Adventuring on a Sunday Afternoon

Today I decided to finally go check out a park I've been wanting to explore.  I did a little research and realized that it's actually 3 parks combined and they are all a little different.  I got a taxi to Chatuchak park, which is the park I first discovered, making me want to come back and explore more.  After walking through this beautiful park (which reminds me so much of the parks in Boston) I ran into a Canadian and asked him where I could rent a bike (I heard you could do this for a dollar and thought that would be a good way to explore this large park).  He taught me how to say "rent bike"  (sounds like 'chow chak-ra-yan') and pointed me to another park and said the bike rentals were on the other side of that park.  So I entered the second park and walked through that.

It was a beautiful, well-kept park full of beautiful flowers, gardens, bridges and water.  I finally ended up at a building and asked a lady if I could rent a bike.  She explained that I was in the Queen's Park where you could not rent a bike.  But she was very nice, gave me a map, and explained where I wanted to go.  I went where she said (after much confusion and meeting a Thai man to help me understand where I was on the map) and ended up in a grove of banana trees.  It was pretty cool to see so many banana trees up close, buuuut it didn't have bikes.  So I walked a bit more and ended up where I was before.  So I asked someone else for help and he pointed me in another direction.  I finally figured out a few landmarks on the map and somehow discovered that the third park was the one where you could rent bikes and that I had actually passed the entrance to that park at least two times as I circled around the Queen's park.  Finally I made it to the third park, asked where I could rent bikes and was directed to the other end of the park.  After walking almost two hours I finally found the bike rentals!  So I rented a bike and rode around that park for a while.  Then I stopped and got some ice cream and ate it by a lake.  It was a beautiful afternoon and there was a nice cool breeze (like the ones you feel before a storm coming) and the smell of fresh cut grass was wafting through the air.

After a three hour adventure, lots of exercise and picture taking I was ready to go home.  I returned my bike,  bought a few fried bananas and eventually found a taxi home.  It was a wonderful afternoon, great to get some fresh air and explore a new part of Thailand.  I got to see some beautiful flowers, banana trees, a HUGE water monitor lizard (soooo cool!!!... and yes, I had to look up what kind of reptile this was... didn't even know they existed!) and soak up some Thailand sun.  It was fun to be a little adventurous and independent.  It's still funny to think of myself getting taxi's around Thailand, exploring parks, and riding bikes with the locals on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  Who would have guessed?

Fall Party!

With many of the female teachers here being Pinterest fans (me included), we've been seeing tons of recipe's posted for fall food.  Pumpkin this, apple that... it was just too much for us to sit around and not partake in.  Even though it still feels like summer weather, we decided we needed to turn up the AC, put on some warm comfy clothes and get together to eat scrumptious fall foods and celebrate this new season (even if the air isn't cool and crisp and the leaves outside aren't red and orange).  As fall is my favorite season (and one I am missing very much right now) I thoroughly enjoyed this get together.  It was hosted in an apartment a few doors down and they did such a beautiful job making it look like fall - candles, red, orange and yellow leaves hanging, mini pumpkins, and many other decorations helped it to really feel like fall.  We had tons of pumpkin breads/muffins, my roommate and I brought apple crisp, there was a caramel apple bar (where you dipped your apple in caramel and then dipped it in bowls of chocolate chips, nuts, m&m's or whatever), popcorn, and there was wassail (like hot apple cider) and chai. Mmmm, so good!  We ate and talked and ended the night watching a fall-ish movie, Remember the Titans.  It was a wonderful night!

Today

Today I...
-slept in; still tired from the previous week (and fighting off sickness)
-walked to 7/11 to get juice; made toast with cinnamon sugar
-listened to a sermon online (thank you Pastor Jon :)
-read Jesus Calling, reminding me of God's peace
-played hymns - refreshing for my soul
-ate mama gai and Thai tea
-read about Hobbits in the prologue of The Lord of the Rings
-had lunch with P'Nee, the lady who makes my mama gai and Thai tea; sympathized with her and laughed
-talked to a Thai man who is an agricultural officer in Krabi
-took a nap
-baked chocolate espresso cookies while listening to music
-wrote to friends back home
-turned up the AC, got in my pj's, cuddled under a blanket on the couch, sipped chamomile tea with honey
and read

I'd call that a pretty good day :)