A Good Week

There is simply no other way of putting it. After the Saimai Music and Poetry Festival of last weekend (check the last post for tales from the show in all their hilarity), today has been a week full of shopping, no children, massages, more shopping, getting ready for holiday, more shopping and more massages! Rough, I know. Tuesday we ventured into Bangkok...first stop, the Baiyoke Tower!

BYOT Tower (for short) is the tallest building in all of Thailand. Boasting 85 floors - from the ground all the way up to the tippity-top - it has glorious views of Bangkok, all seen from the 360 degree rotating platform on the 84th floor! However, the best part about this tower? Definitely the choice of 4 (yes, count em' 4!) buffets located between the 76th and 84th floor! Our choice was the oh so classy Sky Restaurant International Buffet

A trip to the top of the tallest building in any country is not complete without a photo shoot overlooking the city. ***Note: I will let you know in advance that Bangkok is not - I repeat not - the prettiest city in the world. And that could be the understatement of the year, I mind you.

After a little (or a lot) of food, what is a girl to do? Why, shop of course! Even though I am leaving for a long 3-week vacation in mere days, a girl can convince herself of anything when it comes to shopping. And that is exactly what I did - persuaded myself I absolutely needed the Bottega Veneta black woven tote bag, even though the purse I was carrying suited my needs just fine. Well, I mean it did have ink stains on it, and the black purse will be a great bag for teaching! Right? Yes, that's what I thought too.

Wednesday through Friday was back to school, but this time, no kids! We did a lot of prep work for next semester - setting up vocabulary words, making lesson plans and meeting with other teachers in our grade to make sure everyone is on the same page. It was pretty lazy - I would guess most people got all their prep work done on day 1, so we laid around, took naps, solved crossword puzzles, chatted and got paid. No complaints here.

Earlier this week (this may be a little out of order, but just follow me), I did get a pedicure which was - as always - delightful to say the least. I even fell asleep! As I drifted in and out of this lazy, dreamy sleep, I picked the color red (because People magazine told me it's the color for fall) for my toes. At the end of the pedicure, I awakened to find my cute little toes sparkling in the light! The pedicure lady who sports 2-inch turquiose nails must have thought I needed a little sparkle in my life because over the red polish, she put a thick coat of silver sparkle nail polish! I don't think my toes have sparkled like this since 7th grade.

Yesterday, it was off to more shopping! We headed back to Chatuchak Market - the best market in the world of course! We spent 5 hours browsing, eating, purchasing, looking and walking before deciding we needed to shop more and headed over the night markets in Silom! Silom also happens to be a nighttime hotspot, so inbetween bargaining for pashminas and fake designer bags, we also were treated to glimpses of go-go dancers and prostitutes on the street. Only in Bangkok people.

Well, to prove I do indeed have friends here, here is a picture of Lauren, Anna and Annabelle (the latter - 2 teachers from the Phillippines) enjoying a joy ride through the back of a tuk-tuk. Four people in a tuk-tuk is a bit much so yours truly is riding on the floor, but the sight was so funny, we had random people taking pictures of us as we cruised through Bangkok. Again, only in Thailand. Well, off to prepare for the big trip, but I will write again before I leave. As always, so much to say, so little time!