All Good Things..

I can't believe that today is my last day in Southeast Asia. Blogging when I first got to Singapore really seems like a long time ago- especially because we've done so much between then and now. On Wednesday we went to Young and Rubicam which is a company that works in advertising, public relations, etc. Thursday and Friday were filled with another meeting, walking around the city, and shopping. On Saturday we went to the Chatuchak Weekend Market which is just massive- it covers 35 acres and has more than 15,000 stalls. It was definitely easy to get lost inside. Yesterday we went to visit the mall that was set on fire during the protests. We noticed bullet holes everywhere- even where we were walking. After that we got some lunch, shopped a bit, and then came back to relax and grab dinner.

You really get used to the Asian culture when you are around it for so long. You get used to not having trash cans, napkins, or benches anywhere. You get used to the fact that they never bring all the food out at the same time. And you get used to using their currency. I think in each place that we stayed it took a little time to get used to the currency. For example, in Thailand 1 baht is around 30 American dollars. So for them, it's normal to see things that are 1,000 (in baht), which for us is only about $30. But my mind is constantly working to figure out how much everything is and for the most part everything is much cheaper. But I really have enjoyed Bangkok- it's easy to get around using the sky train and it's a great city with a lot of history to it.

While I'm sad to leave Southeast Asia in general, I will be glad to get home and let my body adjust to the time difference...again. My flight leaves at 5:30am tomorrow morning (that's around 6:30 pm back in the states. We are scheduled to get back home at 6:30pm on Tuesday. Stephanie and I will most likely just stay in the airport tonight since we would have to be there at 3:30 anyway, and leave at 2:30 to get there. We might catch a movie today, get a little more shopping done, and then have a big dinner with everyone.

I know I've definitely made friends that I'll never forget. It's been an amazing trip and definitely the best experience I've ever had.

Less Than a Week.

I can't believe we are approaching the end of our trip. Less than a week now. The day after I blogged last we went to the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, along with visiting S.21 and the Killing Fields, which were both pretty intense experiences. If you don't know much about the Cambodian Genocide, research it. It's hard to explain just how I was feeling at the time. It's one of those things where you don't really want to talk about it- you just kind of take it all in and try to process it in your own way.

The next day we left for Saigon which was a 7hr trip by bus, but not as bad as some of the other transportation we've had. We stayed at Madame Cuc's which was interesting because we were all split up into three different buildings, but still with the same hotel. Saigon was great for the afternoon that we were there. We did a little shopping, got some dinner, and got foot massages (which were a little disappointing) I do wish that we had gotten to spend a little more time in Saigon but the next day we left for the airport, and headed to Bangkok. The flight was only an hour, although it seemed a bit rougher than most flights and I was glad to have landed when we did. When we got here we grabbed a taxi to Suk 11 which is one of the best places we've stayed so far. It's like a big tree house in the middle of Bangkok. It's surrounded with plants and it's all wood. Each hallway looks like it stretches on forever but it's pretty awesome. We took the train system to the MBK Center which was pretty much just a big mall. Afterwards we had a relaxing afternoon followed by some dinner and drinks. Yesterday we just kind of roamed the city. We took the train system to a water taxi which took us to Wat Pho which includes the Recling Buddha. We went to Chinatown and then came back to Suk 11. That brings me to today- one of my favorite parts of the entire trip.. the Tiger Temple. On top of getting to pet, walk with, and watch tigers play, we saw all other kinds of animals as well. I took lots of pictures because this was definitely one of the best experiences so far.

We will be doing different things for the rest of our trip in Bangkok and I'm not really sure what we have in mind but hopefully I'll be able to blog once more before we leave :-)