Two days til New Years

We went to one of the temples in Bangkok today. You'll have to excuse me for not remember the name of it, but I know that it's not the famous golden Buddha temple. They're quite strict in the temples. You're not allowed to wear any bottoms which are shorter than knee length, and everyone must take off their shoes and hats before entering. For all those in short shorts and skirts, they have sarongs which you can buy to cover up the legs. It was quite lovely inside, and I was surprised at how crowded it was. 

For lunch today we ate at The Royal Dragon Restaurant which was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1992 as the world's largest restaurant. As in, it has enough seating for about 5000 customers. It's a lovely restaurant with both indoor and outdoor dining, and heaps of karaoke rooms. The food is delivered by guys wearing roller blades, which I though was quite cool. The service is friendly, and the food was pretty good too :)

Today was also the last day of our Thailand tour. It has been wonderful opportunity to go and see parts of Thailand. At the beginning of the year, I certainly wouldn't have guessed that I'd be on this tour, soaking in the Thai culture, tasting all the delightful food and meeting all the lovely people that I've met. I really am privileged to be able to just go on holiday like this. It certainly has been a pleasant new experience. A big thank you to Vietravel, the touring company that organised our itinerary and took us around! The next leg of the journey is Vietnam again for another tour. Goodbye Thailand :)

The beautiful view this morning from the Prince Palace Hotel. It's a really gorgeous hotel. I would recommend it to everyone!

I also wanted to share with you something that made my day. When my dad was booking the tickets for the tour, he forgot to notify the airline of my dietary requirements so that I can have vegan food on the plane. I was pretty lucky on the flights to Vietnam because they had spare vegan food, but on the short plane ride today, they didn't have any spares. The meal consisted of a dessert dish which I thought was cake but actually turned out to be jelly, an Asian chicken salad (luckily the chicken wasn't mixed in with the salad) and water and juice. 

When I told the flight attendant about being vegan, she tried her best to make some adjustments but in the end she said that I could eat take out the chicken of the Asian chicken salad and she gave me a two packets of roasted nuts. The meal was actually pretty filling, so I wasn't going to go hungry or anything, but the flight attendant came back about 10 minutes later and gave me the container of fruit that she was given for her meal. She said she wanted me to have a good meal. It was such a lovely act of kindness and it made my already good day, a million times better. I think it's those nice things that people do unexpectedly that really reach inside and tickles the part of you that feels. I think I make a bigger deal out of acts of kindness more than other people do, but that's just the way my brain works. It's incredibly touching when someone does something nice for me. Over time I've made conscious effort to not take anything anyone does for me for granted, and as a result, even the smallest of things makes me gush with maximum levels of joy and appreciation. 

Thai airlines everybody. Fly Thai airlines. One good experience is enough for me to want to tell everyone to fly with them :P