On Our Way Home

We are just hours away from saying goodbye to Thailand. It's gone by so quickly and I know that I haven't even begun to process all that I've seen and done... that will probably take quite a few days to do.

I just got back from taking a Tuk Tuk to MBK... a ridiculously huge shopping mall in Bangkok. Six levels. And not small levels either. The past two days I've only gone through 1 level and I was able to get more than enough souveniers to last me for quite a while. Prior to that, I walked down the main street and found a bakery that sells really unique donuts... green tea infused, pumpkin, etc. I ended up getting a carmelized macadamia donut- really yummy, but very sweet. I was really excited because I had been searching for a particular picture frame for a few days and the last place I looked at the mall, I was able to find it! I was disappointed, previously, because I thought that I'd have to leave without getting one. I have to go upstairs and pack up my new purchases and then I'm good to go!

Yesterday we had a great day! A very long day too. We got up and took a van at 6:30am out to the Floating Market. You board these long boats that almost look like canoes only they are motorized. It takes you through all of these marshy areas and homes that are built over the water. When I say 'homes', they are more like a bunch of plywood nailed together- so, not the OC waterfront homes by any means. Basically, they are poor fishing villages. I keep relating things back to Disneyland, but several people made the comment that we felt like we were on a Jungle Cruise/Pirates of the Carribbean ride... especially the bayou area at the beginning of the Pirates ride. People were floating by us with small boats full of fresh fruits and some people were fishing. It was a lot of fun, definitely. The marketplace itself, sells a lot of the souvenier type of merchandise and it's all over-priced. Even when you bargain it down, it's still way too much money. After the marketplace, we reboarded our van and took a ride on an elephant. It was about 30 minutes and they even take the elephants down through deep water so that it's almost touching your feet as they hang over. Me, being an animal lover, of course sat back and watched how they treated the elephants and they seemed to be nice to them and they seemed to be getting a lot of bananas. They were also rotating the elephants out so that they weren't going all day long. I have to pay attention to these things because I don't want to help fund anything that would be cruel to them.

We made the 2 hour drive back and then went to the MBK shopping center for a couple of hours and we also had lunch there. I found pizza and was SO happy. I cannot eat anymore noodles. I'm done. Watch- that's what they'll have on the plane ride home :-). After shopping, we came back and went out to dinner at one of the local hotels, just something nice for our last night, and they had an amazing buffet. I, of course, made a beeline for the desserts- SO good! After that we went to a Night Bazaar... again... more shopping :-) Then we came back and crashed for the night.

Well, I'm being told I need to go... I'll fill in more of the gaps later!

Pray for safe travels! Love to you all!