Bangkok and northward bound

Step 4 in my 2 month summer journey around Thailand. Michelle, Heather and I departed the beach. Booked a flight at 8:00 in the morning and by 4:00 that afternoon we were on a plane to Bangkok. It was a last minute flight booking because we kept getting so many mixed messages on whether or not the road north was opened from all the flooding.

Khao San Roa

Up until now Michelle has been along for the ride saying she would go anywhere Heather and I wanted to go as long as she could access water, preferably the beach but the pool would be ok too. Bangkok is the one place Michelle wanted to have at least a day in so we granted her wish. We made our way to Khao San Road, backpackers heaven of Bangkok. We strolled in in the dark tired and hungry but found the perfect room for 2 nights of stay and more booths of phat thai than we could have ever imagined.

I was developing a nasty cold so the next morning the girls were nice enough to let me sleep in. Once we were ready to go by late morning we hailed a taxi to the train station where we bought train tickets headed north for the next day. Back tracking to the Grand Palace Heather and I waited for Michelle to tour it. We opted not to go in because parts of it were closed for some Thai holiday, huge shocker. . . NOT. Then we made a quick mandatory lunch break at Au Bon Pain to indulge on eating a chicken, pesto, tomato and mozzarella sandwich. Then we went to Wat Pho, the temple with the lying down Buddha. Again Michelle went in alone because Heather and I had already been and didn’t want to spend the 50 baht ($1.60), so expensive! We walked to the river and caught a 3 baht boat to the other side to see Wat Arun. This could be my favorite Wat so far. It is old and run down looking but has the most spectacular 360 degree view of the entire city if you can make it of the steep steps to the lookout point. The 3 of us took about 10 minutes just to stand up there and look out gulping in the view and gasping at how monstrous the city really is. After the climb up the Wat in the heat a fresh coconut was much needed, we each got our own.

Climbing the steps of Wat Arun

With many more hours left to the day we crossed back to the other side of the river and taxied our way to Siam Square, the huge shopping mall in Bangkok. Michelle was pretty hysterical in the mall, she was back at home and so thrilled to be in a place familiar to her tastes.  We walked almost entirely through the building getting a taste of western culture again. We even considered seeing a movie. We crossed that idea off the list when we entered the movie theater section of the mall because we couldn’t even figure out how to buy a ticket it was so high tech. Instead we went to the basement of the mall to explored the aquarium, for the Thai price I might add (the girl selling tickets was from Nakhon Phanom). It was fun to walk through the aquarium and see all the same fish we had seen while scuba diving only this time knowing the name of what it was that we were looking at.

My dad thought it was real!!!! Mom knew it wasn't!

Back on Khao San Road we did some bargain shopping and even got henna tattoos. To bed early for a sick Rita while the other girls stayed out wandering the street a bit longer.

I woke up the next morning feeling so terrible from my nasty cold. We made it to the train though so all I had to do all day was sit. That sounded nice only the train was stuffy, hot, noisy and smelly. I was most likely running a low fever and had aches all over so the ride was maybe the worst 7 hours I have ever had in any type of transportation. 

Once we arrived in Phitsanulok I offered to pay for the tuk tuk to our hotel because I felt so weak. Heather said it was just across the street so we began walking in the intense heat. After 4 blocks I broke down and couldn’t go any further. Heather ran up ahead to see if it was around the next corner. She asked an older lady directions and said her friend was sick and the lady went to her motorcycle and was about to come get me to bring me to the hospital. Fortunately Heather was able to stop her. Meanwhile Michelle and I waited and people came out of the shop we were in front of and asked where we were going. They called some people and found out where we needed to go. They then got the guy across the street who had a truck to take us to our hotel. As it turns out the nice man went to college in Arizona. To top the day off Heather was moving the fan to face us while we waited to check into the hotel room and since the back was missing some of its caging wires her pinky finger got sucked in and her fingernail was ripped off. Thanks Heather for going that extra mile to help make me feel better.