Temples & Rita

I set out on what I had intended to be my one day in Bangkok to see the famed temples and sights that make the one day you spend in Bangkok worthwhile. I got a tourist map and a bus number from the guy and the New Siam bank, and made my way to Wat Praht Khao, the Grand Palace, and the temple of the emerald buddha. This is when my mind decided to click on and when i realized that the cars were driving on the Left side of the street! I had never seen this before.

I met Rita Yamin outside the Grand Palace talking to a "wily stranger" who was trying to scam her by convincing her that the temple was closed today. we made friends out of neccessity; we were both traveling alone, wanted soemone new to talk to--maybe a new friend--and maybe just someone to take my pictures so theres not a whole lot of me fumbling with my camera trying to race the timer.

--or maybe it's nice to share a place, and event with someone, even if they're brand new...
Rita was a pretty cool girl. She is a couchsurfer who had spent the year teaching English in a small northern town in Japan. So we instantly had a lot to talk about.
Together we explored the temple grounds of the reclining buddha, traveled accorss the river by water taxi, walked along the wrong streets where no tourist ventures, turned around, saw the temple of the rising sun, had lunch, and some amazing freshly squeezed orange juice, made from little green oranges that were just so sweet and delicious. I think I mayt have taken a year off my life just from walking through all those exhaust fumes along the streets. we walked in circles, took out a map, and made our way (and some discoveries) as we explored the cultural neighborhood of Bangkok.

I think the walking was my favorite part of that day. We had a lot of fun, did a lot of talking, and I think it was just refreshing to talk about familiar things--like teaching english and our respective foreign experiences--about life back home, and about what we were seeing and doing. We had dinner together, and exchanged our favorite bands from korea/japan, and finally emails.

at the end of the day, here's what I had to say,

"almost got my ear whopp'd off by a bus. it rushed by so fast and so close
that I swear it touched my ear. in the alley behind khaosan road, I saw a man
poo-diherrea all over a gutter-grate. it was the nastiest thing i've
ever-ever-ever seen. ever. saw fish in the harbor today and spent a lot of Baht.
theres a lot of good music outside my hostel window. I like it."