Pit Stop

To save some money, we took the overnight bus back to Bangkok.  The 12-hour trip was good actually.  The seats were roomy, snacks and water were passed out, and late in the evening they turned off the terribly corny Thai pop star doing his best Ricky Martin imitation in concert.  What nearly did us in was the two-hours it took the city bus to cover the 12 km into central Bangkok during rush hour and through political protests.

The time here turned out to be quite a necessary pit stop.  The zoom on the Canon Dslr went kaput, but luckily the service center came through in under a day (and only $30)!  We managed to secure visas to Burma and also roundtrip flights, within 24 hours.  And I lost a filling from one of my teeth -- potential nightmare -- but walked into a nice place and had a dental cleaning and fix within 30 minutes, all without having to give up a tooth, arm, or leg.

We dashed over to the Grand Palace and  Wat Pho to see the giant golden Reclining Buddha.  This was followed by a crowded water taxi ride on the Chao Phraya.  Classic Bangkok.

Just walked back from one of the crowded city centers.  This city is alive! Impromptu food stalls materialize out of nowhere.  It's packed and people are eating and drinking, others are cooking and selling. There are ladyboys everywhere, a free MTV Asia outdoor concert, and it feels like a massive party.

Internet in Burma is dicey, so I'll post whenever possible