day 3 in Thailand

We are still in Bangkok for one more full day. I wake up at 3am this morning which is an improvement from yesterday. I force myself back to sleep for a full 10 hours of recovery rest before another day of adventure. 

It's now 6am and the sun is still beyond the horizon. I fire up the computer to get caught up with a little work and start on my morning devotionals.

We head down for breakfast at 7am and take our time again with a leisurely meal and morning coffee & tea. 

The child next to us is playing a game on his device without a headset🤨. I can't tell you how many times this occurs regularly with either adult or child. The overall courtesy of humans and their devices concerns me. I have decided to invest in carrying inexpensive headsets with me regularly so that I may respond in a loving way that achieves quiet by kindly offering them as a gift! 

Back in the hotel room, I grab the hair dryer to dry the clothes that I washed in the bath tub last night. Yes, that's right...I was too cheap to pay for laundry service. Seriously, it was $6.50 per shirt! We are in Thailand. Where are the bargains?

We are now off to Chinatown! We arrive and are excited too see all the colors and many stalls of interesting wares. As we walk down the side streets, we are hit with the combination of Chinese food and sewer smell that nearly knocks you off your feet. You unconsciously take deep breaths when the air is tolerable for when you are overwhelmed with such force that you reflexively hold your breath. The sights are amazing and a kaleidescope of color. Everywhere you look, somthing new is sold. The overwhelming feel is of a Chinese dollar store. One stall sells only COVID masks of ever shape size and color. There are stalls that sell any thing and everything that you can imagine. 

Now, about the people... They are all beautiful! everywhere I look are children of God, all made in His image. I find myself looking at them with such love in my heart that I have to believe that they can feel it. I smile and make eye contact with each and every one I see. I have to believe that this is a reflection of God's work in my heart. When you deepen your relationship with Him, you begin to see the world differently. I do believe that a form of heaven does exist here on earth and can be obtained through the love of Christ. Please don't tell John I said this as he'll think I'm off my rocker! 

I am feeling a bit tired and need some caffeine. I admit that I am back on the bad stuff. I am now drinking one cup of green tea at breakfast and an afternoon matcha.

I finally found a drink stand that looked clean and had matcha... With boba! So exciting-until I see the barista ready to dump condensed milk into it. Oh no! A Chinese fellow that was there to get his afternoon fix immediately jumped in to assist in this near tragedy. I ended up with a bitter and gritty iced matcha tea boba with no sweetener. After three swiggs and a couple of yummy bobas sucked down,  in the garbage it went and off to Starbucks we go! 

We meet a lovely man named Vinh at Starbucks. He is from Vietnam but had lived in Seattle for quite some time. Everyone that we have met has been extremely nice and been open enough to share a little of their stories with us. These are the little gems in our travels that will surely enrich our adventure! 

BTW... Have you ever seen a green tea croissant? I now have!

Bathroom break- so, I think I've figured out the toilet paper situation! There is one roll of tp on the wall in the bathroom outside of all the stalls. That is at least the case outside of Starbucks in Chinatown. I ask you one question though... What happens if you get enough for a quick potty only to find that...oops, you have to poo.😬

How best to describe Thailand overall...hm, I think it would be to say that it was once very beautiful but had been left unkept. The once shiny tiles are all chipped. The buildings all have a black substance leaking from the concrete/ brick and through the paint to give it an overall appearance of black mold. I don't know what it really is. Graffiti is everywhere and no attempts appear to have been made to cover it up. There doesn't appear to be one square foot of sidewalk that doesn't have cracks with grass and weeds growing through it. Half of the shops seem to have been long forgotten and abandoned. As I've mentioned previously, the electrical code enforcement agency left the country decades ago to seek a country more apt to comply. I saw a few gentleman sitting on the sidewalk with an electrical line in their hands, stripping the sheath and making new connections😬. I stayed clear of them! Street sweepers are non existent here and garbage is everywhere. I have to say that I am very thankful and feel blessed to live in an area where cleanliness is a priority.

BTW, we anticipated spending quite some time in Chinatown but John was overtaken with the smells to the point of feeling unwell. I've decided to leave him in Starbucks with fresh clean and conditioned air. I head back out on my own with promises of directional competency (not my historical strong suit). I promise to return just as soon as I've obtained  adequate photos for my blog. Off I go...all on my own. 

Once back to Starbucks, we decide to head to a floating market. We get a grab (Thai version of Uber) and head out. As we near our destination, john starts to get nervous. You know what I'm talking about... Where he starts to repeat himself over and over with notes of concern about "where we are" "will we be able to get a ride back" "is this safe", etc. In his defence, it does look rather sketchy. Feeling stuck between certain death and a very disappointed wife, he agrees to pay the driver 250 baht to park and wait for us to check it out (30 minutes tops). I am now appeased. It turns out the we were able to see the whole market in less than 15 minutes. The "floating" part of the market was an exaggeration or "misunderstanding on behalf of their marketing department"🤨. We did see the customary island dog napping in the shade to complete the experience.

Back in the car and nothing else to do but get a massage. You feel bad for us, don't you!

Mentionable notes for Thailand... Always use your seatbelt! The drivers constantly text and watch videos on their phones wile driving. And often dont wear seatbelts themselves which I can't understand.

Dinner next. I've went simple with a cheese-less pizza and john had an amazing Asian dish. I added some of his to my pizza for a magical combination!

We ended our night with an evening walk. We visited the stinky fish on display at the corner where I nearly lost my life? 

i enjoyed a glad of prosecco and john had a beer. Tomorrow we head to Pattaya!