Meditation Class

Hello Everyone!!!!
Sooooo yesterday Khazna and I decided that while we are here we should take advantage of the culture in a way that doesn't involve shopping. She looked through her travel book for ideas of things to do and we decided to try something we couldn't do in the U.S. We decided to go to a meditation class in a buddist temple. I know all of you who know me are thinking....your gonna sit still and clear your mind .....right. I agree this seemed like an impossible feat but I figure...why not I'll try most anything once.
So we hopped on the boat and away we went. We're getting pretty good at the public transportation here. After asking for directions several times and a little aimless wandering we were finally pointed in the right direction and we soon arrived at the "Meditation Study and Retreat Center". Ok the school isn't actually in a temple come to find out but Monks live there and it's near several temples. We walked in and were greeted by an older gentleman who thankfully spoke good English (the book said they spoke English but you never know....). He sat on the other side of the desk and began talking to us about retreats coming up, and what classes consist of, and why do we think we need meditation, and what do we know about meditation, and then about what meditation is and the history and the goal and ...and ... suddenly we realized this was the class. We had hoped to join in a class or get a schedule as to when they are offered. We weren't expecting to walk in and have the first available person who spoke English to start a class just for us. But once again I figured...why not.
After our history and theory lesson we were taken into another room to learn two methods of meditation. We learned a walking meditation and a sitting meditation. We had been instructed that it would be difficult and wow he was right. We were taught to acknowledge thing brought to us by our senses, things we hear or see or feel but to let them go. We were told to acknowledge what our mind is wandering to but to then let it go and return our consentration to our breathing. That's the hard part, to let it go and go back to concentrating. We were told at the end of the lesson that we are welcome to come back anytime to practice or to ask questions, we were even given an email address in case we had questions and couldn't get back.
All in all it was an enjoyable experience, I'm really glad we went. I would definately reccomend givingit a try to anyone, especially if your here in Thailand anyway..... I hope to hear from you all soon!!!!!!
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina

The Weekend Market

Hello Everyone!
Yesterday we went to the weekend market. We had read about it and after talking to people from here we decided to have a look. The stories we heard hardly began to describe this place. It is unimaginabley huge, especially for a market that is only open on the weekends and has very few perminant buildings. The little booths were so packed together that you were always in the shade. You can buy absolutely ANYTHING there.....have I mentioned the exchange rate it about 35 BHT to $1? They have clothing, shoes, jewelry, food, restaurants, furniture, pets, housewares, dishes, candles, plants, and that's just in the part we got through yesterday. It was really something to see. There was so much stuff and everything was so crowded that it was impossible to take it all in. There were so many people that there were time that the lanes were literally at a stand still. I'd have taken pictures but the shop owners kinda frown on that and I wasn't sure walking in such a crowd with my camera was a good idea. We found a clean looking restaurant and stopped for lunch there. Believe it or not neither of us have had much Thai food since we've been here. The restaurant we work at serves Italian, American, Indian, Lebanese, and a little Thai. The food where we stopped was very good. I had the Phad Tai and we split an order of spring rolls. To top it off I had a fruit punch made from fresh squeezed fruit. Neither of us bought much, it was too overwhelming. We are planning on going back to see more next weekend. After all we have souviners to buy! Keep in touch!! I'll write again soon!
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina

New News

Hello Everyone!!
I'm sorry I haven't written in a while, things here have been turned upside down, shaken up, spun around and dropped. So this will be more of an informational note, I'll catch you up on my adventures next time. Basically what's going on is the hotel has taken a big hit. The economy is bad everywhere but in light of the protests and the state of emergency that was declared, tourism is way down. People are concerned for their safety and while I've stated we are safe (which we are) understandably people everywhere are hesitant to travel. Therefore, the hotel and our agent have been in negotiations for the last few days. It has been agreed that we will end our contract after 2 months instead of 3. I do not have my travel dates yet but I will be returning in early June. Please continue to keep in touch and pass this along to anyone who might be interested. I'll talk to you soon!
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina

Wat Pho and The Grand Palace

Hello Everyone!
Yesterday Khazna and I decided to do some site seeing. We packed ourselves up and took off towards the boats. They have boats here that run up and down the river to different stops, it's kinda like taking the bus. After figuring out how to get where we wanted to go we hopped aboard and we were off. I'm absolutely amazed no one fell in the river, the boat doesn't stop and tie itself up, they simply throw a loop of rope over a post and throw it into reverse to pull the boat close enough for people to quickly get on and off. The stop we got off at looked like we stepped off the jungle boat ride at Disney.
Our first stop was Wat Pho, the temple of the reclining Budda. There was so much to see there that we dicided we sould have to come back and explore more. Everywhere we turned there were walls of statues. Along with the main temple, ther were several smaller temples in the complex. This location is said to be the first Thai massage school. When we finally got to the reclining Budda I was absolutely astounded by the size. I as expecting a large statue but It's feet alone were easily twice as tall as me. It was absolutely amazing!
Next we went to the Grand Palace. It was literally dazzleing! All of the walls were either extremely intricately painted with astounding detail or, completely covered with mosaics or tiny colored mirrors. Even the statues were covered with these mirrors. It was absolutely impossible to take it all in. We decided we are going to have to go back and spend more time there too. The amount of time and the exactness that it would take to create something like this is completely mind boggling. The Grand Palace is also the home of the jade Budda. They don't allow pictures of this statue from inside the temple but they do allow you to zoom in as close as you can from a door they have open but blocked off. My picture is a bit fuzzy but it's not too bad.
By the time we returned to the hotel we were both exausted and decided to nap before working. I personally was thankful for one of my purchases. I bought a sun umbrella. That's right they sell UV protectant silver reflectant sun umbrellas. It was only 100 BHT and with as hot as it's been and as easily as I burn I broke down and bought one.
I've posted some pictures of my site seeing adventure, ther are actually more if anyone ever wants to see them. I hope you are doing well and I hope to hear from you all!!!!
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina

Songkran Festival

Hello Everyone!!

On Tuesday ( I know I'm behind) Khazna and I decided we couldn't sit in the hotel any longer and decided to venture out. We wanted to experience the Songkran Festival which is the Thai New Year Festival. The festival is characterized by people pouring water on the Buddha statues throughout the city and blessing each other with water and a flour type paste. Sounds serene right? So what does all that mean in modern times? Water fight!!!! That's right the streets have been filled with people carrying squirt guns of all sizes, people throwing buckets of water at each other (and off of the back of pick up trucks), and people literally covered with this paste. Khazna and I decided to truly appreciate the cultural experience we should participate (it didn't take much arm twisting, really about one shot of a squirt gun). We purchased squirt guns from a street vender and joined right in. By the time we got back to the hotel we were a mess. The staff at the front desk just kinda shook their heads and laughed at us, I think we've been pretty entertaining to them. I've posted pictures of us once we got back to the hotel, yes we're a mess but it was a blast (of ice water that is :) ) I'll write more later, keep in touch!!
Sabrina

Bangkok so far........

Hello !! I though this might be the easiest way to let everyone know how things are going and to share pictures with everyone. So far everything is going very well. We arrived late in the evening and were whisked to our private suites. By we I mean Khazna and I, she's the other dancer contracted here for the next 2 months. We've been keeping very busy compiling music for our shows. We have 6, 15 minute shows a night and we are both used to dancing to different music. The hotel is amazing and the staff have all been very nice and very helpful. We have been staying fairly close to the hotel due to the political unrest. Don't worry we are safe, the protests aren't near us. I have attached pictures of my room at the bottom of this message, I hope you like them. Now that things have settled down I should be able to keep up better. I have a few stories to tell already but I'll save them for later, it's almost time to get ready for work....
Talk to you all soon, please keep in touch!
Yours in Dance,
Sabrina