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When we arrived in Bangkok it was almost 10pm, still blazing hot, and the air was sticky. As soon as we walked out of the airport we hopped on the free shuttle to the bus station and looked for the 556 bus that would take us to the Victory Monument close to Khao San Rd., our hotel destination. There were signs for bus numbers 550, 551, 552, 553, 555, 557... all the busses except for the one we were looking for, of course. The lady at information told us that bus had been cancelled 3 years ago and therefore our intricate directions we'd gotten off of the internet were very outdated. At this point, we had two options; either wait unknowingly to see if a minibus would come to take us on a similar but different route, or take the shuttle back to the airport and hop on the metro train. We opted for the latter and by 11:30 we were well on our way to our destination.
We found a white person who had been living in Thailand for a few months and hopped into a cab with him, as he was able to speak the language and was headed in the same direction as us. We took a 15 minute cab ride that cost all of $2, and at that point we knew we were going to like Thailand. When we first pulled up to Khao San Rd. the streets were littered people walking around holding buckets of alcohol, vendors selling fried bugs, food and clothing etc., and bar after bar blasting music of all kinds with people having a great time. 
We were happy to find out that our gem of a hotel called “Rikka Inn” was tucked away in a quiet hallway down the street and we were a little bit out of the craziness. After we dropped our bags off and checked in we headed out to walk the crazy street and had some street Pad Thai to fill our starving bellies.
At 9am the next morning we were pleasantly woken up with a phone call from reception to let us know that our best friends Esther and Oren from back home had arrived and were waiting for us in the lobby. We quickly threw on some clothes and ran downstairs for the big reunion. It was so amazing to see such great friends of ours after being out on the road without a familiar face for almost 6 months (with the exception of meeting Cheffina in Argentina). It took us an hour before we stopped our chatter and realized how exhausted they must had been spending over 24 hours of travelling to us from Israel. We let them take the afternoon off to nap and get settled into their room, while we headed out for breakfast, found a place to drop off our laundry, and walked the market filled streets while shopping and bargaining for some cheap new clothes. Dave was able to find 6 new things for under $50 and Alice picked up a new bathing suit, sunglasses and a beach dress for $25.
When Esther and Oren came back to life, we headed out with them for an authentic street dinner on a quieter but still happening street called Rambutta around the corner. We then spent some time at our rooftop pool, while Esther and Oren headed to the city’s hospital to visit one of Oren’s friends that lives in Thailand and was being let out after a recent motor cycle accident. We stayed up into the wee ours of the morning that night, drinking too many cocktails and catching up with our friends, waiting for this friend of Oren’s to show up and join us.
We woke up well into the afternoon the next day, had a late lunch and did some more walking up and down Khao San Rd., as there was just so much to see! In the evening Oren’s friend Chris took us to an Authentic Thai street restaurant outside of the touristy area. The food was delicious and so spicy that it gave Dave and Oren the instant hiccups and brought tears rolling down their faces! Unfortunately, our dinner was later disturbed by a few cockroaches that decided to join our dinner fiesta and all of us except for Oren got up from the table and wouldn’t sit back down. It didn’t do much, but Chris spent a good 30 minutes arguing with the waiter (in Thai), ashamed to have given us a bad impression of Thailand. As unpleasant as it was at the time, we realized we were eating on the street in a 3rd world country and should have expected the outdoor critters. 
The next day we booked a 3 day jeep tour to Chiang Mai and Pai in the north of the country through “Red Brick Tours”, an Israeli/Thai organization. Before leaving on our bus the very same night we had high hopes of visiting the Grand Palace, a very big temple that is still used today and open to tourists to visit from all over the world. When we got there they wouldn't let us in because we were wearing shorts and tank tops, and therefore inappropriate attire. Instead, we ended up taking a long cut Thai style speed boat out to the floating market near by. We had boats coming up to us selling food, drinks, and many different types of souvenirs on our way down. By 6pm we were walking over to our overnight bus to Chiang Mai, a city in the North of Thailand, to the “Red Brick Hotel” (arriving at 5am) where we waited for our jeep driver named Shy, to pick us up.
That night we stayed at a gorgeous resort by the bay. Even though we were exhausted, we still managed to spend hours over dinner and downed an entire bottle of Sansung (made in Thailand) whisky between the 5 of us (including our driver Shy).
At 7am the next morning we all gathered together again for breakfast. It was Game 7 day in the NHL playoffs, Leafs vs. Boston. We had the volume up high on the live radio feed from back home, cheering them on as the score was 4-1 in the last period. We almost turned off the radio as we were being rushed to leave and we were pretty sure the game was in the bag. It was a good thing we kept the radio on in the car, as we would have been devastated (even more so) to find out later that the leafs did what they do best, and buckle BADLY under pressure at the last moment.
Our itinerary for the afternoon took us to the Elephant Farm, where we got to watch an amazing elephant show and were given elephant and oxen rides. We felt like little kids at the circus, oooooing and aaahhhhhing at the elephants as they did tricks like hand stands, dances and even painted pictures.
Later in the afternoon we went "white water" rafting. Because it was dry season at the time, though, the waters in the river were pretty low and the rapids' grade was reduced to a 2 as compared to a 5 or 6 in rainy season. Regardless, we enjoyed our slow ride down the calm rapids, and our rafting guide was a lot of fun. After another delicious lunch we headed up the mountain on a 3 hour winding drive to Pai, a hippie town in the north. Our resort had a great view of the lush greenery in the mountains and we spent a couple of hours enjoying it poolside before dinner and a walk into town.
Our last day on the tour took us to a snake show (where Esther and Alice almost ran out in the middle with fear), Orchid Farm, and the Long Neck/Big Ear Village, where we met some local villagers that traditionally stretched their ears and necks. It was a great first week experiencing the loud and crazy Bangkok and the lush, quiet greenery of northern Thailand.
To our loyal and amazing readers,
With love from Bangkok,
D’Alice
Woohoo!!
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