Welcome to Bankok.

Well, our flight was long, but went fine. 1 layover in Taipei. I sat next to a older filipino couple going back to the PI to check out their home that was flooded in Tatig. Great, that's where my Dad is right now; pretty sure he's OK since he already talked to my Mom.

So we get to Taipei, and Jill had some leftover money from her trip here last month. We bought some grape fanta which had some weird gelatin in it; I thought it was contaminated at first, was about to spit it out. Turns out that it's popular here.

In Bangkok, we grab a taxi from the airport, definitely squished. I went to ride shotgun, but went the side since the cars here are R hand drive, oops! Our driver spoke very little english, Jill kept him entertained with some banter in Thai back and forth.

OK, the weather is very hot and muggy! Traffic sucks. Good thing they have BTS skytrain which helps. After hotel check in, we had out to MBK mall for some food. We ate some street foods along the way; corn that was sliced already and some deep fried fish ball thing, tasty. The food can be spicy,Vicky ordered some green curry thing that was hot! Lunch was about 1000B, $3.



On the way out, our plan was to get a Tuk-Tuk to go see the Golden Mount, a viewspot of the city from above. Negotiations is a must.

Tuk-Tuk guy: where do you want to go?
Me: We want to go to the Golden Mount? (showed him on the map)
Tuk-Tuk guy: What? Why you want to go there? (looks at me with confusion)
me: for the city view. (big hand motions)
Tuk-Tuk guy: OK, how much do you want to pay?
I thinking 'what?' He's trying to measure us up if we would overpay.
me: all 4 of us, 100B
Tuk-Tuk guy: no way, 150B.
Me: No way, too expensive. (We start to walk away.)
Tuk-Tuk guy: OK, good deal. 149B.
Then he starts to walk away!! WTF! way funny. Eventually we go back and forth and settle at 130B ($4).

It turns out, he was just a middle man and leads us to our real Tuk-Tuk driver. We get in drive thru back alleys to avoid traffic. He finally stops at a location, but it doesn't look right. We even consult a police man, he also says we are in the right place for the view of the city. It turns out, we got dropped off at Baiyok Hotel which as an observation deck for the view of the city! Freakin' A. I guess our request was translated wrong.

So we made the best of it and started walking in the hood. Vicky spots a massage parlor, and after more negotiations, we settle for 1 hour massage, 250B each. My first Thai massage ever. It was very good, although I had a guy massager, while the girls had female massagers. They even did this seated twisty thing that cracked of lower and mid back areas all at once! Hhhmm, maybe I should practice that in PT, I gotta look at the positions more carefully next time.

So we head back home via BTS again, crashed for a bit, then had late dinner next door at a local food joint. Tasty! Jill almost stepped on a big ass roach in the street. way freaked out! Haha.

Peace out. Will post pics if I can later.