One (More) Night in Bangkok

We flew back from Cambodia today for Melissa to catch her flight home -- boo! She has to go back to work. I, however, am continuing on to Vietnam tomorrow. Tonight I'm staying in this really old budget hotel called the Atlanta. Its like a cheap Casablanca. I like it! And I'm exhausted, so I plan to go to sleep in a few minutes. Might have energy to post again tomorrow morning before my flight. Goodnight!

One Night In Bangkok

Hi everyone! We've made a decision to head to Cambodia tomorrow to see Angkor Wat. Chiang Mai was pretty, but we were unhappy with our hosts...they were very generous and good people, but weird. They tended to only speak to Melissa and ignore me -- it was all very strange. So we made our escape yesterday evening and took a sleeper train to Bangkok. The train was fun! We splurged on first class (still cheaper than any Amtrak train I've ever been on) and had our own little cabin. We made friends with the guys working on the train and a passenger from Israel, drank lots of Chang beer, and passed out at 11pm (much later than the other passengers). We got in at 7:30 am and were exhausted. We took the subway to the Sukhumvit area of town to look for a hotel a friend recommended. We had trouble finding it so we sat in the nearest outdoor patio bar to rest and put our bags down. This led to our early morning beer session -- hey, you're only in Bangkok once, right? We had food on the street later. The guy working there didn't speak English and our few Thai words didn't get us far, so we guessed with the menu. Unfortunately, bean curd soup has pork in it. And Melissa got this noodle dish with, ahem, gravy -- which in her words had "the consistency of snot". It made for pretty funny pictures, though! I chose the safe option: pad thai. Not the most adventurous choice but it was good and I knew there was no meat! I've been eating shrimp occasionally. Some days I can get myself to eat fish, other days I can't. Overall, I'm doing fairly well.

After looking at the map we realized most people recommended that we stay in Th Khao San, the touristy backpacker area. We headed over that way and immediately regretted it. The best times we've had here have been hanging out with locals, not other Western tourists, so I'm not sure why we didn't realize that we wouldn't like it. But by that time we were super tired so we checked into the nearest not-as-sketchy hostel and took a nap. This evening we've been wandering around, we had really good dinner that within a half hour made me vomit and gave me a huge headache (msg?)...we went down to the river and enjoyed the sights. It was a nicer restaurant. I've heard that the street food is safer than the food in "nice" restaurants -- they were right.

Tomorrow morning we're heading out early to Cambodia! I'm really, really excited that we decided to go.

Most importantly, CONGRATULATIONS TO JIMMY AND KATH!! I got a text message a few days ago from Jimmy that they got engaged, but didn't post it in my earlier blog in case he hadn't announced it to everyone. I think its safe to say it now, if not...oops!! Sorry...

My next post should be from Cambodia -- yaay!

Chiang Mai

We just got into Chiang Mai an hour or so ago and are staying with a couple that are friends of a friend of Melissa's in San Francisco. One is an (American) retired English professor. We haven't met his Thai partner yet -- he's at a class. Chiang Mai looks really beautiful!

Our last night in Phuket was very fun. We went out with the owner of the hotel to an amazing drag show, it was SO great. If anyone ever goes to Phuket, definitely stay at CC Blooms! We only have wonderful things to say about the place. It was beautiful, not super touristy, and the staff are great, especially Miss Canada, the transgender cook. Most of our evenings out were spent with locals, not other tourists, which I think is a little unusual. Its been perfect!

I'm so tired (again)!! Its hard for me to type coherently. I think after we eat I'll perk up a bit. Just wanted to check in! I should be able to email/post more frequently because there's internet here at the house. I'll post again soon!