Don't Put Dessert in the Soup!

After a rainy afternoon and relaxing Thai massages, Doug and I were relatively unmotivated to venture far from the hotel for dinner. We headed out, took a sharp right, and walked about a block before hitting a Thai Bar-B-Q all you can eat buffet. We were the only white people in there for sure, and we sat down with no idea what was to come. They ushered us up to the buffet where there was a wide variety of meats available. I stuck to a couple of types of squid and chicken, while Doug opted for some pork, bacon, spicy baloney (seriously) and spicy chicken. We both stayed away from the liver, hearts, and other mystery meats (I'm pretty sure one was brain) - Doug had had his fill while in Vietnam and I was not "feeling it".
In the middle of the buffet were small bowls and which you could fill with cucumbers, kidney beans, barley, and a weird small slimy green noodle - so I took a bowl and piled them in. On the left side was the traditional soup fare with some greens, including the recognizable basil, clear noodles, and a variety of dumplings.
We headed back to our table where they set up the big dish - they filled the moat around the dish with broth and began sticking our meat on top of the grill. Doug quickly took on the roll of grill master, while I was in charge of the soup. I happily dumped my greens, noodles and dumplings in the moat and then fished them out when ready and refilled as needed while Doug continued to grill away. We had quite the system going and were feeling very confident in our abilities. I took a look at my bowl of barley, beans, noodles, and cucumber and thought I bet these would be great in the soup. I caught the eye of our waitress and motioned to put my bowl in the soup and looked at her questioning. She came over, saw the contents of my bowl, and immediatly called another waiter over. He looked down at my bowl and blantently laughed in my face. He began to take the cucumbers out and stick them on my plate while our watiress came over with salad dressing. He then took the rest of my bowl away and came back a few minutes later with it filled with a white, milky substance. I took a bite and relized it was condensed milk. No wonder they had been so amused. I had put salad and dessert in a bowl and then was going to pour it into my soup. Silly foreigner!
It was absolutely delicious and we got the whole thing, including bottled water for $9. If you find yourself with the opportunity, defintely go for it. Just don't pour dessert in your soup!

Wat up!

It's the end of my second day in Bangkok and so far so good. Yesterday I hit up all three big Wats (temples) - the Grand Palace (home of the temple with the Emerald buddah), Wat Pho and Wat Arun. Most people told me it would take two days to do everything, which I found kind of surprising as I felt very fulfilled only spending about 1.5 hours at each place. I think the biggest thing that slows you down is that it is so unbelievably hot that you have to really seek out the shade.
In between the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, I met up with Doug and we took a break to hit up the street vendors. There I got a watermelon smoothie which was the most amazing thing ever. I've been eating a ton of fruit here, especially watermelon, which is incredibly refreshing. It's a must do when you're in Bangkok.
The Wat's are all really spectacular, and the tile on the outside is very ornate with lost of flowers everywhere. I took some pictures, but I know they won't compare to the real deal.
After a day of sighseeing, we went back to the hotel for happy hour and then on to Khoa San Road for a night of people watching. Quite the Bangkok day!

Today we opted to take advantage of our lavish hotel and spent the morning by the pool. This afternoon we finally ventured out only to be caught in a huge rain storm. We eventually took refuge and had lunch at a restaurant named "Take Sit" where the Yellow Curry and Broccoli with Shrimp was delightful although the soup was way too spicy for me. After that we had an hourl ong Thai massage for about $6. Fabooo!

Tomorrow we're off to Kathmandu.

Last Glorious Day in San Francisco

Today was my last day in San Francisco and it was glorious!

My day started as it has the past three days with Ella! running down the stairs and jumping onto the futon with me.  I give Ella an exclamation point because she has a lot of energy in the morning.

It was beautiful outside and I walked down to Philz for coffee with Shane - which, if you've never been to, is really great.  They brew each cup of coffee individually and it's quite strong.  As Ethan noted "even people like you and me need to take it with cream and sugar."  - which I did - which was a good call, Ethan.

I then had a last moment at the gym before having a lovely lunch with Emily at the Ferry Building.  We walked back down Market and Hayes for some last San Francisco moments and a soak in the sun.  We stopped at the new garden at the civic center which seems very cool and very San Francisco.  If you're around, you should stop by and check it out.  Apparently all of the stuff they are growing is going to go to some of shelters in San Francisco, which seems like a great way to advocate gardening in the city.

Now I'm off for a last pedicure before dinner with about 13 friends at Axum.

Thanks so much to everyone who called, emailed, or hung out with me in person these last few weeks.  Stay in touch and let me know what's up with you!

Up, Up, and Away

It's official - I'm unemployed!
It's been a busy last few days cleaning my apartment, getting my last few items and reading up on Nepal.
On Thursday I head to Bangkok and get in Friday night where I meet up with Doug. We have three days in Bangkok before heading to Kathmandu.
Once we're in Kathmandu, we'll be trekking the Annapura Circuit for about 21 days. It looks amazing - basically we walk from town to town up to over 17,000 feet and back down again.
Thanks to everyone who hung out with me when I left - I look forward to some amazing experiences to share when I get back.