Day 23: "What goes up, must come down."

Tourist Day...fail. Ugh it was not even fun at all really, but of course we made the best of it. I had a good time hanging out with the other girls on our trip...Alyse, Heidi, and Alicia. (Oh, by the way...it's not just Allison and me over here in Thailand! Haha.) We had to wake up at 8am to meet Prateep, the Thai guy who works at BCC who feels the need to take us everywhere...gotta love that Thai hospitality.

So anyway, we went to this mansion thing first. It was like the biggest wooden mansion ever or something...awesome. To be honest, I'm not a fan of museums and stuff, so I was bored. And there were so many freaking stairs! I swear, I'm losing weight on this trip even just because of how many stairs I've climbed in the last month! So, while complaining about the never ending stairs...Allison got Quote of the Day. In all of her wisdom, she decided to be philosophical and say, "Well, what goes up, must come down." And that's it. I mean, obviously she was talking about the stairs...but the randomness was ridiculous, and we just giggled the rest of the day about it. (I'm sure you're not laughing so I'll just say it...I guess you just had to be there. Haha.)

So, then Prateep treated us to smoothies and we made our way to China Town. Ok ok...that wasn't so bad. We rocked some chicken and rice (totally my jam!) in a tiny restaurant right in the middle of China Town, and Allison threw up there in the ghetto bathroom squatty potty. I should have been more sympathetic, but I had to laugh because she got it all over her shoes because the bathroom was so small. (TMI...I know.) So, I bought a LUCKY CAT, too! That one goes out to my "girl for life" Caitlin...I always remember her lucky cat waving at me in her old apartment. (Miss you dear!) Other than that, the markets there were crap. I'm sure my parents would have loved it because they're all about some flea markets and yard sales...I, however, think it's all a bunch of crap. Haha. But the experience was still fun--being crammed between people in the tiny streets with people yelling at you to buy stuff from their shop and trying your best not to get run over by a motorcycle or car that shouldn't even have been allowed on the dang street in the first place! Haha!

After China Town, we went to the Grand Palace. Now, this place was hyped up for real. Everyone told us that we just haaaaad to go the Grand Palace because noooooobody comes to Bangkok without seeing the Grand Palace! BONK. I mean...it was cool and stuff buuuut, over-rated (clap clap clap clap clap). And I would just like to point out that I just died laughing at myself...I seriously crack myself up. (P.S. Miss you Emily Fox. Haha.) So the best part about the palace was the guards. They have to stand there with perfectly straight faces, and let thousands of stupid tourists take their picture...all day everyday. Dang that job must suck. And these guards were so cute and young! I can just imagine them getting together after work and being like, "Oh my gosh this hot girl walked up to take a picture with me today, and I couldn't even smile much less ask for her number!" Haha! So, our little group of American girls couldn't pass up the opportunity to try to make the guards smile. :) We all took pictures of us kissing them on the cheeks and doing goofy faces, and every other person around took pictures of us too. It was seriously like a photoshoot! I still don't get why people here always want to take our pictures! Haha! But anyway, we had a good time with the guards...and when we walked away, one of them winked at us while trying his best to hold back a smile. It was cute.

We were also obsessed with jumping pictures today. At every location, we took a jumping picture. My camera died, so I'll have to get those from some of the other girls. Of course my camera died on the biggest tourist day of our trip. Haha. To sum all that up, Prateep took us to dinner and ordered something gross (as usual), so I just smiled and said that I was allergic to sea food. Haha. We didn't get home until like 6:30pm. So yes...our entire day was fun-filled with tourist spots and yummy Thai food. (Note: sarcasm.)

But, the happy thing to cancel out all the bad things for today--we got to hang out with our Australian friends again! They actually asked us to go out to dinner with them, so they met us at our sky train exit, and we went to Khosan Road. It's a really big backpackers' spot...it was so weird seeing all the white people there! There are so many nationalities represented there it was ridiculous. I ate a grilled cheese at the restaurant, and that made me a little nostalgic and reminded me of home. (Gosh I miss my 2am grilled cheeses.) But anyway, we had a good time with the boys and stuff. I absolutely love getting to know about other cultures and talking about the differences in ours and others. Plus, those Aussies are hilarious. Phil is a goofy guy who keeps everyone entertained, and Sean is quieter but still a lot of fun. They invited us to celebrate Australian Day with them on Tuesday, so that's definitely something to look forward to!

I was also excited that we got to Skype our new Epsilon girls tonight before dinner! Gosh, it is so hard to be away from Tap Night and Induction. I miss all of it so much! I loved seeing my perfect little sister rocking my jersey for Induction! I may be on the other side of the world, but I'm for sure there in spirit! We made the girls greet us and say "Suawdee Caa" (Hello in Thai). It was so cute. I can't wait to get home and meet all of the newbies. :)

I cried today. It was the first time I've cried since I've been over here. It wasn't because I'm homesick, and it wasn't because I miss people at home, though I do miss you all. It was because my heart completely broke for the people of Thailand. We visited a Buddhist temple where the largest gold Buddha is located. I was disheartened immediately when we had to pay to get in the temple. I can't imagine exploiting my Christianity for monetary gain (though I experienced that in Israel for sure). There were so many people there, and after walking up what seemed like hundreds of stairs, we entered the "chapel" area where the Buddha was located. As I was walking around, stepping over kneeling and worshiping Buddhists, I could feel the flood gates open. As my tears were welling up in my eyes, it was as if I didn't see just people anymore, but instead a huge room, and an entire country full of lost souls. It hurt. And it was like, in that moment, the immature happiness of being on some sort of pseudo-vacation in Thailand completely changed into a sadness that I can't even describe with mere words. It was definitely a defining moment for me on this trip.

I'm out.
Cwalk.