The Rest of Bangkok and a Glorious Reunion

After a long day adventuring in Bangkok, we met up with our van and they dropped us off near a restaurant we wanted to try.  We had heard that the restaurant Sunrise Tacos was good.  There were TEN DIFFERENT TYPES OF SALSA!  We were in heaven!  I ordered cowboy tacos.  I didn’t read the description well enough.  I thought it was just 3 hard tacos (which I adore), but the meat was like sloppy joe meat.  Not so good.  I ate 2 of the 3 and had a few bites of Karly’s burrito which was really good.  

The restaurant was close to a mall called Terminal 21.  We walked around and window shopped.  We got some ice cream and Abby and I had a good chat.  They had MOVIES IN ENGLISH at the theater!  So half of us saw “The Fault in our Stars” and the other half saw something else.  We didn't realize how much we had been missing carpet until we saw it at the theater. 

The movie didn’t start until 10:45 and I hadn’t had a lot of sleep the night before so I was worried that I would fall asleep but I didn’t.  It was a treat to be in the theater and enjoy a show in English.  It got done around 12:30 and I was SOOOO tired.  I don’t do tired well.  I am usually really quiet and grumpy.  Occasionally I get to the point where I am really loopy.  It doesn’t happen often, but when it happens I usually find things SO funny and cry from laughing.  I hit that point on the taxi ride home.  We were on our way back to the hostel and I was looking out the window.  I saw a construction worker working in a hole and he was wearing black and white.  The way he was bend over and the clothes he was wearing (and the extreme tiredness I was feeling) registered him as a panda bear!  I was so thrown off and so tired that I started laughing really hard.  I could hardly breathe and started crying.  None of the girls knew what was going on!  I tried to tell them what I had seen (or more like what I had thought I had seen), but every time I tried to tell them it was funny all over again.  I was a mess!  


Once we got home it was close to 1 and I Skyped Tanner.  He was finishing up the closing on our house and thought he’d know within the next few hours if he could buy a plane ticket and join me in a couple days.  I sent him the best flight options I had found and dropped off to sleep around 2am.  The next morning I was up at 7:30 to get ready for church.  When I got up I saw an email from Tanner that he’d bought his plane ticket and would be in Thailand about 48 hours later!!!!!  

We got to go to an international ward.  Once again it was nice to enjoy something in English!  After church the volunteers headed to the airport to go to Cambodia.  I had talked to Tang and she had offered to let me stay at her house for a couple night while I waited for Tanner.  She hadn’t gotten back to me about the address so I was all alone in the big city with all my luggage.  I walked around for a little while and ate lunch at a cute French bakery.  They had wifi so I used that and hung out there for a while. 

 I still hadn’t heard back from Tang and I was REALLY tired.  I decided that I’d go back to the movie theater and go to a movie.  That way I could have somewhere cool to sit and take a nap.  I caught a taxi to the theater.  I ended up staying awake and enjoying the movie.  It was a romantic comedy in Hindi with English subtitles and was about 2 ½ hours long.  

When the movie ended I saw that I had just missed a call from Tang.  I got in touch with her and got the address to her house.  I grabbed some food and then took a taxi to her house.  The taxi ride was close to half an hour.  It was dark and I was alone in the taxi.  He was taking a lot of back roads through empty neighborhoods.  I was glad I had a cell phone and kept it in my hand the whole time.  He got a bit lost so I called Tang and she told him where to go.  By the time I got there and got settled it was around 8 and I was exhausted.  I was also feeling a little like it was Christmas eve since Tanner was going to be there in about 36 hours.  I went to bed at 8:30 and slept for 14 hours!  I passed the day by FaceTiming with my parents and watching the Simpsons.  Tanner’s plane was scheduled to land at 11:40.  

I headed to the airport at 9:00 and ate at Burger King and read while I waited.  At 11:45 I went to the area where Tanner would exit customs.  I had butterflies and it felt like an eternity waiting for him.  Finally around 12:30 I saw him!  He gave me a great big, long hug and it was wonderful!  We caught a taxi back to Tang’s and I was so so happy to hold his hand as he told me about his flight.  

Here we are the next day with birthday doughnuts at the airport.  Tanner has his birthday while he was traveling, so we got doughnuts instead of having birthday cake.  That's way better in my opinion--I don't care for cake myself.

Church, a Waterfall and a Massage

      Sunday the volunteers went zip lining.  I decided to pass this time around and headed to church instead.  Our hostel was close to the church so I walked there.  It was so nice to go in such a big building! 

They had the hymn books written out so you could sing in "Thai".  I thought that was neat, but I know I was NOT saying things right.

       After church I headed back to the hostel and caught up in my journal and ate some snacks.  The volunteers got back around 3:00.  At 4:00 the hostel owner came by and said that she and a friend were going to a waterfall and temple.  If we wanted to go then we could ride in the back of the truck.  We jumped at the chance and headed on an afternoon adventure.  

      We parked and waked about 10 minutes up to the waterfall.  It was beautiful, green, and lush.  A few of the girls climbed higher up, but I was content to sit a little lower and enjoy the sound and the scenery.  

      Turns out that the temple was wayyyyyyyyy up at the top of the mountain and the truck wouldn’t be able to take all of us up there.  We could rent a van to take us up there, but we decided that seeing the waterfall was enough for us.  We finished the day and the vacation with some delicious food and massages. 

      The next morning we headed back to the school.  Such a great vacation!

Thai Fortune

On the train Abby and I met a man named Andy.

He spoke English quite well.  He and a younger name gave up their seats so Abby and I didn’t have to stand.  Abby saw his notebook and comment that she liked the drawing he'd done.  He tore it out and gave it to her.  Abby, Any, and I started chatting and before we knew it he was offering to tell our fortunes!  He started by asking Abby her birth year, birth month, and the day of the week she was born.  He did some mathematical calculations in his notebook (seems legitimate, right?) and told her fortune.  She was basically told that she needs to move to Hollywood to pursue an acting career.  Also, that she is a natural at golfing and can make millions acting and golfing. 

None of the other fortunes (mine included) were that glamorous. 

My fortunes says that I need to be around water (or coffee).  If I have a pool or fountain at my house that will be very beneficial, bring good luck, and help me be wealthy.  I was told that I would be lucky with money.  VERY lucky!  That I will always have money when I need it.  I was also told that women older than me have good, positive feelings about me.  My mom is a very, very good woman.  If I take an older woman with me to buy a lottery ticket I will win big!  I was also told that I have a good husband, but sometimes he gives me a headache.  When he gives me a headache I need to not be too direct when addressing the issue.  I need to give him a speech or sing a song and the headache will go away. 

Now I just need an older woman, who is covered with water, drinking coffee to join me when I buy a lottery ticket.  Any volunteers?

Sundays + Me + Bikes = Disaster

It isn’t ALWAYS bad, but I have had enough Sunday bike troubles that it feel that way.

Exhibit a:

The bike I chose to ride was having a hard time on the way to the train station.  After church, on the way home it just seemed to be worse.  The chain wasn’t moving well and when I would peddle it was hard to do and would click a lot.  The back tire was skewed and was rubbing against other parts of the bike every rotation.  To top it off,  the tires were slowly leaking.  By the time I was on half a mile from the school I was red, SO very sweaty, tired, and thirsty.  With how hard it was to ride the blasted bike I figured it would be easier to just walk with the bike.  After walking it a few steps a guy in his shop on the side of the road offered to air up the tires.  I accepted.  After airing them up he realized how many other problems the bike had.  He went about pounding and loosening and tightening things.  He instructed me to sit down.  

When I sat in the sun he immediately motioned for me to move to the shade.  I drank some cold water while he ‘worked’ on the bike.  I don’t things he really knew what he was doing.  He had some tools out, but the work he did mostly consisted of pounding different parts of the bike.  When he finished he let me know it’s be 30 baht.  I gave him 20 and was on my way.  The bike was a little easier to pedal, but still not as easy as it should have been.

Exhibit b:

The train station in across the river which means we have to ride across a bridge.  The bridge has a fairly steep ramp on both sides.  The ride down the incline is great.  The ride up is not my favorite.  I like to build up some speed beforehand and then stand up to pedal as I go up the ramp.  This particular Sunday I gained some good speed and as I was going over the 3 tiny wanna-be speed bumps my tire hit just the wrong way.  The handlebars lurched.  The bike started going toward the edge of the ramp!  I tried to correct and over corrected.  I turned back the other way.  I put my legs down.  I lost a shoe!  Somehow the tire collided with the back of my leg.  I came within an inch of rocketing off the edge of the ramp which would have sent me down 5 feet into a mess of shrubs and trees.  2 weeks later and I still have the remains of bruises on my legs.

Exhibit c:

We were at the stop light in the right turn lane.  The light turned green and we all started to go.  I pedaled once and the pedals stopped.  In the middle of the intersection I couldn’t move.  I hopped of my bike and started running with it.  Once I got out of the intersection I pulled over only to discover that the chain was off and stuck.  We all tried to pull it out to no avail.  Luckily there was a guy a few shops down who had helped us in the past.  I walked the bike over and he unscrewed lots of pieces and got it put back together.   He did it free of charge and now I try to wave every time we ride past his shop.