Random day from awesomeland!

Today was the luckiest travel day i may have ever had.

First off i got up really early, got a taxi over to the temple area and grabbed some pineapple and some stuff i cant describe(good though), all for 1 buck total. I walked around and checked out the river and then started rolling toward the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Definitely bought some badass blue pants with golden elephants on them because you cant just roll into the temples in cargo shorts. I sat and checked out the little buddha which is probably about the size of mini me from austin powers except really important. There are amazing paintings all around the gold and silver shrine inside the temple. Later I found out that the temple is supposed to represent all the worldly needs you could ever want. all i could think about was Rudolph the red nosed reindeer...silver and gold song. haha. It was gorgeous inside and out. All the buddhists come here to pay tribute to Buddha by pouring oil on statues, giving flowers and candles, and some of them even made handmade concoctions to pay hommage. And by the way, if i havent mentioned it earlier, i was dripping sweat and it was like 9am. Hades like nobodies business. after the emerald buddha, i walked to grab some coconut milk and stroll down some streets around the palace.

I actually found this little neighborhood of huts/shacks right on the river where everyone offered me food. Im amazed that they live in an area the size of my closet with mom, dad, and children! Be thankful for what you have. Kept walking, checked out a bunch of little shops, and went back to the main road after buzzing through the Royal Gardens. Ok, here is where the randomness starts. I was just walking around like a silly tourist and taking pictures when this soldier, yes i said soldier, yelled at me to get out of the road. I was like sorry, sorry, dont shoot me with your huge rifle. I was pushed to the side and then it started...a brigade of bmw's rolled down the road with a cavalcade of motorcycles. Then i saw the cream colored bentley/rolls royce, either way it was really cool, coming my way. I asked the lady next to me, "king?" and she said "NO, prince." I luckily walked upon the Princes Procession on the Thai New Year celebration of Songkran, hell ya! Talk about lucky, ive never even seen our president in person. No complaint there by the way, ha.

Then i started trying to find this place to eat called Poj spa Kar. It was closed just like everywhere else, damnit. I was sweating like a pig, tired, hungry, didnt really know where i was so i did the only logical thing any american male would do. I bought a huge beer and a huge water and sat down on the curb! Much to my surprise these three Thai men were sitting around a plate of food eating lunch. One of them waved at me to come over, and "Sawatdee Krup" i yelled. Here i go. He gave me his seat and i saw they had the same idea i had. We sat there like old buddies bullshitting for about an hour. I grabbed them a beer, they grabbed me a beer. It was great. We communicated through broken english and shitty Thai and a common love of food and beer. They told me where to look out for protesting red shirts. I learned that my new friends owned four cocks for cock fighting and they were all extremely into muay thai boxing. mark my words, make friends with Thais, because after hanging out with these guys for a while, the one who could speak english told me he would finish my days journey with me, but on his Tuk tuk....for free! so i got a ride to the reclining buddha, the Golden mount(basically tallest point in Bangkok), and to a couple other cool stops, all without paying a dime.

Then my friend took me to close to his home where I got some free pad thai from a hot thai lady i told him he should marry, i assume she was his girlfriend, once again, i dont speak this language. He took me to figure out how to charge my camera and showed me a couple spots that tourists dont know about. I was just blown away that this guy was driving me around for free for around an hour and a half on his dime. He told me that Thai people are happy because happy is just easier to be, nice words brah.

So he just dropped me off at my hostel. I just took a shower because ive been soaked by little kids with buckets of water, damn Songkran, and i had also sweat a ton too. Now it is 4:30pm and i am gonna go grab a thai massage. Life is good.