Got up around 630 this morn and went to the extravagant breakfast buffet with my folks. Around 9 we hoped in a cab and headed to the floating market which is about an hour from Bangkok. Our cab driver was a total sweet heart and we chatted with him the whole way out.

The floating market is in a very wet, tropical area. When we got there, we boarded a canoe. We invited our cabby to come along and he looked so excited. The floating market is something you have to see and experience to believe. You sail down a narrow canal that is lined with docked canoes that each carry merchandise… all kinds of souvenirs, foods, jewelry, etc. The merchants stick out a long pole with a hook on it and hook the customers’ rafts to draw them in. There are multitudes of shoppers and vendors in the crowded canals and they all ram into each other and cause traffic jams. Parks of the canals are lined with residential home on stilts on the water. The homes are very simple and many are made of wooded boards. Lots of animals and little kids. There is no running water so the residents bath and wash there clothing in the water. I also saw some kids (k, this is pretty gross) deficating in the water! The atmosphere was so beautiful and green and lush. Gorgeous. One of the vendors had a 7 foot python and was charging tourists to take picures with it. Well, you know me. I pulled our boat right over and let him put the snake around my neck. I’m not going to lie… I was scared, esp when it started moving and bringing its head near my body.

After the floating market we went nearby to go elephant riding. My parents got on one elephant together with a guide who sat on the elephant’s head and I went on my own elephant with a guide. We rode through a lush, green, swampy area. Gorgeous. Elephants are so beautiful. Then we went to the ‘monkey show’ where they had a bunch of trained monkeys doing tricks like jumping through hoops of fire and solving math problems and shooting basketball hoops.

We went to lunch at a seafood plc near the hotel and brought our cabby along. It was a fabulous meal of the freshest lobster and sea bass. Delicious but very expensive.

Wandered the streets and met a Thai family of beggars on the street. There were like 5 kids and 2 babies that belonged to two muslim women. The kids were begging for change and they were so cute and I was in a good mood so I took the whole family out to eat at McDonalds. The kids were jumping up and down they were so excited. It is amazing that something so small can seem like such a luxry to them. I also fed a family of stray cats. 

After months of forcing my brown curly hair to be blonde and straight about 75% of it has fallen out. I’ve been pretty upset about it and I don’t know what to do! Should I shave it bald? Well I decided to get extensions. I went into a salon and bought real human hair extensions. They are weaved in and glued in place near your scalp. Last about 3 months. I love it so far, but it took over 2 hours and 100$ to put them in, which is super cheap for real hair. I guess women here can sell their hair for about 30$. Love my extensions.

Cant wait for camp tomorrow.

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