Bangkok

Airplane, taxi, metro, sky train, tuk tuk, water boat taxi, and lots of walking. That has been our mode of transportation since arriving in Bangkok and Phnom Penh. Bangkok is a very big and fast paced city. You can quickly see the economic difference between the two countries. Large skyscrapers landscape the skyline mixed with the pointed towers of Buddhist temples. The traffic and crowds are tiring. I think I will have enough of it after 3 days. Today we toured the Grand Palace and Chinatown. We rode a water taxi from one area of town to another and that was quite interesting. I know on the news there has been reports on the protesting of Thaksin, but we have not seen anything while here. We found a small backpackers hotel off the beaten path, but after roaming the city, I am glad we are here. It is only $22 a night, but clean and close to metro and sky train. We wandered into a new shopping center in the more upscale area that had a Starbucks. Later we noticed them all over the area! Also, McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, Burger King, Auntie …. those pretzel shops, Swenson’s Ice cream and A&W hamburger. I was really tired of rice and noodles, so we snacked on a chicken sandwich from A& W. It was great! Oh, and if you know me, you know we had to stop for coffee at Starbucks! Right kids?! This particular shopping district had just about every high priced store you can imagine. We decided to hop on the sky train and find our way to night bazaar that had prices more in our liking! Tonight we are going to a traditional Thai dinner and show. It is a great getaway and nice to see a modern big city like Bangkok, but I think I'm ready to go back to a quieter Phnom Penh. Ok maybe not quieter, but at least I'm familiar with the chaos!......Gail