Tuk Tuks, Long boats and shopping oh my!

One day.  That is ll we allowed for being a tourist in Bangkok.  Yes, there is weeks worth of things to see and do, but alas, we are both mothers, teachers and we are really here for the elephants.  And, with all of that said, we really had an amazing time in Bangkok today.  We dove into the day ready to be flexible and go with the flow, knowing that rarely do international travel plans work out just like we would expect them too.  I must say though, our plans worked out perfectly.

We were able to start our morning off by having a tasty buffer breakfast at our hotel.  Our tour guide from Absolute Bangkok and our driver were right on time. The car was wonderfully cool, clean and we did not die in it (although I chose not to try to make any sense of driving rules).  Of all the decisions we have made thus far, choosing to pay for a tour, was the best.  Our Gide took us to several Buddhist temples.  She was able to tell us all about the Thai royalty, the painting, the meaning of the Buddha poses, and about the architecture.   The temples were truly stunning.  I think Connie will be able to upload pictures soon.

Another huge highlight was getting to take a long boat through the canals.  I especially enjoyed seeing the sights from the perspective of the river.  We saw amazingly fancy places and places that were nearly falling down.  We could also see where the floods three years ago came through town.

After the river, our guide found a great restaurant for us, and we had our first pad Thai of many.  It truly is amazing to have my seances overwhelmed by new and exciting things to observe.

In the afternoon heat, jet lag began to sink in, so as our tour ended we returned to our hotel, Casa Nithra, for a much needed rest.  Connie was immediately out, and I decided to go for a swim on the rooftop pool, then nap.

When I woke up, I realized that I could have easily slept until tomorrow, but knew that we would regret not going out on our only night in Bangkok.  So, we hit the road.  We steped out of our hotel and the. Wavering on which way to go  we happened to see a Tuk Tuk with our hotel logo on the side.  Remembering that this was a free offer of our hotel, we hitched a ride to San Kau road for shopping and food.  If we thought the driver was risky this morning, the Tuk Tuk called for lots of eye closing. I tried to look around as much as possible so we would know how to get back, but something's I just did not need to see.

I must say, I am very proud of us and how well we did.  We were able to visit and barter for some souvieners.  I had a great dinner of street food, and Connie was thrilled to indulge in a subway sandwhich.  Then we made our way back to the hotel.  Fortunately I had printed a map of our hotel, and while I was pretty sure we were on the right path, everything was starting to look familiar, like a "I'm walking in circles familiar."  So, we asked for directions.  "Yes, down this road."  Oh good, we are going the right way, but maybe we should ask one more person to make sure.  Sure enough, we found our hotel just fine.  We are scheduled for a 4:15 wake up call and a 5:00am taxi ride to the airport.

Tomorrow, we start a whole new level of exploring.  We will fly to Chaing Rai in the morning, then we will meet up with our expedition team.  By tomorrow night we should know more about the research and elephants.  Until the, we are going to try for some much needed rest.