There were tons of ruins as with all the other places, but the coolest thing was the buddha head in the tree branches. All thats left of that dude is the head.

Some old stuff

The ransackers always behead the buddhas

Tree root buddha face

We see all of this and get back an hour before the train comes. The ruins were super cool, but eventually you've seen one brick, you've seen them all. At 3:30 we leave on the express train and get back at 5! It was amazing. I slept the whole way almost. Thanks Bobo for your shoulder and lap to lay on.
Time for some shopping. We go to the high end mall food court for dinner and eat at a place similar to Whole Foods then continue shopping around. Mom goes to get her first massage in 10 years and Bobo and I go get ice cream from 7/11.

Free cotton candy to win a ticket to the One Direction concert

I think she's sitting on top of me.

The weekend has come and we finally get to enjoy the Bangkok vacation! After I'm finished with classes I leave and we all pack our stuff up and catch a taxi. The taxi ride takes about an hour and 45 minutes due to the immense amount of traffic caused by a combination of the protests as well as school getting out. The second we arrive at Holiday Inn (yes a little Chingy was sung) we are thrilled and forget almost immediately that it took that long. Theres Christmas decorations everywhere and ITS A HOTEL!!!

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

"Leah get your camera ready…" Bob is a creep.

We check out our room and its a shnazzy pad with a circular window. I'm into it. The best part though is that not only does it have a bedside lamp that is not equipped with an LED light, it also has a soft bed, AC, a TV and the best part… hot water! Like can you say amenities?! Literally so thrilled already.
We start walking around deciding to find something to eat because all of us are suddenly really hungry. After a lot of contemplation and uncertainly we decide that we want to go to The Guinness Irish Pub. Thai food is delicious and all, but sometimes you gotta have your non Thai food, you know what I mean? Mom got fish and chips which came with pretty much an entire fish deep fried and a beer, Bobo got a salad (as usual) and a chocolate covered strawberry blended alcoholic drink that tasted as good as it sounds, I got a burger (obviously) and a mint chocolate chip blended alcoholic drink that was complete with two oreos (they knew me so well).

A little girl in a big world

"Leah you're not cool enough to take pictures of cool architecture."

Merry Christmas from the cuties

So many cuties!

I told you they fried the whole fish

Our plan for the whole week was to get massages on Friday and now that we are all settled in our new place its time. My back hasn't been more excited in its whole life as a back. Mom is too tired to go, so Bobo and I venture off on our own. The place is across from our hotel, yet took us a little bit to find. We finally get there and tell them we want Thai massages. At first we were nervous because every guide book says something along the lines of, "A woman braving the Thai massage." Like okay anything that is described using the word braving sounds like bad news, but who cares right?! When in Thailand!!
They wash our feet in the lobby of the massage place and we're like, "Oh are they doing it right here?", then I realize they just want us to have clean feet. Then they give us these bamboo sandals, that I wish I could have kept, and lead us upstairs. They gave us scrub like clothing to change into and then had us lay on this bed on the floor. It was super comfortable. The massage was amazing! Like I almost don't even have words to describe it. The lady uses the weight of her whole body to work out all your kinks and its wonderful. I started to think of how funny it was to pay someone to rub your body, then reminded myself that I was thinking too much. 90 minutes later after a lot of 'feels great' plus a little 'hurts so good', sadly it was over.
But wait! There's more! She led me downstairs back to the lobby area and provided some delicious ginger tea. It was the best ginger tea I've ever had. Bobo and I drank ours in pure relaxation then got to wash our hands with the wet heated towel they provided. It was so cool guys. And all of this for a total of 500 baht including tip. Thats about $15 dollars. This place is awesome.

The Arrival of America

MOM AND BOBO FINALLY ARRIVED!
The school shortened this week's and next week's classes to prepare for sports day. I found that kind of interesting how much school they were sacrificing for the preparation of sports day, but its a different world here so its casual. It was super convenient for me because then I could spend more time with Mom and Bobo when they arrived! On Sunday I attempted to clean my entire apartment, so I borrowed a broom and some bug repellant. Then washed my sheets and swept and cleaned the bathroom. You know your average cleaning stuff that no one cares to hear about. Lucky for them the weather cooled down a bunch too.
Tuesday comes and I'm like freaking out all day thinking, "Why can't they get here already?!" and this state of mind started the moment I woke up earlier than my alarm at 6:45 and lasted until around 2:30. I got done with classes at 1:50 and left to go wait for them at my apartment. Every taxi that drove by I looked up at to see if it was them, but nope… nope… nope… not them. Suddenly one turns down the road at around 2:30 and guess who it is?! I hope you guessed my mom and Bobo because it was a really easy thing to guess.
They jumped out and I jumped over to them and we hug jumped and all that. After my mom gave the taxi driver the biggest tip he's seen his whole life (50 baht), we lug the suitcases upstairs. The one that was the heaviest was full of food and stuff they brought me which was funny and cool. Funny because they brought me more things than they brought themselves and cool because they brought me more things than they brought themselves. Mom managed to get that 45 pound bag up 4 flights of stairs on her own. Very admirable. Thank you America for Kettle chips, KFC chocolate chip cookies, and English Breakfast Tea (which is not from America… I know… Okay! Also it really is way better than Lipton yellow label, which I didn't think was actually true until now).

This picture in all its blurry beauty lacks only the Twinings English Breakfast Tea

P.S. Yes I know you're jealous of my Thai bedding

They were apparently not tired so we laughed and talked and walked around a little. Suddenly the sun sets around 6 and Bobo is napping and my mom is in her pajamas already. Not tired… right… But I force Bobo to wake up (she was talking in her sleep saying things like "I already told you the last time you woke me up!!" we were confused) and make her get dinner with me. She liked my favorite place, like I didn't know she would or something.

Aerial shots from the apartment balcony

Wednesday they went to school with me! It was really fun and everyone was so excited to meet them. I took them to class and the students like freaked out. The little kids literally threw their hands up and went, "WOOOO!" It was funny. The students asked them for help referring to Bobo as 'Teechaa' and my mom as 'Mom' which was super funny. They had a birthday celebration for one of the teachers here so Mom and Bobo got to try a lot of Thai food. Bobo accidentally ate the spicier papaya salad and had a minor spice attack chugging an entire bottle of water. The Thai teachers loved that.
After school we went to the bigger market which is the equivalent of a dollar store only outside. They weren't really impressed by that which was appropriate. Then we walked to Big C and they bought some treats for people back home. On the way out we got boba tea at this place thats pretty yummy, but mostly just cheap in American standards. It was $0.90. We rode the Song Tong (I have no idea how its spelt or pronouced) back to the apartment, got some wine coolers I cut my finger opening then spilled all over the table also trying to open, then went and got dinner at my favorite place. All three of us had spice attacks and nearly died from fire breath, but in the end we were all full and tired. Went home and fell asleep 25 minutes into the movie.

I guess the camera wasn't as straight as I thought.

They were excited to ride the Song Tong.

"Omg my hair is totally in my face…"

Super enthused

Just your average BBQ attached to a motorcycle, brilliant really.

Ours won the race

The cats here are such good models

Action photo that probably doesn't need a caption

No other type of pet is relevant anymore

Mom loves flowers

Just checking out the beautiful water ways

Just kidding the water ways are pollution city

Bobo's best friend and kindred spirit

"Here take a picture of me standing on the ledge. Can you see the background?"

Aerial shots all day baby.

"Okay now lets get another one without that lady in the background."

Take 4

Look at the picture on the lid. It's me with hair and Bobo with 3 hairs.

Undercover Desserts

You might be surprised to learn, just as I was, that inside this unsuspecting dead crumpled mangrove leaf lies a delicious coconut dessert about 2 inches long and 1 inch wide. Thailand really does its best to hide its desserts. At first I thought why the heck did someone put a bunch of leaves on the community food table. Then someone informed me there is dessert inside so obviously I ate two.

Happy B-day King!

I arrive at school and learn there will be a 2 hour assembly in the morning to celebrate the birthday of the king the following day. I freak for a second because that means 2 hours out in the field with a blue sky and ever shining sun. We are waiting to go down to the field when P Noy tells me I should wear her school blazer because it is more appropriate for the king than my sweater. I'm like okay and think, "Well that's kind of a bummer because this is one heavy duty blazer and is the king even going to be here? I'm wearing a sweater."

My yum donut I picked up on the way to school to celebrate early

Down in the field we line up and watch the proceeding of the director come in and since its also Father's Day in Thailand, the school invited all of the best students in each class's dads. So they all walk in and wait a second we're still standing and my dark hair and navy blazer are like heat blankets. The teacher next to me informs me that last year she passed out during the ceremony because they had her stand in the sun and she was pregnant. I start to dream of passing out and how that would get me a spot in the shade.

Just a couple of dads with a couple of pretty yellow flowers

They hated standing just as much as we did

Shadow people

An hour later we can sit down in the chairs that are in the sun. Some students are on water duty though and they bring us semi important people chilled water that saved our lives. We watch a traditional Thai dance with some of my students dressed in these super cool costumes. I was so proud of them. The ceremony ends and in class the rest of the day not many students show up so its more or less a regular day at school.

All the important people

Those are my coolio students in costume!

Jonathan, Parker and I decide we'll go out to celebrate the King's Birthday. We go to this pizza place called Bresto's. It's pretty cute and get this! It has a wood fire pizza oven! I couldn't believe it. The pizza was super yum.

"Hey can you stand by the oven? Thanks!"

So dang yum

Then we go to Saxophone where we hang around and listen to some live music.

A not so yum beer in a saxophone shaped cup

They played pool and I watched them

So many wind instruments

Overall, minus the heat fest, it was a pretty good day before the king's birthday. On the actual king's birthday I slept in until 9 and watched TV online all day. I can't decide which day I enjoyed more.

Fight on!!.. but not really.

Thirteen year old boys plus a culturally popular sport of boxing can produce some chaos in the classroom occasionally. Let me lay a little background information down for you first. Due to the general mass amount of energy thirteen year olds have and the fact that I don't speak Thai, on a regular basis theres at least two boys walking around the class. I'll tell them to sit down and five minutes later they're walking around again. Sometimes the boys mess around with each other too, just as you would expect. I tell them, "Hey! back to your seat!" and they go and sometimes stay there. My casual daily life with the youngsters.
Today, however, was a bit different. I had to tell these two kids to stop messing with each other like three times in twenty minutes. I figured it was a normal day, whatever you know. Can't win them all. I was helping these girls for a couple minutes. Suddenly I turn around to find the boys fighting and almost look away and think, "I'll deal with that in a second." Then I realize that they're not messing around, their eyes are filled with deadly looks. This is bad news. One kid gets hit and they separate and I'm like, "Wow that was scary for a second! Thank goodness." But the kid who got hit isn't stopping that easy and now has the other kid against the wall in a chokehold. I'm not about to jump in between two thirteen year old boys who are my same height and stronger.
I panic.
I grab a ping pong paddle (they're obsessed with ping pong. I regularly have to yell at them to stop playing in the middle of class) and slam the wooden handle on the white board and yell, "STOP IT! STOP!!"
Thank goodness for the other thirteen year old boys who are pulling the two off of each other. The one who felt the need to administer the chokehold had started crying and I tell him to go in the hall. He speaks the best English out of everyone, yet he just stares at me fuming and crying. I see that its finally settling down and the other boys are like, "They're boxing! Drop it! Shake hands!" One boy even said, "Boys!" As in 'Boys will be boys.' I was like well alright then.
While this whole thing is going on, 3 girls are pulling on my shirt trying to ask me if their work is right and the rest of the class is just sitting and doing their work casually. I think to myself, "Where am I? What is this place."
Then I go to help the girls who didn't seem to realize that I was trying to break up a fight. Turn back around and Mr. Chokehold is trying to pick up a chair while all of the other boys pull it back down to the ground. I yell, "Stop!" again and put my hand on his shoulder in an attempt to guide him to the hall and say, "You need to go in the hall. I know you can understand me. You need to cool off. Enough!" Yet again he doesn't budge.
I glance at my watch and what do you know TIMES UP! I grab my stuff. Wave goodbye and let the Thai teacher figure that one out.

I wish my biggest problem was sitting on laps and walking around the classroom.

I'm off to get myself a mass amount of chocolate and a Coca Cola because I may lack the ability to break up a fight, but I sure as hades can buy some temporary happiness.