Across Thailand for the Holidays

Before setting out towards Bangkok we spent a day resting at Yun's place in Mae Sot. We had intended to do some touring around the area but I didn't feel well and slept for most of the day. When I woke up in the afternoon I discovered Yann, Yun and another friend Toon working away at my bicycle which had been completely disassembled and spread across the yard. The three of them spent the entire day cleaning and tuning up our bicycles. I can't say that Yann looked entirely in control of the situation, but everything worked out!   Yann and Toon working away at our bikes

  The mechanics after a long day of work: Yun, Yann and Toon

We left the next day, on a Saturday, so Yun and Toon were able to ride with us. The climb wasn't any easier leaving Mae Sot then it was in the other direciton, especially with our Thai friends setting the pace. They accompanied us to the top of the mountains separating the cities of Mae Sot and Tak where we camped at an isolated forest ranger station. It was a beautiful spot and a nice way to end our time with our new friends who had housed us, fed us and even took apart and cleaned our bicycles!   Campsite at Doi Muser

Our next week of riding across central Thailand was almost too easy. We had a tailwind the entire time and stuck to the main, (extremely flat) highway. We were on our way to Bangkok where we had a date to meet my cousin Margaux and her boyfriend Arif for Christmas. The ride wasn't very beautiful, but it was relatively effortless. Since we were making such good time, we felt pretty content despite the utterly uninspiring highway riding.   It doesn't get any flatter than this

Between Mae Sot and Bangkok we broke up the ride in order to visit three historic cities, Kamphaeng Phet, Lopburi and Ayutthaya. All three were interesting, but we were really eager to meet up with Margaux and Arif so we were maybe not the most committed tourists. And the closer we got to the Bangkok the busier were the tourist attractions. We only saw two other tourists in Kamphaeng Phet (also cycle-tourists) and in contrast, Ayutthaya, a popular day-trip from Bangkok had hundreds, if not thousands of visitors.   The Buddhas of Wat Phra Kaeo, Kampheang Phet Historical Park where we were the only visitors

  In Ayutthaya, we waited in line to photograph this famous Buddha at Wat Mahathat

In between the two was Lopburi, famous for its temple monkeys who are served an elaborate feast once a year in a popular festival. We only visited the main temple, Prang Sam Yot and had to be accompanied by a stick-wielding guard for the tour. Despite his presence, a member of our tour group had an earring ripped right out of her ear by a resident monkey. It was definitely more scary than it was cute.   The three Khmer-style towers of Prang Sam Yot, Lopburi's most famous temple

  Fighting for food that has just been dumped in a parking lot outside Prang Sam Yot Temple in Lopburi

We were dreading our ride into Bangkok but we rode in on a beautiful Sunday on small back roads with a strong tailwind once again. We knew we had chosen the right route when we were passed by packs of cyclists on their weekend ride. We were told by one of them that it was the coldest Sunday ride he'd ever been on. Amazing! The traffic intensified as we approached the city, but nothing particularly scary. We were probably helped by the anti-government protests that had forced a lot of the downtown traffic to be rerouted leaving the streets around our hotel almost completely empty (also the fact that it was Sunday was probably had something to do with the quiet streets).

We spent five days, including Christmas, in Bangkok with Margaux and Arif. They had flown in from India to meet up with us and were still recovering from some pretty serious stomach issues when we arrived. So they were not exactly ready for full-out Bangkok touring which was totally fine with us as we were more interested in spending time with them. We did lots of catching up and exchanging stories of travel misadventures (they seemed to have a few more than we did) and while they rested, we were able to run a bunch of errands, the most important of which was tracking down a new back wheel to replace the used one that we bought over 2000km earlier (and was still miraculously intact).   Christmas in Bangkok!

Happily, by Christmas Day, Margaux and Arif were on the mend and we had an indulgent self-catered dinner on the roof of our hotel. Our menu included most of the things we'd been craving and were too cheap to buy: wine, cheese, olives, roast chicken, baguette, ham, chocolate, gummy bears and cheesecake!   Another holiday indulgence: poutine!

For the next few weeks, we made our way south with Margaux and Arif. We rode and they followed along by public transport. We were grateful to have such accommodating travel companions. They took trains, mini-buses, taxis and motorbikes and ended up in a fair number of random destinations.

Leaving Bangkok, we had four more days of flat, tailwind-assisted riding. Although the ride out of Bangkok was a fairly unpleasant one and considerably worse than the ride in. It took almost 60km before we were able to clear the city traffic and get onto a secondary road. One of the worst riding days of our trip.
We met up with Margaux and Arif in Petchaburi and Hua Hin on the way to a beach resort where we were planning a longer rest. We were only in Petchaburi for one evening, not really enough time to visit anything. And we gave ourselves two days in Hua Hin, which was more than enough. We inadvertently booked rooms in the "old gross white man sitting at bars all day neighbourhood" where old gross white men outnumbered other tourists by a ratio of about 10 to 1 and bars outnumbered other business by a similar ratio. The weather was also unusually cold and windy, great for cycling but not so great for the Hua Hin beaches.

  Trying to keep warm at Khao Takiab Beach, Hua Hin

Riding south from Hua Hin we were able to stay off the main highways and had a few really lovely stretches of coastal riding on small back roads before meeting up with Margaux and Arif again at the isolated Sananwan Beach, 240km south of Hua Hin.   Morning along the Gulf of Thailand, Prachuap Khiri Khan

We spent five days, including New Year's Day vacationing at Sananwan Beach on the Gulf of Thailand, 7km away from the closet village, tiny Bang Saphan Noi. We swam everyday, got massages, ate seafood purchased fresh every morning and polished off 4.5 litres of boxed wine. Renting the guesthouse scooter to go shop at the village was the most active we got. Total rest and relaxation!   Our own private beach, Bang Saphan Noi

  Taking it easy at Sananwan Beach, Bang Saphan Noi

Margaux and Arif got an extra day at the beach while as we got a head start to Krabi, seven days away. We rode south, then crossed over to the Andaman Coast. The cold spell that we'd been enjoying had passed while we lounged at the beach and it was now hot and 100% humidity. We made our way from one sweaty, musty guesthouse to another, the low point being the discovery of a giant bed bug on my arm one morning. Being in the narrowest part of the country, we were stuck on the national highway, with all the other traffic, for most of the ride. The highway is a few kilometres from the coast so we rarely got a glimpse of the sea except for our few failed attempts at finding budget beach front accommodation. We were tired and relieved when we pulled into our Krabi.

Krabi is a jumping off point for many of the nearby islands and beaches so transport prices are a bit inflated, but accommodation and food are relatively cheap. We had originally talked of an island getaway, but the high peak season prices kind of turned us off so we ended up staying in town instead. Seeing as our most enjoyable daily activity tends to be eating, this wasn't a bad decision. There were lots of great food options and a huge weekend night market. Food in Thailand has consistently been delicious and the city's dining scene didn't disappoint .

Margaux and I decided to splurge on a cooking class at nearby Ao Nang Beach, Arif and Yann paid an accompanying fee so that they could watch and eat. The course was fairly basic, but we had fun and our food was delicious, especially our curries. I came out vowing that I would buy a giant mortar and pestle to make my own curry pastes at home. We'll see how that works out.

  Making our own curry pastes at the Thai Charm Cooking School, Ao Nang Beach, Krabi

  Chicken with cashew nuts by Margaux

After three weeks together, we parted ways with Margaux and Arif whose pace required a bit of acceleration. It was sad to leave them as we had perfected a balance of riding and relaxation while they were around (they were really helping with the relaxation part).

It took us four days to ride from Krabi to the most western Thai-Malaysian Border. We were no longer in tourist territory, we were in rubber territory. We spent a lot of the time riding through rubber plantations. Locals seemed a lot happier to see us, there was a distinctly more friendly vibe in the area.   Rows of rubber trees in Satun Province on the way to Malaysia

We spent our last night in Thailand camping at Thale Ban National Park, a few kilometres from the border. When we arrived at the head office we were told that we would be joined by over 100 students on a class trip! The incredibly nice staff, who kept saying “it's going to be loud, you should think about it”, as if we had somewhere else to go, offered us a place beside the head ranger's home instead, away from the main campsite. The students only found us the next morning for an extended (and adorable) photo session after which we packed up and made our way into Malaysia.


Mae Sot to Thale Ban National Park (Malaysian Border)

Days of cycling: 21
Days of rest: 16
Kilometres cycled: 1837
Metres climbed: 9300m
Cycle-tourists crossed on the road: 7
Partially sponsored by Mountain Equipment Coop Expedition Support

Around Mandalay and Hpa-An (Our Last Week in Myanmar)

We enjoyed Mandalay a lot more than the Lonely Planet would have had us believe. Sure, it's a bit ugly and not exactly what we had pictured, but the downtown core was a pleasant alternative to some of the other popular tourist destinations in the country. The reality is that we probably liked the city so much because of the Indian food stand that set up right in front of our hotel every night and the ice cream parlour a few blocks further down.   Our favourite dinner spot, across the street from the ET Hotel in Mandalay

Despite multiple touts hanging around our hotel ready to take us on a motorbike tour around Mandalay, we opted to do the 60km loop on our own. This involved a fair bit of city riding, navigating crazy four-way intersections with no traffic lights, and an equal amount of ugly highway riding. The rest of our day, thankfully, was spent on the quiet countryside visiting two of Myanmar's former capital cities: Inwa and Amarapura.

We started the day in Mandalay, stopping at a gold-pounding workshop where we watched the traditional gold-leaf making process. Young sweaty men hammer away at sheets of gold, their shifts timed with coconut shell water-clocks (when the shell fills with water and sinks it marks the end of a shift). Women sit in a nearby room counting and packaging the sheets of gold leaf for distribution.   Gold pounders hard at work

  The finished product, sheets of gold leaf, are counted out and packaged for distribution to temples around the country

We then rode over to the Mahamuni Buddha Temple nearby (where much of the gold-leaf appears to be consumed). Over the years, male devotees have applied a layer of gold-leaf over 15cm thick to the Buddha image. Women can watch the gold-leaf application from an adjoining hall. We weren't motivated enough to wake up for the 4:30a.m. daily tooth-brushing and face washing ritual of the Buddha image.   Men applying gold leaf to the Mahamuni Buddha (note the bumpy areas where gold leaf is applied)

In the afternoon we made our way to Inwa, taking a small ferry across the Myitnge River. With no guidebook, we didn't know what we were supposed to see, so we started by following the horse-drawn carriages that whisk tourists from sight to sight. We abandoned this plan after riding to Inwa's most famous teak monastery in a cloud of dust and arriving with a huge group of tourists and touts. We set off on our own and enjoyed the car-free dirt roads, coming across a few crumbling pagodas and small teak monasteries before ending up at the impressive Maha Augmye Bonzan Monastery, constructed in untraditional brick and stucco (also known as the Brick Monastery).   Inwa is virtually car-free

  Maha Aungmye Bonzan Monastery (Brick Monastery) at Inwa

We ended the day in Amarapura, site of the U-Bein Bridge, the longest teak bridge in the world at 1.2 kilometers. It is immensely popular with tourists and is at its most busy at dusk. We still thought it was wonderful.   Our bicycles under the U-Bein Bridge, Amarapura

Still hoping to cycle across Kayin State back into Thailand, we only stayed in Mandalay two nights before catching our third overnight bus, this one to Hpa-An. We had originally planned to partially cycle there from a city about 200km away, but with less than a week left on our visas we decided we were being too ambitious.

When we arrived in Hpa-An we found that the blue skies of a few weeks earlier had been replaced with a thick smog from the burning of surrounding fields. The area was not exactly at its best for visiting nor were the conditions ideal for cycling. Despite our disappointment with the weather, we cycled a 75km loop around the countryside after which we concluded we would be taking a bus over the mountain to Thailand.   On the way to Saddar Cave, outside Hpa-An

We started the day by riding to Saddar Cave. It took us 40km to get there, even though it's only 20km away, so I was grumpy. I was in a better mood once we got un-lost. The cave is immense and we had been warned of total darkness and floors covered in bat poop. Apparently it's seen an upgrade since the last guidebook write-up and there is now a string of light bulbs lining the several kilometre long path through the cave. It is slippery and shoes are prohibited but the cause of the slipperyness seemed to be condensation and not bat poop, so we were relieved. We didn't make it all the way to the end, we were pretty caved-out after about half an hour of slowly scrambling our way through.   Light shining in through the entrance of Saddar Cave

We spent the afternoon riding through small villages which would have been even more picturesque had the surrounding karst scenery not been obscured with smog. We stopped at the kitschy but fun Kawt-Ka-Thaung Cave amidst a sort of “Buddha theme park” complex, complete with statues, a swimming hole, restaurants and a maze. The highlight of the day was stumbling upon a rowdy procession making their way to a village temple. It was hard to miss, you could hear the music from miles away and traffic was backed up along the highway. We joined the crowd of onlookers as groups of costumed,skinnyjeans-clad young men, danced their way to the temple accompanied by trucks blaring techno music from their piles of speakers.
We were lucky to meet another traveller in Hpa-An who agreed to share a taxi with us to the Thai border. He had local contacts and organized everything, including finding a taxi with a roof rack. All we had to do was show up at his hotel on the morning of departure. The ride was slightly more comfortable than when we came in by bus, but it was still slow and the road incredibly busy. Amazingly we crossed three cyclists making their way over the mountain, against the one-way traffic. Tougher than us.

Back in Thailand we headed straight for the border market to our friend Yun's stall where we found his wife closing up for the day. We hadn't had access to internet for days, so we hadn't been able to warn anyone of our arrival. Despite our surprise appearance, we were once again warmly welcomed to her family's home in Mae Sot. Everyone was happy to hear of our adventures in Myanmar and we were equally happy to be back.

Stats for Mandalay and Hpa-An:

Days of cycling: 2
Days of rest: 3
Kilometres cycled: 132
Metres climbed: 638
Cycle-tourists crossed on the road: 5

Partially sponsored by Mountain Equipment Coop Expedition Support

Detour to Yangon

Despite a 5a.m. wake-up, we pulled out of our host Yun's place a little bit later than we'd hoped. He kindly accompanied us to the border to send us off and watched our bikes and bags as we attempted in vain to figure out how to secure a re-entry permit on our single-entry Thai visa.

  About to enter Myanmar via the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge at Mae Sot (photo by Yun)

As Canadians entering Thailand via a land border we would only be granted a 14-day visa on arrival, definitely not enough time for us to cycle to Malaysia. We were trying to avoid having to apply for a new visa and it seemed like it was a pretty straightforward procedure for us to get a permit that would allow us to re-enter the country on our current 60-day visa. We showed up at the Thai Immigration at Mae Sot with our duly completed forms (downloaded from the Immigration Bureau of Thailand website).

It became clear pretty quickly that nobody knew what to do with our forms. Despite what we thought was a pretty obvious heading, written in both Thai and English, “Application permit for re-entry into the Kingdom”. After being shuffled from window to the next, someone grudgingly filled out forms for us (20 baht/each). They turned out to be vehicle permits, which we're pretty sure we didn't need. Our completely ignored re-entry application forms were shoved back through the window at us, along with the vehicle permits. The confused immigration officers responded to our enquiries by repeating that we would get 14-day visas upon returning to Thailand, so we didn't have to worry. So we exited Thailand without the re-entry permit that we needed and concluded that we'd have to make our way to the Thai consulate in Yangon and apply for a new visa.

Going to Yangon had not been part of our original plan, so we had to regroup and figure out what we would be doing in the country. By the time we actually entered the border town of Myawaddy it was late morning, quashing our half-hearted hopes of cycling over the mountains of Kayin State to it's capital Hpa-An 150km away. It was a two day ride that we had thought we might be able to manage in one day with an early enough start and an after-dark finish. We decided to take a bus, at least part of the way.   Loading our bicycles on to the bus at the Myawaddy bus terminal

By the time our bus cleared the mountains, there were about three hours of daylight left and over 100km to Hpa-an. The mountain road was a one-lane, pothole ridden disaster with switchbacks that often required our bus to make multiple three-point turns to clear. Kind of scary and definitely uncomfortable. There were several checkpoints where copies of our passport were handed out and we were even once photographed. The road has only recently been opened to foreign tourists, with the area under cease-fire after years of devastating civil war.   View from the bus of a traffic jam that took us almost an hour to clear, just outside Hpa-an

  Smiles of Kayin State

We hadn't been told that our bus wasn't actually Hpa-an bound. We were dropped off at an intersection about 10km out of the city. It was nearing dark and as we disembarked we realised that the bus was probably headed to Yangon. Rather than attempting to load our bicycles onto a new bus the next day we decided to continue on. It would be another seven hours before we arrived in Yangon, at 1a.m., at the bus terminal 30km out of the city. We had called a few hotels from a pay phone at our dinner stop but hadn't found any with vacancies. We found a taxi driver willing to drive us around until we found a cheap hotel.

It was almost 3 a.m. by the time we found a room. It was a windowless mildew-box on the fifth floor of a downtown hotel, the last one in the entire place. The last one in Yangon as far as we could tell (although we did reject our taxi driver's first pick that appeared to have several prostitutes waiting in the lobby).

To add to the terribleness of the situation we had picked up a third-wheel at the Yangon bus station. A solo traveller who didn't have a damn clue what was going on. He was in the country attempting to get a long-term Thai visa so that he could continue to live there with his wife. It seemed highly suspicious to us that anyone would marry this guy. We had agreed to let him share our taxi, forcing us to share a single seat in the back, with our bikes and bags piled on top of us, while he sat in the front. And in a moment of even more perplexing sympathy we agreed to let him share our tiny double room. It was, after all, the middle of the night and we didn't have the heart to send him on the continued search for a room (we had tried four hotels before finding this one). We weren't able to get rid of him until three days later, when we basically got on our bikes and rode away. We did however, kick him out of our room after the first night (incredibly, he resisted).   View from the roof of our downtown Yangon hotel

Despite the oppressive humidity and our equally oppressive side-kick, we managed to get out and explore the fantastic bustle of downtown Yangon, get our Thai visas and squeeze in a visit to the Shwedagon Pagoda (the country's holiest Buddhist pilgrimage site). We were pretty mesmerized by Yangon. We stayed in an area with a large concentration of hotels but we found that everything, including the traffic, seemed to be indifferent to the presence of tourists. Although we did get a lot of huge beautiful smiles!   Afternoon commute, downtown Yangon

  Evening at Shwedagon Pagoda

After two days in the city we secured onward bus tickets to Mandalay. It was a pain finding a company that would agree to transport our bicycles for a not outrageous fee. While the seat prices were all in the same standard range, there was some serious price-gouging on the excess baggage fees. We eventually had our hotel staff reserve tickets for us (at the price that we had balked at before trying to negotiate the fees ourselves). We cycled out to the bus station, even though we had read that bicycles and motorcycles were banned from Yangon streets. The downtown riding was perfectly fine, but as we exited the city it became an increasingly hair-raising ride. We ended up on a busy, undivided, highway jockeying for space on the narrow shoulder with hundreds of pedestrians, rickshaws and bicycles in complete darkness.

At the bus station, our "friend" was waiting for us. When we had told him that we were going to Mandalay, he announced that he would be coming with us. The three of us arrived in Mandalay before sunrise after an 8 hour, largely sleepless bus ride. We weren't exactly in cycling condition, but we had already resigned ourselves to the fact that the only way to free ourselves would be to start riding, which is what we did.
Partially sponsored by Mountain Equipment Coop Expedition Support

Across Northern Thailand's Highway 12

Our border crossing into Thailand over the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge was totally smooth. In about twenty minutes we had cleared Thai customs with the two month entry-stamp that we were hoping for. We easily reached Udon Thani, where we ended up for three days trying to find a solution to our wheel problem. Despite our hopes to the contrary, Udon Thani's bike shops had even less selection than Vientiane's. After briefly considering sending Yann to Bangkok for a few days to shop for wheels, we settled on a used one that is now on my bicycle. The wheel's bearings are completely shot making for a very “crunchy” ride (that's the opposite of smooth). But if it lasts us the 2,000km of riding separating us from the Bangkok bike shops then it will have been 25$ well spent.   Goodbye Mavic EX721, you didn't really cut it

Udon Thani is an unremarkable place. It was the location of a US Air Force base during the Vietnam War, so many locals made money and learned English, making it a prosperous city Thai standards. The city has a large expat community but virtually no independent tourists. The only thing we did in Udon Thani, between changing bicycle wheels and mailing packages home, was eating. After having spent a month in Laos where the food was expensive and limited, we were pretty excited by the abundance of cheap, delicious food. So despite the lack of tourist attractions, our three days in the city were rather pleasant, albeit gluttonous.

From Udon Thani we had 600km of riding to the Burmese border at Mae Sot. Our first day was an ambitious 144km ride south to the town of Chum Phae. Here, our rural 3-digit highway intersected the the larger Highway 12 which we would follow until the border. Despite the easy flat terrain, we were wiped when we pulled in to Chum Phae at nightfall. The next two days of riding were brutal. We completely underestimated the difficulty of the route. We climbed twice as many metres as we had calculated with all the ups and downs. With the grades of some of the climbs at over 25% we crawled on the ups, and reached speeds of over 55km/hr on the downs. We've mastered keeping our balance while maintaining a speed of 3km/hr, so at least we didn't have to resort to pushing our bikes. (Yann has insisted that I include the following statement: Yann has never ridden a bicycle under the speed of 4.5km/hr and he will not have the above speed attributed to his riding.)


Our first day on Highway 12 was the toughest. We hadn't realised that for most of the day the highway ran through Nam Nao National Park, home to several wild elephants. We concluded, after riding over a lot of elephant poop, that these elephants must make regular appearances on the highway. The road, though beautiful, was virtually deserted and eerily quiet, making every rustling leaf a potential angry elephant. We felt vulnerable, especially at the speed we were going on the climbs. I spent the day constantly reevaluating our strategic position, how far were we from a downhill getaway? We could outpace an elephant on a downhill, but every downhill was followed immediately by an insane uphill. I pictured us trapped in a crevasse, between two climbs, surrounded by elephants.
Other than our constant worrying about elephant attacks, the day's ride was uneventful, the highlight of which was getting Google street mapped (GPS coordinates: N16.76218°, E101.51997°) on this entirely empty stretch of highway!

Continuing along Highway 12, we spent the next two days on the stretch of the road known as the Green Route. Apparently this title has made the area extremely popular. The road was empty on the previous day and all of a sudden the road widened and tons of Thai tourists appeared. The climbs were just as steep, but with lots of access to food and water and with no threat of wild elephants, the riding seemed a lot easier.
We took a nice long break in Sukhothai, where we joined the hundreds of other tourists visiting its historic old city on rental bicycles. The bicycle is by far the most popular way to explore the temples and it makes for a really pleasant, uncrowded atmosphere. At some of the more remote temples we were the only people there.

Our ride from Sukhothai to the border stretched from our planned two days into five days when Yann got pretty sick fifty kilometres from our destination. We were on our final day of riding, just a few dozen metres short of the first of two passes for the day when we pulled over at a roadside market to rest. Yann lay on the pavement for over an hour, consumed several electrolyte drinks but was completely out. There was no way he was going to make it up another climb. We turned back down the road where we had spotted a small agro-tourism resort on the side of the mountain. It was a pretty nice place to be stuck, the weather was mercifully cool as Yann battled a fever for two days. I walked up to the market every day to buy our meals and emptied the few shops of their electrolyte drinks. After three nights Yann wasn't entirely better but he was feeling strong enough to leave.
A few kilometres out of Mae Sot we spotted another cyclist coming from the other direction, or rather he spotted us. On a fully-loaded touring bike, we thought he was a tourist, but he was actually a local cycling enthusiast coming to meet us! After receiving a call from a friend who spotted us on the road, he had rode out to intercept us. After brief introductions we were instructed to follow him to his place where he showed us to our own room in his home. Our host, Yun, then led us around town. First treating us to two plates each of noodles for lunch, then bringing us to his shop at the border market where we we met his wife and daughter. On the way to the market, we picked up two American cyclists who had just arrived in town and were looking for a place to stay. There were now five of us, parading around town with our touring bikes.
Yun and his family exhibited much of the same traits as our past cycling hosts: boundless energy and incredible generosity. We were fed and lodged and when we woke up at 5am the next morning, we found that everyone was already awake preparing a hearty breakfast for our send-off, including cheese and an assortment of speciality coffees! We were made to promise that we would visit again on our return from Myanmar, this wasn't a particularly difficult promise to make.



Stats for Vientiane (Laos) to Mae Sot (Thailand):

Days of cycling: 8
Days of rest: lots
Kilometres cycled: 749
Metres climbed: 5938

Partially sponsored by Mountain Equipment Coop Expedition Support

Bangkok Blues

We realised in Cambodia, or maybe even earlier, that if we wanted to get to India before monsoon season we wouldn't have time to visit Thailand. We compromised and decided to spend 10 days in Bangkok. Most of the time we spent in Bangkok was running errands and getting prepared for India. Including a one week wait for our visa, purchasing plane tickets, a trip to the doctor's office, a visit to the camera store... We also had a back log of blogging and photo uploading left over from Cambodia where we never succeeded in finding a good internet connection.

The hot season has officially begun here in Thailand and we tried to spend the hottest times of the day in the air-conditioned internet cafes. We visited all of the city sites including some of the decades old "sex streets" using the ultra modern sky train to get around. Bangkok is huge and has one of the highest population densities in the world. The public transportation is efficient, but only if you have money, as the costs seem high for us budget travellers, I feel that the average Bangkokian couldn't afford a ride on the sky train. The highlight of Bangkok public transportation for us was the river taxi that bombs up and down the Chao Phraya River docking at lightning speed and rushing people on and off the boat. We stayed in the infamous Kao Shan road district, the backpackers Mecca. Khao San Road vendors have got it down pat buying and selling old backpacks, Lonely Planet guides, t-shirts imprinted with lewd messages not to mention the fake student cards or press passes or the much neede Osama Bin Laden mask. It doesn't get any "cooler" than here: dreadlocks, birkenstocks, piercings, henna tattoos, old men with long hair, old ladies without bras... the place is surreal. I don't think it would be the first place most people would want to stay in Bangkok, but the low prices can't be beat, hotel rooms and food are extremely cheap. I begin every morning with a huge bowl of fresh fruit covered in yogurt and granola for about 1.50$ and Yann has a plate of Pad Thai for and a bottle of freshly squeezed orange juice for the same price. The street vendors are out by 7 a.m. and don't pack up until past midnight. Our room faces the front street and we are kept up most nights by party-goers roaming the streets with their newly purchased Thai girlfriends and their bottles of Chang beer. Bangkokians have been extremely friendly, and many have stopped to help us with directions as we tried to figure out the crazy bus system. They have a deep love affair with their King, his photo adorns almost every building we pass and locals wear yellow (the royal colour) shirts embroidered with messages like "Long Live the King" and "We Love the King". I have noticed a marked slowdown in the speed at which I can find Yann in a crowd, his yellow shirt usually giving him away now just blends in with everyone else. The local monks also hold a more prominent position in Thai society than elsewhere in Asia. They recieve a salary and seem treated with utmost respect by locals, even having reserved seating in public buses and boats. We often bump into them in malls shopping side by side with other locals. Despite the cheap food, the friendly locals and the gorgeous wats, ten days is too long to be in Bangkok and we couldn't wait to catch our flight to Kolkata. As we woke up at 4:30 a.m. to catch the airport shuttle bus, we walked by the various tourists some sleeping on the street being prodded awake by prostitutes others still drinking at the bars. We managed to get one last pad thai from a stall that hadn't yet closed up shop and we waved goodbye to Bangkok.