unable to get the laptop but....

once again i am back at the internet cafe to try to finish up this where i have been behind. i think it would be smart f me to finish up now since We decided today to travel to another part of thailand and i might be once again away from a computer for some time. Lek has offered to take us to a part of thailand that i cant remember and probably wouldnt be able to spell anyway. but here quickly continuing from the last post. we ended our meal at the very nice chinese themed restuarant and were given a ride by chalumchai back to our apartment so that we could sleep becasue the next day we would be waking up very early to journey back to bangkok to take frank to the airport so that he would make his flight home. so we turned in as early as we possibly could and then 5am came way too soon. we were up by 5 to make our 6 am bus. chris showered first and after he had showered and gotten ready i had finally woken up we were lucky enough to get a ride from chelumchai who being the best host ever woke up just as early as us to give us a ride to the bus station. we got on our early bus and boy let me say that 6 hours in a bus that early int the morning was well... i think i might have been sleep walking cause i really dont remember anything other than waking up on the bus with a blanket over me and my headphones in so i obviously didnt feel like i was in any danger and i obviously was very very comfortable. but when i woke up i couldnt go back to sleep and the alst 3 hours of the ride went by very very slowly. we arrived in bangkok and took a taxi to more or less the more tourist side of the city. there a place there called kousan road which is supposed to be the party street which we stayed near merely beause of the cheap rooms that we found.after we had dumped our bags in the room we proceeded to the grand royal palace which was absolutely amazing. after we had aquired our tickets we entered to find large temples with undescribable beauty. the temples were quite large and ever square inch of every building sized temple was covered in oh jeez i cant even think of the word. grrr. mosaic yeah mosaic every inch of the tecmples were mosaicked with bits of mirror or colored glass. each piece was not broken though all the collors or mirror pieces were symmetrical in certain areas making beautiful shapes and designs most of which being the lotus which i have come to learn is the flower of the Buddha. after we had explored the outside of the temple for a short while we went into the larger of the temples to view the crown relic of the country which is called ethe emerald buddha. sicne they did not allow pictures of the emerald buddha inside the building here is what it looks like just to give and example

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/92/Emerald_buddha.jpg

the buddha itself is not made out of emerald but jade. it was aparently made hundreds of years ago and the artist to protect the jade covered it in a plaster. supposedly he died and everyone forgot the original interior was jade untill one day a room collapsed on the figure breaking off a piece of the plaster that was covering its nose. from there they took off the rest of the plaster and it was moved to the royal pallace where it now sits. the throne of artifacts that sit around the buddha are said to be mostly gold but i dont know for certain since that is alot of gold if it truly is. the structure housing the buddha has to be at least 25 ft high. whenm you go into his chamber the police inside make you side down untill you are ready to leave at chich point you can show yourself out. from tehre we just explored other sections of the royal palace but sadly most of it was cut off to public because the death of the king. His sister recently passed away in the recent months. but before she passed away before they had finished her ceremonial river death boat type deal. so now she is litterally frozen in the palace untill they finish the boat at which point she will be put into her boat and floated down the river and shown her proper respects. after we were done with that we experience the local river fery system which was fun for al of teh first 30 minutes but then it was just a boat ride. because it was the that locals traveled it was interesting to see where they got on and off though. the time we were on the boat many school children got on to return home. after we had taken our trip on the boat we experience the sky train. all of this was done for franks benefit just to say he had seen the city from all of these angles. after we had taken our sky train visit we took to the underground subway. we went a few stops on the subway and got out exhausted and extremely hungry. we ended up eating at the train station after we had gotten off at our stop. the place we ate at had the same feeling as the cafeteria that i like so much back in khon kaen. we ate quickly and left. we journeyed back to the hotel and from there Frank picked up his luggage and made his way to the airport with Bill as his guide. Chris and I walked kouson street to find some dessert after our meal and after being hassled about buying knock off clothes and beer we settled for what i can only describe as a flat pancake like pastry with your choice of fruit or choclate inside. Chris got banana and i got strawberry jelly. after they put your choice of fruit on top they put the think condensed milk you would find in a can on top. and let me say that was awesome. and it cost 30 cents. Chris and i went of kouson road and walked some of the other surrounding streets close to our hotel to see if we could find some interesting wares and also hoping people wouldnt hassle us about any thing else. we found some interesting things, some very kool things, and some worthless crap. but we turned back to our hotal and went back to the room. we went to sleep quickly and woke up at about 8:30 to meet bill for breakfast. we got dressed and bill was already in the lobby waiting for us. we ended up walking 30 ft down the road from our hotel to a little stand when a boy whole could have been a years difference in age from me but about 2-3 times as much as me when you bbrought weight into consideration. he would cut up different fruit andinto a bowl put some yogurt in it throw granola and honey on top and that for a small but delicious breakfast. after that was done we went to a royal home that was no longer used but was used by one of the kings for many years. it was a pain just get in the place. first off no cameras anywhere in the houseso we had to pay money to use a locker to put our stuff in. then no shorts allowed in the house so i had to deposite a 1000 baht bill to the lady behind the desk who promised not to charge me but i diddnt believe her, for what would be sleep pajamas only in the xxL size. so i was everjoyed at that. so now that we have bought pants and bought a locker we walk through the entrance gate and towards the house where they search you again in the basement and make you remove your shoes. so we remove our shoes and then have to walk outside in our socks while its raining up a flight of stairs to the tour front door. but wait i get to the front door and they try to make me pay for another locker for my hat. no so i store my hat in the extra space that was the knapsack of a pair of pants. but after all that it was completely worth it. the house was done completely in teek wood and there are no nails in the house at all. the house is made completely with wooden pegs. but other than some fire damage in the supstair you would have thought the house to be new. there were rooms with elegant china and then ivory and great elephant tusks. but all in all the house was amazing. after we had finished there we left the house and walked around another huge building that was also beautiful but the name of which i cant for the life of me remember. after that we went back to our hotel to gather our things and check out. from there we walked accross a section of the city we were staying in and met chelumchais other son bank at a burger king. i dont know if i said this or not but chelumchais first son is name bond and the seconds name is bank. they are 28 and 25. but bank had agreed to take us to chattenbury which was a couple hours away. he picked us up at the burger king and at first glance he was tiny. he is my height but reminds me of fez because of how skinny he is. we walked the distance to his car and from tehre he drove us a couple hours so that bill could his friend a favor in chattenburry. the whole trip to chattenburry was a favor for bills friend who cuts gems, the city is known for its gem market so we went up there as an errand to collect some uncut gems for Bill's friend. we arrived early that day which just to help make clear the story was a thursday and then after exploring the market around our house was pretty boring. ok i will pick up there when i aquire yet another 1 hour pass. instead of creating another post i just decided to edit this one since i just learned how. but yes after spending another 25 cents to aquire a pass i am back. but yes we arrived and then there really wasnt much to do so i did alot of reading and then turned in early. Chris and Bank woke me up with a knock on my door at about 10:50 and said that bank had some friends in the city who would show us around a little. we ended up going to a small local pub and sitting and watching tv with the locals and just meeting and greeting for the most part. just so as to reassure everyone at home i did not have any substance that would be considered illegal for my age at the pub. but we ended up getting back to the hotel and getting a good rest. we woke up semi early the next morning and from there bill had alraeady gotten up and left us to explore the market so taht we could go back later if any of us wanted anything. i left the hotel and walked in a big couple mile circle around it hoping to find somethign of interest but i figured it was either too early for anyone or the gem market had lead most people to its treasures. after finding a 7/11 and deciding on what my breakfast cuisine would be i walked back to the hotel with a orange drink that i could not read and a taro filled bun. i waited reading in my room for a little over and hour before bill came back and gethered all of us to go to the gem market. it was a short walk from the hotel no more than half a mile. when we got there we stopped at a simple shop that sold many uncuts and there we got some amethyst and some what i believe to be aquamarine. thinking we might to be able to find better prices other places we went off in search of what could simply be put as cheap treasure. we had many people try to hustle us and after an hour of looking we found a hole in the wall store where a man who actually cut the gems had many luncut left over that he was not using and sold them to us cheap. so we walked back through the crowd of sellers and back to the car where we got back in and drove swiftly to bangkok. and by swiftly i mean that Bank is a semipro race car driver and he drives really fast.... it was awesome. we arrived in bangkok and went directly to the bus station and after getting bus tickets for the 6:30 bus we said our goodbyes to bank and how thankful we were for him driving us around and helping us wit translations. we asked him if he would come and see us in khon kaen and he promised he would if he had time. so we hopped on our unexpected VIP bus which had luckily for us taken the place of a broken down bus that was still being repaired. we arrived in Khon Kaen at about 1:30 in the morning and from the bus station took a tuk tuk to the apartment. i slept till about 8 this morning and then got up and mae my rounds for breakfast at 7/11 and then went to a internet cafe to kinda check what i had missed in knoxville and to start my long but necessary update and now i am finally finished with my update which only took me 5 bought hours to complete. i am going to sit ere and look up guitar tabs now. i left my hard drive in my room but i will upload pictures tomorrow whenever i get the chance because we leave on monday to go to Chiang ria which is on the border of Myanmar and we might be able to get in for a short amount of time. but with that i am tired and mentally tired from recapping the past few days events. i hope you all are doing well and hope to ehar from all of you soon. the truth is out there, may the force be with you , and save the cheerleader..... save the world.