Chatachuk Market & Grand Palace
SATURDAY, AUGUST 6:Leah and I woke up early and organized a bit more before heading on the BTS (Sky Train) to the Mo Chit station to check out the Chatachuk Market. A huge group of TCIS newbies were heading over there on a bus, those who live in Thana City and are not on the Sky Train route, so we thought we'd shop and keep our eyes open for them. The market is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, officially we're told. Some shops remain open during the week. We arrived at 10:30 am and it was already starting to get quite steamy outside! We ran into a few people from school, but mainly we just roasted and looked at things. I bought a pair of sunglasses because I forgot mine at home and Leah bought some fancy scrapbooking paper for her aunt. After about an hour and a half, we couldn't wait to get back on the air-conditioned Sky Train and head to the air-conditioned malls at the Siam station.
At Siam, we exited the Sky Train and looked for an air-conditioned place to eat. The first one we found was Hard Rock Bangkok, so we settled for some good old American fare. After lunch, we had the option of four huge malls, one on each corner at Siam Square. We went into the Discovery Center and MBK and bought a thin blanket for our beds, an incense holder, place settings with chopsticks, and other odds and ends.
We headed back to the apartment to re-organize and relax.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 7:This morning we headed out on the BTS again, but this time we went south to the Saphan Taksin station on the Chao Phraya river. From there, we hopped on a "tour" where we were ripped off, but only to the tune of around $6. Nothing to lose any sleep over and kind of comical really. We cruised up river and checked out how the "river people" live. Most of the homes weren't very nice, but there were a few here and there that were impressive. A lot of laundry hanging outside, that's for sure! We passed on stopping to see the snake charmer and headed right to the Grand Palace & Emerald Buddah.
As had happened to me in the Summer of 2004, there were guys dressed nicely, in slacks and button-up shirts, standing outside of the Grand Palace trying to tell us that we couldn't go in because of our flip-flops or because our t-shirt sleeves had to be longer. They wanted to appear helpful and talk you into hopping into one of the tuk-tuks for a ride to their buddy's jewelry shop or tailor. I told Leah that they are scammers and that we can go inside and should definitely not go on one of their tuk-tuk adventures. She laughed and we proceeded to warn other westerners on our way in and out of the palace. We took pictures and weeved through the hundreds of people visiting the palace in the blazing heat. It wasn't that crowded last year, but I was probably there on a weekday. When we had enough, we pulled out our map and headed toward the backpacker land of Khao San Road.
We looked around a little on this street, but bought nothing. We were mainly there just to check it out, use an internet cafe, and eat lunch. We did all of those things and thought we'd take a tuk-tuk back to the Sky Train because they're funny looking and they should really be cheaper than a cab. The tuk-tuk drivers in this area are rip-off artists, as are most of the people working these streets, so we took a cab instead. It's much more comfortable anyway, with air con and a smoother ride. We were happy to get out of this neighborhood. With all of the tourists, the Thais seem a bit more jaded and they don't act as nice and happy as they do in our neighborhood. It was nice to get back "home" :)MONDAY, AUGUST 8 and TUESDAY, AUGUST 9:
We spent these two days doing pretty much the same thing. We were able to start taking the BTS to On Nut station and then were picked up by the TCIS teacher school bus and driven to work. It was fun meeting all of the returning teachers; everybody is really nice and they seem fun. We went through policy changes, school committees, and we met with our departments. As I'm the only Spanish teacher (we have a Thai Department and a Chinese Department, but there really isn't a Foreign Language Department like in the States), I met with the ESL department because I also teach 6th Grade ESL. We had lunch and used the rest of the day to continue setting up our classrooms. On Friday, lunch was provided for us from the school as a welcoming for all staff.
After school, Leah and I checked out the local movie theater, only a few blocks from our apartment and had dinner at the mall. We shopped for more toiletries and things that we had forgotten in our last ten shopping excursions.