Two nights in Bangkok

On Friday evening, Phil and I flew to Bangkok. We took Bangkok Airways (the boutique airline), it was about an hour flight on a propeller plane. By the time you get in the air and eat your food, you are already descending. Arriving in Bangkok, after living in Siem Reap for the past 9 1/2 months, made me feel like a country bumpkin. It's so big and so developed, it's almost a shock. There are big paved highways with working lights, and skyrises, and lots of brightly colored taxis and a skytrain and the airport has a Dunkin Donuts, among other things. It's quite the change from Siem Reap. It took us about an hour to make it to our hostel, as we had to change trains and even at 10:30 at night the trains were packed! It was like NYC subway packed. We were pretty exhausted by that point so we had a drink on the roof and called it a night.

The next morning we sat down to breakfast and were joined by Phil's parents who were in town to meet us and also Phil's brother Mark (who, working on a world cruise, would be docking in Bangkok on Sunday). It was the first time I'd met them and they were lovely. They'd been to Bangkok in '75. After realizing that it was Saturday and the banks were closed, and we'd have to find an exchange place, we walked what felt like 1/4 of the city and I was sweating bullets. Bangkok is hotter and more humid than Siem Reap at the moment. In the end we found one and we went to see some sights, like Wat Pho, the Royal Palace (got there too late to see inside, though), and a river cruise. In the evening we went to the Paragon Cineplex and saw the Hunger Games in 4D, where they shoot air and scents at you and your seat moves and when characters fight your chair literally kicks your ass. Cool stuff!

On Sunday we only had a bit of time, so we got up early and took a minivan out to the floating markets where we hired a boat. It was cool, though very touristy and full of the same overpriced souvenirs that you can get in Cambodia, probably all made in China. We did get some bananas and noodle soup, though, and it was cool being there. After the 1.5 hour ride back to Bangkok, we grabbed our bags and headed to the Shangri-La hotel to meet up with Mark. We'd passed through the hotel on Saturday and it is beautiful! Way out of our budget, though. We had about an hour all together, and it was really great, but way too short. Unfortunately Phil and I had to catch the last flight to Siem Reap on Sunday night so we could be back at work Monday morning. Hopefully will get another chance to go back to Bangkok soon because I know there's just a ton of stuff that I missed and to be honest I'd like to go shopping....Also flying is fast and a good option when you have limited time, but expensive also for that same reason. Next time I'll probably hire a taxi, it takes about 7-8 hours but will save you lots of money, especially if you get a few other people together and split the cost.