Overnight Train to Bangkok

What could be more romantic . . . mysterious . . . intriguing? The overnight train to bangkok left Nongkhai Saturday afternoon among cheers and waves. No one expected that we would be subjected to theft, bribery, seduction, political espionage, and ultimately murder along the way. Well, no one expected it, and fortunately we weren't. However, one of the porters did steal some of our potato chips - but she was just joking with us. Anyways, it was a really fun trip that went very quickly for a 14-hour adventure. We got to stay up fairly late and chat with some of the college students since they were trapped on the train and couldn't get away from us. Anna played poker, Max read his book, grandma got to compare shopping notes with Jennifer (new Cal Poly program coordinator), and Kim and Dan actually got to sit together calmly eating dinner and sipping on Leo beer (our new favorite whenver we can't get Beerlao) and Sang Som Thai whiskey (technically it's rum, but who am I to correct them).

After our slightly weary arrival in Bangkok, we checked into our new hotel at the University and spent the rest of the day on a tour of the city. We took a water taxi on the Chao Praya river to get downtown. Then we chartererd a tour boat (a longboat!) to take us through the maze of canals that interconnect various neighborhoods and sites. Who knew that Bangkok was the Venice of the orient? It was very cool as we went by run down shacks and mansions alike - all on stilts and hoping the Thai government can successfully control river level. We stopped at Wat Arun, an awesome old temple on the banks of the river. We eventually made it to a popular river port and got out to take the SkyTrain (elevated subway) to the famous Paragon shopping mall. The Paragon is for the obscenely wealthy, with a Ferrari dealership, lots of Gucci-type stores, and a bunch of fancy restaurants serving Thai and Western delicacies. We feasted on designer cupcakes, custom cream puffs, and pizza in a cone. Wondering when we were going to get around to returning to our normal caloric intake, we hopped in a taxi and made our way back to our hotel for our first night. Hello Bangkok!