bangkok..a metropiclis... (a tropical metropolis... haaah!)

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Hi there... So Bangkok was interesting! Fun... crazy, loud, moooodern... From the bus on the outskirts of the city, we took an INSANE tuk-tuk ride to Khao Sarn Rd... This guy was weaving through traffic, speeding down the highway... with nooo regard to any sort of traffic law... we thought that 3-wheeled, rickety contraption would tip over... but it didn't... so much fun. Much like a rollercoaster ride! But without the safety-belts! sheesh...

Bangkok is so cool... it's just a giant sprawling mishmash of modern and ancient... so many highrises, chain stores, and malls... but also junky little hovels, many normal thai buildings, wats everywhere... quite RAD!

So the famous Khao Sarn Road was pretty much how we'd imagined it, after being told so many mixed things about the place. It's a long road, filled with thousands of Westerners, souvenir shops, food stalls, bars/discos that nevvvver sleep, a billion tuk-tuk drivers, and a loooot of ladyboys hanging around also... SO loud! Very lively - so much going on, but as we'd been told, it's tacky as heck. Not really Thailand... as "the beach"puts it - just a buffer between East and West. The starting point for most Southeast Asian trips.

Our first day was stifling - so freakin' boiling... so we went to MBK, which is Bangkok's big mall (air-con is great once in a while!) We took the river taxi there... so nifty! There's a river that runs through Bangkok (a very dirty one!)... you can just hop into one of the long boats that goes by to take you far for cheap! A fun experience. MBK was alright... it's a mall. Same same stores on every floor... not quite as enchanting as some people we talked to found it. But they did have a DQ. Blizzards!!! And we met a cool dude from Ghana, who does soccer for Singapore. Cool... That night we just chilled out on our balcony (we got a great guesthouse... cheap for Khao San), and watched the ladyboys try to pick up men on the street. They are sooo very convincing... but you must wonder how they pay for their silicone on their measly wages... Our balcony was awesome... right in the centre of town... also unfortunately on top of an all-night disco type building... right.

So the next morning, we were woken up to Jack Johnson blaring (he;s alllmost as popular as Bob Marley here... we can't complain too much about that!). Went to the crazy, collosal-sized weekend market. Very rad stuff... they sell absolutely everything! So many people, though! So hot... so overwhelming, really! After 3 hours, we'd only seen a bite of it.
Enjoyed some kind of tamed-down thai street food on Khao San... not the best pad thai I've ever had... but okay...

The next day was hospital visit number 2... Sares foot was still quiiiite sketchy, indeed! So, it wasn''t really gout, but some other type of arthritic infection. Fun! So we got some new smelly pills, and refilled the old pills, and promised not to walk for a bit... The doctor was quite cool... Thai hospitals are so very efficient! Love it...

So then we explored the local Tesco Lotus. Awesome. (A thai supermarket! wahoo!). At the very same time, a huge riot was going down somewhere else in town. Thaksin, the current PM, is reallly quite disliked by a lot of Thais... some scandal allegations. Apparently some people think he acts like a dictator, thinking he's trying to be more important than the king... And the Thais love their king... no dissent there. But he has done a toooon to bring many people out of poverty, further the economy, etc. That's what we heard, anyways! So lots of tension here in BKK.

The next day, we planned to do some sight-seeing, but ended up heading to Chinatown... Its funny - the tuktuks on Khao Sarn have this deal where if they take you to some rediculous jewellery store or tailor shop, they get free gas... so we've visited a few of those! A good way to get cheap rides places, but sooo annoying! The sales people can be beyond pushy. And theres a 10 minute minimum on staying in the stores... which can be an eternity! Well, we got to Chinatown eventually - it was pretty cool... had a great Chinese meal. Bussed it home!

And the next day - the infamous bus ride from Bangkok to Siem Reap!

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Photos

vellllcome to bangkok. khao sarn road.
it means "dried rice road"... or something like that! and apparently 4000 lessss tourists per day have visited since the thaksin protests... sure didn't seem like it! woah...