Bangkok, Thailand - Oct 23, 2009

Hi!

Well, we arrived in Bangkok after a very long and weird journey from Siem Reap. We shared a taxi with an Indonesian couple from our guesthouse, and we were pretty happy we did! The cab ride from Siem Reap to the border was kinda scary, cows everywhere on the highway, passing in the left lane with ongoing cars coming, etc... I figured it was better for my nerves to just not look ahead and just keep talking to the couple. They were very nice and we had some great conversations. When we arrived in Poipet it was chaos for the next hour or so, it's a pretty crutty place. We had to cross the border by foot with our packs and all, first the Cambodian departure, then walk some more to the Thai entry, then through another search tent (thank god we were't selected!) then off to find the bus to Bangkok. Turns out we couldn't find the VIP bus we were supposed to take so then we had to find a Tuk-tuk to bring us to the bus station in town (6km away). We had to split up with the couple so Monica and I had our own tuk-tuk (a bit different from Cambodian tuk-tuks). These tuk-tuks go much faster than the ones in Siem Reap and it was kinda interesting to be on the highway on one of these. We made it to the bus station at 2:28pm and the bus left at 2:30pm... and at first we couldn't find the indonesian couple. Luckily, they showed up just in time and off we went! After a very long bus ride with many stops, we finally arrived in Bangkok around 8pm or so. The girl we were with (Dora) lives in Bangkok and speaks a little bit of Thai so she helped us get a taxi to our guesthouse. Suprisingly, even though Thailand is by far the most touristy country we've been to, Thais speak very little, or no English at all. We just hoped he was taking us to the right place! And he did :) Our guesthouse is pretty great, rooms are kinda small but clean, there is internet in it, a restaurant and a travel agency! We are smack in the action in the Khoa San Rd area so last night I went for a walk in the streets, there were young hip hop street dancers, many vendors (pad thai for like 50 cents), etc... We went to bed pretty early because today will be a busy day. We had breakfast and now we are off to SHOP, SHOP, SHOP! We are planning on buying another suitcase here because there is so much to buy, for so cheap! Tonight we booked a ladyboys cabaret show (cabaret show of boys dressed as women), then we will just venture off around Khao San to see it at night. We leave tomorrow night at 700pm for Chiang Mai so we aren't sure yet what our plans for the day will be.

Later,

Manon