Bangkok, Thailand

So last Friday, June 26th,2009, I went to Bangkok, Thailand with Mom, her best friend, and her step-daughter from Friday to Tuesday. I had a very bad internet connection and no phone service so I was unable to update my blog.. sorry! We arrived to Thailand very late Friday evening and I didn't do much that night because by the time we arrived to the airport and then to the hotel it was 3 am when I went to bed. The next day started off very early I had to be up at 6am for breakfast at 6:30 and I had to be ready to go by 7 am! We were apart of a group with 8 people total ... we traveled with a tour guide who worked for moto tour. She was very nice, funny, spoke very little english, and she is 23 years old but in Korea she is 24 years old. Background on that.. in Korea as soon as a child is created they are 1 years old and when they are born they are 2 years old.. so they just count differently.

ok back to Saturday.. we walked around a famous temple in Bangkok which was made of pure gold. When you enter you are not allowed to show any skin except your toes. There sections of the temple you are not allowed like, the kings home, and the section only for his lawyers and their families. The kings home is made from pure gold.. I have many pictures to show everyone when I get back. I will post a few but I took 200 pictures during the trip! There is another famous temple that goes 33 ft in the air from the first step which on the second base layer of the temple. I climbed it as far as they would let you go and the view of Thailand was amazing! The country is so poor but all of the richest are in the gold temples, and buildings that they have. The people eat such poor quality food, and they suffer from many different diseases but they all worship and take pride in this temple. The culture in Thailand is very shocking! First of all, they don't use toliet paper so some advice if you go to a poor asian country bring your own!! Well they use toliet paper like we use paper towels to dry our hands with... so it wasn't that bad.. but if you forget to grab it before you go.. then you are in trouble!

After we toured the temple I got to experience Thai food, not my favorite at all .. I waited for the Korean style dinner. The people in Thailand are so small because they barely eat meat!! Rice, Veggies, and soup.. all day everyday! Saturday was filled with walking around and learning about the cultural of Thailand. Something interesting I learned about is called " The Golden Triangle" its a group of people who have been fighting for centuries to become their own country. Their corners touch Thailand and China and they have been at war with China for many years because China will not let them make their own establishment and be their own country. You can google it for more information! Later that night we went to see the night life of Thailand, which is very dangerous because many of the people will take your purse and go! there are signs warning you!!

Sunday was the best day ever! I went para sailing in the open ocean.. I got dropped 3 times into the water and picked back up over and over again. The view was so amazing... to see the city and the moutains reflecting from the water was so beautiful! The best experience ever because that was the first time I have ever been para sailing. To say that my first time was in Thailand is priceless! Then we went on a boat to an island and went jet sking! That was so awesome because I made and jumped my own waves! The beach was perfect.. light blue water like the Bahamas!! Later that day we went to an elephant show and I learned that it only takes the trainers 6 months or less to teach the elephants how to do tricks!


On Monday we went to the local Zoo.. where pigs and tigers share the same cage!! it is there tradition for the baby tigers to feed off of the pigs when they are babies so they can grow to be friends? very weird!
Later that night we went to the "open market" where you can bargain for anything! the currency here is baht so i had to exchange my won (korean) and it was very cheap. the open market is like the flea market in america but they sell many strange things here!

We had to go to the airport at 9pm because the other 4 people we were with had to fly out at 11pm, and our flight was scheduled for 1:20am.. so i shopped around the airport because everything is tax free!

Now I am going to bed because even though we left at 1:20 am due to the time change we got back to Seoul at 9am.. and I got back to Moms apt at 11am! So good night :)

Thank you all for everything I have many goodies to share :)

Love you all
Jessica