Friday was a holiday, so on Thursday, Sunny, our manager, took Bauj and I to get our internet again after work(T.O.T. was closed by the time we got there Wed). Got the internet, and a phone line to go with it. So now I also have a landline, and it's supposed to be free for me to receive international calls. But I don't have the number yet; they're supposed to connect it on Monday.
On the way home, Sunny pointed out an Italian restaurant in Muang Thong Thani where we could get pizza and pasta...I told Bauj I would pay for the cab if we went that night. She (surprisingly) agreed to go.
Wonderful Italian food, and my first real break from Thai food since I arrived here. We decided to wander the streets for a while after, thinking the closer we wandered to home, the cheaper the cab fare would be. We ended up walking the entire way home. 2 1/2 hours. About halfway I got thirsty, and approached a roadside stand to buy an orange soda. The woman hands me the plastic bottle and a straw, and I thanked her. Then Bauj decides she's thirsty and wants an orange soda, but there are no plastic bottles left, only glass. The woman asks Bauj if she wants ice, Bauj declines, wondering how she was going to get ice cubes in the bottle neck. The woman then pulls out a little plastic bag, and, to Bauj's bewilderment, proceeds to pour the soda into the bag. Bauj frantically whispers to me, "What the heck is she doing?!" while I stood there stifling my laughter. The woman smiled, stuck a straw in the soda bag, handed it to Bauj, and we left.
When we were a safe distance away, I released my laughter and explained that she had poured the soda into the bag because the bottle would have been too tall for the straw to reach the bottom. It made for an interesting walk.
On Friday Bauj and I went shopping at Carrefour; took two buses and walked to get there, but had to take a cab home to carry all our stuff.
Got a sausage pillow, two tank tops, 100 pencils(for my students), cereal(called Croc Balls, LOL), a mug, a ceramic bowl for Mac and Cheese, peanut butter, croissants, a hand towel for my bathroom, the last jar of mayonnaise in the store, laundry detergent, hooks for towels and my Kimono, air fresheners, napkins, apples, grape juice, a clock(finally), and the "big" item for the day: a printer. We can make copies at work, but it takes a week. A WEEK. Why? Because we have to give it to one of the TAs, they take it to the other school, and then bring back our copies. I decided that was a load of time-wasting BS that I don't have the patience for, so I bought my own printer and paper for my apt, and only paid about 1200B for them(that's just under $40 for those of you trying to do the conversion in your heads). Came home and put everything in its place, then went downstairs at 6 when Sunny and his girlfriend Brenda were picking up me, Bauj, Rani, Melissa and Harry to take us into Bangkok for Indian food. Sunny let Harry and I each have a turn driving his car around the block before we left. A little weird having the turns signal on the right side of the wheel, but otherwise not as bad as I thought it'd be. Parking along the curb was very awkward though. Anyway, we piled into the two cars and headed off to KohSan Rd in central Bangkok.
KohSan Rd(and a few of the surrounding streets) are farang central. Tourists everywhere, especially with it being Friday night. We spent at least 20-30 minutes looking for parking on the street(finally found a parking garage) because it was Buddhist Lent and pedestrians were walking around the temples, so traffic wasn't allowed on certain streets.
A Taste of India was the restaurant, and having never had Indian food before, I was pleasantly surprised; the food was really good. I had butter chicken and cheese naan bread, and Sunny and Brenda shared their samosas with us. Bauj and I split a fruity Bacardi, and I also had a coke float. After dinner we wandered around KohSan Rd and looked in some of the shops while the boys had beers. Everything was pretty high-priced (because farangs will pay it because it's a good conversion rate) so all I bought was a few postcards.
On Saturday Bauj and I took a taxi to Nonthaburi pier and rode the ferry down the river into Bangkok.
We got off near the Grand Palace, and were going to go see it, but by the time we got to it, it was closed for the day. We took a tuk-tuk around Bangkok,
rode past the King's residence, the government buildings, several embassies, and the zoo. We stopped at the Thai export, where we got to watch how they make the jewelry, and walked through two huge showrooms of all kinds of expensive beautiful jewelry, all for sale. We didn't buy any(just a few small items from the gift shop) but anything we liked they would take out for us to try on. Bauj decided to tell them that we were from London, so every time they told us the price of something they would convert it to pounds for us....which did nothing for me. Thanks Bauj. Back at the pier, before getting back on the ferry, we grabbed a bite to eat, and I don't know what it was, but it was good. Bought a blue dress for 500B and then we hopped the ferry to Nonthaburi pier. Before heading home, we walked through a market that was at least 8 or so blocks long, and I found two skirts and some...interesting...earrings.
When we tried to get a ride home, we had issues. Nobody knew where Champs Elysees(pronounced shomz eleezay) was. We asked 5 tuk-tuks, and went through 6 cabs until finally the 7th said yes and waved us in. He ended up not knowing and we had to call Sunny to give the driver directions in Thai, but we got home.
Today we stayed home. Did laundry, graded papers, worked on lesson plans. Ugh. School tomorrow.
