Best Layover ever

---

On my way to Phnom Penh. I had a 5hr layover in Bangkok. I figured to that I would have just enough time to take a bus into town, see a few things, and get back to the airport in time for my flight. So I did.

While waiting at to pass though customs I befriended a girl from South Africa. She is living and working in Taiwan. We talked about her experience there because I am interested in living there. Basically it looks similar to what I do in Korea but she works maybe m ore hours but has a lot more vacation time (6 weeks) . It sounded like the west coast of the country is beautiful but that much of the rest of the country is really ugly with cement buildings . She was living in a city in the south that she didn't like.

She was meeting a friend on Khaosan Road in central Bangkok. Her friend lives in Thailand and said it was faster to take the express bus ( 150 baht) from exit 7 then to take a taxi or tuk tuk. I got off the bus and found a tuk tuk driver and negotiated the price to the Grand Palace and back to catch the 330 bus back to the airport. (1hr= 250baht) I think that we had to take a detour because of the protests by the red shirts. There were several fenced off areas in the city where the red shirts were gathered and 'riot police' were in front of every important looking building we passed. On my flight back from Phnom Penh to Bangkok, I learned that 2 days later there would be a violent clash between gov't and protesters where 12 people would die and 600 more would be wounded.

The ride to the Palace was like 10 min and the price of the Grand Palace was (350baht) Warning>>> It is easy to get lost if you are just walking around and talking pictures of and reading everything that you see. Fortunately, I think there is only one entry and exit so I was eventually able to find my way out.

The Palace was amazing.

I took the bus back and made it just in time to catch my flight to Cambodia.

---