Has anyone ever said "Bangkok, you are so ordinary and boring!"

Probably not. But just to get the boring stuff out of the way, I've officially graduated (yay!). Now I'm a Master of something something, so please direct all correspondence to me as such. I've also begun to really dive in on my other, "professional" blog. I really enjoy writing it, and am doing about 3 entries a week so far. Despite the fact that I think it has zero viewers. At least, I think so. Wordpress's statistics are a bit clunky. So if just person clicks on that link, it'll make my day.

But since last I've updated, we had Chinese New Year, which is always a good time. I know it's not a big thing for most who would read this blog, but it's a super big deal in China, and by extension, Thailand. Imagine Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years put together into one big holiday. That weekend was spent drinking, eating, partying and more drinking. But not only alcohol, coffee has been in the mix a lot recently. One of those coffee shops is a raccoon cafe here in Bangkok. Did you know that was a thing? I didn't. But apparently, just like cat cafes, you can go hang out with raccoons. So Ella and I did just that, and it's a pretty unique experience. There are 3 raccoons there, and they are super hyper. I think they're just so excited to see people, they don't know what to do with themselves. They dart back and forth across the room, never pausing for more than a second. While it is interesting, it makes it nearly impossible to get a photo without it being more than a raccoon shaped blur. So, I just took a video. I can't imagine why you'd want to spend 5 minutes watching the whole thing, but a flip through might give you an idea of what I'm talking about. True to their reputation, they are a curious sort. Definitely a unique experience I won't soon forget. Next time you're in Bangkok, stop on by.

The only other thing of note is that Ella and I made another day trip around the city. I remember how we used to do that every weekend, going out to explore. Well, to be honest we've explored everywhere in the city. So while we still have a large list of things to do, it's increasingly become day trips an hour or so outside the city proper. So this time, it was a trip over to Samut Prakan province to visit two more interesting wats.
  

After a songthael, bus, and taxi ride, we finally made it to Wat Bang Phli Yai Nai. I suppose because it was Sunday, but this was not your typical wat. It was packed full of locals, with a market on the outskirts selling food, clothes, and even pizza. It's another case of "If this was in the city center, tourists would love it." In fact, the more I live here the more I realize Thailand is super undocumented to the outside world. I'm sure if you speak Thai and are plugged into those sort of groups, these sort of places are not a surprise. But for the rest of the world, you would never see this on a TripAdvisor sort of site. I think I saw maybe one foreigner there, who was with his Thai wife and kids. So it's kind of like seeing a whole other side of the country, an "authentic" side, as authentic as a wat selling pizza can be.

The main draw of Wat Bang Phli Yai Nai, and why we even came here, is that they supposedly have 1 million dollar bathrooms. This is apparently what Ella and I do for fun. And I will say, they have some nice bathrooms. But it's really more of the bathroom lobby. With an elaborate fountain and garden in the middle, and a LED ticker displaying the average wait time for each toilet... it is an interesting place. Leave it to Thailand to take some normally mundane thing and have fun with it. What I thought was more impressive though, was the massive, massive pot they had doling out bowls of noodles to the poor and otherwise hungry. This was seriously the largest pot I have ever seen, especially one being actively used. Please say this is the largest noodle pot in the world. That would make me so happy.

The other spot we wanted to see out here was Wat Bang Phli Yai Klang (not the same place!), about a 1km walk away. Thanks to the always amazing Google Maps, we found a shortcut through a local village that took us straight there. While the wat itself was pretty, its main attraction is that it has a reclining buddha, like in Wat Pho. Speaking of, did you know Wat Pho's reclining buddha is not the largest in Thailand? Amazing to think about, but that honor belongs to the statue tucked away in some small village about 20km outside the city. The building for the statue was not much larger than the statue itself, so it was hard to get a good photo of the whole thing. But here it is anyway:

Haha, what a goof I am. That is a reclining Dmytro. But seriously,  this temple was an interesting one, because they clearly do not expect tourists. A working temple, if such a word can be used. It was stuffed full of various trinkets, rugs, and other religious paraphernalia. But, I am always a sucker for the blankiest blank. So the next time someone tells you Wat Pho has the largest reclining buddha in Thailand, correct them by saying it's actually at Wat Bang Phli Yai Klang. I am sure you will nail the pronunciation.