One Night in Bangkok...

Hi there,
Well I survived my three flights and 24+ hours to get from Montreal to Bangkok last Saturday/Sunday with no side effects. Met with two young Canadians to share a taxi from the airport to Khao San Road (area where I was staying) at around 1:00 AM. Got to the Rambuttri Village Inn in good time and was rejoiced to see Janie waiting for me in the outside lobby. We caught up until 2:30 AM before getting some well deserved sleep.

My first day in Bangkok (BKK) was a bit overwhelming as you have to remember that I'm used to 5 star accommodations and all-inclusive clubs (most of the time). I could have also been a bit jet lagged and unaccustomed to the BKK heat. Visited the Grand Palace, took the riverboat, got sucked in by a tout (even though we were well prepared), saw a huge standing Buddha and took our first and last tuk-tuk in Bangkok. Went to the Siam Center (huge shopping mall) to cool off and eventually made our way back to our room. Had dinner at the Indian restaurant just outside our guesthouse with a Swiss girl that Janie has met on her previous travels. A pretty full day for the first full day in Thailand.

By the second day I was over the jet lag and was feeling much, much better. I was in full tourist mode, ready for any adventure. We stayed a total of 4 days in BKK and we saw most of the recommended sights including: Wat Pho (my favorite), the National Museum, Chinatown, the red light district of PatPong (in the very early evening), Jim Thompson's house, Vimanmek teak house, and so on and so on. We also spent one late afternoon at the movie complex at Siam Paragon where we saw the movie "Hitman". Reserved seating only in reclining seats makes movie going a unique experience in BKK. I would highly recommend it when you simply have to escape the scorching heat (and when you're in need of a grande Frappucino mocha java chip from Starbucks!).

Late yesterday we took the overnight train from BKK to Chiang Mai, which is in the North of Thailand. This was quite an experience in itself where I was on the upper bunk in the 2nd class A/C sleeper car and Janie was on the lower bunk. I think Janie took a few pictures of me settling into my upper bunk when I was having a mini-meltdown. It was so funny!

We are now booked into the 3 Sis vacation lodge for the next 5 nights. We thought it appropriate to stay at the 3 Sisters B&B since we each have 3 sisters (love you Jackie, Julie and Janie). It is much cooler here, at least in the morning, so that is a good sign. Our next adventures should take us to a Thai cooking school, visit to a hill tribe, an encounter of some sort with elephants (this one's for you Jackie) and much more.

Bye for now,
Johanne