Today started off with a trip to the Grand Palace, which is the king's palace. He doesn't actually live there but it is full of tourists. I don't stand out here like I was worried I would. There are so many tourists from all over the world here including a lot of Europeans. I could live here and blend in just fine. The picture this page has for the Grand Palace doesn't do it justice at all. It is so beautiful that pictures cannot capture. There is detail in every nook and cranny.

After the Grand Palace we went to Jim Thompson's house. In a nutshell, he was an American who got the Thai silk business internationally renowned, built a house in Thailand that married Eastern and Western attributes and he disappeared mysteriously. I didn't buy any silk from the gift shop because it was really expensive but the tour guide gave me an origami elephant.

We decided to take the BTS (above ground subway) and got totally lost even though there was plenty of English signs every where. I understand what it feels like to be the tourist lost with a map in the midst of everyone that knows where they are going. We went to one of the malls my team is supposed to research and I was blown away. After seeing this mall I think that Thailand is more developed that the U.S.It has more stores than I had ever seen and I don't think I could afford anything in them either.We decided that there must be a huge middle and upper class here. I mean this mall makes Mall of America look like nothing. And there are like 10 other just as big malls all within a mile as well. Bangkok is definitely a shopper on any budget's dream.

For dinner we had our welcome banquet. Our professors invited their contacts in the area and my table had the honor of speaking with a local professor in the area (all the other students just sat by themselves!). We had all types of interesting food and then a really cute Thai guy sang to us. I finally got to try some Johnny Walker Blue and of course it is amazing! Hellllooo duty free.