Bangkok, Thailand!

The island of Koh Chang was absolutely tropical! I won't bore you with all the details of our romantic getaway, but it was awesome!

We arrived to Bangkok and got busy with the finalization of Jay's suit. Actually, the suit is what entailed the rest of our days in Bangkok. However, I insisted that we must sight see. The only place of significance that we saw so far was the tailor shop. The day before our departure we attempted to go to the Grand Palace. That was completely altered when we were approached by a tuk-tuk driver that insisted for only 10 baht he would take us around Bangkok to extremely important sights. Being very honest, he said that he would have to take us to a souvenir and tailor shop. He continued to say that he would receive gas coupons for bringing us there. We were hesitant to agree, because our book cautioned us about this type of scam. He reassured us that tuk-tuk drivers were controlled by the government and not to be worried. Therefore, Jay instantly agreed. Our day went like this: Standing Buddha, Marble Temple, Jewelry store, Tailor shop, and Golden Mount. We spent most of our time at the souvenir and tailor shops. I can't remember any thing regarding these significant, important sights. However, I do know that the driver was able to get his gas coupons.

After we departed from our tuk-tuk driver we decided to walk to the Wat Pho (Reclining Buddha). This Buddha is Bangkok's largest and oldest temple. It is a massive, 46 m long with mother of pearl inlays at his feet. Chinese mythical heroes guarded the doorways of the compound. Inside the compound, there were numerous temples with golden Buddha images and dozens of colorful mosaics.

The following day, we awoke early and made our way to the Grand Palace. What else can I say, it was GRAND! The Grand Palace compound was established in 1782 and it houses not only the royal residence and throne halls, but also a number of governmental buildings. It covers an area of 218,000 square meters and is surrounded by four walls, 1900 meters in length. The exterior facades are only open to the public. This is by far Thailand's most famous attraction. The temple buildings are incredibly massive, with golden Chedi (Thai style stupas), statues of mythical beings, and incredible amounts of golden inlay. The main boht (chapel) is where the Phra Kaew, Emerald Buddha, resides. After visiting the Reclining Buddha, the Emerald Buddha is much smaller in stature, approximately 1 m tall. However, this Buddha was made of beautiful, shimmering, jasper quartz that dated back to the 15 th century.

After spending numerous hours in the sun, we scurried back to the hostel to pack our belongings. Our flight was leaving late that night and we still needed to make one last trip to the tailor shop. The suit was absolutely perfect...Jay looked like a stud!

It took approximately 2 hours in bumper to bumper traffic to get to the airport. It was literally hell! Upon checking in, the airline informed us that Japan will not let us enter their country without an exit ticket. Scared, we called our wonderful sis, Jessi, and she booked us tickets to California. We make our way through customs and passport control to find out that our flight was delayed 30 minutes. Finally we get on our flight at 1 am. We met our fellow neighbor, Mr. Love, from Dubai, India. He was traveling to Tokyo to visit friends and attend a wedding. We discussed our travels and he attempted to persuade us to visit Dubai. We spent hours upon hours on the worst flight ever. Never fly Air India...what were we thinking? Apparently, we were only focused on cheap tickets. Finally, we arrived the next day in Tokyo at 8:30 am.