Back in Bangkok!

I made it back to Bangkok last night, and managed to keep all my internal organs in the proper place. That should not be a hard thing to do, one might think. But let me tell you... if you have travelled on the road from Siem Reap, Cambodia to Poipet, Cambodia (a boarder town with Thailand) the fact that you make it in one piece is truly an accomplishment. The road (when it exists) is notorious for being one of the worst in SE Asia. There are huge pothole, blinding dust everywhere, and the road is packed with cars, trucks, bicycles, motorbikes, tractors. There are no such things as traffic rules... so really the whole ride is just a game of chicken. What made it even more exciting in my case is that the shared taxi I was in had the steering wheel on the right side, when theoretically Cambodians drive on the right side. This made passing always a fun experience. This is a rundown of the tallys that I kept during the 4 hour ride:

Percentage of time spent on the wrong side of the road: 47%
Number of times the driver nearly hit a dog: 5
Number of dogs actually hit: 1
Number of very close calls with hitting other cars: 2
Number of cars actually hit: 1
Percentage of time car spent soaring over potholes: 78%
Percentage of time I spent cursing myself for not wearing a better bra: 78%

But I will tell you something... I have never been happier to be at a boarder crossing. Normally they are a pain in the behind, but after that ride I could not have been happier to get out of the car and manage the bureaucracy of the border guards.

At this point I must publicly give a big thank you to Barry, the other guy I shared the taxi with. Barry lives in Bangkok, and could not have been nicer guy in helping me out. He explained the whole locals bus vs. tourist bus scam thing to me that the Thais have going on at the boarder. Apparently most tourist take the tuk tuk (motorbike with a little caravan attached to the back for you to sit on) from the Thai boarder to the bus station. Well, good 'ol Barry new better! We took the locals transport that was more comfortable and a fraction of the price. There are also 2 buses to Bangkok - Barry worked out the better one. Then once we got to Bangkok - he went totally out of his way to show me the skytrain and took me to the area of town that I had to get to, and walked around with me till I found a guesthouse. Normally I don't mind doing all this work myself. And I would do so without complaints. But I have to admit, it felt nice for once in 2 months not to have to think and figure this stuff out myself. It would have got done, it just would have cost me more in terms of both mulla and time. So, here is to you Barry! You are a good 'ol chap!

Now, I have been in Bangkok before, but this time I decided to stay away from the backpackers area. It is like a whole different city! The smelly and grimy Bangkok I remember seems like a 3rd world country to the area I am now staying in. I went wandering in the big malls today, more in search of air-co then to fulfill and shopping urges. I walk into the first mall and I see REAL Prada sunglasses and La Perla Black Label lingerie being sold. Whoa... I could not believe this is the Thailand that I was in just 2 months ago. Up in the north the poor children in the villages don't have shoes, and here the people are spending $400 for a pair of underwear. Don't get me wrong, I respect the people who have earned the money and choose to spend it on underwear - but I was totally taken by surprise! This was not the Bangkok that I saw before.

Well... the fun does not stop there. I then made my way to the 2nd mall. The second mall made the first seem like a Macy's. The second mall would even put Neiman Marcus to shame! We are talking about store after store of the best names... Cartier, Hermes, Piaget, (this was just the floor with the watches), Bang and Olefson, even Ferrari! And then there was me walking into these stores with my tshirt with just a few small wholes, and well worn travel pants (rolled up, if I put them down then everybody would see where my pants got burned when I got too close to a candle one day). Yes, I did feel a bit out of place. But was that going to stop me?? Shoot - I wanted to see the latest Piaget styles.

I also did get my first reminder of Christmas. These mall owners know exactly who they are catering to. They have the reindeer's and Christmas tree up, they even had "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" playing over the loud speaker. Oh yes... this place is for Expats and tourists.

Today is also a very big Buddhist holiday to mark the end of the rainy season. How do you celebrate: well you float flowery things down the river, eat a lot of street food, and move down the street very very slowly. The river part is pretty cool. There are areas you can not even see the water anymore since it is full of these flower offerings.