Bangkok and bicycles

Where is Rachael now: Luang Prabang, Laos

Well, I survived Bangkok. 

I can't take this seriously when it is in the same font as Harry Potter

But it wasn't pretty. Who would have guessed that the girl who doesn't like big cities didn't jive very well with the "capital city of SE Asia". To keep it short, our bus ride from Siem Reap, Cam to Bangkok, Thailand was four hours longer than expected. That was caused by sitting out in the sun in a nearly standstill queue at the Thai border. Of course, you could bypass with a little bribe, but I wasn't going to give into the corrupt system! Instead I just got sunburned and angry. My first full day in Bangkok I successfully navigated the subway, the air tram, and the river taxi to get to the Royal Palace. Pretty impressive right? And then I got scammed. I guess I should have re-read that warning in my travel book-classic "Oh, it is closed now for cleaning so come back later. In the meantime, go to this special place and then there is a sale of real Thai handicrafts! Have this speical tuktuk price, too!" Listen all, if it sounds like a gem scam, it probably is. It was. After seeing a small Buddha, we pulled up to a gem store. I had just figured it out and stood my ground and made the driver drop me off down the road. You can't walk anywhere, try to get any tuktuk, without being molested about special tours. So frustrating. Once I finally got back to the Royal Palace, I paid 500baht for a claustrophobia attack. I zoomed through it...waaay too many people but you know, now I can say I did it...at least that's something right?

motorin'

Royal Palace

The rest of the day continued the same with two stops for street Pad Thai (Bangkok's saving grace). I was only too happy to book my ticket for the following day to head north. Day two consisted of more temple and wat ("monastery temple") sightings, more PadThai, and a lot of self-control to not buy cheap clothes on the main backpacker road Khao San. All the trains were booked so that night I settled in for an 11hr night bus to get the heck out of dodge. A cough has followed me from Bangkok traffic pollution.

Bangkok view from Wat Arun (the coolest Wat in town)

Great! Enough about Bangkok. Chiang Mai is much more my style! Back to nature! It's my first day here (arrived at 6 this morning) and I decided to explore the city by bike. Here are some things I've learned:

Rachael's Bike Riding Realizations

1. I have just as bad indecision of where to turn and stop on a bike as I do in a car

2. This bike is not going to make it up that very mountainous-looking hill (but nice try said the motorbikers)

3. I can't keep a straight face whilst ringing my bell (at least this one doesn't sound like a dying toad)

4. I need to pay attention to where I park my bike

5. No one should give a bicycle to an American to ride around in a city where they drive on the left side of the road. (whoops, drifting!)