Sales and Purchase Dept

I don't remember everything. I clearly remember leaving the island in the back of a pickup truck with 13 other people and their belongings. I remember arriving back in Bangkok after a 7 hour bus ride. I remember making fun of Paci and New York for hanging bug nets because there were ants in our room. I remember Eric leaving us this morning to head back to Indonesia, where he'll arrive back home in a few days. It's everything after this where my mind and thoughts fog and only snippets remain.

Bangkok has a weekend market. Anything you can buy in Southeast Asia can be bought in one of the 12,000 stalls. We had not purchased ANYTHING, jackets not included, until this point. We went down the first 3 rows of the market, each row being a little under a 1/4 mile in length. We were picky, we were fussy, and we were bargainers that would not budge. After an hour of "oh, I'm not so sure", we broke the seal at a silk shop and it all went down hill from there. We collectively bought jewelry, drums, scarves, lights, vase, bed covers, back scratchers, ties, t-shirts, dresses, etc. You could buy everything from knives, gas masks, guns, squirrels on a leash, art work, and furniture. I almost bought a puppy, which won't seem as bad when I tell you I slowly walked away from the man offering to put my hair in dreadlocks for just under $4. We had to leave after a few hours because it was so unbearably hot, bags in tow, that our heads began to pound from the sun beating down on us, not even a friendly cloud in the sky to help us out for a few short moments. What we would have done to have some of that island rain again.

And so this is how we spent the first 24 hours of our last 48 hours. Tomorrow we will go to the palace and visit the Emerald Buddha. We are all feeling a bit anxious because we know the only thing left is a 25 hour flight home, not something we are looking forward to.

Thanks again for checking in on us. I may miss blogging when I get home. I find that it's been something I look forward to each night as a way to process the days events and emotions.

~ Kristin

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