Oh yeah...Chinese New Year

I planned to hop a train to Ayuthaya today after getting my Vietnamese Visa (Bangkok is the only place I can get it), but unfortunately, I did not realize that it is Chinese New Year, so the embassy is closed for the next 2 days. Woooops! That means I'll be in Bangkok for a few more days, which is ok since there is certainly plenty to see.


In other news, a funny thing happened the other day. Jekky and I were on our way to hang out with some of her friends at a guesthouse that they own, when we came upon a free outdoor concert being put on as part of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Jekky got all girly and squealy because apparently the performer is some big famous Thai pop singer. We joined the crowd to listen for a while, and I had a weird moment when I realized that for the first time in my life, I was one of the tallest people in a large crowd. The music was actually kinda fun, and the singer interacted with the crowd a lot and told a lot of jokes. Even though I had no idea what he was saying, I was still laughing because he just had such great stage presence. Then suddenly I realized he was looking at me. And then pointing at me. And then everyone in the crowd was looking at me. All I understood between all the Thai was the word "American" and "foreigner". Then everyone laughed. I could tell it was nothing malicious, so I smiled, covered my face with my hands, and pretended to be very embarrassed. Strangely enough, I really wasn't. Anyway, it turns out he made a joke that he would have the American foreigner sing the next verse to the song....which was funny because I obviously couldn't. Hahahaa....hilarious. I guess that's what happens when you stand out in the crowd like a big, white, frizzy-haired sore thumb.

Took a boat to another temple yesterday by the recommendation of my friendly singing taxi driver: Wat Arun

The big citadel has a very very steep staircase leading to the top, which was pretty nifty. Apparently a lot of people come here for part of a pilgrimage, so there were a lot of people getting blessed by Buddhist monks and making little offerings to Buddha statues, etc. etc.

The view from the top was nice--you can see the grand palace in the background to the left.