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Published: October 5th 2012
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Its 5am and the streets of Bangkok are silent, the room is dark, and nothing can be heard but the oh so familiar soundtrack of kemper's snoring echoing the room. Lindsay is wide awake. it's slightly creepy how awake she is this early, but she's ready for action. Lindsay softly whispered to Kemper that she was going to the roof to watch the sunrise. Her intentions were to give her a subtle warning of her absence so she wouldn't be alarmed when she woke up and Lindsay was gone. Kemper jumped out of bed happy as a jay bird and ready to get the day started with her... Not the reaction Lindsay was expecting or prepared for. Kemper doesn't like to miss out on things. So we headed up to watch the sunrise, enjoyed a delightful 2 hour breakfast and plotted the day....
Next stop... Ko Ratanakosin walking tour. We jumped in the most foul smelling taxi in all of Bangkok and took a quick 30 min drive with child locked windows to see the infamous Grand Palace. The sketchy cab driver weaved his hotbox of a taxi in and out of traffic making the already miserable ride, unbearable. Sweaty
Lindsay and green Kemper didn't say but two words to each other the entire ride. FINALLY we arrive at the Grand Palace. There was a lot to talk about as we push each other out of the repulsive cab.
"why were there splatters of what looked like blood on the ceiling of they cab?"
"why did the cab driver keep turning around and staring at us at every stop?"
"did we offend him with our feet? Did we point our feet in his direction?" (in Thailand, feet are considered the dirtiest part of your body and it is offensive to point your foot in the direction of someone or touch someone with your feet.)
Now this is where the day just took off. We walked into the palace and were stopped by an older Thai woman who worked there.
She yelled at Lindsay, "girl you put on shirt or no go in."
Mind you, we are both wearing pants (knees covered- check) and kemper is in a t-shirt while Lindsay is in a tank top (shoulders not covered- oops). So Lindsay pulls out a shawl/ scarf thing and wraps it around her shoulders. We
make another attempt to go in.
The lady worker yells at us again, "girl you no listen to me. You need shirt. Why you no listen? Shirt, girl."
We walked off to the side and Lindsay knew what had to happen if we were going to see the inside of this palace. She pulls out her blue plastic raincoat and reluctantly puts it on in the 100 degree heat. We won't even disgust you all with the humidity forecast. Gross. Finally we get past the old lady and are on our way.
The nausea passed as soon as we hit the inside of the palace. Maybe it was the beauty of the palace or the electrolytes in the Gatorade we drank, either way the palace was pretty breathtaking. We took pics, walked around, sweated and sweated some more and not before long it looked like Lindsay might stroke out from her raincoat in the heat. It was time to get outta there.
After the palace, we stumbled across our first open market near the Chao Phraya river. Lindsay danced with a street vendor, we saw all sorts of smelly weird foods, tried on sun glasses, and
stumbled down an alley of homes and stray cats.
Unable to bear the thought or smell of another taxi ride, we opted for our very first tuk tuk ride. Nothing like the fresh air of motorcycle exhaust to really kick this hot day into gear. It was actually a ton of fun and an adventure all in itself. Definitely the preferred mode of transportation.
The day continued with Thai massage, rooftop drinks at sunset (at a Speakeasy bar), and a delicious Italian meal in the basement of our hotel with live Thai Opera throughout the entire meal. We will not be judged for eating Italian in Thailand. It was convenient and ridiculously tasty, plus if a live Thai opera at dinner isn't soaking in the culture I don't what is.
In summary, day 2 we showed too much skin for the grand palace but classed it up with live opera.
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Kevin
non-member comment
Not enough skin
In summary, week 2 at the office consisted of watching dog videos, "dumb game show answers" videos, and a Hulk Hogan Sex Tape. AND I was introduced to Starbucks for the first time! Clearly not enough skin being shown here. Miss you and love you both!!