We're The Six Best Friends That Anyone Can Have....

This weekend I got to live the high-life (Thailand style) with 5 of the coolest cats around. Our friend Chris had pretty legit family connections and invited us to stay in the penthouse of an incredible apartment in Bangkok. The days leading up to our weekend left us filled with suspense. Every time he got off of the phone with his friends, he would have an added perk to the weekend (getting picked up by a personal driver from The Soup, getting the penthouse to ourselves, getting invited to a surprise party and meals galore). We had no idea what to expect from the weekend and went in with a very Mai Pen Rai attitude. Our ride arrived around 5pm Friday night and within seconds I knew we were in for a great weekend. Et, essentially Chris' Thai grandmother, was the sweetest, most adorable woman I have ever met. Immediately upon meeting us, she let us know how excited she was for our visit and made us feel incredibly welcome. We pulled up to the apartment and were shocked at how nice it was. Our jaws dropped further to the ground when we got to our sweet apartment for the weekend. The space was huge and absolutely beautiful. There were two balconies, both of which provided amazing panoramic views of Bangkok and all of the Wats within the city. 

Just ignore the smog.

We met up with two other friends and Et treated us all to an insanely delicious Thai meal. I just can't get enough of the food here! The best part was dessert...coconut ice cream and warm bananas in coconut milk (drool!) I'm gonna be such a fatty when I get home. We had planned on going out on the town that night, but we felt so privileged to be staying in a penthouse that we decided to just stay in for the night and take advantage of the space. Things got silly, but we for sure had a great night playing cards and having life chats out on the balcony. 

The next day, after a yummy breakfast and a quick dip in the pool/nap on the terrace/exploration of the gym, Et and her husband picked us up in their ballin' cars and we were off to a lunch party. The party was actually for Et's husband, but it was a surprise party as a congrats on his retirement. We were basically the decoy and Sarah, Connor and I had to keep our little mouth's shut for the hour plus ride to the restaurant. The lunch was real fun and brought along a lot of surprises. First of all, the food was ridiculous. I tried shark fin soup and ate the skin off of a roasted baby pig that was staring me in the face. I felt a little freaked out by it, but it was all part of the adventure. I almost tried jellyfish...almost. I had it in my chopsticks ready to eat, but I just could not bring myself to do it. And I don't regret that decision at all. 

    As with every Thai event/gathering, karaoke was involved. It was really entertaining to see these older men and women, who were clearly high society, get up on stage and sing Elvis, opera, traditional Thai songs, etc. Et came over to our table and told us that we had to sing to represent America. Awesome. Moments later, we were awkwardly dancing and singing to 'Hey Jude' on stage in front of everyone. We were pretty terrible, but we were still presented with flowers as we sang. Adorable!

We made our way back to the apartment to relax/recover from our day. We all did our separate things before rallying for the night. I used my time to sit out on the balcony, listening to pretty emosh music (thanks, Seth!). I had such a Beautiful Life Moment (referred to as BLM, if you will). I couldn't help but smile while sitting out there. I just realized how truly happy I am to be here and it felt so great. Chris soon came out to join me, and turns out he was having a similar BLM out on the other balcony. 

Later that night we went to Khao San Road to celebrate Halloween. It was BUCKWILD. The street was jam-packed with people. A giant DJ tower was set up on one end of the road and just blasted all sorts of bumpin' music. I was certain all of us would get lost at one point, but it was surprisingly easy to stay together. We bumped into about 20 other participants from OEG, so that was fun to catch up and see how everyone has been adjusting. The night was tons of fun, and in typical Nell and Sarah fashion, we made a lot of friends. We basically walked up and down the street and tried to get as many of them as possible to take jumping pictures with us. Sounds simple, but trying to explain that to someone who doesn't speak English is pretty, pretty funny. But no worries- mission accomplished. I also got to Wai with Ronald, so that was fun.

The next morning we had a Thai breakfast consisting of pork and mushroom soup, croissants, coffee, an herbal drink and ended it with some coconut ice cream. Yes, this was breakfast. I don't hate it. The driver then brought us to Et's house where we got the grand tour of her gorgeous place. We even got an adorable family picture. I'm not not obsessed with it.

They are the cutest people ever.

We finished up our weekend with one more excursion to a floating market. Et and her husband ordered us a large, large meal. I even tried frog! With the food coma in full force, we happily passed out on our trek back to The Soup. It was such an amazing weekend with amazing people and I feel so happy to have met Et. But now it is back to reality and I have to make some lesson plans before my 2nd week of school! Yikes!