Together Again in Bangkok

hello, hello!  so yes, night before last roel and i successfully reunited in bangkok.  both our flights were on time and we found each other with no problem at the airport.  our taxi from the airport to our hotel was a good intro to thai taxis and driving.  (passing cars at 120 kms/hr in the wrong lane with oncoming traffic nearing, a 'broken' fare meter...luckily i knew what it should cost so no harm there).  however i am convinced that he had a towel covering the meter which he claims was his tv???

first two nights stayed in siam square.  very westernized and upscale.  perfect place for roel to unjetlag.  fortunately for me there is only a four hour time diff from melbourne.  our first full day was spent in markets and shopping malls.  bought a few things we needed and ate some great thai coconut curries and seafood fried noodles.

neat-o escalator in one of many mega-malls in area.  all of them were about 5-7 levels.

halfway through the day exhausted, we took a nap at 6pm before we were going to head out to some nightlife but ended up waking at 1am.  :s  we went back to bed and roel got up at 4am.  ugh!  this usually means that i have to get up at the same time...he can't wait for me to wake up.  haha  so cute and annoying at the same time.  i wouldn't have it any other way.

today we transferred near backpacker central and found a not so upscale guesthouse. we settled on one after looking at about five different ones (all the ones we knew about ahead of time were booked-up!) but for about $15 a day we have aircon and our own washroom.  happy with that.

i'm on a crappy internet cafe pc in our 'hotel' and will attempt to load some pics too.  a pic of us as i type.  street in front of our place in background: Baan Sabai Guesthouse.

bangkok is pretty much as it is described everywhere else.  noisy, hectic, hot, sticky, humid, polluted, fun, exciting with many little lanes to explore.  as language is tonal it is next to impossible to pick up even basic phrases but time will tell if it's just us being newbies.

random pic:

ronald with some apparent facial reconstruction

tomorrow we'll do the main touristy things: royal palace and surrounding temples.  we are within walking distance.  we have both faired pretty well in the heat.  i felt way worse off in the dry aussie heat, actually.

ta-ta!