Two Burnses in Bangkok

This weekend was one of the best I've had so far in Thailand. My oldest brother, Andrew, came to visit me in Bangkok! He had a business trip to Singapore and asked if they could also set up meetings in Bangkok because he knew I would be here. It was so amazing to be able to show him around, introduce him to my friends here, and hang out. I hadn't even realized it but I haven't been home in 4 months. That's a long time to go without seeing any family members! I was giddy with excitement when I went to meet him at the airport, and the whole weekend was so much fun.

He flew in Friday night and we went straight to his hotel downtown. I dropped off my bag because I was staying the weekend with him and I experienced, on a small scale, culture shock. The hotel was quite fancy and I hadn't been anywhere so decadent in a long time. My apartment is really nice but it's simple. Also, when I've traveled these past few months it has been to budget backpacker hostels. I absolutely love the places I've been staying, they are just very different from a 5 star hotel!

We walked around the streets outside the hotel after dinner and were pleasantly surprised that right across the street was Patpong Night Market. It's the biggest night market in Thailand. The market and hotel are also right next to the Red Light district. One must keep an open mind when exploring that part of town. It's something everyone who comes to Bangkok should experience...but you just have to go and accept what happens there and understand that you can't change any of it. It was quite an experience to see it all (well, for me it was the second time), but the two of us had an interesting time navigating the streets looking for fun things to do. After exploring the market, we headed to the most famous rooftop bar in Bangkok: Sirocco Sky Bar. It is located on the 64th floor of the State Tower and was used in the filming of the movie "The Hangover Part II". The view from the top was incredible! I love how beautiful Bangkok looks at night with all of the buildings lit up.

View from the Sky Bar.

Andrew and I hanging out on the 64th floor.

The next day, we headed to an indoor market because it was raining. The hotel had a handout with the name of the market printed on it to give to our taxi driver and it said "Pratanum Market". We were very tickled when we arrived to our destination and saw a huge sign on the building that said "Platinum Mall". If you sound it out...it's close enough! It was neat to wander around for a few hours checking out the thousands of goods for sale.

Andrew outside the "Platinum Mall"

Saturday night was great because we met up with one of Andrew's friends from Camp SeaGull who is from Thailand, Krit. We all met up at Fallabella, a neat restaurant/club and had a delicious dinner. I love going out to eat with Thai friends because they order a bunch of plates and we all share. Krit is one of the nicest people I've ever met and we had such a good time at dinner hanging out. I hope to see him again during the rest of my stay in Bangkok. He is actually a news anchor for Channel 3, so I will definitely try to tune in to more Thai TV and see if I recognize him!

Krit, Andrew, and Rob at dinner.

Krit and I at Fallabella with our friends.

Sunday was probably one of my favorite days because Andrew came out to Bangmod and saw where I live! It is SO different than downtown Bangkok; I was glad he got to see both parts of town. He was surprised at how different it was and was delighted to see that all of the local Thai people are so kind and smiley. Not many people get to see this part of town when they come to Bangkok for just a few days. Many travelers get a skewed perspective of Thai people because they are only in the touristy areas. We had a delicious meal at the market I go to every day and it was also for about a third of the price as all the other food he'd had downtown.

Andrew about to chow down on delicious Thai food from the market.

I'm so glad that Andrew came and got to see where I've been living. At dinner, he kept asking why I liked it so much and why I was so happy. I think after seeing where I live and go to school, he sees how cool it is and how great my life really is! I'm writing this hastily because I need to catch our flight to Cambodia in a few hours. We will be there for the rest of the week...I can't wait to explore Angkor Wat together!

Vang Vieng, Laos

I went to Laos last week for a "visa run" and it was spectacular. I put visa run in quotation marks because we were all more than willing to spend a few days there! We just coordinated the dates so that we could also renew our 90 day, multi-entry visas.

Ty, Reade, Keith, Jessica, Adam, and I all rode the night train to the Thailand-Laos border Wednesday night, August 29th. In the morning we easily crossed the border into Laos on a 15 minute train/bus and went through customs without any hiccups. We hopped in a minivan with two other travelers and after 5 hours, made it to our destination: Vang Vieng.  After a refreshing meal of cornflakes (first Western menu we'd seen since Koh Tao) Emily and Mary-Katherine joined us at Pan's Guesthouse, where we were all staying. Thursday night was Ty's 21st birthday so we went to a pizza place and had a really fun night celebrating! Not many people can say they were in 2 countries on their 21st birthday.

Birthday boy

Thursday, we woke up and decided to visit the Kaeng Nyui Waterfall, which was a 7km hike away. Dad (I know you'll read this), you would be proud, we had the option to rent motorbikes and scoot up there in 15 mins, but we all opted for the safer, but more strenuous option, of biking up the mountain. I'm glad we chose to bike though because we had an accident-free trip and could also enjoy the scenery better!

Emily, Mary-Katherine, and I enjoying the view.

It took about 45 minutes to reach the waterfall and I was quite exhausted, but it was incredible. The waterfall was MASSIVE. Larger and more powerful than any other waterfall I've seen by fivefold. We were able to walk right up to it and at one point Mary-Katherine and I were standing on a ledge right next to the running waterfall and we had a special moment of realization. There we were, two 20 year olds, standing so close to such a beautiful and powerful sight, in Laos, having the time of our lives. We were happy, to say the least.

At the waterfall!

After playing around at the base of the waterfall for an few hours, we headed back to town. The bike ride back was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We didn't have anywhere to be and took a nice leisurely ride back, stopping frequently to take pictures. It was a beautiful day. 

Friday was full of adventure too because we booked a full day of trekking, caving, and kayaking around Vang Vieng! We were picked up promptly at 9:30am by our guide, Nok, and headed to the caves. After walking through three awesome caves we headed over to the river for lunch and cave tubing. Now, if you've kept up with my blog you know that I do not necessarily like caves. In Vietnam I came to appreciate caves and even enjoy walking through them when they had big caverns and weren't claustrophobic. Well, I was not too keen on our next activity because it involved pulling myself on an inner-tube through teeny crevasses and navigating a cave with a very low ceiling. AH! I'm getting the shivers just typing this post. After a LOT of coaxing from my friends, I pulled myself through the cave with the rest of the gang. Terrified for every single second! I was glad that I did it, but it wasn't the most enjoyable of experiences. That being said...I would definitely do it again! After cave tubing we walked for about an hour all through the countryside. We saw many rice fields and beautiful mountain landscapes. I happily proclaimed on the walk that Laos was the most beautiful place I'd ever been.

The gang stopping for a picture break in the beautiful countryside.

We arrived at the rushing river and quickly hopped into big red kayaks (and put on life jackets too of course) and paddled down the river. There were a few rapids which were really fun but it was mostly a relaxing 7km kayak down the river. It was too perfect; here I was floating Nam Song River with best friends, splashing, laughing, and singing, looking around at the most beautiful landscape in all of Southeast Asia. Life was good!

We got up early Sunday morning, had one last Western breakfast, and headed back to good ole Bangmod. 

Happy travelers

Photo I snapped while crossing the Laos-Thailand friendship bridge on the way home.

A minivan, sleeper train, taxi, and 24 hours later I was opening the door to my apartment, quickly changing for class, and heading to KMUTT for 3 hours of Life Cycle Assessment class. No time for breaks in Thailand!

Wat Pho

Two weeks ago (August 25th) Emily, Mary-Katherine, Christian, Ty and I went to Wat Pho. It contains the temple of the Reclining Buddha, a must see in Thailand. The Reclining Buddha is 15m high and 43m long and quite magnificent. I didn't realize how massive it would be so when I adorned my lime green "polite" robe (to cover my shoulders) and stepped into the temple, I was struck by the beauty and size of the Reclining Buddha.

Not the best photo of the Reclining Buddha, but there were so many tourists cramping my photo style!

 A wall of tranquil Buddha statues. 

We explored around the grounds for a while because there are several wats and it's full of cool sculptures and temples to visit. 

 

Emily and I inside one of the many temples. 

 Mary-Katherine and I posing in front of one of the stupas. There are almost 100 on the grounds of Wat Pho and all are intricately decorated.

A very famous massage school is located right next to the Reclining Buddha and we all got 30 minutes Thai massages. Some parts of the massage were quite painful because they focus on myofascial release and stretching but we all felt amazing afterwards. I definitely want to go back when my mom comes to visit in December! 

 
Here we are waiting outside the parlor for our massages. 

After exploring Wat Pho we headed over to Little India and ate at a restaurant, Royal India, that we heard about from our guide book. It was quite funny getting there though because we had to get a cab or walk, but were all slightly delirious from our relaxing massages. After a few frustrating conversations with taxi drivers and looking at the map we carried, we realized we were just a few blocks from Little India. It just took a bit longer than normal because we all were loping along at a leisurely pace :) 

Here is the group content after a tasty meal of Indian food.