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

Three days til New Year

 It's day four of our five day and it feels like we've been here for a week. We've just done so much in such a short amount of time that it feels like more time has gone by. 

The first on the itinerary today was a place that sold medicines make from snakes. A lot of Asian cultures use herbal and animal medicines to cure ailments and improve the body. There was a cool snake show going on as we walked through the door. They loved scaring the audience by pretending to throw the snakes at us. As they were bringing the snakes around for us to touch, one guy grabbed my hand and tried to scare me that way...didn't work though. Better luck next time :P

The guy trying to scare me by grabbing my hand

Today was also our shopping day. We headed over to a new department store called Isetan in Bangkok. It was about 4 storeys high and was just filled with really high-end and fancy stores. Lots of brand names. It was fun walking around and having a look at everything on sale. The prices weren't that much cheaper than what you'd find back in Perth, but there were plenty of stores I've never been to before so it was refreshing to see all the different styles of clothing. 

For dinner we went to the Baiyoke Sky Tower in Bangkok. It is the tallest tower in Thailand, measuring in at 309 metres tall. There are a total of 2 060 steps from the bottom to the top, and it takes over an hour to reach the top by foot. That would be a great workout. Calves of steel after doing that. The tower is a hotel which includes a whole list of other attractions. There are heaps of buffets (including a fruit buffet!) and restaurants, fitness club, a roof top bar and there is a gold range nearby. There is also a revolving observation deck at the very top that we went up to after dinner. The view of the city was great. It was a windy night, but it didn't spoil the view :)

Lastly, I just want to mention that the buffet we ate at was amazing. It was an international buffet. The variety of foods was amazing, and all of it was well cooked and delicious. One new thing that I tried and absolutely loved was the deep fried taro. I have so much love for taro, and when it's deep fried, it's just magical :P I think I should experiment more with deep frying. There could be so much more fatty goodness out there ready for me to discover. 

Some of the dessert section

Four days til New Year

Today we packed up all our gear, checked out of the hotel in Pattaya and headed for Bangkok. Before going to our new hotel, we spent the day at Safari World, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Bangkok. We watched heaps of different shows with all kinds of extremely well trained animals. We also did a safari tour where we saw just a huge array of different animals such as zebras, giraffes, buffalo, deer (pretty much anything and everything with antlers and/or that resembled Bambi), and just about everything else you might see out on an African safari. Definitely a worth while place to check out.

This bear has what looks like a mane. I thought that was cool :)

Now, what a really want to brag about is a show we went to called Cookin' Nanta in Bangkok. This was hands down one of the best performances I've ever been to. I have never seen anything quite like this and it was so unique and refreshing. Cookin' is a show where kitchen utensils and props are used to create music and rhythm. I would consider this a comedy performance. There is little dialogue, with some of the most hilarious non-verbal performances I've ever watched. 

The plot of the show is that there are three chefs who work together in a restaurant run by quite a strict manager. One day he sets them the job of preparing a 10 course menu and puts his nephew in charge. Having a new cook in the kitchen disrupts it's normal dynamic, and so they have to find a way to work together to meet the one hour deadline. 

It really is just the most amazing show. Some of the talent is absolutely incredible! The musical talent is amazing, and they do so many tricks and stunts with the kitchen props. Truly great stuff. The show did a world tour in 2012, so now I'm going to be keeping an eye out for a second tour. Cookin' is so good!! I want everyone to experience how great this show is!! 

The set :)