The desert is ecksiting

Hey there,
So today I left Thailand on my way to Athens. The flight has a massive 10 hour layover in Bahrain so the airline actually put us up into a hotel in the city; naturally I set down my bags and set out ecksploring. With me is a German named Frederic, since we were both travelling alone they put us into a room together. We made our way wandering aimlessly and changed some money so that we could sit down in an internet shop where I am now. The keyboard here is in bad shape with buttons that stick pretty well, so you'll have to eckscuse typo's (the letter "x" is especially bad so I'm trying to avoid it haha).
So I owe you guys some time from Bangkok where I spent the last few days with my pops. After making the haul back from Ko Pha Ngan (which was much better as we were able to secure some sleepers; which were a lot like prison bunks, but air conditioned and bug free at least) our pace slowed a little bit. We checked into the Sivalai Place Apartments which were recommended to us by our tecksan friends and they turned out to be great accomidations. We were within walking distance to several sights which we took advantage of, as well as a neighborhood which was lined with street meat vendors, which you know we took advantage of. In order to not keep good Frederic too long, I'll try and bang out the highlights bullet style

Day 1
-We set out walking late in the day around lunch time, so we decided to get lunch at a local corner "restaurant". We sat down at a plastic table amidst a hundered or so locals grabbing a bite. The "waitress" dropped a piece of paper on our table for our order like we knew what we were doing. Once she realized we didn't, she sent over someone who "spoke english". The communication didn't go very smoothly, and at one point my old man tucked his hands into his armpits and flapped his elbows to pantamime his desire for chicken in his soup. Hilarious, but rather ineffective. I think she made a decision for us and we ended up with a very satisfactory bowl of beef noodle soup.
-Wat Arun-Temple of the Dawn. A beautiful sight from afar, this temple had what must have been 70 degree stairs that we climbed to a nice vantage of the city. The walls were covered in ceramics that were broken and plastered on into various designs. At the time I think I described it as a massive second graders' project.
-Wat Po- Ah good old Wat Po, there was a massive 100 meter long reclining buddah there gilded in gold, and then there was the Wat Po school of massage. This was our first visit there, I got an hour body massage, and dad opted for the foot massage. It was a bit formulaic, which is to be eckspected of students, but it was great nonetheless.
-Street Meat- After a forgettable bowl of Rad Na (I don't think it was a noodle shop, but rad na was the only words that we eckchanged with understanding, so they obliged) I got an incredible beef skewer from a street side barbeque: tender, juicy morsels that were rich with maybe a soy/vinegar/pepper/gingery marinade. The last piece skewered? A cube of flavor packed fat.

Day 2
-Royal Palace- Walking around the walls to get to the enterance, we were approached by a really nice fellow who informed us that the palace was closed for prayer until late in the afternoon. He even offered to wave down a tuk tuk for very cheap to take us to a big lucky buddah, but we felt like walking around, so we refused. Another man approched us a little later and ran a suspiciously similar speach and really tried to usher us into a tuk tuk, again we refused. When we rounded the corner we could se people filtering into the palace and we passed a woman who was getting out of a tuk tuk and yelling about getting scammed. Those guys almost got us. As we headed towards the enterance, I felt a bit proud about having avoided the scam. I looked around and found my dad talking to another scammer who was a woman. "Dad. No. No dad. No" "I was disarmed, she was a woman" hahaha. Inside we saw signs that said "don't trust strangers who offer tuk tuks and lucky buddahs". We also saw the most holy buddah in Thailand, the emerald buddah, in a massive hall atop a mountainous gold pyramid.
-Wat Po- another massage, this time with the herb option which involved hot towels soaked in a refreshing herbal blend. Again, amazing!
-Holy shit soup- This is the unofficial name for the soup I ordered that night at a corner shop as we watched the opening ceremony of the olympics. I think it was billed as spicy sour soup with seafood. It had such strong flavors, sour and savory with unknown spices that left me intruiged and wanting more, probably the best soup base I've ever tasted. The catch was that it was by far and away the spiciest soup I've ever had also. I could stand taking about 5 good bites before retreating to water and rice to douse the flames in my mouth, then going back at it. The fact that it was also about 90 degrees in the open air restaurant also meant that by the time I finished (which I was sad and relieved about at the same time) I looked like I had jumped in a pool.

Day 3
-National Museum- A decent collection of relics followed a shitty grade school acount of Thai history complete with dioramas that dad fell in love with.
-Jim Thompson's House- You guessed it, he was a white guy. But he did manage to revive the thai silk trade and make good preservation of traditional thai architecture in the house that he assembled from 6 seperate thai houses from different places in the country. We ate an early fancy "eckspensive" dinner at about 300 baht per (~9 USD). We tried to rush back to Wat Po for one last massage, but the traffic left us high and dry. Dejected we returned to the apartments to make ourselves prepared to catch planes the next day.
-Beer, Olympics and Laundry- Sounds like a recipe for success for one last relacksing night, and it almost went off without a hitch, just that one pen that slipped in with our laundry load. Dang. Both my pairs of shorts bore the brunt of the damage, with minimal damage to my prana pants and one of my shirts (other two are black, phew). Well, I have some shopping to do in Europe then. If I come back looking like Eurotrash, blame my old man. =)

Getting to the airport, I came to the last stage with my dad. We said our goodbyes and I made the leap through the gates into the great yonder alone. It was a bit emotional, my dad and I had a great trip together and we made for good travelling partners, with a great micks of adventurism and levelheadedness. Going through security, I felt as though I was going through a mini rite of passage. So far so good, I'll keep you updated as I go. Right now though, Frederic is waiting, so I bid you farewell. I'll see you in Athens.
Much love,
-Jon



Christine: I miss you too, you still owe me dinner when I get back, don't think I'll forget =)