Bangkok

We arrived in Bangkok late last night and made it to our guest house in the backpacker mecca of Banglamphu, a neighbourhood just north of the Palance. It's hot here and we're tired. Today we sorted out our visas for Vietnam, the one place we're going that requires us to have them in advance. We went to a travel clinic and got Kate her second Japanese encephalitis shot - for less than $20, versus $120 at home. We both should have waited and got them here!

We then toured the house of Jim Thompson, an American WWII veteran who is credited with reviving Thailand's silk industry in the 1950s, and who disappeared mysteriously in Malaysia in 1967.

On the way back to the guest house we passed this temple:







Traffic here has a well-deserved reputation for being awful. To get across town, we took a water taxi down the river and connected to the Skytrain system. To get home, we took another water taxi down a narrow canal. The water's nasty - keep your mouth shut and try not to get splashed!

On Friday we're heading to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand and visiting with Don's friend Paul, who is working up there.

-Don & Kate