Into the heart.

Today we watched the sunset from the monkey temple, guarded by dozens of monkeys and surrounded by the desert city of Jaipur. Two days ago we were awe struck by the Taj Mahal, one of the most beautiful buildings we have ever seen. The day before that we watched bodies being burned and put into the very holy Ganges river.

Traveling in India is by far the most challenging that we have encountered. Every moment is sensory overload, the sights, sounds, smells surround you and overtake what your thoughts, feelings and heart in every experience. The colors are stunning. The architecture is exquisite. The people are warm. The poverty is heart breaking. Cows are everywhere. And although each day in India continues to be a mental and emotional challenge, it is as much rewarding as it is challenging.

After leaving Darjeeling, we headed into the heart of India, the Golden Triangle. We took an overnight train to Varanasi, meant to leave at 5pm, actually left at midnight and arrived to Varanasi 9 hours late.

Varanasi is a complex system of narrow allyways. In order to get anywhere you, twist and turn throughout the areas behind the ghats. The alley ways are filled with colorful shops, food and chair stands that fill the air with yummy aromas that almost make it so you cant smell the cow, dog, goat and human waste that is everywhere.

We visited the Marikarnika Ghat first, one of two of the burning ghats. It is one of the most holy ghats for Hindus, as it is the final stop of the popular panchathirthi pilgrimage. The ghat is also just next to the primary cremation grounds, where bodies are burned, day and night, to be prepared to be placed into the river and sent on to the afterlife. Bodies are paraded down to the river, covered and adorned in flowers and gold coverings. The family prepares for the ceremony by the men shaving their head and the women painting their nails. After getting permission from the local government to burn their family member, the family purchases the wood to build the fire from the 'eternal flame'. The body is then dipped in the river and cremated. The ashes are then thrown into the river. Any Hindu can be cremated at the river, if the family has money to purchase the wood. The only exceptions are holy men, pregnant women, babies and animals. They are not burned but their bodies are tied to rocks and thrown directly into the river because they are already pure. Lepers and people bitten by snakes are also not burned.

We watched parts of cremations from a hospice overlooking the ghat and were told about the rituals by a 'government volunteer'. He was extremely knowledgeable about it all and we appreciated him filling us in, but afterwards he told me he would not take my donation as there was a 'minimum donation'. oooooookkkk. And then he invited us to come into his silk shop. So it goes in India, everyone has a shop or a friends shop.

After Varanasi, we took the overnight train to Agra. Agra is known for being a city full of swindlers and poverty, but it is the home of the Taj Mahal. On the train we met Sam (Australia), who offered us a lift with his private driver he had booked. The driver picked us up from the train station and after bribing the 'taxi union', we went to parking lot close to the Taj Mahal. You can only drive so close to the Taj, in order to keep the pollution down, and then you must take either an electric car, a horse or camel driven carriage. We opted for the cheap and cheerful electric car and pulled up to the door of the Taj. After a quick security check, apparently security has gotten a lot stricter after the Mumbai shootings, we were on the compound. Our guide was super informative and told us about each unique, always symmetrical parts of the compound. After viewing the outside sections, we crossed through an Aladdin shaped arch and were awe struck at the immediate beauty of the building. It only continued to get more beautiful as we got closer. It is not in fact white, but an intricate designs of marble stones with floral patterns throughout. There is also Arabic scripts from the Koran up and down the entry ways. The Taj is surrounded by four white pillars, all built at 100 degree angle away from the Taj, just in case they were ever to fall. Inside, the tombs themselves are off limit, but you can visit replicas that are kept in a beautiful, ornate marble room.

The story of the Taj Mahal just adds to its beauty and mystery. It was built for the favorite wife of Shah Jahan, the Mughal emporer in 1632. When he received the news that she had died, he decided to bury her in a tomb of timeless beauty, a "tear that would hang on the cheek of time". The building of the Taj was completed in 1653 with 20,000 imported Persian artists and workers working non-stop on the construction.

After an amazing, but much too fast visit at the Taj Mahal, we were on our way again (with our borrowed private driver) to Jaipur. Jaipur is in the desert state of Rajasthan, so the scenery changed to desert towns filled with camel pulled carts, turbaned men and more women in brightly colored sarees! Jaipur is known as the 'pink city', after being painted pink in the 19th century for Prince Alberts visit. The city is no longer actually very pink, but the name remains. The city is divided into several sections and was a lot larger than we were expecting! We had a hard time getting around our preferred style...walking. Streets in India are even less pedestrian friendly than southeast Asia, and not only do you have to avoid cars, you have the constant ring of rickshaw drivers following you trying to convince you wherever you are going is too far and you should get in with them. In the end, we often did just because it was more annoying to try and ignore them while trying not to get lost. Our first evening we visited the American embassy, good ol McDs, just to say we have been there in India. The menu is totally different, they serve McVeg and the Maharaja Mac. No beef at these McDonalds.

We spent our day in Jaipur with Dave and Sam (USA), guys we had met while buying train tickets. Hah, that was an adventure in itself. We still have not quite perfected that part of traveling in India either and by the time we bought 2 tickets, we had gone through the line 5 times. :) But, I think we made the ticket guy laugh. Anyways, with Dave and Sam guiding with their lonely planet, we did a walking tour through the craziness of the pink city. We walked through amazing bazaars, filled with fruits, veggies, spices, silk, tie dyed sarees, gems and jewels. It was beautiful and made me want to bedazzle myself in Indian clothes and gems. But no time, after passing through the bazaars, we visited the City Palace and museum, the Jantar Mantar Observatory, and the Hawa Mahal (the Palace of Winds). We missed the famous Amber fort, but instead decided to climb up to the Galta, the Monkey Temple. The temple is set on a cliff, overlooking Jaipur. The walk up is not bad, you just have to be careful of the aggressive monkeys, who will find any food on you, even in your bag. And while you are walking defensively through the monkeys, you have to watch out for cows meandering down the path...those cows don't move for anybody. But, if you make it to the top, the view is breathtaking, a dusky sunset littered with kites being flown by children atop their rooftops of colorful houses.

It is in these moments that I hope to remember and take with me from India, remembering the beauty that is unlike any other in the world. The moments where all the aches and pains and annoyances of traveling disappear in being in a place so different, so foreign that it makes you reflect on how big the world is and how lucky we are to get the chance to experience this corner called India.

Photos of India....

India

We want Gorkhaland!

We arrived to Darjeeling after parting ways with Brendan and John. It was super sad to say goodbye and completely unsatisfactory not making it to the end of the race! But the time had come for us to move on and move up (3000 meters up!) to the mountainous town of Darjeeling. The drive up was steep, we climbed up from 150 mt to 3000 mts in a mere 80 kilometers! We arrived at the jeep drop off and climbed up to the top of town to our hotel, Tower View. It was cheap and cheerful, in other wards, a freezing, cement room with friendly owners and a hot shower. It could be worse, right? Yes, as the sun went down, so did the temperature. We managed to find a warm pub for the evening, but as we headed back to our room, we realized we did not have nearly enough warm clothes to stay long in Darjeeling...especially when we realized our room was no warmer than outside! We bundled under blankets and into our sleeping bags, but still neither of us slept much that night.

We got up early and headed out down the hill into town feeling slightly groggy, grumpy and still cold. However, when we turned the corner, the street opened up and we were stopped in our tracks by the view. The mountains, the Himalayans, are grandeur, nothing like them, stunning. While not Everest, you can get a clear view of the third highest mountain in the world, Kanchenjunga. It definitely made the cold, sleepless night worth it.
We spent the next few days in Darjeeling enjoying not only the mountains but also the unique culture of Darjeeling.
A few highlights were-

• -Tibetan Refuge Center. The refuge center was established by Tibetans who fled to India in 1959. The center continues to support the Tibetan population with weaving factories that are open to the public. It was super interesting to learn about the history and current events regarding Tibet and see how they have maintained their culture, language, and religion while living in India and Nepal. While we were at the center, we also found their nursery where we ended up staying for a while just playing with the little ones! They were so cute, so bundled up in their jumpers and blankets they could hardly move!

• -Tiger Hill, a viewpoint where everyone goes to watch the sunrise over the mountains. We didnt get to see Everest, but it was still the Himalayas in all their splendor, if you could see them over all the Indian tourists! It was super crowded! We participated in lots of 'group pictures' with local tourists, some must have had at least 50 pictures with us and our group in them.

• -Happy Valley Tea Estate. Darjeeling is known for their tea plantations and this is one of the largest in the area. Although it was off season for picking and the plantation was closed for the day, we ran into a man that had worked there his whole life and gave us a private tour. He took us through the process of picking, processing, and brewing the tea leaves. We then sat in his living room with him and his father sampling the tea. It was cool to sit in his home and get to chat with him a bit about his life.

• -Observatory Hill. A place where you can enjoy the view and experience the temple of Mahakala, some manifestation of Shiva. This temple is sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists. The place is supposedly protected by the multitude of prayer flags and the army of monkeys that make their home there. The multicolored prayer flags make it incredibly beautiful and surreal, especially with the mountains hanging in the ski behind them. The monkeys, not so beautiful, and keep you on your toes as they are known to be aggressive!

• -The Lloyd Botanical Gardens

• -Cinnamon Coffee, Momos, Tibetan bread and soup, Joeys pub

We got to enjoy so many things in Darjeeling, as we ended up being there for 6 nights! That is 4 nights longer than we intended to stay. But, we learned that traveling in India is more difficult than anywhere else! The trains have been booked, up to a week ahead, so we have had to do some planning in advance. When we figured that out, we ended up buying a ticket to a city close to Varanasi, our next destination, but later found out that city was the capital of the most dangerous district in India. It made me super nervous that we would have to get off there and find a local train to Varanasi. But, in some way we were protected and never made it on that train because Ghorkaland called a strike in Darjeeling. That meant that everything that had anything to do with tourists shut down. The first night of the strike, we managed to find a very small restaurant that was feeding tourists and it turned out to be super fun! Everyone said the strike would still be on the next day, but that we could go to the police and they would get us to the train station (which was back in Siliguri).

The next morning, we got up early, rang our travel agent, went to the police station, the traffic police, all of who said it was possible to get out but they couldn't help us. We ran around town for 3 hours trying desperately not to miss our train, but in the end we were told you had to have permission from the political party who called the strike to be escorted out. We do know people who made it out that day, but it took them all day and they were stopped the whole way down to Siliguri by road blocks put up by the strike.

The Ghorkaland area is part of the large district of West Bengal, even though Ghorkaland is distinctly different in culture, language, dress and beliefs. Most of the inhabitants are originally Nepali or Tibetan. Since 1968, the Gorkha National Liberation Front's has maintained a semi autonomous government within West Bengal, but tension persists between the two governing parties and even today, well, last week, they are well known to call badhs (strikes).
It was very impressive to see how united the people became during the strike. And although inconvenient, the people remained friendly and helpful, making sure we didnt starve! The owner of our hotel served us homemade soup the second day because there were no restaurants open anywhere. It was cool to be a part of their history and their fight for freedom. Just another example of TII, this is india.

Rickshaw Run 09

Welcome to the Madcap Blunder Bus. This is the official team name and we are glad to say that we are now honorary members. Our two day trip to Darjeeling ended up turning into five days, but what more can we say other then TII (This is India).

Day 1: We left Kolkata but got off to a slow start, tons of traffic and horrible, horrible pot holes. Evening time rolled around faster then we thought and we were no where close to our destination. With the sun setting and only 30 min. before it is completely dark we started asking people where we could find a hotel/hostel. Everyone pointed north telling us to drive another 30km. Well, it turns out those 30 kms were the longest 30km of our lives. The sun had set and we were still an hour and half away from the hotel. As most of you can guess, night driving in India is a death sentence. The bus and truck drivers rule the road and drive like maniacs. Since we only had one head light working, it was time for us to get creative. With flashlights in hand both Heather and Brendon stuck their heads out the sides of the rickshaw and shouted when they saw potholes, trucks, buses, bicyclist and or pedestrians. John, being in the driver seat, did his very best to keep us on the road and not kill or get killed by anything. I being seated in the middle filmed the madness that we were in the midst of. Never thinking we would make it, we did finally arrive safe and sound to the hotel and celebrated with tears, food and drinks! We were so excited to see other rickshaw teams that had ended up at the same hotel. Hungry and in desperate need of a drink to calm our nerves we sat down and had dinner and shared in the drinking festivities with the other teams. (not much drinking actually went on because the beer was warm and disgusting )

Day 2: Since we were behind schedule we felt it best to get off to on early start...only to find that a bar on the luggage rack had broke and needed to be welded back together. So before we could officially hit the road, we needed to find a welder. Most shops were still closed because it was early but after about 15 min. we manged to find some guys who could help. As the men went to work we simply stood around smiling and chatting with the swarm of locals around us. Before we knew it the welding was done (taking 30 minutes or less and costing us less than a dollar!) and we were ready to take on the road. The day was long but overall everything went pretty smoothly. We stopped for a mid morning chai tea at one of the tea shops and I'm guessing we made the owners day. The chai tea was great and of course we were swarmed once again by all the locals. However, the swarms of locals always seemed to consist of only men. We were definitely starting to wonder where all the women were and why it never seems like any of the men worked??! After we had our tea we thanked the man said good bye to everyone and before leaving Heather asked if she could take his picture. He of course nodded yes, and then when she showed him the picture he nearly cried out of excitement, it was so sweet.

Continuing on our way we came to the understanding that we were not going to make it to Darjeeling, let alone Siliguri which is the big city at the bottom of Darjeeling. For our second night we settled in a small town called Darkola. The guesthouse was nothing fancy but I'm sure we also made this mans night. Unsure as to what we would find in Darkola we were shocked to stumble upon a restaurant and better yet an internet shop across the street from it. Our uneventful night turned out to be eventful.

Day 3: With Siliguri being just a few short hours ahead of us we were excited to get up and moving. While we packed up the rickshaw,we were introduced to the guest house owners two daughters. It was obvious he had called them and told them to come down and meet us. The girls showed up in their Sunday best and asked to have their picture taken with us. After several photos the man then proceeded to invite us over to a little tea shop to share in a chai tea and cookie before we got on the road. With our tummy's warm from the tea we said our good byes and headed towards Siliguri. When we set off, the morning fog was thick and the visibility was almost as bad as driving in the dark. We saw several lorries that had tipped over, luckily noone had been hurt. After the fog lifted, the ride went smoothly and within four hours time we arrived in Siliguri.

Now you may be wondering why we only drove for four hours. Well it was decided last night that it would be silly for Brendon and John to drive Matie (the rickshaw) up the steep mountain to Darjeeling (climbing 3000mts in only 80kms) when they would have to drive it back down the very next day. Since Siliguri is the town where one normally catches a jeep or bus to go up to Darjeeling we decided to settle down here for the day. It also worked out well for them because this is the town where they would turn off the highway heading north and start driving east towards Assam. With there being no time for them to stay a day or two in Darjeeling they decided it would be better and more enjoyable if they drove east as planned and stopped at Jaldapar Wildlife Sanctuary (JWP) to see a one horn rhinoceros while riding on an elephant. We, of course, liked the idea of visiting Jaldapar so when they found a man who would book them a reservation we were then quickly convinced and decided to tag along one more day.

Day 4: Excited and well rested we took our time getting packed up and moving this morning thinking it would be short drive to JWP. Well come to find out two hours into driving we had missed our turn off and were in all truth headed towards Darjeeling. This not being our destination we had to turn around and drive an hour or so back to where the turn off was and continue proceeding east. Frustrated, annoyed and concerned if we would make it in day lights time we pulled out the maps and tried our best to figure out how far we really had to drive. With luck on or side we ran into another rickshaw team and they had a more updated map of India and had seen that highway 31c cuts across faster then highway 31. Since we were fighting time we thought it best to take 31c and come to find out it saved us lots of time. Our original estimated time of arrival was set to be around 2pm we arrived at 4:30pm. Not bad at all since we thought we would arrive around 5:30 or so do to the detour.

Upon our arrival we could not believe that right before our eyes was a one horn rhinoceros. Just as amazed as ourselves was another rickshaw team, Ben and Peter, who are from the states. The six of us just hung out watching the rhinoceros and the bison which came out later in the evening. We spent our night relaxing, drinking tea, eating dinner and exchanging rickshaw run stories. It was a fun night and we were so glad to have joined along.

Day 5: (Knock, Knock, Knock) Startled and stumbling to the door stressing that we had overslept and were missing the elephant ride, I open the door. The servant man simply says time for tea. Wondering what time it is I say no thanks and head back into bed. Our elephant ride was to be at 6:30 and they thought it would be a good idea to wake us up at 5:30. What were they thinking? Ten minutes to 6:30 we rolled out of bed put on our warmest clothes and walked outside. Well come to find out the elephant ride had been pushed back to 6:45 so with minutes to kill we thought why not indulge in some tea. After our quick cup of tea we went out and meet the elephants, hopped on their backs and headed out into the park. Our ride lasted just over an hour and sadly we didn't see any more one horn rhinoceros, but it was an amazing trip through the park. We saw the sunrise over us, deers hiding in the bushes, a peacock fly up into a tree and various different kinds of animal foot prints. JWP is beautiful. After our ride we had some breakfast and then packed up our bags and had to say our final good byes. This is where Heather and I took a car ride back to Siliguri and Brendon and John continued driving east to the finish line. It was hard to say good bye to Matie and the guys, but we felt it was time. After some pictures and our final farewell we got in the car and drove back to Siliguri were we would then catch a jeep up to Darjeeling.

Three days behind our expected arrival day we did finally make it to Darjeeling and ended up spending a week. Although riding in a rickshaw was never an idea it ended up being one of the craziest and most adventurist we have done so far on our trip. We are both so glad and fortunate to have run into Brendon and John and thankful they were so welcoming to let us ride along. I would highly recommend doing one of these adventurists runs to any one who likes traveling and copes well with unexpected happenings like break downs, night driving, and so on. If this suits your fancy be sure to check out the website www.theadventurists.com

A day in Kolkata

Five months of traveling and we are still in for an adventure. We flew form Bangkok to Kolkata, India and everything went really smoothly. We arrived late at night so we simply checked in to our hostel and called it a night. Excited to be here we headed out into Kolkata and walked through Maidan park towards the Victoria Memorial. Maiden park is a big park near our hostel and is filled with tones of people playing cricket. As we walked through we got the sense that no body works in India because everyone is out playing cricket or sitting and watching, Kolkatans take their cricket very seriously:)

Suggested by our Indian friend Aveek whom we meet in Mexico, we went to the Victoria Memorial. This famous building which is a cross between Buckingham Palace and the Taj Majal is Kolkatas reminder of once being the British Raj capital. The VM is now a museum that holds British war memorabilia as well as displays a timeline that chronicles the city's history. Unfamiliar with Kolkata's history especially the British influence we were thrilled to be able to walk through the VM and read up on Kolkata. After our visit through the VM we strolled the streets and popped in to a few places. Fist we attempted to visit St. Paul's Cathedral but were unable to get in, not sure why. From there we visited St Joseph's Home for the Aged where we were given a tour by one of the sisters. St. Joseph's is a home to roughly 150 elderly individuals whom are poor and need a place to live. After our tour we stayed and chatted with some of them and it turned out to be a real treat. Relaxing and soaking up the warm weather out in the courtyard were two elderly men who spoke perfect English. Excited to see us they asked us all kinds of questions and provided us with some Kolkata street smarts. After about a half an hour we said good bye and proceeded to walk towards the Mother House to arrange some volunteering. The Mother House which was once run by Mother Teresa is an organization that cares for the destitute and dying. Upon our arrival we were told by one of the sisters to return the next day at three for orientation. We said thanks and left with the anticipation of returning the next day. Well as usual most everything we plan never ends up going according to plan.

During our walk home from the Mother House we meet these two guys from NY who were in search of a place to stay. I suggested Sudder St. because it is filled with hostels and was the street we were staying on. Unsure of how to explain how to get there, Brendon invited us in his and John's rickshaw and asked us if we would ride along and help them get to Sudder St. Well it turns out Brendon and John were on this rickshaw run and had driven up from Pondicherry which is in the south of India and were headed to Shillong in the NE. They had signed up with the adventurists.com and were raising money for Mercy Core by participating in this rickshaw run. Since there plan was to head north up to Darjeeling they invited us to come along. Our original plan was to stay in Kolkata for a week and then head up to Darjeeling but since we meet them we thought why not join along for the fun.

Phuket

We arrived in Phuket with half the Buchan clan to meet the other half, Molly and Dad! The whole passport issue was miracuously worked out in Seattle with Molly getting a brand new passport in 1 day...on her birthday!

We had a seamless trip from Bangkok to Phuket to the Hilton on Kata beach. We found Molly and Dad at the breakfast buffet and it was so great to have the whole family together, especially after all the uncertainty whether they would be able to come or not. I was so blessed to see my family, and see them in beautiful Phuket, Thailand! The Hilton was deluxe, with great pools, another killer breakfast buffet, and a great location just across the street from the beach!

The next week in Phuket flew by, our time mostly spent catching up while sitting/swimming at the pool or beach, playing cards or backgamman and generally enjoying the sun! We had 2 daytrips out to nearby islands-first, to James Bond island, fittingly named as The Man with the Golden Gun was shot there. We took very loud, wet long boats to reach JB island, but it was beautiful when we got there! From there we went on a kayaking trip into some caves, very cool as well, and finally we had lunch on another island. Once we got back to the main island, we had one more stop-elephant riding! We stopped at the elephant adventure park, where we not only rode elephants, we saw them do tricks as well! The adventure did not stop there either, after the elephant show, we watched a monkey show, rode in an ox cart, sat on a water buffalo, and watched a Thai cooking demonstration. Whew, it was a full afternoon and they packed in the Thai experiences!

Our next day of outings turned out to be even better! We took a speed boat (all of us, minus Toriann who had a stomach bug ) out to the beautiful Phi Phi islands! The first stop was on Monkey beach where we did some snorkeling and then went to a beautiful, white sand beach filled with people and monkeys! Our stop was short and before we knew it we were heading through beautiful cliffs to another beach, the beach where the movie The Beach was filmed. It was simply amazing with white sand, thick forests, and turquiose waters surronded by cliffes!

I am so grateful that I got to spend quality time with my family! It was much need after being on the road for the past 5 months! They are amazing, supportive, loving and so much fun! Thank you so much fam for coming to Thailand and treating Toriann and I to the Hilton, but also to some family TLC! I love you guys so much!

New Years in Bangkok

After our 12 hour over night train ride from the boarder of Thailand to Bangkok we strolled into the Millennium Hilton with style (grungy clothes and backpacks). Upon our arrival we were escorted to the Hilton Honors lounge and given a deliciously scented hand towel, cold tea and a coffee with a cookie while we waited for them to check us in. Since it was still pretty early we were unsure if we would get a room right away but surprisingly we did...we just had to wait an hour for them to clean the room and then it would be ready. Of course we were okay with that since we decided to treat ourselves to there deluxe five star breakfast buffet. Two and half hours later, 6 to 7 plates in we decided to put the fork and knife down and retire to the room. Wow is all that we could say once we stepped into our room. This was such a luxury we were a little overwhelmed but indulged right in...took proper showers with hot water and dried off with fluffy white clean towels and then wrapped ourselves in the complimentary bathrobes. Once we were clean we tucked ourselves in the fluffy, cuddly blankets and stared out the window into the beautiful big city of Bangkok while we drifted off to sleep. After our few hours of rest and still some hours to kill before Heather's family is expected to arrive we ventured out and meet up with our friend Talita (whom we spent Christmas with) on Khoa San Road (Backpackers street and hang out). Before we meet up with Talita we stopped at the internet and Heather received some unexpected news which was that Molly's (sister)passport was expired and that her and her their dad were not coming but that Tamara (mom) and Bonnie (sister) were still expected to arrive. Shocked and sad by the news Heather called and spoke with her dad and he affirmed her that they were still going to try and figure out away to get a new passport and fly out to Thailand. With those words floating in our minds we all spent the next days praying and hoping something would work out. (jumping ahead a few days...it turns out they did make it and meet us in Phuket). After our internet fiasco we finally meet up with Talita and bought some Phad Tai and mango sticky rice off one of the many street venders. The Phad Tai was average but hey it was less then a dollar and manged to fill us up along side with the beer we washed it down with. The mango sticky rice on the other hand was delicious and i could of eaten that everyday but sadly i didn't because it turns out its not that easy to find in the restaurants...oh well. With full bellies the three of us walked the street and looked at all the knock off stuff there was to buy. Since we were expecting the family to arrive within a few short hours we said good bye to Talita and headed back to the Hilton.
By 2am we received a phone call from the reception saying that Tamara and Bonnie arrived in Bangkok and had checked in to the Hilton...so we excitedly waited by the elevator to greet them with hugs and smiles. After a few minutes of chating we said good night and reunited for the breakfast buffet in the morning and celebrated Christmas again. With presents left to be exchanged we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast together and presents. For their first day here we took it easy and just ran a few errands...or so we tried. We took the boat across the river and walked some of the streets but turns out everything we needed to get done was no where to be found so we took the boat back and relaxed at the Hilton Beach Pool. The sun was shining and we were all itching for some relaxation so thats exactly what we did at the beautiful pool overlooking the city of Bangkok. Relaxed and rested, we grabbed a taxi and had him take us to the night market. Before shopping through the night market we had a great Thai dinner and then shopped and got ourselves a foot massage. Tamara and Heather really liked it, but Bonnie and I had a difference of opinion and that was that it hurt. That turned us off from massages for the rest of the time, but Tamara made up for it with her almost daily massages! :)
Upon Tamara's and Bonnie's arrival in Bangkok they managed to book a city tour for all of us through the taxi they had taken from the airport to the hotel. They came and picked us up at the hotel and we drove around and visited Wat Pho or Wat Phrachetuphon also called the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. The Reclining Buddha statue is one of the largest in the world, measuring almost 150 feet long and 50 feet high and filling almost every inch of the Wat. This oldest and largest temple in Bangkok was originally built in the Ayuttuya period and has the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand. After Wat Pho we visited two other temples, names I cannot remember but still so beautiful in there color and decor. Bangkok is a big city and has tones of sights to see but sadly our days flew past us and we only saw a glimpse of bangkok. Nevertheless we enjoyed ourselves and that night Heather and I took them to China town to see the busy streets and lights of Bangkok and enjoy in some good Thai/Chinese street restaurants. Dinner ended up being very good although one of the dishes had a lot of chili peppers and Tamara accidentally eat one and thought her body was about to explode. Once we calmed her down and got her some chocolate milk, her mouth stopped feeling as if it was on fire we headed to Khao San road to show them where all the backpackers live and hangout.
For New Years Eve and with most everything being closed we hung out at the hotel for the morning and early afternoon and then headed to MBK which is Bangkok's big mall. MBK was crazy....so many people, so many stores your eyes can not concentrate. After a few hours we gladly left and relaxed at the hotel before we got all fancy and pretty for New Years. We had dinner at one of the restaurants in the hotel and shockingly the food was not very good and the service was crap. I realize that sounds a bit harsh but its true and you might be thinking that its because the restaurant is busy but it wasn't at all. Oh well we didn't let that spoil the evening because us girls headed down to the main restaurant and crashed the party. They had a music playing and people were dancing so we joined in and danced for a bit. With New Year just a few minutes away we all gathered in the room and watched the zillion of fireworks that were being shot off all over Bangkok. It was unreal...our room was on the 28th floor so high up and we could see fireworks for miles. It was really cool and absolutely amazing to see all the colors and a great way to welcome the new year. Happy New Years Everyone :)