Welcome to the Land of Smiles

Sawatdee! Wow, what a crazy couple of days. I've now been in Bangkok for 2 days and boy have they been an experience. This city is crazy. It's dirty, it's noisy, it's crowded, but it's full of life and I love it. The past 2 days have been spent zipping through the crowded streets on tuk-tuks, and admiring Buddah, after Buddah, after Buddah. And I'm not complaining. Each Buddah statue seems more impressive than the last. The Reclining Buddah probably being the most amazing of them all. The Wats which house the Buddahs are equally incredible. Each one filled with ornate Oriental architecture, mainly in colors of gold, red, and white. The Golden Mountain in the middle of the city was great, with a giant Stupa at the top and offering a 360 view of the whole city. A sight to see, thats for sure. The highlight so far has been Wat Arun, a Buddhist temple made up of several tall towers by the river. Very different than other Wats. Steep steps that are quite the task to climb, and smiling children running around without a care in the world. I just met up with 6 other teachers from my program, all from different parts of the U.S., and all with their own stories to tell. We went out to dinner and I had my first authentic Pad Thai, and let me tell you, it was better than I could have ever imagined. We then went out to a bar called "Bar 'r' Us," a place trying to look modern and cool, but ended up looking like it's from the 70's. We played a few rounds of pool and got to know each other. Tomorrow is my last free day before orientation, and I'd like to see what else this crazy city has in store for me.