Tuk-Tuks and more Tuk-Tuks

Bangkok

Well Cambodia has come and gone. WAY too quickly! I really wanted to post while we were there so that things would be fresh in my mind but just couldn’t find the time. We really were kept super busy, to our contentment.

We landed in Bangkok, Thailand on May 3rd, Thursday afternoon. As soon as we stepped off the plane into the jet bridge the heat hit us like a wall! We both thought that the heat was coming from the engine or something…but that was just outside. Insane.

Buddhist Temple, Bangkok

Although Asia really felt like a different world we managed to find a taxi and our hotel just fine. Mike and I wandered around the city a bit while we waited for Stevee and Lygia to get there. Our hotel was super close to the river so there were a lot of things happening. Cute hangout spots on the waterfront. We hung out there for some food. We liked it so much we went back there the following night with everyone for their live music night. The city is HUGE and super developed; a ton of skyscrapers. Mike compared it to china town in SF. Him and his comparisons. We had dinner while we were out and about…got the pleasure of dining to an Asian soap opera. The Asian youth is also into vampires. The reunion was amazing! It felt so wonderful to be together again!! Lygia gives the best hugs ever! We got to meet new people too! Brittany and Jayme (spears is the first thing that came to my mind) are 2 girls from bayside that are living in Siem Reap, Cambodia and working with AIM (Agape International Mission). They came to Thailand with Stevee and Lyg. The following day we explored the city. We searched for Starbucks for super long but did not find it. Had some McD's instead. The Cambodian bunch had not seen it for 6 months, they are all over in Europe. We took a river taxi to a huge market street; Koa San road. It was chaotic to the extreme! And we thought Europe was a different world. Everybody is trying to sell you something; screaming things from every direction. We had to shoo them away like flies. "tailor suit for you" and "tuk tuk, cheap cheap" are the two pick up lines that stuck. After we repeated our place from the previous night we went to a rooftop restaurant. Not the best one in Bangkok but it was SUPER nice. Amazing view and all the way around! Up to that point it was probably the best view we've had of any city. Up to that point. :-)

The next morning we took a bus to Pattaya, Thailand. This was a beach town in the gulf of Thailand. It was pretty. I was a little shocked at how much Russian I saw and heard. Every sign had a Russian translation. It was interesting. I guess that’s where they vacation. We had two women come up to us in hopes that we spoke Russian. Both were lost and needed a Russian speaking person that could get them directions in English and then translate. One of the women was named Alla. I was happy to help and happy to be bilingual. Never thought I'd need my Russian in Thailand. We didn’t know this going into it but Pattaya is known for being the Lady Boy capital of the world (that is transvestites). Also, we have never seen so many obviously gay and lesbian people. It definitely beats SF…by a long shot! In my eyes anyway. Sex tourism is HUGE! It wasn’t even discreet either. There was a street, along the water, where it was all over. Old white men hanging out with tiny Asian girls every which way you looked. "_______ a go go" was the name on every other sign. Girls lining the streets and it was hardly dusk. It was so so sad to see.

We did on the other hand enjoy our elephant ride in Pattaya! I was a little bit freaking out at first, but oh so glad we did it and fed them and all that. The scarier of the two was def feeding it. The ride was 45 mins long. The elephants went through a little body of water!! While we were in the water Mike decided to feed the elephant behind us a banana….well Mr. elephant wanted more! Wouldn’t leave us alone until the bananas were gone. He kept reaching up with his trunk and sniffing for more bananas. Humongous hairy trunk touching me randomly when I wasn't expecting it. And it was always me and never Mike. I had elephant snot all over my back and legs…that was definitely most scary! It also started pouring rain while we were on our ride; didn’t like it much at the time but def a great memory!

Alla being afraid of a baby?!?! Never thought I would see the day

We left for the border between Thailand and Cambodia early enough to make it across before the border closed. I have never heard of a border closing until then and we've crossed many a borders. Of course there were issues. Forgotten passports and such. Everything ended up great and we made it to the border within minutes of them shutting up. They were unhappy with us but they let us cross and gave us visas and all that.

I will get to Siem Reap and all caught up to date in the next post. Don’t want to overwhelm you all. :-)

Bangkok by night