One night in Bangkok...(OK 2)

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The flights were reasonably uneventful and we arrived in Bangkok to be met by Dhai and her boyfriend who ferried us to our hotel situated in an alley way off of Khao San Road.
Bangkok felt the same (same same) the constant movement of locals with their wares to sell and backpackers (some front and back packers) going to and from their accommodations was pleasantly familier.
Wandering down the street recognising bars and shops we recalled the last time we were here in December 2004 when the mood was far more sombre. Then there was a huge notice board outside the police station plastered with photos and messages from people deperately looking for lost friends and relatives. Travellers and locals alike had become unwilling flotsam and jetsam when the Tsunami had struck just a couple of days earlier and there were travellers wandering along Khao San Road wearing fresh bandages and hauntingly expressionless faces.

We spent a couple of days shopping and eating We didn't get to the noodle bar to eat noodles with entrails (Rob's recommendation) but we did have some great fish; the Shell forecourt is recommended and we got a free lunch outside the MBK where they were celebrating the Chinese vegetable festival. Our journey back from MBK was during the evening rush hour and travelling by boat through Bangkok has to be as essential for any traveller as taking the Star Ferry in Hong Kong.
We bought a camera and booked our tickets to Koh Phangan but had to go by bus because the train was fully booked but that's where adventures begin!
We've brought too much stuff. That is the expression you would have seen on our faces when we hoisted our rucksacks onto our backs for the first time to walk to where the bus was waiting. When we got on, a list was passed around the bus asking for names nationality and age; an early reality check that we were the oldest travellers around!
The bus journey could have been more bearable if the 3 Scottish girls on the back row hadn't insisted on talking for the entire 12 hour overnight trip. However watching the sun come up over the river while waiting for the ferry was beautiful and made up for the lack of sleep.
I did have a small drama when I realised i had lost my mobile phone, it must have fallen out of my bag in the bus and the bus had gone Som Nom Na Noy might have said (Serves you right!) For some reason we were taken from the ferry station by bus to another ferry station. We had no idea if it was the same bus but I checked the overhead luggage rack anyway and my phone was there, Of course I thanked our guardian angels; whoever was on duty at the time!

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Photos

bus stop
Midnight at the bus stop

Sunrise
At the ferry port it dawned on me that I had lost my phone!

Ferry stop
The long walk from the bus to the ferry