Bangkok

You should be able to make comments now, just changed the settings. Typing on a real computer now in our hostel, killing a bit of time before we have to head out to pick up our tickets at the train station. Then, dinner in Chinatown and an overnight train up to Chiang Mai.

To save time, I'm going to throw up an email written by Anna, edits by me. My take? Bangkok is hot. And awesome. Mostly awesome.

Anna:

I'm here, I'm alive, and I'm hot! After 36 hours of travel (although that included 7 hours of sleep so it was much more manageable than I was planning on!) we made it! We legitimately nearly didn't, Sam and AJ came up to the gate in LA at a dead sprint and I was considering whether I should go to Bangkok alone at the time! Sid, AJ's friend, picked us up from the airport which was amazing and took us out to a fabulous lunch- definitely the nicest we'll have while here! We also went to a history museum with them and got some background on the city. They dropped us off at our hotel, which I did a great job picking out. We poked around the Khoa San Road area, bought sarongs, and stumbled upon a vegetarian buffet for dinner. In bed by 8!

*Editor - AJ started waking up around 4.30. Anna managed nearly 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep. We all woke up naturally a bit before our alarm.

Today we got up just before 7, checked out, and took a tuk tuk to the Grand Palace.* We spent the whole morning there and then walked down and did about half of Wat Pho (for free mysteriously! Editor: We knew exactly what we were doing. Security was far for lax than the Grand Palace). We got some pad thai for lunch, finished Wat Pho, and took the boat across to Wat Arun. We climbed up quite high on the temple and got a great view of the city. We headed back across the river, got some dragon fruit juice**, and walked through an amulet market and back to the hotel. It's about 5:30 here now and we're using the computers at the hostel to connect with the world! After this we're going to hail a taxi to the train station to pick up our train tickets and then we'll have an hour to go grab dinner before our night train to Chiang Mai.

*Editor - Tuk Tuk are 3 wheeled taxis. The difference is taxis are car, with nifty things like windows, doors, and meters. For Tuk Tuks, you agree on a set price before you leave. We got our hostel to the Grand Palace for 50 Baht, for an 8ish minute drive.

**Editor - a type of fruit, not a type of dragon.

It's hot, really hot, but I'm just accepting that I'm in a constant state of being disgusting!* We're hoping that there are showers on the train tonight! The skirt and capris have worked out well, I just used the sarong** at the Grand Palace. Unsure how you lost weight here- all of the food looks sooooo good! Its a bit overwhelming trying to figure out what to get at the markets, but with three weeks, I'm sure I'll get better and figure out what I like- I've definitely figured out that pad thai is still delicious! Papaya salad and dom sam are on my list next! And who knows what we ate with Sid- they ordered maybe 10 dishes and we just kept eating!***

*Editor - I accepted this a long time ago. Sam and Anna are having a bit more difficult transition. But yes, we are quite disgusting. I'm not sure if I've ever enjoyed a shower as much as the one last night.

** For our male readers, A type of clothing. From what I can tell, a fancy name for a rectangular sheet a fabric. Anna's has elephants, which is pretty awesome. I use my zip off trousers, and just add the pant legs whenever we enter a Wat (Temple). At the Royal Palace, I was stopped by security, and when I whipped out my pant legs to put on, they said, "Ah ah, smart pants!" in English.

***Correct, we have no idea.