Bustling Bangkok

Well, we have been in Bangkok for three days and are enjoying the modern, rather "western" feel (or should I say food). Bangkok is very modern, very large, and has lots and lots of beautiful temples.
Our first order of business was to obtain our visas for Vietnam. However, along the way I got distracted by a beauty salon and a few hours later I emerged with a lot less hair. It was not until after this experience that I realized how popular the mullet is here in Thailand and what a risk I was taking by putting my hair in the hands of a Thai stylist. However, after the half hour head massage and hair washing I wasn't one hundred percent coherent so I feel lucky to get away with as good of a cut as I did.

Since then we have seen Wat after Wat, which have included a HUGE reclining Buddha, a happy Buddha, the black Buddha, and the emerald Buddha. The architecture is amazing with all the gold and the colored glass and around every corner is another temple or cultural site.

Bangkok also has a lot of great food. Our first day here we had opted for totally American experience and decided to have hamburgers and fries at Outback Steakhouse as well as blizzards at good ole' DQ. Since then it has been nothing but Phad Thai and Tom Yum Soup and various other unpronounceable but delicious dishes. At the recommendation of the guidebook we headed to the food court at the mall and were pleasantly surprised by how good and cheap it was. The guidebook says the mall food courts are similar to the street vendors but include air conditioning. Kenny has been a bit hesitant to eat from the throngs of street vendors but I think I have him convinced since he realized that almost every restaurant we have gone to (except for at the food courts) we have eaten inside but our food has been prepared outside on the street.

From hear we head to Ko Samet in the Gulf of Thailand where we will spend a few days before we return to Bangkok to pick up our Vietnam visas and then go to see the islands on the Indian ocean.