Christmas in Thailand

Fast forward to adventures in Thailand and Cambodia. Karen and I arrived in Bangkok around 2:00 a.m., Christmas morning. After slowly proceeding through customs, we found a taxi to take us to Khaosan Road, the main tourist/party street in Bangkok. Wikipedia aptly refers to it as a "world famous backpacker ghetto." We arrived around 3:30 a.m. to find that the street was still filled with people: girls in really short tight dresses, guys in shorts and sandals and some who looked like one gender, but were probably the other. Still wearing our now, more than slightly smelly and sticky winter clothes, we kept our heads down as we walked down the street hoping to find our hostel well lit and sign-posted. At the very end of the street, we finally found the and after quickly checking in, collapsed onto our twin beds in an air-conditioned double with a private bathroom.



After catching a few hours of sleep, we awoke, showered off all of the grime that seems to accumulate while traveling and decided to explore the city, or at least our street. Our main goal was to find some breakfast. At a cute outdoor cafe, I had an omelette with bacon, toast and a fruit shake for about $4.00. After strolling through the market stalls along the street, we headed for the nearest shopping mall to buy myself a camera. Mine broke a few weeks before the trip. The trip was a success; I now own a cannon camera that fits into the palm of my hand, and as bonus, is a very shiny bronze color.

As an afternoon Christmas treat, Karen and I tried out the Dr. Fish foot massage. It was a very ticklish experience, to say the least. Hordes of hungry fish nibbled the rough skin off our feet.

For Christmas dinner we met up with my coworker, Adam and a friend of his, who is teaching English in Bangkok. We dined on pad thai at a Thai restaurant and then walked through the markets. After Adam's friend departed, we stopped for a celebratory Christmas drink before heading in different directions. Adam to the islands of Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, and Koh Tao, and Karen and I for Angkor Wat and Siem Ream in Cambodia. Or so we thought.

Over drinks, Adam proposed that he accompany us to a GoGo bar, "Just so we could get a feel for the whole Thai experience." Right? We agreed to accompany him. Our first tuk-tuk driver took us to the sketchiest dark ally I've ever been in. We left promptly and found another tuk-tuk driver who simply drove us around in a circle telling us that all of the GoGo bars he knew were closed. He then dropped us off at the same ally he found us, and tried to demand that we pay him for the round trip. We did not. And then we decided to stick with taxis for the evening.

In our taxi, Adam spotted the real GoGo district on the way back to our hostel. We got out. We went in. Once in the bar. We sat on stools at the bar while behind us Thai girls danced in small school uniforms and Santa suits. Having finally seen the inside of the Thai GoGo bar, we decided to call it a Christmas night. A bizarre, but eventful merry Christmas. And, hey, it was warm!

The next morning, Karen and I boarded our bus and headed to Cambodia. Crossing the border turned out to be another adventure. A man, who appeared to be in charge, collected our bus tickets before we boarded the bus. Four hours later, shortly before the border, the bus stopped in front of a "visa office." Here, we waited for three hours while they sorted our visas for an extra $10. We could have turned this down and found our way to the border by tuk-tuk had we known this was feasible, but not knowing, we stuck with the fake visa company. Finally, around 6:00 pm, we arrived at our hostel in Siem Reap. Up next, more on our adventures in Angkor Wat, touring a floating village and the journey back to Bangkok.