Bangkok, continued....

I'm still in Bangkok and have been exploring the city on my own now that Winnie and Wendy have departed for Chiang Mai. Been having fun despite a few setbacks the last couple of days. I just realized it's been a while since I've posted and have a bunch to write about.

Last week we caught a Muay Thai match at Ratchamandan Stadium, one of the main stadiums in Bangkok. It was pretty awesome watching those little guys go at it, and I realized I know nothing about Muay Thai scoring. With one exception, every guy I though was winning didn't. The first match was between 98 lbs fighters and I realized that together they still don't weigh as much as me, but could both probably kick my ass in about 10 seconds flat. The whole thing is sort of a scam, as foreigners get charged about 10x more for thier tickets. I didin't realize it at the time, but apparently there are separate ticket windows they steer you to. We paid about $50 for our tickets, and the locals pay WAY less.

Went to a beer garden this weekend which was awesome. Apparently the Thai's dedicate the entire month of November and December to getting ready for Christmas. All of the malls are decked out in decorations and are playing Christmas music. I though all the decorations and crap going up after Thanksgiving in the states was bad enough, and then I come here and discover they start it even earlier. And in a 95% Buddhist country no less... I think I would go nuts if I had to endure 2 months of Christmas music, which I despise. But enough about me being the Grinch. All the breweries here, and some foreign ones, set up these huge beer gardens with live music and EPL games on big screens and Thai food and everyone parties the night away. Met a bunch of Thai people and had a pretty wild night as we went to this club after the beer garden and then had a great meal at about 3:30 am in this little side street. I ended up skipping out on a cooking class the next morning, but am going to be taking it tomorrow.

The last few days have been a bit of a bust. My big plan yesterday was to see Chinatown and then check out the National Place and Emerald Buddha. I ended up getting super-lost in Chinatown (though I got a great bowl of noodles) and arrived at the national palace at 3. No big deal I though, I just had a little adventure. Turns out that the palace/Buddah close at 3:30 and admission was not cheap so I said screw it and just started walking around. I walked through a ton of random little neighborhoods that had no tourists in them and ended up having a pretty good time despite missing out on the sights I intended to see.

Today I was supposed to take a cooking class but when I showed up at the planned meeting spot at 9, the guy was nowhere to be found. Apparently he got confused by my email that said I wanted to take it both Tuesday and Wednesday and though I just was coming Wednesday. I guess it serves me right for skipping out on the one on Sunday. Instead, I wandered around the neighborhood of the Skytrain stop and had another delicious meal. That's been a reoccurring theme here - wander around, eat some great food from a random cart on the side of the road. I'm not quite sure how people aren't all obese here with so much great food available every 10 feet.

I did manage to salvage the day by taking a ferry ride up to the National Palace again, this time before closing time. It was pretty cool but I'm kinda templed-out. They all seem to be pretty similar.

I'm meeting up with this girl and her friends that we met at the beer garden tonight for dinner, so hopefully I'll get some more good food. It seems hard not too around here. Anyways, that's a quick update on what I've been up to the last few days. I head out Thursday morning for Koh Chang to get some more beach time then am headed to Ankgor Wat for more temples and to meet back up with Winnie and Wendy.

Above are some pictures from the trip so far...