1-25-14 Exotic Pets We Tried Not To Take Home

Ashley and I LOVE animals! One weekend, Ashley and Lindsay stopped by to visit me

and we all walked over to Impact for the Exotic Pet Show 2014!

But first, I must acknowledge the cats that used to

inhabit my hallway. I remember when that mother cat

used to yowl at midnight, waking me up because she

was in heat. >: Well, at least she has her babies now.

Cats!

A dressed-up prairie dog!

Looks fake, but definitely not :)

Really adorable and long green snakes

Touch me!

Oh, can I take one home, please, please, please?!

Haha, weirdo cuties stuck on the sides of their cases :)

Geico! haha jk :D

My favorite arachnids in the whole entire world!

Just kidding. If I owned one, I would probably stay

awake for weeks, making sure it would never escape

because as we all know, all spider-like objects

want to do is to attack me when I'm not paying

attention and crawl into my mouth. >:

Mommy, do you think you have enough snakes in the house?

Awwwwwwww cutie pie!

Love has no reason :)

I already fell in love with that pup. :)

The little animal kept escaping--it was so adorable!

BIRDS!

Owls. Even though they can be seen as

evil and wise, I find them to be kind of

scary-cute... :D

SPOILER ALERT!

Hedwig never died :)

Pampered princess pup that gave me a spoiled brat attitude lol

:)

I'll stop crooning so you can enjoy the animals for yourselves, haha

They had fake playpens. I still felt sorry for them though. :(

For Ness

For Ness again

GIANT BUNNIES

For Tiffany. They were bigger than me... almost.

An unlikely friendship

The bunny was so still and soft! :)

A guy met me by the chinchilla cages and started talking to me.

Later, he found me by the crayfish and asked me if I was married.

I was afraid to stick my fingers into the cage because then, 

they curious chinchillas came up and I think they thought

I was giving them food.

I held some type of gecko.

Raccoons!

It's funny how I'm so afraid of tiny spiders. I'd rather have these crawling

in my rooms, honestly. Sad how strong my arachnophobia is!

:D

For Nick :D

Fishies!

Oh yeah, I found a Welsh Corgi named Monet (or something that sounded like that)

and I was petting her! I'll eventually find the pictures my friends have of me and her

and I'll post that :) She made my day and she was also dressed up as a nurse.

It matched her perfectly because she made me feel really good! haha :D

Like really good... maybe too good LOL

1-17-14 Biggest Buddha In Thailand!

I had a super rough week, and so I decided to make myself get out of my room no matter what. I knew if I stayed in there cooped up any longer, I'd spiral even more into depression.

It took me forever to crawl out of my room,

but I did to meet up with my neighbor because

I wasn't in the mood to see anyone else.

My neighbor took me to eat Yen Ta Fo, pink noodles!

NO DURIAN.

NO RAMS.

This is not gelato, but I enjoyed it anyway.

I kept trying to show my neighbor I wanted "gelato," and

kept typing that into Google Translate... until I realized that

the translation said "ice cream."

Silly me.

I arrived in Ang Thong late but safe... and I was treated to a delicious

dinner of an alternate version of chicken and cashews with rice.

Very sweet, Ashley's boss, Kim, also bought cake and ice cream to

celebrate one of her employees' birthdays and a welcoming of a new staff member!

1-18-14

The next day, we went to pay the biggest Buddha in Thailand a visit.

But when we first walked in, we spotted Guanyin.

Here is the Big Buddha.

People were throwing bread crumbs... and bread ROLLS

to the fish, but they seemed to tear those apart quite quickly.

Lucky Buddha! :)

I love how a lotus flower housed this temple :)

Ashley and me!

You can see several "layers" of this temple :)

As we left, we saw the Big Buddha from afar.

Ashley, Calvin, Me

***STAY TUNED. THERE ARE MORE PHOTOS BELOW

RELATED TO THE BIG BUDDHA AND HELL PARK***

My trackpad isn't working properly, so it would take me a few hours

just to drag them all up here. And frankly, I'm just too lazy to

put myself through that needless frustration. :P

1-19-14

On Sunday, I went to Siam Paragon.

As it was the first time I went there and

I was all by myself, I probably looked

really touristy. Wide-eyed and confused,

I wandered around looking for one of

the most-filled bookstores in Bangkok.

The mall was so gigantic and fancy that

there was a floor that was just for cars.

Justin, do you like these? :)

If you do, buy me one and I'll drive you

around in it. :D

Looking down, I saw some performers.

Having originally walked from Victory Monument (bus and train stop)

to Siam Paragon (mall), I thought it would be easier just to walk back

to Victory Monument. Just my luck, though, my Google Maps and internet

stopped working as I was in Bangkok, so instead, I boarded the train to

return. Not a good idea because protest stands were set up everywhere.

Even the circle was cleared of all traffic for the protestors. See

the big screen?

The screen originally was not this muddled, but it

shows people standing on a stage giving speeches.

Scared beyond all reason, I tried to get out

of there as soon as possible. I didn't want

to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

People listening to the speeches.

*Phew!*

I made it back to Muang Thong Thani, Impact Arena!

Aren't those elephants odd-looking? Look at their trunks, haha :D

**Okay, as noted above, here are the rest of my Big Buddha and Hell Park pictures.**

In front of one of the temple buildings, there were elephants and dragons!

The buddha looming from behind the temple.

Hissssssss!

Trying to keep my hair from flying in front of my face.

Touching the Buddha's fingers!

Finally in front of the Big Buddha!

Awesome jump picture of Ashley and Calvin!

Mulan in the Burmese-Siamese War

Look how bloody and graphic the depiction is!

We then saw another Guanyin area, in a more Chinese-inspired temple.

The Monkey King

Fuk Luk Sau

Guanyin

Fuk Luk Sau

Then, we entered "Hell."

Don't lie. This is what happens to you!

I don't remember which sin this was... but the message is DON'T DO THAT SIN!

Don't be an adulterer either!

If you murder animals...

Anyway, it was horrifying and put me on edge a bit as we walked through

these terrible representations. It reminded me of punishments my mom used to tell 

me that people had to suffer through eternally, after they committed 

sins during their lifetimes. However, it was still extremely terrifying

and I walked out disbelievingly, unsettled that someone actually thought

of this idea and put it together for people to walk through.

I guess they technically were successful, since they are probably

able to inspire such discomfort in their audience.

In front of the Big Buddha and the lake with the fish

Calvin banging a gong :D

Year of the Horse

(2014 is Ashley's year!)

Year of the Snake

Year of the Rabbit

For my mom

Year of the Monkey

We ended up walking around in the lotus-encompassed temple.

Inside were many Buddha and monk statues

A lotus flower :)

One of the aberrations in monks lol

Inside that temple, this is what we saw :)

It was filled with images of the Buddha's life.

A beautiful flower :)

We finally walked into this very sparkly temple.

(Yes, I recognize that that is probably the best description of a temple I've ever given.

*Sarcasm*)

But honestly, that's my first thought and was mostly my only thought

as I admired it from within.

Bye, bye, biggest Buddha in Thailand!

We rode away on our motorbikes and enjoyed a peaceful evening before I left for Bangkok the next day.