Hello everyone!
Still alive out here and coping with Deanna leaving me for Thanksgiving. Julian has arrived and we've had a great time exploring Bangkok and making, breaking, re-making travel plans as a tropical storm hit Thailand.
First things first...Bangkok. Something for everyone. And we tried to see all of it. The Grand Palace is an absolutely breathtaking view, as the temple on site is vast and everything is covered in gold. Julian and I sweated our way through the audioguide tour - you can't wear shorts to the best sites - and around every corner was something more incredible.
It's been a little hard to communicate here. Every time we get in the cab, it seems that we have to show the driver how it's spelled. The other day, we got in the cab and asked to go to Radjamoen for Muy Thai Boxing. He didn't understand one word we said...and we had asked the hotel clerk exactly what and how to say it (apparently not well enough). I think we finally got the message across when Julian and I held up fists and pretended to box. At that point, the driver got very excited..."MUY THAI! BOXING! BOXING! MUY THAI!" He either a. loved boxing, b. was excited to figure out what the hell we wanted or c. thought we were about to mug him.
The other interesting thing was going to "red light" district of Patpong...I guess you have to go to see it as this is the sin city of Asia. Imagine a show with every sex thing you could think of, take all the class and energy out of it, add drinks that are 6 times the cost of regular bars and very, very insistent "bar girls" and you have the picture. It was actually really disappointing but just something you have to see while here.
What was MUCH more fun was the beer festival downtown. Julian and I happened to sit in the perfect spot - we had the cutest server and we were her only table. The interesting thing was when she poured the beers from the pitcher, it took literally one full minute of continous pouring for one beer...not a speck of foam. She didn't speak a word of English but somehow still managed to refuse our invitation to sit down with us...unfortunate. Julian did get a great picture (for me) of me and the girl with her "Beer Chang" hat, "Beer Chang" pin, in front of the "Beer Chang" pavilion. I loved it and love Thailand. I think I'm going to move here.
From Bangkok, we attempted to go to Ko Samui for the full moon party. After some very interesting times with a very funny travel agent, we schedule flights to Ko Samui and then onwards to Siem Riep in Cambodia. We thought everything had been "confirmed" - but upon arriving at the airport, the flight to Ko Samui had been cancelled. We reschedule for the next morning and headed to an airport hotel (not so nice) to spend the evening. While I was in the lobby, I picked up the Bangkok Post and the top story was "Tropical Storm threatens Coast"...so I sat there and read about how they were EVACUATING parts of Southern Thailand including parts of Ko Samui. Of course, by that time, the ticketing desk was closed...so we had to get up and change the flight at 5am in the morning...minutes before the plane left. So back in Phuket now.
Life on Phuket is great. Julian pulled the "I don't think I need sunscreen if we're just out here for a little while" thing. Just like Deanna and I did on our first day on the beach. Let's just say I think he'll be wearing sunscreen for the rest of the trip.
We're also here during the Loy Krathong festival (and the full moon) so there's a little town fair and Friday night everything was absolutely PACKED. Patong Beach has tons of great bars and Julian and I have determined that we have to check out every one of them.
Okay...on to Siem Riep tomorrow. We did a little research last night watching Tomb Raider 2 (filmed in Cambodia) and are still going despite what a putrid movie that was.
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