Art Museum:
This was actually more of a gallery than a museum. I found it fascinating, because there were many photographs of Bangkok, both from amateurs and professionals. The amateur photographs were a part of a contest in the gallery, so it was interesting to see which photos were ranked higher than the others. It was also cool to see that some places that I had previously visited in Bangkok were captured in the photographs. The gallery also had a contest for professional artists (mostly in prints), which were from countries around the world. The part that made the gallery particularly fascinating to me was the exhibit surrounding the founding of the museum. A few years ago, artists from throughout the city protested the building of the malls in the area. They believed that Bangkok needed a place to showcase art (which is indeed true). To make their statement heard, they decorated canvas bags, strung them together, and dragged them while marching through the city. Locals and passersby joined in the effort by designing their own bags and marching with the artists. In the gallery, the hundreds (maybe thousands?) of bags were on display.

Floating Market:
The name pretty much describes the excursion. Some friends and I ventured an hour and a half outside the city to our destination (which is a popular tourist thing to do). We rode throughout the canals in canoe-type boats and stopped to look at the floating sellers along the way. All of the merchandise was overpriced, but the scenery was well worth the trip.

Royal Palace:
The Cal Poly group took a short day trip to this site. The palace is surrounded by Wat Phra Kaew, which is a beautiful temple adorned with gems and gold. It houses the Emerald Buddha, which is the most important Buddha in all of Thailand. The palace itself reminded me of Buckingham Palace, since its facade was very European. Our group was allowed to enter inside (which other visitors are not allowed to do). Although the current king does not reside here, it was amazing to see the interior. It was again, very European, and reminded me of the inside of Versailles.

Slums:
This was also a Cal Poly field trip. We met with an NGO that started educational and community programming in the poorest areas of Bangkok. The organization allowed us to walk throughout the squatter community (made up of residents who are illegally residing on the land). There were shacks smashed up against one another, and the residents were obviously very poor. The streets were covered in litter and filthy water. I found it very interesting to compare the areas of Bangkok that we've visited: from the ritziest malls and health spas to the most destitute of families.