SameSame ...but different

I can't believe we pulled this off.

Ashley, Damian, Ryan, and myself flew from different places at different times and managed to all meet in Bangkok flawlessly. How often is something like this going to happen in a lifetime?

We spent two days in Bangkok and it was awesome. We toured two temples: Wat Pho and Wat Phra Kaew (in the Grand Palace) which houses the Emerald Buddha. The Emerald Buddha (actually made of jade...ask me what the difference is and I couldn't tell you) is pretty small and sits on top of this elaborate, super tall thrown made of gold. Wat Pho is the temple of the reclining Buddha. This thing is HUGE...46 metres long! It is gold and has mother of pearl inlays on the bottoms of it's feet. I've never, ever seen anything like it.

Both days we managed to fit in Thai massages...it's a rough life. We found a place with certified masseurs (who learned at Wat Pho). The first day we all laid in a row on mats and got Original Thai Massages at the same time. I don't think Ryan was prepared for the fact that they rub your feet and legs too...he is SO ticklish there and ended up just laughing the whole time. ashley and I went for foot massages the second day at it was heavenly. It cost eight dollars to get an hour massage! I think we'll manage to fit a few more of those in before we leave.

Tuesday night we went to the Muai Thai stadium to see a real Muai Thai fight. We got ringside seats and had a really good view. The energy there was really cool...it was filled with Thai people yelling and placing bets. In total there were two knockouts...the first from an elbow and the second from a kick. It was weird seeing that right before your eyes. It was super cool to watch Muai Thai in the place where it originated.

Wednesday night we caught a flight to Ko Samui and that's where we are now. We managed to get a hut on the beach (after waking up a guy who worked here...we arrived pretty late) and the view is beautiful. We plan on getting up early to see the sunrise tomorrow but who knows if we'll be able to pull it off!

Random tidbit:
"samesame...but different" is something a lot of Thai people say to white people about absolutely anything and it doesn't make much sense. It's never really used in the right context. For instance: Damian to cab driver "how old are you?" cab driver "same same...but different." It's halarious! They even have tshirts that say "samesame" on the front and "but different" on the back.

So far this place has been awesome. I can't wait to see what else it has to offer.

Heather