Bangkok

Arriving at Bangkok on Friday night seems so strange to me. After almost two month of traveling in rural/poor/small cities of southeast asia, it was as if I have rejoined the modern society: traffic jam, pollution, tall building, spraw, shopping mall etc. Saigon is big in size, but it is not as modern as Bangkok.

The backpacker area on Kaosan rd was packed, almost all places are full because peak season of travelers coming back to BK for fews days before they head home for Christmas. I was able to get a warm fan room, but upgrade the next day to AC when people checked out at noon (again early bird gets the worm. Bangkok is very warm and humid even at this time of year).

I went signtseeing the first couple days: to Grand Palace area, and few other "tourist" destinations. Lot of walking, may be the most walk since HK/Japan?

I was surprised to learned the gang from Cambodia are still in BK. Apparent Sheily got sick and so they did not go anywhere. And Jana the German teacher, got back from her national park visit and Mark the other German teacher still trekking in the Northern Thailand. Jana decided not to wait for Mark and will head to Southern Thailand with Sheily and Lisa on Tuesday night. Apparently there are really bad weather on the East coast of Thailand with heavy rain and flood. I hope they will have better luck on the west coast. I had good times with these wonderful ladies and I going to miss them. We had dinner and drinks together, saw the King's birthday parade, went to Chinatown and walked Kaosan roads countless times.

Also Adam from China is still in BK, but he left before I had the chance to contact him.

O, I drop my camera in Luang Prabang. Luckily I droped while it was in my camera bag. The lens cap jammed into the lens, so I had to have it plied open. But now I notice spots in my pictures, so I think I need to do a sensor cleaning!!! The drop might have knock lose some dust and falls on the sensor.

Also I think I lost 500B, probably from me taking things in and out of my pocket....

I tried to do a little shopping, but only got couple laterns/lights. I'll leave it to Bali.

I am leaving BK to goto Sukhothai (fly) to see some old Thai ruins for a day and half on Tuesday morning and then back to BK on Wednesday evening and then leave Thailand to goto Malaysian Borneo via Kuala Lumpur all within a span of 3 days! I really hope the weather is not too bad there; it is the rainy season there. Time to switch to nature and outdoor, and less ruins and culture.