Bangkok bound!

We wrapped up our last days in Chiang Mai with some more massages! George has a bruised rib as a result! You gotta be tough with a Thai massage. Dash is a very touristy restaurant that we visited for our last event! Tourists and all, we loved it. The tuk-tuk ride was the best yet! Early the next morning we said good-bye to Tar-tar and Fine. (They’d laugh at spelling), said our Kob-kum-Ka (Thank You) and headed for the airport. We were sad to leave this place and these wonderful people behind. We’ll be back!

The trip to Bangkok was a short 1-hour flight on a huge dreamliner! Easy flight, nice people, decent food! Once in Bangkok, we found the taxi driver that spoke not a word of English. He quoted us a price of $300 Bahts and then upped it to $500 Bahts when he realized the location of our hotel. He was so concerned we weren’t going to pay that he called someone and had them explain to me again. We were afraid for a moment that we might be put out on the street corner.

It didn’t take us long to realize we’d left the small city behind. Driving on the left is really crazy here. We arrived in one piece to our hotel, Sleep Withinn, in the Khao San district. Wow! Feels like Bourbon Street. A night walk provided the best entertainment of the evening. There were street performers, all kinds of street foods ranging from ice cream, meats, and fish, to a large variety of bugs! You can have scorpions, roach-like bugs, and little ones all fried up with a variety of sauces.! There is music, there are dancers and there are more massage opportunities! We walked for an hour or so tasting foods in different places, and then found a small restaurant for some more Thai food and a glass of wine! We could still hear music outside at 2:00AM!

We began the next day by buying tickets to the hop-off hop-on bus. It seemed an easy way to get an overview of the city. We had three main events of the day. First, we were able to meet Tolo for a quick lunch. It’s great to see a Zancudo buddy so far from that world. He took us to a small true Thai restaurant. It was a little hole-in-the-wall place that was amazing! He also introduced us to the subway system and it was so easy, I think we’ve mastered it. We spent the rest of the afternoon at two sites: The Grand Palace and Wat Pho. Both were spectacular. The Grand Palace, of course, belongs to the Royal Family. Wat Pho is a very sacred place with many beautiful structures. Housed here is the famous reclining Buddha. I was surprised, to put it mildly, at his size! Enormous!

Buying trinkets and buying too many! Make us stop! Prices are so low we are getting ourselves in trouble. Really, we’ve picked up toys, hats, bags, pants, more toys, shirts, and wooden elephants. STOP US!