Hellooooo there!

WE ARE IN THAILAND!! Samadi! (means hello, good morning, thank you, sorry, nice to meet you, etc). We finished up our trip to India with a bang (literally) in New Delhi, where the Diwali celebration was happening everywhere around us with tea candles lining the streets in traditional "diyyas," fireworks being set off by store owners (and almost singeing a few of us), fireworks everywhere throughout the city, and a great cloud of smog looming above us and obscuring the buildings. It sounded like there was a war going on from all the booming around us. We had our own little Diwali fireworks celebration in the parking lot of the YMCA where we stayed, and the staff sent us away with some fun gifts, typical Indian hospitality. The last part of our stay in Bangalore had been great--we had fireworks with the kids, ate lots of Tex-Mex food at the local mall, took our final, and had our last cup of tea before our sad farewell to the staff and their families. We were all very sad to leave that place, but I must admit that I was really excited to go to Delhi because that meant I was that much closer to Thailand and seeing my mom! In Delhi we also got to see the Taj Mahal, one of the wonders of the world! It was BEAUTIFUL, the largest love monument in the world. Made completely of marble with precious stones inlaid, it's a huge mausoleum for the wife of Shah Jahan who died in childbirth. It was so surreal to actually be in front of this building that I'd only seen in movies. Later we saw Agra Fort, which had great views of the Taj Mahal and was enormous.
So now, we're in Thailand. When we got here the first night I saw my mom and started bawling. I had no idea how much I truly missed her until she was physically there in front of me! We both were embarrassingly emotional; so much so that other Global students who were watching teared up a bit too. That night we stayed up until two am talking and packing. Yesterday, we went with the Global group on a bus tour of Bangkok! We first visited the Grand Palace, a major tourist site that looks like a mix of Candyland, Disneyworld, and all of my sequined dance costumes rolled into majestic buildings. They had mirrors on them and fancy designs, and in one there was the famous emerald Buddha statue, enshrined in a mountain of golden... things. I'm not sure what they were. The tourists there were mostly Chinese and East Asian and were VERY pushy. I thought I would be stampeded for sure. We also visited Wat Pho, the famous site of the 151 foot reclining Buddha, covered in gold leaf with mother of pearl inlaid in its gigantic feet. After that we climbed the Wat Arun temple, which was very scary considering that at one point the stairs were so steep that they were practically a ladder going straight up and down, and that I had a very overweight backpack on that threatened to pull me backwards and off the side of the temple. My  mom and I checked into the Shangri-La hotel later, and our room has gorgeous views of the river. Walked downtown last night and got Thai massages--they were very painful and at one point I thought my kidneys might fail from the pressure put on them :) Also, they walked on our backs and cracked our whole bodies, pretty much. Quite an experience and we feel bruised but it also felt good! Today we went to the Jim Thompson museum for a tour and saw how silk was made. We had high tea at the Oriental Hotel (the nicest hotel in the world according to Thai tour guides) with my Global friend who is staying there with her mom, and I think it is probably the nicest hotel I've ever seen in my life. Afterward we headed to the Asiatique Market to find a puppet show that unfortunately evaded us, but we got good pad thai anyway. Now we're exhausted and off to bed!