Home Sweet Home- Back I Am

After another two amazing and amazingly hot days in Bangkok I am back here in Switzerland...
Saturday I got to see the Kings Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo, one of the most important Wats in Thailand; truly ostentatious places! Even as a non Buddist the pompous buildings let you understand how important they are. I learned so much about Buddism- so many of all the paintings and statues are based on the story of life of the Buddha and the Ramayana Story, which I am not going to try to tell you here- it s sort of long and somewhat complex- my earlier attempt to try to repeat it was not very successful... But if you re interested in Buddism go google it, it helps a lot to understand.
On the way there I also got to ride a TUKTUK which is some kind of motorized rickshaw, the drivers are a bit crazy and you get the real taste of the downtown air right in your face but let me tell you- it s great- gotta have ridden a TUKTUK when in Bangkok=)!
After we went to Chatuchak Weekend Market.... It s HUGE!! And you can get EVERYTHING there; food, clothing, Thai traditional art, plants, pets and the locals actually like going there to go shopping for all of it as Mink told me... And for one time I wasnt the only "farang" , as the Thais call non Asian people.... We spent some 5 hours at the market and didnt even get to see half of it.... I love markets- I loved JJ market =)!!
Come to think of it; did you know that if you ask a Thai person at seven o clock what time it is might tell you it s one o clock? Thais start counting the hours after sunrise or sunset... It so didnt make sense to me at first- but if you think about it- if the sun always rises and sets at the same time- why not go by sun schedule...?

Sunday Mink and her dad took me a bit out west to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market... Boats filled up to the edge with fresh fruit, arts and crafts, food... You get to catch a boat looking a bit like gondolas in Venice, with a skipper that moves you around the channels with a stick and you just let him know where you want to stop to look at things. =)
Another market, mangos, mangos with sticky rice and coconut milk-mmmm, Rambutans, Mangosteen, Somtam, a salad made from green Papayas, tom yum, a spicy and sour soup with chicken-mmmmmm.... So markets + pretty places + exotic fruit + good food + such nice people = happy Annina ;)
Only thing- the climate made Annina be a bit less happy- between 35 an 40 degrees, crazy humid, sunny and not always very clean air was pretty hard on me...

After an incredibly busy 5 days Mink took me to the airport Sunday Night. Sad leaving her behind again after such a short time of seeing her again!! But it did give me a great insight in what her life in Thailand is like! My plane took off and I spent just a few moments more awake- being dead tired of an exhausting five days my trip home didnt seem too long even though I spent 12 hours on the plane.... Even though physically back home my mind still lags behind........

I hope you all enjoyed reading about our adventures out in the big, wide world!!!
Finally pictures are on picasa for you to watch. Somehow the photo link doesnt quite work the way I want it to work so get on the page by the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/adafs11

Enjoy!!