Bangkok and Chang Mai round two

Now Let's all cross our fingers and hope this doesn't erase..... big breath.....
and here we go....

This, my friends, is Bangkok, the final day.  These first pictures are of the temple Wat Pho

Okay, so lets see, Wat Pho was great. Huge, beautiful.

In one of the buildings

Wat Pho is home of the famous Reclining Buddha, or at least the largest Reclining Buddha, and their not joking.  It really is massive.  Barely seemed to fit in the building which it resides.  Shai and I were able to get there in the early afternoon (because we found it the day before, remember?) before the crowds came.  It really was beautiful, and the walls were covered with murals, which was the highlight for me (Thanks Mills art history).

While we were in there, we sat down on some steps at the feet of the Buddha, probably for a good half an hour, and with in that time the crowds came.  At first it was fun to see so many people from so many different parts of the world.  I had a little fashion show diva voice in my head recounting the outfits and shoes as they passed, but after a while it got intense.

The crowd kept coming and the flow started bottle necking and there was weird energetic push forward that everybody had.  Like the need to have the metaphorical notch on their belt. To get forward and get their damn picture already.  I'm trying to check my own assumptions. I mean I was there, right?  Gathering an experience like everybody else, right?  I'm sure there were people there for spiritual reasons, but there are so many other reasons too.  The privileged reasons.  The picture to show back home, the money you had to have to be able to see and gather that experience, the crowds you had to push through to get that picture.  Not taking myself out of that group as well, but still. It was a wow and an ewww (puke in my mouth) experience at the same time.  Eww only because it seemed like it was consumerism at it's heightened state, because people were there  consuming an experience (and paying for it) and seemingly not present for it. The massive crowd helped me see how deeply consumerism drives everything and everybody.  Not to take myself out of that equation because it's a constant mirror for me too.  Am I making any sense?

Okay, okay...onward...

mural detail (boooobies)

This is the bottom of the Buddha's feet.  It's all made out of mother of pearl.  These three stood out to me the most: the phoenix, a crane and a peacock. It reminds me of home and of my peeps and fam. <3

obligatory foot photo (jk)

After Wat pho we needed a break from tourists. I mean, woah... (ha ha) so we decided to take a tuk-tuk (or is it took-took?) to our favorite part of Bangkok, China Town.  It took about an hour stuck in traffic, and I tried to load a video the last post but I lost everything, so I'm not going to do it again. Sorry.  maybe another time for the video's. xo

Our lunch appitizer: the best street meat dumpling ever.

Sebastian Soup?

Loved this street.

Look Lisa BAGS!!

Should have taken a video of this alley/street (not that you'd be seeing it now anyway) but I think Shai's face explains it all. 

Lunch!

SLurp

Cuteness with train ticket to Chang Mai

Waiting on the train station floor and cleavage.

Aaaaaand we're off

beds

Train dinner curry=still good food just more expensive.

I started waking up every hour starting at 3am because I thought I was going to miss seeing the scenery go by.  The sunrise and the scenery was all worth the sleeplessness.

We landed in Chang Mai around noon and found our way to our guest house. The room is adorable and cheap by U.S. standards.  I think it's about $7 a night no air-conditioning. The family that runs it it great. I totally recommend it.

Around the corner from our guest house.

and across the street

you mean triple the coolness

Arriving into Chang Mai marks my first homesickness.  I was feeling off and I just couldn't figure it out.  I've never really had to miss my home, or at least not at this level.  It was strange I couldn't put words why or how I was feeling.  I am so grateful that Shai is with me and that I have Skype capabilities.  It's wonderful to see my loves faces and get encouragement and love from across the globe and right next to me.  Shai has helped (and continues too) support me through my freak-outs and helps me strategize around what to do with how I'm feeling.  Its great to feel loved in the process and to have my own personal social worker.


Part of plan 'reduce freak-out' was to find water. And it helped, as it always does.

Me and the king high five.

So many people, and families, and babies, and dogs on scooters!

My first really really really spicy dish. It said spicy on the menu and because I thought I could, I did.

And I finished it, even though I couldn't talk the at all the entire meal. There's a video that's supposed to go here too, sorry.

Dessert: banana crepe thing delicious-ness

And finally, at the end of the day, I got a little baby fix.