Beka & Stephanie come for a visit!

So apparently half of Asia goes on holiday for a week or two during Chinese New Year. This means that there are lots of parties, parades, and visitors. Families do stuff together, like worship their ancestors and eat etc. But what was most exciting for me was that I had two guests come to stay with me! There is just something great about getting to be a host, be hospitable and show of all there is to see of where you live.

Beka House, who I met at orientation, and Stephanie Roegner, who I met this week, are missionaries in Taiwan and they decided to spend their holiday here. Our first excursion was down on the river boats. We went to Wat Pra Pho which is the reclining Buddha. It takes up an entire building it's so huge! The next day they came to Hua Hin with us(Friday-Sunday), which we found out was a private resort, so they came to the wedding of our teacher also. When we got back-exhausted-we all got Thai foot and shoulder massages. Uhh, can I just say ouch!

Monday, we all woke up sore from Thai massage, but it was back to school for Sarah and I and then we went shopping, or rather they did and I went looking. We had movie night at my place where we watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was very curious indeed.

Tuesday they flew to Chiang Mai to ride elephants all day and then on Wednesday we went back on the river and toured Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn). That was a hike-literally, but it was awesome. Here's Sarah, Beka and I climbing.

Following our excursion we decided to cool off and grab a cuppa at the Oriental hotel. All the tourguide books say it's THE place to go so we went. Imagine 4 girls in walking shoes, t-shirts and shorts/pants/capris, drenched in sweat showing up at a 5-star hotel asking for directions to the tea room. The bellboy with the funny cabana hat literally did a double take and looked us up and down to see whether we were dressed appropriate to go there. Reluctantly he sent us in the right direction. We had THE best seats right under the staircase on the right. The room was uh-mazing. There was even live music being performed softly in the background. When we looked at the price and realized there was no way in a million years we could afford the full-set for high tea we all decided to go a la cart and order tea with maybe a small dessert. We convinced ourself that it was all for the experience. Our conversation even included politics, finances, and social problems so at least we would appear to be cultured and civilized. (Stephanie also dared me to just eat the rock-sugar whole, so we did throw the civilized part out the window occasionally.)

For our last excursion, on Thursday night we determined to eat Indian food at the place Stephanie found out about. We headed back to the boats, only to find out after we got on one boat that it was the wrong one and we had no idea where it was taking us. We eventually found ourself on the opposite side of the river we wanted to be on, and way farther up the river than we wanted also. So we took a ferry back and got a tuk-tuk near the Grand Palace. Thankfully the guy new where Royal India was so we made it there without any more U-turns. Turns out the place was supurb! The food was delicious (first time for me having Indian food), and the cost was inexpensive, plus, we have another story to tell our friends.

The best part is that we get to return the favour to Beka and Stephanie when we visit them in Taiwan for the volunteer retreat in April!

PS Stephanie, I definitely used your pictures for this post, as I had none! Thanks!