We rode in two double decker planes to get here! That was a first for me. Our flight was 14 hours from LAX to Taipai. We were lucky enough to have a whole row of 4 seats to ourselves (Aaron hogging three of them for most of the flight). From Taipai it was about 5 more hours will we got into Bangkok. We left LA on Friday afternoon and arrived in Bangkok at 1am on Saturday night... not an easy adjustment!
Sunday morning, Christmas Eve. We got up today at 7am and got ready in our awesome shower before heading down to an outstanding breakfast spread in the hotels main restaurant. Fresh fruit, tasty soups, American styles of breakfast eats as well as Asian. The coffee, in particular, was just what we needed to get the day off to the right start.
Off to a great start, we grabbed our backpacks and headed out into the city with the plan to first get some local currency and then to grab the SkyTrain to the Chatuckak Market, which is one of the 1001 Things to See Before You Die according to the Thailand pages in my book from Karen Ma (thank you karen). 
As we were questioning our direction, a Bangkok Professor came upon us and started a conversation. He was waiting of his wife to finish her workout. He turned out to be a lifesaver x10. He gave us all the local ins-and-outs and put us in a Tuk Tuk who took us from this and that place all over the city for 2 dollars (we gave him 10) before he finally dropped us off at the train where we headed to the market.
The market..... 30 acres of stall style shopping with a park adjacent to it. Clothing (used, new, clever, dirty, tops/bottoms, fancy/casual.... Food (restaurants, fruits, juice, bugs -- yes, worms, grubs and fried grasshoppers)... Decorations (furniture, pillows, silks of all types, glassware)..... Artwork (statues, paintings, sculpture of all types).... Animals (bunnies, puppies, squirrels, gerbils, headgehogs, mice, birds of all types, turtles, both land and sea turtles and alligator snappers), Fish (both saltwater and freshwater).... It was insane and smart and interesting and outrageous and amazing and horrifying. There were street performers doing their thing in the alleyways of the market too. Talk about overstimulation, and this is also a place where you might develop claustrophobia easily — constantly bumping into everyone.
Then, we headed back home. All we'd eaten all day was juice, because we were not sure about the market food (very sketchy).
It felt soooo good to be finally off our feet when we got home... Also, we got pretty dehydrated walking around because finding a bathroom was like looking for a needle in a haystack, so we weren't drinking as much as we should have been. We were starving and opted to throw our (many) bags down and head to the hotel Thai place. They greeted us warmly and wished us a merry christmas while lighting a candle/wreath marking the holiday. Then, they brought us a complimentary eggnog with amaretto cocktail. The meal was wonderful (the Thai sure know how to make Thai food!!).
I was feeling the affects of the time change and long day, we decided to take advantage of the ridiculously cheap massages down our street — so, we headed to this delightful little massage hut, and signed up for $5 one hour massages, which turned out to be GREAT!!!! Thai massage can be intense (as opposed to swedish, which puts you to sleep) but mine was so good I almost went to sleep right there with this woman pounding on me. Afterwards, they served us tasty tea before we left. Awesome!!! We slept like babies...
