Unexpected Trip to Bangkok

My first post is going to consist of the past 4 days rolled into one, so stay with me. It is always confusing when you travel such a long way because the days tend to blend together, but I will do my best to capture the past few days.
I flew from Chicago to San Francisco on Tuesday morning and landed in the afternoon and headed to our hotel for staging. There were 45 of us present that first day, but one boy left halfway through, or at least that is what someone said. No one can actually remember what this kid looked like, but that is the word on the street. Staging is going to be boring to try to describe, so, basically, we all met in a conference room and had some ice breakers. We all got to know each other a little better and talked about days ahead of us. I went out to dinner that night with a bunch of kids in the Japanese area of the city. We were completely whiped out and I headed to bed around 10:00. When my roommate for the hotels came into the room, we ended up having pillow talk (Leah, don't think that you have been replaced, but I need someone to fill that void in my life). Her name is Keiko and she is from Seattle and went to University of Washington.
We woke up bright and early the next morning and went to the airport. We left at 1:35 for Tokyo, which was a ten hour flight. We were broken up into five groups based on our last names. So, in true end of the alphabet fashion, the T-Z's were all in the front of the plane sitting next to Japanese people who didn't know English. I am usually really good at sleeping on planes, but I couldn't, even though I took two sleeping pills. We had a few hours in Tokyo before we took off for Bangkok. I was out like a light before we took off and slept most of the flight. We got to Thailand around 12:30 am on Friday and went to a really sweet hotel for a few hours to get some rest. We left the airport at 5:30 for our flight. While we were attempting to check in, the ticket agent told us that Group 5 was all on the stand-by list because the flight was overbooked. After not getting on the flight and having 10 hours in Thailand, the group of nine of us headed into the city. We were not upset that we were left behind; quite the opposite, we had an awesome day. We went to the Golden Palace and saw the Emerald Buddha. We split into two groups because some people wanted to go on a tour and the others didn't. Keiko, Jacqueline (originally from Denver and went to USC) and Philip (who has a really thick southern accent) walked around the palace and the grounds. We all agreed that taking pictures was a disservice to how unreal the grounds were. The architecture was beautiful and the decoration was so intricate, it was really a great trip for us. Jacqueline and I had to rent clothing because her shoulders weren't covered and my ankles were showing.
After the Palace and temple. we walked across the stree to get some lunch. We had some really great Thai food and shared some laughs. We were all really excited that we were able to bond with each other because it is a really awkward experience to meet total strangers and travel to 4 different countries with them in 2 days. We were able to get to know each other and we all agreed that the kids who got left behind actually had a much better time. We walked around the city and looked at all of the monks going about their daily activities. Jacqueline, Keiko, Phil, RT and I all bought Ray Bans for 150 baht (which is $5) and they look pretty good. Beats Canal Street in New York.
The rest of the group spent the day with the current volunteers in Phnom Penh. We really had no idea what the plans were, but we will most likely stick to the original plan and head to Takeo for the beginning of training. Although we missed the first day in Cambodia, we all really wanted to see Bangkok and it will be 6 months before we can even leave Cambodia. Traveling has been a little rough on all of us, but our excitement to get to Cambodia and start language training and experiencing their culture is what is keeping us going.
Jacqueline said that she is going to help me become a better blogger, so I can guarantee more pictures and such next time. I am uploading my pictures onto facebook and snapfish right now, but it is taking so damn long. Send this link to anyone and please leave messages!

This blog purely reflects my own thoughts and opinions and does not reflect the thoughts and opinions of the Peace Corps or the U.S. government