Bangkok should only be a stopover point and should never exceed a day. Unfortunately, we stayed there for two nights before we headed off for Cambodia, two nights when we came back from Cambodia, and two nights at the end of our trip after Malaysia.
We did the obligatory walk around the Royal Palace, the walk down Sukumvit Road - the diplomat area - and of course down at Pat Pong with all the Ping Pong clubs.
To us, Bangkok dragged on a little long, there wasn't that much to see and do. It's also a dirty place, lots of pollution in the air, land and waterways. If you haven't been to Bangkok, they use taxis and small tricycle vehicle called a tuk tuk with two seats in the back for passengers. I honestly would never want to jump in one of them cause you have no protection from the elements nor in the event of an accident. They just increase the intensity of Bangkok and add on noise pollution as they are constantly honking. I am pretty sure it is just a honk to indicate "I'm here, don't change lanes", but coming from a society where a honk is a sign of aggression, it is hard to tell.
Now, coming from Jen...there's a lot to do in Bangkok, okay maybe not a lot of variety, but one thing in particular, there is a lot...a ton of shopping! Almost every street has a night market, every corner is a shopping mall and almost every three shops is a jeweler or tailor. While, we will return for two final nights and most likely hang out at one of the cafes catching up with our journal and reading, I at least am looking forward to doing some last minute shopping with or without Nick :) Although to be honest, I have had my fair share and going to a night market in Malaysia reconfirmed both of our notions that perhaps the excitements of the markets have worn off more than a little bit. But we do agree out of all of them in Asia, Beijing has by far been the best for shopping...Bangkok comes in 2nd.

Yep...uh huh...the excitement has worn off -Nick

Oh yeah, here's the view out of one of our rooms. Classy!


And the mandatory Tuk Tuk photo + Pad Thai photo.


You can buy fake student cards, journalist cards, press cards, drivers licence, just about everything! There was a sign "No Photos" so Jen slyly stole this pic.


Finally, a cultural photo of these Thai ladies who walk around trying to sell these items. We didn't see anyone buy anything...

Our good friends from Japan, Angel and Clive, recently had their first baby son, Asher. We travelled from Krabi, Thailand to Penang, Malaysia and stayed with them for four days. We did absolutely nothing of interest to write here on our blog so we'll just say that both mother and son are doing well, Clive on the other hand is suffering from an anxiety disorder and needs a couple of serious chill out pills three times a day after a meal.



Above are a few photos, the one with Angel and Clive was taken on Asher's first time to the shopping center. Check more out here.

We traveled to Phi Phi Island for three nights for some more fun in the sun. The main village on Phi Phi Island sits in the middle of two headlands. If the village wasn't a maze of shops, you could walk from one beach to the other in less than 5 minutes. In 2004, the Tsunami came from one side and swept anything in it's path out the other side. The ocean and marine life are both slowing healing, there's now some coral coming back to life. People are rebuilding, mid priced hotels were rennovated to become high end hotels and more budget accommodation was built. This was done quickly to ensure the survival of pretty much the only industry on Phi Phi; tourism. There doesn't seem to be too much tsunami damage lfet but both Jen and I felt that neglect and laziness to properly dispose of rubbish is setting in. There is so much waste lying around, household garbage, food scraps from restaurants and construction materials. All just lying around. It's a shame.

We also saw the other side, the beautiful beaches, the great snorkeling, the colorful fish... It was just amazing.


the culture seems to be a lot more hippie-ish with lots of bob marley styled restaurants and even some fire twirling. We got into it by purchasing ourselves a paddle ball set. Groovy!


Check out more photos here.

We were having some fun with our underwater camera. We took this sequence of photos.






And these...