Bangkok

We arrived in Bangkok late Friday night.  Since we were all hungry and LOVE Thai food, we decided to grab a quick bite to eat after checking into the hotel in Si Lom.  This would be my first pad thai in Thailand.  Delicious but definitely different flavor than home.

Saturday morning we headed to the grand palace.  We stopped for coffee at one of the street vendors- simply amazing!  Must be the coconut milk and condensed milk that they add into the iced coffee.  We also had some donut looking pastry.  Delicious.

On our way to the grand palace we ran into two groups of Wharton people - crazy.  I am sure this will not be the last time this will happen this trip, but crazy it happened so early on.

The grand palace was established in 1782 and is home to royal residences, throne halls, government offices and the emerald Buddha.  The architecture was unreal- everything was so bedazzled and detailed.  Simply elegant.

After the grand palace we headed to wat pho where there were two main attractions: the big Buddha and the hall with over 390 Buddhas.  They take their Buddhas seriously and you have to be dressed appropriately to enter.

After the Buddhas we took a brief tuktuk ride and then a river cruise- saw some interesting houses that were precariously per he'd above the water, a fake floating market (real one was further away), huge fish and a view of the skyline.  

For dinner we went to mango tree, a treat restaurant where I had some pad see ew and glass noodles with chicken and pineapple fried rice.  Sharing dishes = trying more delicious items.  

After dinner we ended up getting foot massages.  About $8.00 for the hour and totally worth it after a long day walking around.  The massage places in Bangkok offer some interesting options- we obviously did not partake.

Sunday we headed to they famous "weekend market" which basically had everything and pretty cheap. The best way I can describe it is the gift show but way cheaper and less organized.  We had our morning coffee and donuts.  I had pad see ew from one of the food stations- I tried not to think about the lack of cleanliness going on.  The food stalls had all types of weird food concoctions.  We enjoyed browsing the shopping and finding some gems.  Many hysterical options were available.

After the market we decided to go for massages again-  yes, a theme of the trip, but they are so cheap it is hard to turn down.  We decided to try a "Thai" massage.  The best thing I can compare this to is getting abused.  Basically they use force and work the knots out of you - no oils or anything.  This abuse included the lady walking on my legs and back, contorting my limbs into positions I didn't know were possible.  If I were to be tortured is how I would imagine it.

Side note:  the cabs are hysterical.  Most of them are neon pink.  Found one with a picture of the Dali Lama and one with a no farting sign.

Bali (continued)

On Sunday we decided to go surfing again!  I got up more his time even though the waves were bigger than last time.  Unfortunately once again we do not have documented evidence of this so you will have to take my word for it.

I decided to get a henna tattoo of turtle here for fun (also cause the guy was pressuring us).

After surfing we headed to chenggu for lunch on the beach.  We had delicious lunch of mie goreng (fried noodle).  We had ocean front view and go to watch the more experienced surfers catch some waves.  

We continued our journey to tanah lot, which is essentially a temple built in the water.  The views at sunset are typically amazing, but once again we encountered rain and therefore had no sunset.  Please excuse the ugly and dark photos.

On Monday we took a trip to Ubud, which in the more cultural city and the city that the book/movie, eat pray love, is based in.  We first stopped for an hour or so at a performance/dance/play thing.  Basically it was a story of good/evil and some famous Indonesian story where good wins out and a bunch of animal creatures are involved.  Still not really sur what happened in the story.  

After the performance, we headed to the monkey forest where there were hundreds of monkeys hanging out.  They were pretty aggressive and would climb on people/bite people.  In fact, Eva, one of Diana's friends got bit when she went earlier.  After escaping bite free from the monkeys, we walked around town.  There were cute little shops and I bought a piece of original art. We also steps for our mandatory daily juice - pineapple for me!  So delicious and refreshing.  We basically went on a juice cleanse in Bali, but instead of replacing meals we just added it to every meal.

After walking around the more touristy part of Ubud, we decided to go to the elephant cave which was home to two temples.  The oldest temple was from the 8th century and although mostly destroyed, still  has a cave which houses a Buddha (kinda just looks likes stone with yellow material).  They had tow top using this because of the bats and snakes in the cave.  This temple also had carvings into the rock which are covered in moss.  The other temple is still used today and the cave is used for yoga and meditation classes today.  These temples were hidden under rice paddies for many years.

Our guide was a wise man.  His main takeaway was that paradise is not in Bali, paradise is in your heart.  He also said how you should always balance good and evil.  Not pray all the time but also not go to night clubs all the time.  You need both in your life.

8th century temple:

13th century temple:

We stopped at a silver store on the way home as Indonesia is known for their silver, but we quickly realized it was a major tourist trap and not cheap.

On Tuesday we headed to Kuta, the party beach.  The weather was iffy and he beach was filled with trash and crowds of people.  We walked by the shops for a bit and then decided we wanted to do something memorable so we all picked a color to dye our hair.  I went with blue, taryn went purple and Diana went red.  We only did a small piece but that coupled with a foot massage was a great way to get out of the rain.  Afterward the sky cleared for a bit so we walked along the beach and grabbed a drink.  

On Wednesday, we had another beach day in Sanur complete with sunshine (and subsequent sunburn), fresh squeezed juice and happiness.  We hung out by the pool and drank some beers after.

Thursday we went white waterrafting.  Once we arrived at the meeting point and were decked out in life vests we walked downhill about a mile to the river.  There was a mix of rapids and. All water where we could get out and float/swim.  The scenery was picturesque and we had a wonderful time on the river!  We made a friend form America who was on our boat.  Overall, excellent day and well worth the trip to he countryside in the van.  

Friday was our last day in Bali.  We went back to the surfing beach, but decided to walk around while some of the people surfed.  I tried to document the funny signs I saw at the beach (see below).  I ended up getting braids - 56 in total...just trying to keep things exciting. Taryn only got a few.  We then headed to the airport to catch out flight to Bangkok.  Thailand here we come!