Big Foot

After being here for over three weeks....I can finally say the biggest challenge I have had being here is finding shoes...should have brought more! There are no shoes in this country that fit my feet!
Last Thursday, the International Relations Office at school took us to a traditional Thai puppet show. It was really was fabulous! Each puppet required three puppeteers at once...one moving one arm, another moving the feet and the third moving the other arm and the head. The puppeteers all moved their bodies in sync with the puppet while another person narrated!
Here is a picture of my friend Jill and I in with one of the puppets!
The entire thing was in Thai but they had giant screens that would say in English what was going on!
Before the show began and at every movie/entertainment event, they play a slideshow of the King and everyone has to stand! Pictures of the King are everywhere...billboards with his picture are all over the place! The people here really like him because the royal family apparently does a lot of good things for the people...they seem to be the only stable thing right now considering all the political unrest they have dealt with over the past few years!
Also, the King's picture is on all the money and if you drop it and step on it...well its bad news!
Feet in general here are viewed as dirty...everywhere you go you take off your shoes!!! Restaurants, stores, temples, my dorm and public bathrooms(yes...its true...I usually try to sneak around it so I don't have to wear the sandals they provide -- bathrooms are interesting!). The only place we can wear them really is school! So I guess my shoe problem is not that big of deal considering I don't wear shoes half the time. But I have continued to look for shoes for the times I do need them...after we went to the puppet show we were shopping a night market across the street. I found a shoe store that looked like they had some western shoes...so I stopped in and of course size 40 is the biggest they come and I need a 41 or 42! As I was leaving I looked over and finally found a pair of flip-flops that might just fit...check out the picture of me and my new kicks!!!
Needless to say they were a little much and I decided to pass...there is one last hope...a mall that has some western stores...hopefully I will find success there otherwise I could be waiting for another month to get some shipped from home!
This past weekend we went to a place called Ayutthaya a hour and a half north. I took my first train ever to get there! It cost 15 baht...which is around 30 cents!
Thailand is the place to come if you are on a budget!!! I just read that it was voted "Best Value For Traveling." I can eat for less than $3 a day!
In Ayutthaya, we rented bikes and rode around the ruins the city is built around. It was previously the capital of Thailand before the Burmese attacked the city in the 16th century.
It was really cool because it is not very touristy and there were lots of Thai people vacationing there!
On Sunday, we took the train an hour north of Ayutthaya to a place called Lopburi. The place is infested with monkeys...it was unreal and a little disgusting! They were crazy and were everywhere just in this one area...I have no idea why they are there or why there are in just that one area but it was bizarre! They are really aggressive too in trying to take your things! One just grabbed my friend's drink, finished the drink, put the bottle down and walked away!
Anyway off to practice counting in Thai!!! Have my first quiz tomorrow!!!