Ni hao, Kai-lan! (Part 3)

Location: Outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Time: 10:34 AM
Date: July 3rd
Day 5
We flew over to Hangzhou, which I have never even heard of before that day, but Gwen lives there right now! So, that's pretty cool even if I didn't get to see her. The first place we went to was the West Lake (Uh.. I think.) I was super, super tired that day and I wasn't really paying attention to anything. They took us on a little boat and drove us around and showed us interesting things. I was kinda half asleep, but it's all good. The lake was really pretty and so were the surroundings. I do remember the Baochu Pagoda though, which was made for prayer.

After that, we went to the Yue Fei Temple, which was a little walk away from the West Lake. The temple was built in honor of Yue Fei, who was a famous general and the model of loyalty in China. There were huge statues and elaborate wall paintings there and it was interesting. When we were done, it started raining and we had to walk all the way back to the bus. Repeat of Beijing, much?

Next, we went to go have tea. I don't remember much about this... So, it must've not have been exciting. It was one of those show and sell things. After that, we went to see a show called The Romance of The Song Dynasty, located in this little theme park looking area. I was this close not to going because I was really tired, but I went anyways and am I glad I did. It was one of the most spectacular shows I have ever seen. The props, technology, costumes, acting and everything was just so on point. There were scenes when half the stage turned into a lake and rain came from the sky and scenes were actors literally would appear out of nowhere from all directions. I die. Definitely worth going to. After the show, we drove a few hours to Suzhou to sleep for the night.

Day 6
The first place we went to was the Lion Grove Garden which housed several cool artifacts, but the main exhibit was the crazy pretty gardens. The coolest part were all of these rocks that intertwined with eachother and created this sort of maze that you were able to go into and climb around to take pictures. It was super fun.

Next, we went to a temple but I don't know what it was called. I think it might've been the Hanshan Temple, but I'm not sure. I just remember there were religious stuff everywhere and it was really cool. I also remember a bridge... if that helps.

Next was a show and shop place. Silk is the major producct of Suzhou, so we went to a place that showed how they got silk, how it's used and the products

After that, we left Suzhou and went to Shanghai. Shanghai is ridiculously beautiful and have the biggest and most elaborate buildings ever. I fell in love. The first thing we did in Shanghai was go shopping. First, we went to this one section that had the main typical Beijing stores and restaurants. People were everywhere. It was so crazy and I was getting a headache just being around everyone. It was similar to the US, nothing too different about it. After that, we went to a different section that was more tourist-oriented with less brand stores and more cheap stores. I managed to get a ton of stuff there because I went to the equivalent of the dollar store. Oh, there was also an H&M. There were also a bunch of people peddling their goods on the street. It's so annoying because they harass you until you buy stuff or until you snap on them. It got old quick.

At night, we rode a ferry around Shanghai and saw the city as it lit up. It was super beautiful.

Day 7
Last day in China!

First, we went to the Jade Buddha Temple. It had some of the coolest statues ever. The grand hall had like 30 giant statues in it. The jade buddha was also incredibly cool. Next, we went to a show and sell place, but this time, it was for pearls. They showed how to tell the difference between real pearls and fake pearls (apparently, real pearls are not all perfectly round.) and then people got a chance to buy stuff. This one lady got a pearl neclace for $500. Crazy. Next, we went to this scenic area where we looked out over this lake and got to see the city. It wasn't anything special, but it was still nice.

Once again, we went to another show and sell place. This one took forever because it was jewelry but the guy that was showing us around kept on giving discounts on the products. One bracelet was like 135 yuans, but he sold three for 100 yuan. He also marked down two necklaces for 100 yuans and people lost their shit. People were just buying things left and right and idk, money was flying every which way. It was kind of hilarious. I got a few bracelets to give as gifts.

More show and sell, this time it was at a steel place that did a lot of kitchen appliances. I felt like I was in heaven because I'm weird and I love watching those late night infomercials where they sell you 543249 different types of knives and demonstrate how to use it. They basically did the same thing here. The knife place was also hooked onto this other building that literally was like a maze of doom because it was one long hallway of products. It was seriously the longest walk ever of people just trying to sell you stuff. I thought it was just chocolate at first, but then it was coffee, toys, clothes, disney stuff, makeup, etc... I was like wtf?!

Finally, we flew home with a transfer in Shenzhen. At this point, everyone was tired to death to the point where we were all sprawled on the floor with our shoes off. Touring is draining!

Currently, I'm chilling in Vietnam and I'm coming home in a few days!

xxxjohnny.

I hate squat toilets... (Part 2)

Location: Outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Time: 11:33 AM
Date: July 1st

Happy July! I have officially been out of the country for a whole month! That seems crazy to even think about. 1/12 of the year has been spent in a whole nother continent. Well, continuing on with my adventures in China.

Day 3
The first thing we did was visit this military museum thing... except it wasn't anything big. We just talked about the building and looked at some pictures. Then they took us into a room and try to sold us stuff..... except it didn't have anything to do with the military. It was statues of this creature that's supposed to bring good luck and stuff. My mom ended up getting one small statue for like a thousand dollars. Wtf!!! But then she also got me a necklace, but it wasn't that expensive.

After that, we went to this park and saw the stadium where the olympics took place! The stadium was pretty amazing architectually and it's called the Bird's Nest. If you've never seen it, you should definitely google a picture. Oh yeah, I also took a picture with Mickey Mouse at the park. It was pretty legit.

Next, we went to a tea house where we tried tea and they sold it to us. Tea is a big thing in Asia, so I guess that's where that came in. I don't really enjoy tea, but I could possibly get into it. Who knows? They also had this cool teaset with a dragon design on it that changed colors when you poured in tea. It was badass. At this point, I started feeling super tired and a little faint. It wasn't as extreme, but later that day, we would have to walk a really long distance.

After tea, we headed over to this medicine place. Once again, another show and sell place. They even had "doctors" who would give you a free check up and prescirbe you medicine to take. I decided to go because I figured I should try whatever they suggest for being faint all the time. They said I had liver problems (wtf?) and I ended up getting some pills to improve it.

Next, we had to walk across the street to the Forbidden City. It's basically a city preserved inside of Beijing. In the past, it was the government center and the home of the emperors and stuff. It is gigantic. Like... word scan't even begin to describe how huge this city is. 980 buildings. I'm surprised people don't get lost in there... or maybe they do. It was like a maze to maneuver around. It was really impressive though and it was cool to see all of the different buildings, rooms and artifacts of the past. The buildings were also huge and ornate. It took forever to walk around just a small section of it and finally it was time to go.

That's when all hell broke loose. The bus couldn't come pick us up outside of the palace, so we basically had to walk to dinner. Well, rain clouds were starting to gather and it was only a matter of time before it would rain. We went outside the Forbidden City and saw the iconic Mao portrait on the outside of the wall of the exit and took a restroom break. It started raining in the middle of the break so we went down into the subways to cross the street. When we got out, the rain had stopped and we were at Tiananmen Square. the famous square where many protests were held. Minutes later, it started raining again. This time was even worse. We had to wait in a little open building that I guess was a security room because it had the x-ray machine. We were there for what seemed like forever and the rain didn't let up, so we decided we might as well just go in the rain because it was pointless to wait. We all grouped up under umbrellas and crossed the street to wait under another building. This time, there were people selling umbrellas for the ones who didn't have any. My mom decided to get 2 for $20. Well, the person we gave the money to was selling 1 for $15. But we didn't know that, so we were like "2! 2!" But she didn't give us two and then started saying god knows what. Then she totally went crazy and started yelling at us and we were like dude, wtf. We ended up getting one and $5 back and buying another umbrella from another lady for $10. Then, we crossed the street again and walked all the way to the restaurant in the rain.

After that, we went shopping on this street, but it kind of failed because of all the rain. We finally were on our way home and it shouldn't have taken more than a few minutes because it was literally down the street. However, the streets were flooded like crazy. I didn't think the rain was that bad, but cars were literally stuck in the water and people were walking in water that was up to their knees. Luckily, we were on a big bus, so we didn't get stuck. The only bad thing was how bad and crazy the traffic was. It was literally how I imagined the end of the world to be like. Everyone being crazy in the streets. After about 2 or 3 hours, we reached our hotel. Afterwards, I saw how bad the flood was because there were trees broken all in the streets and people had died.

Day 4
We were supposed to fly to a different city today (what city? I still have no idea.), but because of the storm, the original flight was cancelled. Our tour people decided to book a different flight later that day. We ended up spending the majority of the day waiting at the airport for the flight, only to find out that that flight got cancelled too. We ended up going back to the hotel and planned on trying again tomorrow. I went to this little shopping center by the hotel and got a shirt, and then went to the other one and got another shirt and some food. When I was buying the shirt, the lady kept on saying something and I had no idea what she was talking about. I gave her my money, but she wouldn't take it and then eventually, she just took it and gave me change. When I went to pay for the food, literally everyone in China was waiting in the lines because the store was about to close. By the time I went to the hotel, I was delirious, tired, and I don't think I was even all there. One of the elevators didn't go past the third floor and another one was broken. (The same elevator I rode and it got stuck for about five minutes.) There was only one elevator to take everyone up and down the hotel. I ended up laughing histerically while in the elevator because of everything that had happened, and everyone stared at me. Haters gonna hate.

Ok, this post is long enough! I'll do one more after this to wrap everything up!

xxxjohnny.

Johnny & The Little Chinese Commies (Part 1)

Location: Outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Time: 7:02 PM
Date: June 29th

Ni hao, China!

Ok, not really. Since my last post, I have already arrived and departed from China. So obviously, I survived!! If you've been keeping up with the blog, you'll know that I've been feeling faint all the time and I was scared that I would faint in China or something worse, but everything went fine! China was AMAZING!!!!!! I spent seven days there and every day was crazy for their own individual reasons. Since, there will be a lot to talk about, I'll split it into 2-3 posts, just so you guys won't get bogged down with 53924235 paragraphs to read.

Day 1
We left to go to the airport at the crack of my butt. I think it was around 4 or 5. I just know it was REALLY early and for some reason, the tour company always goes to the airport 2 hours before the flight. Drain. On the way there, I pretty much knocked out the whole way. When we got there, It was around evening and the first thing we did was drive to dinner. This was my first time seeing Beijing. It was freaking amazing! Unlike Vietnam, China had a bunch of people driving cars and a LOT of nice, big buildings. Even bigger than the ones in Thailand. They were obviously very rich and developed, being a superpower nation and all. It was like driving around Atlanta or New York City... except with Chinese people.

After dinner, we attended an acrobats show. Apparently, this is one of the more popular shows that they have in China. The acrobats show was mindblowing. They had people doing things that I didn't even think was possible. People were rolling around in tiny hoops, lifting people up on their chins, etc... And then the ending had this giant sphere of doom come out and a guy drove his motorcycle in. That wasn't all. One by one, people went into the sphere until about six of them were driving around without hitting eachother. When I first went into the theatre, I was starting to get a little faint and I knew what would happen next. It was exactly how I felt the first time at the Ladyboy show in Thailand. I didn't freak out this time and thought rationally instead of alarming everyone, so I went into the bathroom for a bit and just relaxed in a stall until I calmed down and felt better, which apparently worked. I felt fine the rest of the day. After that, we went to our hotel room.

Day 2
I had no idea what the schedule was like for this trip because no one told me, so, wherever we went was a surprise to me. You can imagine the look on my face when I realized the first place we would go to was the Great Wall. I mean, I knew we would go there at some point, but I didn't realize it would be so soon! I'm 100% sure everyone knows what the Great Wall is, so I won't go into details besides saying it's one of the most famous landmarks on Earth. The section we went to was located near Beijing. I really didn't know what to expect. I mean besides it being a great wall. From pictures and what I imagined, I figured it was a straight wall that people would walk on top of. Well, I didn't think that it would just be 1,000 stair steps. Literally. The steps were so steep and there were so many steps that I felt like I was being tortured. It was hilarious though because there were hundreds of people everywhere on this narrow path on the wall and people were sweating, panting, sitting down, about to pass out, etc. It was quite the work out. I climbed to one of the little watchtowers or whatever and went back down. It was definitely exhausting, but hey, now I can say I climbed the Great Wall!

Now, Asian tours are weird... Well, I don't exactly know if they do this on other tours, but I'll just limit it to the asian ones for now, but apparently, they like to stop at the randomest places and shop, but it's not just shopping. First, we'll go to to some place and they'll show us a little exhibit or museum. Then, they'll take us into a room and do a little lecture or something before they bring out their goods and try selling them. After the Great Wall, we went to a jade place since jade is such a big thing in China. I believe it was the Jade Carving Center. They talked a lot about jade, how it's made, blah blah blah. I didn't really pay attention because I don't understand people who speak Vietnamese with an accent. At the end, we went to the shop area and I ended up with a nice black bracelet that was cheap!

Next, we went to the Ming Dynasty Tombs which contains the tombs of 13 emperors. The only tomb to have been excavated was the one we visited, The Dingling Tomb. It was really interesting to see this aspect of ancient China. The buildings were all intact and so was the tomb. We had to go underground to see it, but it was breathtaking. Although some of the things were replicas, it was so cool to see how it was set up and how grand it was. It's definitely something worth visiting if you are touring Beijing.

Next, we visited the Summer Palace, which consists of several palaces and gardens. This place was stunningly beautiful. It was originally built sometimes in the 1700s, and was renovated and rebuilt throughout the years. It was also the summer resort of some of Empress. It was so pretty and fun to see all of the different gardens and architecture and buildings. Definitely another important to place to visit if you're in Beijing. There's also this huge lake beside it that covers most of the area. That was pretty much all for the first full day in China.

So, I already started writing day 3 and I realized that this post would be super, super, super long if I wrote it all down, so, I'll save it for the next post!

xxxjohnny.

Where's the beach?!

Location: Outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Time: 5:35 PM
Date: June 20th

Whoever knows where the title of this post comes from gets a cookie.

Today is my relaxation day before I go on my last tour on vacation! I will be going to China for a week. That's the longest tour yet and probably the most exhausting, so hopefully, I won't have a repeat of Ladyboy fainting.

The last tour I took was to Nha Trang, which is the most popular tourist destination in Vietnam. Essentially, it's a beach city. And apparently has one (several?) of the most beautiful beaches on Earth. Once again, I had no idea what the schedule was. (Which makes things so much more exciting, if you ask me.) The only thing I knew was that it was four days and three nights, which was a day less than the trip to Thailand.

When I heard that the trip was to the beach, I figured that it shouldn't take long, right? I mean Vietnam is a tiny country so maybe two or three hours tops. WRONG. The bus ride took 12 hours. 12. Hours. Of. My. Life. That's not to say it was all spent on the bus. We did have breakfast, lunch AND dinner, along with two restroom stops on the way there. And on the way back, we only had lunch and three restroom breaks. Those 12 hours were the longest hours of my life. First, this trip had more people, about 30-something and at least a fourth of the group were kids. Not teenagers or preteends, but little kids. Loud, aggrivating little kids. I'm pretty sure the whole time I was on the bus, I was listening to my iPod or trying to go to sleep. (Thank God for medicine that knocks you out.)

So essentially, the first day of the tour was just getting there. The city was beautiful! Way different than where I'm staying. Yes, there were still more motorcycles than cars, but there were actually nice big buildings and a beach and lots of nice decorations. The hotel was also nice. Free wifi is always a plus. And plus, we just stayed in one hotel the whole tour. That night, I woke up at around one and had a horrible pain in my chest. It was truly one of the worst feelings ever, up there with how I felt at the ladyboy show. So, that morning, due to lack of sleep and just feeling like I needed to rest, I chose not to participate with the group and just stay at the hotel. My mom was also super sick so she stayed at the hotel as well. Apparently, I didn't miss out on much because everyone said the beach they went to was nasty and that all they did was swim at different places the whole time. Basically, I stayed at the hotel the whole day and ordered room service and chilled.

The next day, I felt better and went with the group. We went to some huge rock place. (Uhm... yeah. Literally, it was a bunch of big rocks by the shore.) After that, we went to another beach. The beach was pretty nice and I enjoyed myself EXCEPT for the jellyfish. Now, lord help me. There were so many jellyfish in the sea and they stung me so many times. Apparently, this is the norm for Vietnam and there were a ton of people swimming everywhere, so I stuck it out a bit, but ended up going back on shore after I got tired of being stung. After swimming, I took a shower in the little communal bathroom where people were literally everywhere.... Yeah, Emory will definitely be a piece of cake after this. After the beach, we went to eat lunch and a theme park was next. I had the biggest headache ever because I usually get them after swimming and decided to go back to the hotel. I didn't want to chance fainting at a theme park that required getting there by sea or air, and I did have the 7 day China tour where I won't have a chance to relax at the hotel even if I needed to, so I thought going home to relax was the best thing for me. Once again, I had room service and just chilled at the hotel.

The last day there was basically going home. Another 12 hour bus ride. Ugh, this one felt even worse than the first one and every rest area we went to had SO MANY PEOPLE everywhere and I swear, the bathroom were disgusting. There was literally a pool of water (and God knows what) as soon as you stepped in. Finally got home and boy did it feel good.

Now, I'm just enjoying my one day rest period before I go to the final tour. I admit that I am terrified of feeling faint because this is a different country and no one knows Chinese and instead of being with family members, it's just going to be me and my mom. So, pray that Iwill be ok! I have definitely been feeling somewhat better, so hopefully, this is a good sign. Going to China means a whole week of not having the internet! So don't be alarmed if you hear no updates from me. With that being said, wish me luck on this week! After this, I will spend a week at home in Vietnam before flying back to America! Two more weeks left!



xxxjohnny.

I'm lazy and I need to exercise.

Location: Outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Time: 8:24 PM
Date: June 15th

MY FIRST PM POST!!!~!~!~!~!~!

Ok, now that that's out of the way. Yesterday and today have basically been my chillax day before I leave for another tour tomorrow. As you guys know, I have been feeling faint for the past couple of days and it has made me miserable! I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate being sick. Yesterday, I just stayed home and did nothing. I thought that maybe my body would have had a chance to fix itself and life would be all rainbow and sunshine. Wrong.

I still felt like crap today. The same fainting feeling and getting dizzy whenever I take a few steps. We decided to go to the doctors to make sure nothing was wrong and to get some medicine so that I would at least be a little bit better to go on the next two tours.

Ignorant me expected this hospital to be raggidy and sketchy. I was wrong. It was an international hospital and it was quite nice actually. It wasn't as big as the hospital back home, but it was still up to par. First, the doctor asked what was wrong, blah blah blah, etc. After I explained it to him, he checked my body, including pushing my stomach hard like 50 times and I swear to God, I was fixing to barf everywhere. After that, I went to go get some blood work done. I HATE SHOTS. Next, I went to get hooked up to some scary machine and get my heart read by a machine. Next, I went to go get an ultrasound check. I really don't know what they all had to do with me fainting, but apparently, they all connected. I went back to the doctor and he told me everything was normal and that I just had upset stomach problems. Ok, good.... but what about me fainting? Isn't that the reason I came in the first place. "Oh, you just need to exercise."

Oh. Ok.

So, tell me this universe. I feel like fainting all the time. The apparent way to fix this is to exercise. Whenever I try exercising, I feel like fainting. Thus, the endless circle continues.

Tomorrow is another tour, although in Vietnam and to the beach, so not as exhausting as Thailand and also a day less. Hopefully, I will be fine. Fingers crossed! I was told I could just stay in the hotel if I was feeling bad. I'm really just scared about the week long tour to China... Oh America, how I miss thee dearly.

ps: Also rode a honda scooter around vietnam to go to the doctors. I'm too legit to quit.

pps: Did 120 situps while watching How I Met Your Mother. Take that, sickness.

xxxjohnny.

The story on why I missed the ladyboy show, my conversation with God, and how I survived Thailand.

Location: Outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Time: 9:57 AM
Date: June 14th

The time had finally came. It was time for the ladyboy show to start. This had been the moment I've been waiting for forever. Whenever I think of Thailand, this is the first thing I think about. It was finally time to get a taste of the most fascinating part of Thai culture.

Then, it hit me. I started getting hot, my legs felt like jelly and the room started spinning. I knew I was about to faint. The first thing I did was go to the restroom. My stomach had been hurting like a bit, so I figured maybe I just needed to poop. Nothing came out and I was still dizzy. Maybe I was dehydrated. I went to go get water only to have them tell me I had to pay and I had no money. I went to find my family in the audience and that's when I started having a panic attack. My voice started shaking and I knew it was a matter of time before I would faint. My mom led me to the bathroom again. Still nothing. I got out and we walked outside to get fresh air. I laid down on a bench while my mom tried calling the tour guides, while I kept on repeating that I needed to go to the hospital. I was dizzy, hot, tired, weak, and terrified. Here I am, in a completely foreign country, about to faint from who knows what. Most people don't know english and I didn't know thai. If something was seriously wrong, what could I do? Laying on the park bench, halfway concious, I started talking to god.

"Hey God... Uh, It's me Johnny. So, I know I always told you that I'd be ready for you to take me when the time was right, but I still think I need more time. I'm not ready to go. I mean, I'm in a different country and all. How would my friends find out? They're not even expecting me to be back until July and I don't think my family could handle this right now. And I need to go to Emory! All that stress and anxiety, I don't think this should be my time. But it's all up to you. I'm scared, but whatever you think is right is right. If it's my time to go, then I'll go."

It may seem overdramatic, but I don't think anyone can truly understand how horrifying it felt. To be sick and not know why in a country where people can barely understand you. To not know where a hospital is or to even be able to tell someone what was wrong. Honestly and truly, I felt that at that point, I would die. And that's not something that you come to a conclusion about easily. And throughout all of this, the only thing I could think about was James. I knew that if the worst possible thing happened, that at least I would be able to see him again. And as terrified as I was, this thought gave me strength and calmed me down. Whatever happened happened, and whether I got better or worst, I would end up happy either way.

That's when I started sobbing like crazy, as I thought about James and how scared I was about what would happened. I ended up getting some medicine from my tour guide who went to a pharmacy and taking a taxi back to the hotel where I relaxed. The remaining two days consisted of me waving in and out of feeling faint and having horrible stomach pain. The fainting could be because I wasn't eating enough, or drinking enough water or just not getting enough sleep even though I thought I was doing all of those things. Everyone said the stomach problems were because I didn't digest properly because I wasn't used to the food there or maybe it was because I was constipated. Either way, I do feel better than I did when I started getting sick, but I'm still not all the wa fine. With two more tours left, I hope it doesn't get that bad again.

As for the rest of the Thailand tour, it was pretty fun. Thailand is a beautiful country that reminded me a lot like America, minus all the Asian-y stuff about it. The most memorable moments were when I rode an elephant at some show and got picked up by it's trunk, when we went to the beach and took a speed boat to a platform where I parasailed around and then took the speed boat to a little area and just chilled at the beach, when I saw that AMAZING show the first day we were there, and just being able to walk around the malls and outside and seeing how similar and different America was to Thailand. I had the most AMAZING tour group and it feels weird waking up and not seeing them after spending all this time together. Everyone and everything will truly be missed (minus the sick parts) and I had a great time. With that being said, I am ready to be back in America, but I still have a ways to go.

And dear ladyboy show, it was evident that it was not my time to go see you this time, but believe me when I say, I'll be back.

Sawasdee Thailand

xxxjohnny.

Bangkok has him now.

Location: Pattaya, Thailand
Time: 7:24 AM
Date: June 11th
THAILAND IS AMAZING.

Just a preface, I haven't been able to update in a while, and I only have a few minutes before I have to leave again, so I'll try to make it as short and sweet as possible.

The last two days in Vietnam: Me laying around in bed wataching movies (I Am Sam, Everybody's Fine, Julie and Julia, Mulan II)

The first day of the tour: Flew to Thailand on Thai Air. (AKA: The most colorfully bright plane out of the ones I've rode so far.) The flight was only an hour, so it wasn't anything tedious. Thailand > Vietnam, in terms of the cities. Thailand actually has nice buildings and isn't quite so slum-mish. Of course, this is only a tunnel vision of the whole country and since I'm on a tour, of course they're not going to show me the negative sides to anything. There are actually lots of cars here, in contrast to Vietnam where motorcycles are EVERYWHERE. It seemed as if this whole trip so far has been a fun game of expectations and reality. Let me explain that the whole tour is in Vietnamese, of course since the whole group is from Vietnam. I can speak Vietnamese and understand Vietnamese, but I am not fluent. That's not to say I can't hold a conversation, I'm just not great at it. So, half of the time, I have no idea what the tour guide is saying or where we're going. I just use context clues to fill it in or wait to be surprised. (Why don't I ask my family? Oh, I do. They just don't like telling me stuff.) So, day 1: expectations vs. reality

1. Grand Palace
Expectations: We're going to some castle looking building where the King lives.
Reality: We ended up going to this HUGE area where one section consists of huge historical royal buildings that we're all ornate and gold. The rest of the area consists of more historical buildings, government buildings and the whole site is used on occasions for the King (Which was the instance when we went and there were military people everywhere.)

2. Hotel
Expectations: Raggidy hotel with Thai people.
Reality: AMAZING hotel with all kinds of people, mostly Arabic and Indian.

3. Siam Naramit Show
Expectations: Talent show-esque where groups dance/sing/act.
Reality: WORDS CAN NOT DESCRIBE WHAT I SAW. It was amazing, beautiful, extravagant, wonderful, etc... It literally was the best thing I've ever seen on stage and I will probably ever see. It told the story of Thailand in little segments of different regions, talked about hell and heaven, and talked about the festivals they had. The costumes were amazing, stage changes were amazing, dancing and acting was amazing. Not only that, but they had live elephants, goats, roosters, half of the stage turned into a real pool. rain came from the roof, performers were literally EVERYWHERE in the room to make it as entertaining as possible, there were at least 200 performers. My mind = blown.

I have to go to the beach now, but I'll update you guys with the rest when I come back!

xxxjohnny.