Bangkok

How glorious it is to be in Bangkok! A modern clean city where we blend in and where honking is not part of driving! I see cats- lots of cats, which makes me happy because where there are cats there aren’t so many freaky packs of dogs...and malls are everywhere! Every corner has something to buy!
We plan to stay long enough to sort out our visa’s for China. Finding a foreign embassy in a foreign city isn’t the easiest mission but after two attempts we succeed. Our plan for a short stay in BKK is sabotaged by our bowels...ah yes, every travelers worry. Along the way we have had only a few incidents of minor bowel disturbance, but nothing like this. I won’t release the nasty details (for your sake) but it was three more days before we dared leave our room for any extended period. We alternated turns walking to 7-11 to buy essentials like water, yogurt, M&M’s, and oreo’s. We both became exhausted from not eating much and being a little dehydrated. Finally, things were looking ok and we booked out of our room. We went to the mall where toilets are cheap and clean and readily available- just incase! We were ok. We decide to take an overnight bus to the Southern province of Krabi. The bus terminal is another mall! Its awesome. The bus is a double decker and we are on the upper level in the front. Similar to Turkey, there is a stewardess who brings us drinks and snacks. A few hours into the 12 hour ride, we stop at a roadside diner. Steve isn’t hungry but I’m a little rumbly. I follow what everyone else is doing and find out that a thai dinner is included in our ticket. I sit at a table with 5 thai strangers and follow their lead. A server fills my bowl with a watery type of rice. In the middle of the table is a choice of four dishes to add to the water rice. There are boiled eggs cut in half, a plate of what appears to be some kind of sausage, a plate of a boiled leafy green, and little tiny fishes with their heads on still- clearly too small to cut off. I actually thought the fish were grasshoppers at first. I’m just happy with the rice and I avoid eye contact and stare at my bowl. I can feel them glancing at me. I look up- and one of the Thai men with a big smile and a friendly nod offers me the fish plate. Oh no. Oh man. I panic and take one medium sized fishy off the plate and put it in my rice and smile back at him. Its tiny but I can still distinctly make out its eyeballs. He is still watching me and so is that fish. I feel like everyone is watching (maybe I’m still paranoid from India). I put it in my mouth and get a shock of salt flavor! Whooo! Its also very hard and barely chewable. Maybe I was supposed to let it soak in the rice water. I get ‘er down without damaging my esophagus and smile at the man. The old lady beside me tries to fill my bowl with more rice. I make brief eye contact with a young guy and he must have been waiting for it because before I get the chance to look away he is passing me the eggs and urging me to try. Ok, its just an egg so I take it. Its still in half the shell and the technique seems to be to scoop it out and add it to the rice or just eat it with the spoon. I take a small scoop and eat it and almost have to spit it out! Its a salt ball too! But its horrible tasting. Thankfully the table is emptying and the bus is being reloaded and I leave the egg. We sleep a little and arrive to Krabi at 0700hrs.
We are conveniently dropped off at a tourist office and immediately being assisted with tickets and a place to stay and all the usual stuff. The guy has a ride for us to the pier for 500baht- this is for five of us as we have joined forces with a czech and two irish. We are loading the packs and I think back to Bangkok where we took a few cabs and they were VERY cheap. Hmmm...this doesn’t seem right. “Steve we are paying too much, the pier is only 4km away” and he thinks about that and agrees. So does the Irish girl and we talk to the guy and he gets defensive and says its a fair price and I get in a minor dispute which involves Steve dragging me away. I’m glad we did. Its so easy to become glazed over after overnight travel and go along with whatever is presented to you. We go to a little bus that is parked nearby and he charges us 30baht each to the pier. Little buses here are actually pick up trucks with two benches in the bed. The truck brings us to the pier and then we negotiate for a “long boat” to Railay. The water is calm and we are at the Railay beach in 30mins. We have to wade through the water to hit the shore and this is a little tricky with my pack. One guy takes a major dive on the paved sidewalk going from water to shore so I walk in the mud instead. Steve, the master negotiator, gets us a bungalow with a pool for 200baht less than asking! He’s got skills! We are comfy in our latest home with a bathroom, fridge, tv, and airconditioning.