Bang"for your buck"kok, Thailand

Our first weekend of traveling came quickly! Jet Star Asia frugally flew us to Bangkok, Thailand for an adventure I will never forget. We arrived on Thursday night, May 25th, figured out the bus system, and bussed it to Big John's Hostel, which turned out to be an Australian-owned, Internet-accessible, 24-hour food/drink bar, little backpacker's abode. Although the showers weren't high class (what can you expect? It's Thailand), we were lucky enough to get a big room to ourselves. We have a tight group of about 8 - great friends, good times traveling together.
Friday morning we woke up, ate an eggs and bacon breakfast, and headed out to the city. Our first destination was the Grand Palace... and getting there was the coolest part! We took the intercity train to the canal and then hired a private boat taxi to take us to the Grand Palace. The boat, like other decorations I saw in Thailand, was shaped like a long, narrow elf shoe, and you could say it was the ride of our lives! Some people were actually scared but I enjoyed every second... especially for a few cents a person. We got off onto a dock that led us through little street vendors and a particularly obnoxious man trying to sell me a sun umbrella like his life depended on it; he almost followed me across the street (and I almost hit him with one of his umbrellas). We were walking down the sidewalk almost to the entrance when the Grand Palace "manager" in a suit and tie waved us down, informed us that we couldn't wear shorts or tank tops inside, and told us that we couldn't go in until 1 pm. At first we were glad he would go out of his way to tell us this, and he was nice enough to point out some locations on our map that we "had" to see. Suddenly 3 tuk-tuks pulled up and the "manager" told them to take us around the city for a few Bahts and that we were his "friends"... we said no and they started getting angry... um, scam! We took off and got inside the gates with no problem.
The Grand Palace was indescribable. Everywhere you turned you would see gold. Only some of it was real; mostly it was stone painted gold with the most intricate decorations from the ground to the 50-odd foot roofs. It was like an inner city of Bangkok - this place was huge. Most of the buildings were Buddhist temples or shrines or sanctuaries, guarded by towering statues painted just as . We had to take our shoes off to go inside the temple of the emerald Buddha... that was a cool experience! The Grand Palace itself was huge. You can look at pictures (they're actually Katie's, but I stole them since my camera's battery was dead this weekend) although none of them do this place justice!
After a couple of hours of wandering around with our mouths open and taking a bizillion pictures, we finished our sightseeing realized we were famished. Closeby there was a cozy-looking indoor Thai restaurant that turned out to serve the best Pad Thai I've ever had and also the most refreshing Coke I've ever had (maybe I was just incredibly hot and tired).
The rest of the day proved to be "whole"some. Some went to a wholesale clothes market, and some of us went to some wholesale gem stores. Thank goodness my friends Katie and Marianna read up on this beforehand, because they knew of a great place to go! We spent hours there... I wasn't planning on buying anything, but my friends got themselves some bling! Seeing what deals they got, I ended up getting two half-carat blue sapphires and two half-carat pink rubies for about 30 bucks each. In the United States those are worth thousands of dollars... I can't wait to get back and set them into earrings! I got a request from a friend at home and actually went back the next day. Those store owners really liked us...
Friday night was so fun. After jewel shopping, we headed back to the hostel as fast as we could: Big John's bar gives out unlimited free drinks to girls every Friday night. This was fun and then we met the other big group (they stayed at another hostel but flew with us) at a really happening dance club... we danced until our feet hurt! Those Asians are hardcore, it's hard to keep up...
Saturday we slept in a little bit and headed out to the markets! I bought a pair of Birkenstocks for 4 bucks and some jewelry for about the same. That night, 3 of us went and got full-body, 1-hour Thai massages that might have been the best experience of the weekend! We even went back on Sunday morning before our flight at 2!
Overall the city smelled and parts were a little third-world, but what a great time!! I remember one instance where I was walking down the sidewalk and an elephant passed me. Don't see that too often in the States! I would definitely go back if I could.