Bangkok

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The road to Bangkok, from Siam Riep, is not paved at all. It has many ups and downs as you travel SLOWLY along. We did manage to have a flat tire to boot. They told us at the bus ticketing office that it was 4 hours to the Thailand border. I don't know how they tell time back in Siem Riep, but we left at 8 am and arrived at the border at 4 pm. Slight miscommunication I think. The first part of the journey, the Cambodian side, is infamous for being bad. It was uncomfortable, but we survived. After crossing through to Thailand, we picked up a very large, well-air conditioned bus for the trip to Bangkok. I'm thankful that we had the uncomfortable, slow journey first.

We arrived in Bangkok and stayed at the somewhat infamous Khoisan Road. It was quite busy with constant traffic, clubs, bars, and the peddlers. We found an average place to stay, but the price was more steep than it has been in the other places. The next morning, we slept in and enjoyed our AC. Then we hit the big sights of the city: the National Museum which was fantastic, Royal Palace & the Jade Buddha, and then climbed the Golden Mount for a picturesque view of the city.

Of course, we didn't stop there. We also managed to find the zoo and see white Bengal tigers and a red panda. There were also heaps of snakes and turtles and even a hippo. After the zoo, we decided to move locations and took a cab to Siam Square. From Siam Square it was easy to catch the SkyTrain (Bangkok's newish monorail system) and go out to a bar or three. The first one was a bit of a go-go bar, where the ladies are your "friends." Not too much of my forte, so we ducked out after a beer.

Saturday morning we woke up lazily again and headed off in search of the weekend market. The weekend market is huge. They sell everything. Mike and I both bought some clothing that was one-of-a-kind and the temptation to not by more is difficult. Afterwards, we worked our way back to the MKB center. It's one of Bangkok's malls. It's only 7 stories high. Ha ha ha. Bangkok has brought us back to the world we know, full of McDonalad's and American companies. We actually went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3 which was decent at the movie theater since we were so hot and tired from the market. We then caught an overnight train to Chang Mai... which is where I right to you now.