Day 1:

So our first day we walked A LOT! Steve and I were calculating it and we are thinking around 11 or 12 miles, maybe more. But, we got to see A LOT. We saw the Grand Palace and it was pretty insane. We ended up getting a tour, we kinda got ripped off (not surprising) but we learned some really interesting stuff. For one, there are influences from not only Buddhism but also Hinduism as well. We thought that was pretty cool. Then we walked to the reclining Buddha, HUGE. Next we walked to China Town. What a cluster cuss. There are all these little allies that have stalls on both sides and then people driving through on mopeds with boxes and bundles strapped to the back 10 feet high, NUTS! We then walked to Golden mountain which was such a peaceful place. It is a monastery in the middle of Bangkok that has 300 something stairs to the top and you can look over all of Bangkok. You can even ring the gong! It was real loud! Finally we walked home (got a tad lost on the way) and rested for a bit.

Bangkok is so large and there are so many people! The street food looks (and is) amazing! Tuk Tuk's (the little motorcycle taxis) are everywhere and the roads are nuts. There are lines and lights but no one follows them, not even buses. Tuk Tuk's drive in and out of traffic and get almost destroyed quite often. We've rode on a couple and they're really fun!

During the evening we walked down to Khao San Road which is the backpacker paradise apparently and it was crazy. It reminded both of us of New York and there are people everywhere trying to sell you stuff including Ping Pong shows...weird. But there is GREAT Pad Thai and freshly cut pineapple. Yum! We stopped at a place on the side of the street and had a couple beers. We ended up talking to a guy from France, one from Italy, and one from Germany. The guy form Germany is headed to Burma, good luck to him! The night ended up being fun but exhausting so we got back to our hostel pretty early and went to bed. Good first day!

MG