Back from BKK

Well, I am officially back home on a brand new 90 day visa that I will only need about 16 more days on before I take off to Nepal. Bangkok was great. It was a real big priviledge to go hang out with Brittany and Wit all weekend, and a major plus having people that could show me around Bangkok. They really are some great people and I suggest you get to know them when they come to Tennessee for a while.

The first thing I would like to comment on is the food. First and foremost, I love spicy food. This quality made me especially fond of Thailand and maybe even made some Thais fond of me. I got in on Friday night and we went immediately to eat and had some great food at a restaraunt I don't remember anything about. That was about it for Friday evening but Saturday was when the real fun began.

Wit and I woke up and got ready for our day and went and ate a really great rice breakfast before time to meet Brittany to head to the floating market. We went to the Baptist Student Center they go to in Bangkok and picked up a group of several people, all Thai, and then we were off to the market. The market was a great place to spend the first half of the day. It was really a cultural experience. We got into long wooden canoes and Wit and I paddled up and down a small canal and had a Tomyam lunch from ladies that were also sitting in a canoe at the side of the market. They warned me that it was spicy, which happened several times, but I knew I could handle it. We westerners apparently don't represent very high pain tolerance when it comes to eating spicy food because it always surprises the Asians when I choose to take my meals very spicy.

After the market we headed back to Brittany's apartment and watched a movie with most of the people that went with us to the market. Before we started the movie some of the ladies made food that was essentially lettuce wraps and watched as I ate the spicy stuff and then spoke in Thai to each other. Brittany told me that they really admired my ability to eat anything and that they usually complained about foreigners but they wanted me to apply for a job and come back. I don't know if that is a sign for God or not, but I did make my decision that my wife is probably in Thailand since there are no unattractive ladies there. I don't care at all if God wants me to go there!

After the movie we went to Khao San Road, which is like backpacker central. It was a really good experience with a lot of interesting people. Then on Sunday I basically just went to the airport. All in all it was a really fun trip.

I'm home now and we have officially started our second to last week of the lecture phase and are cracking down and getting busier and busier before we head to Nepal. Coincidentally, at our house the internet is also down so the pictures are going to have to wait a while since the connection in the office isn't great. I took lots of them though. Thanks for reading!