Day 2 and 3!

Day 2 and 3

Hello everyone! Today is day 3 in Bangkok and it is still very hot and humid, with only a bit of rain. Sorry about the lack of post yesterday but Mallory and I were completely exhausted after the show we saw. So far our trip has been extremely exciting!!

Day 2: Yesterday we did not have a guide until that evening so Mallory and I decided to go visit the Bangkok zoo. It was very large with lot's of animals, and was located beside the King's palace which was even larger. Most of the zoo exhibits were very well done, like the monkey, snake, cat and giraffe habitats, but we were very sad because the hippos and the elephants did not have much water :(

After the zoo, we took a tuk-tuk back to the hotel, and chilled by the pool in the afternoon. At 5pm, we met our tour guide and he took us to see Bangkok's most popular cultural show, Siam Niramit, which included a very large buffet :) This show depicts the journey of Siam, and the culture of Thai people. It was amazing: the stage was enormous, the special effects were very entertaining, and there were over 500 different costumes! The stage actually had a river flowing across the front, AND there were elephants involved. Sorry but there are no actual pictures of the show because cameras were not allowed. After the show we went back to the hotel and straight to bed.

Day 3: Today we woke up early and went to the Chatuchak Weekend Market, the largest market in the world. We were told in order to see the whole market we would have to spend the entire day, but we only ended up staying just over an hour. It was very overwhelming, not to mention boiling hot. I bought a pair of purple pants :) We also walked around the nearby park. To get there and back, we took the subway. There subway system is very efficient. You pay different amounts depending on how far you are going, and after you pay you get a token which you give back when you leave the subway. When we got back from the market we had lunch, and now we are chilling in our room. Tonight we get to meet our group, we can't wait!

A note about traffic in Bangkok: absolute mayhem! But somehow this mayhem seems to work for them because traffic still moves (although always busy) and I haven't seen any accidents yet. First of all, the streets are occupied by as many motorbikes and tuk-tuks as cars. Apparently there are no real laws about driving (other than stopping at red lights), and the motorbikes are constantly weaving in and out of the lanes. I don't know why they have lines on the road because everyone seems to make their own lanes. On the highway, it's even busier, and a highway with 3 lanes becomes 4-lanes during heavy traffic because people drive on the shoulder. It's absolutely crazy and very nerve wrecking.

So here are the pictures from the last 2 days. They are a bit out of order though. Just remember: the zoo and Siam Niramit were yesterday, while the market and park happened today. Well that's all for now, hopefully I will post tomorrow.

day 2-3

Cheers,

Naddy&Mal

Day 1! (Thursday for us)

Wow what a day! We've seen a good deal of Bangkok today on our “Bangkok on-a-shoe-string Tour” by almost all modes of transportation. Holy cow, it is hot in this country. Today's weather report: approximately 36°C with lot's of sun this morning. But let us start at the beginning of day 1.

I was able to fall asleep for a few hours last night, but Mallory wasn't so lucky. So instead of sleeping until 8 as planned, we were both up and about by 6am. We had a lovely all-you-can eat breakfast at the hotel with the usual eggs, fruit, pancakes, toast, and a few  not so usual items: fried rice, noodles and sushi. Our tour started at nine and our tour guide was extremely friendly. He could also name every bird in Bangkok apparently. He also bought us some crazy fruit from the market; most of it was delicious, but some fruits were kind of gross...

We walked through so many markets!! Stalls are everywhere here, and although it's very hot, the markets are either covered from the sun or have air conditioning making them a great way to get out of the heat. We visited a few temples, China town, little India, the MBK mall, markets... just about everywhere. And to get there we travelled by foot, riverboat, canal boat, tuk-tuk, subway and skytrain.

Fun facts: there are so many goldsmiths in Bangkok. In China town, every other store sold real, 24-carrot gold! And these places have almost no security because robberies apparently don't happen. Also, they drive on the left side of the road here.

After the tour today, we came back to the hotel hoping we could cool off in the pool. But of course the pool was under repair so we just chilled in our air conditioned room instead. We then went for dinner at a local thai place across the street from our hotel, very cheap and delicious! My guess is that we will both be passed out very soon... it's been a long but lovely day.

Here are some of my day one pictures with captions. That's all for now.

day 1

Cheers,

Naddy&Mal

We arrived!!

Hello everyone.  You can stop worrying about our arrival because we have arrived safely at the bangkok hotel.  Everything went smoothly, we both got seats on the flights (although for the second flight we were not sitting together). Also our luggage did not get lost and someone was at the airport to pick us up :)  So far so good.

Our flights were very long, but we did get to watch many movies.  Our layover in Tokyo wasn't too bad either, we ate sushi and walked around the airport.
Currently it is 12:45am and 30 degrees outside.... very hot and it's only nighttime!  It's time for me to take a cold shower to cool off then go to bed.  We have a walking tour in the morning tomorrow and then the rest of the day to relax, which I am super pumped for.  Oh by the way, WIFI is very expansive at this hotel.  I will still try to post everyday but I may have to find a internet cafe or something.
Here are only a few pictures of our arrival.  I didn't have more time to take pictures of the hotel, but I will do that tomorrow.

arrival

Well its time for bed, stay tuned for our next post.
Cheers,
Naddy&Mal

Goodbye Canada!

So we are leaving tomorrow at 2pm, and I just wanted to say my final farewell to everyone.  I also needed to post pictures one more time since we were having trouble yesterday.  Good news: I've finally figured this out!  We shouldn't (knock on wood) have any problems once in Thailand.

prep2

Just a few pictures of my luggage!  And my lovely new hat of course.  

Now all I have left to do is print off my ticket and sign in, and watch Hangover 2 with my brother!  I will see everyone in three weeks!

Cheers,

Naddy&Mal

Final Preparations

2 more sleeps and we are at the airport!
Hello everyone, just letting you know that our departure is just around the corner, and our last minute preparations are underway.  Our bags are currently being packed and our shopping is complete!  It's becoming so real now.

I'd just like to thank everyone who came to our lovely send-off party and my parents for hosting it. Everything was so beautiful.  Mal and I are super excited and promise to blog as much as we can to keep you all updated on our crazy adventures.  Here are some pictures of the party (mostly the party preparations).

I will post one more time before I leave to make sure I have this picture upload thing perfected.  Keep  checking our blog to see the amazing pictures, and post many comments with questions or suggestions.

Cheers,
Naddy & Mal

Linking My Pictures!

Hello all!  So I think I've figured out how to attach my pictures finally and decided to test it out.  Here are some recent pictures I took of my easter weekend, including washing the dog, family dinner, road trip to Niagra Falls and our annual easter hunt.  Apparently you just click on the picture below to see the whole album.

easter weekend

Next time I was told to upload less pictures in a single album.  Instead of uploading all my pictures I will upload my favorite 40 or so pictures per day.  I will also try to upload pictures a few more times before I leave to make sure I get this right.    If for whatever reason you cannot see these pictures, let me know so I can fix it!
Less than a month away, I can't believe it!  Everything seems to be coming together so far; we've both had our hepatitis A and typhoid fever shots, Mal and I have a shopping day planned to finish preparations, insurances have been bought.  The only things left to do are write my exams, hop on a plane and enjoy myself!

That's it for today.  I really hope the pictures work out, but now it's time to sit back and eat some turkey!  Happy Easter everybody!

Naddy&Mal

Ongoing Preparations!

Howdy to all my beautiful followers!  I know it's been too long since my last post but school has been crazy these last couple weeks.  Now I have plenty of time to let you know how preparations for our wonderful Thailand trip are going!

So first of all our flight and our tours are booked.  We fly Air Canada from Toronto to Bangkok with a stop in Tokyo.  The total flight duration is approximately 20 hours, so I will remember to add Gravol to my preparation list.  I'm not very good at sleeping on planes unfortunately.

The next item on my list, what do I need to bring?  My mom and I went on a little shopping trip to Eddie Bauer for a few important items, like quick-dry clothes and shoes.  My feet will be very happy during this trip.

I also have my big backpack and smaller daypack all picked out.  Camera, shoes, bags, clothes, flights, hotels.... we are well on our way to a successful trip!  Time for a bit of research to Thai culture.

I found some very interesting tips on how to act in Thailand from wiki travel, and wanted to share them with all of you:

• Greetings:  The traditional greeting in Thailand is known as the wai, where you press your hands together as in prayer.  It is usually accompanied by a slight bow.  There is a strict hierarchy involved with this greeting where inferiors must salute superiors first, for example "You should not wai service people or street vendors".  Foreign visitors are not expected to know how to do this properly.  A slight bow is more than enough when someone greets you with a wai.
• Temples:  It is important to show respect when visiting temples.  Appropriate clothing (shoulders and legs should be covered) is necessary.  You also need to remove your shoes before entering a temple. When sitting in front of Buddha, it should be in the kneeling position with your feet tucked under you (your feet cannot point in their direction).  Also, you can take pictures of a Buddha statue but you shouldn't take a picture of you posing beside the statue (this is disrespectful). 
• Monks: Women are not allowed to touch a monk.  They should avoid eye contact, and move out of their way on the street.
• Royal Family: Do not disrespect the royal family, it's illegal.  So if you say anything bad about them, you may wind up in jail.
• Others: The head is considered the holiest part of the body while the foot is considered the dirtiest.  It is disrespectful to touch another person's head.  Similarly, do not touch people with your feet, point at people with your feet or step over someone's feet to pass.  

I also came across a website that revealed the 50 most delicious foods, and four of them came from Thailand!  So here are a few dishes that Mal and I will be trying during our visit:

• Som tam: A spicy green papaya salad, usually eaten with barbecued chicken and sticky rice.
• Nam tok moo: A grilled pork salad.
• Tom yum goong: A spicy soup with shrimp.  One of Thailand's most famous soups
• Massaman curry: A famous thai curry commonly made with beef.

When it comes to food, the only thing left for me to do is memorize how to say "only a little bit of spice" or "no spice" and I will be good to go.

Well that's all I have for now. I hope you enjoyed this post!  Sorry about the lack of pictures, I wanted to add some food pictures but I can't figure out how to add a photo album to these posts.  This might be a problem.

Cheers,

Naddy&Mal