The "Belly of the Beast"

Wednesday - Our last day in Siem Reap was a relaxing day.  Our hotel was nice enough to let us stay in the room until we caught a tuk-tuk to the airport.  We swam and just relaxed with a nice breakfast at the hotel.  On our way to the airport, school kids were lined along the street.  I think that there was a dignitary from Singapore there in Siem Reap because we actually passed the motorcade the day before when some of the streets were closed.  It was fun as some of the kids waved and cheered as we drove by.  We had a meal at the airport since we knew we'd arrive in Bangkok kind of late.  We arrived around 6:00, it was a great flight and got to follow the river from the sea to Bangkok.  When we got in, we had to go through the immigration again.  Here is what John worried about and now we find out for good reason.  His education visa, which he paid a lot for, is now void and he's back to the 30 day visa.  He was misled on this.  Anyway, it is what it is….

Now we are in the city with a long way to get to our hotel.  Lucky, I'm traveling with a local!  So first, we try to get a taxi.  The driver won't take us because it's too far.  John tells him to take us to the train.  We get ripped off because he basically drives us across the street and charged us too much!  Lesson learned.  We bought a train ticket into town for a couple dollars and had to wait an hour.  However, from here, things went smoothly.  The train arrived on time, took us right to the main station where we caught a subway, and then walked a block or so to the hotel!

We checked in and they brought us some juice and snacks and we hit the hay!  It is HOT in Bangkok!

Thursday-Here we are in the “Belly of the Beast” as John likes to call Bangkok.  But, what's a trip to Thailand without a trip to Bangkok?  I had some places I wanted to go.  Today, we visited The Grand Palace.  We started out taking a very cheap taxi to the palace from our hotel.  John was a little bummed because the dress code required long pants and closed shoes for men.  And did I tell you it's HOT in Bangkok?  We saw the palace, Wat Pho with its HUGE reclining Budda, amped Wat Phra Kaeo with its Emerald Buddha, and Wat Arun.  I think I've seen enough wats for a lifetime!  They are all beautiful and very elaborate.  Then, being the locals we are… we hopped the local ferry to the pier and walked to the subway and home.  We hit the pool and headed out to a sky bar.  These bars were made famous from the Hangover II movie which was filmed in Bangkok.  We didn't go to THE sky bar, but went to another that's less crowded.  We were able to ride the subway and walk a short distance to get there.  We arrived right before sunset and WOW!  The view is amazing.  We each had a couple of drinks and were hungry.  I checked out the menu at the restaurant but decided it really wasn't worth $65 or more per person for a basic meal.  The drinks and a plate of fries alone was $74.  This was an amazing experience and we also got to see a full moon rising after the gorgeous sunset.  We picked up some street food and ate in the hotel room.

Friday - Today, we had no real plans.  I wanted to go to the National Museum and we decided to go it alone-no taxi or tuk-tuk.  It took us a while, but we made it.  We rode the ferry looking for food, but didn't find what we were looking for.  We did make it to Chinatown and the flower market as well.  After being hot and hungry for a while, we just ducked into McDonalds for a burger, fries, ice cream and free wifi!  We ended up getting a tuk-tuk back to the train station and then to the hotel where we swam and cooled off.

Saturday and Sunday- We have a day to kill!  Our train the Chiang Mai doesn't leave until 10 tonight.  We slept in, had another nice breakfast at the buffet, swam and packed.  Our hotel gave us an hour so we had to leave by 1:00.  We left our luggage and went to a mall.  Here we killed time and also purchased snacks for the train.  Then to Starbucks for wifi, card playing and air conditioning!  Later, we headed back to our hotel for the dinner buffet.  We wanted to eat a lot since we knew we had a long train and wouldn't have breakfast.  However, we thought we'd be in Chiang Mai for lunch.  WRONG!  After getting to the train around 9, we quickly, or really not so quickly, learned that the train was delayed.  We sat until after 2:00am before the train arrived and we boarded.  Since we purchased our tickets so late, we had to go 2nd class-no sleeper or air!  Out seats did recline a bit and I slept until about 7:00am.  Saw the beautiful sunrise and rice paddies as far as the eye can see for miles!  The later it got, the hotter it got.  There was one point I was convinced I would really actually melt. Unfortunately, some of our snacks did melt.  Our cheese slices were just one big blob and johns snickers was too!  I didn't and we pulled into Chiang Mai at about 4:30 pm.  Took a tuk-tuk back to the apartment.  Oh happy day.  It's great to be back in Chiang Mai.  It's a little like home.  More laid back, but one thing was for sure-there were A LOT more tourists now than when I left!

John and Chris took me to the Samurai Kitchen for dinner and it was yummy.  I think I'd probably lose a lot of weight if I had to rely on chopsticks, but I am getting better.  Stabbing things usually works pretty well.  We hit up a book store and stayed up until after midnight talking about these boys’ amazing experiences!

Monday-Today is a rest day for me!  I did laundry and both John and Chris have to work.  I'll take a few days to get some r&r before my next adventures!  I'm hoping when John gets home, I'll have some access to a computer to post some pics!

Click on the picture below to go to a slide show of photos from Bangkok!