TOO MANY MANY

BANGKOK, THAILAND

Temperature: 32 degrees celcius

Track of the day: Country Roads, John Denver

"Too many many people," says our taxi driver on the way to the Floating Market. We would hear this phrase close to two dozen times on the duration of this trip. We arrived in Bangkok late last night and were quickly impressed with the bustling city, which on first impression is a mix of poverty stricken slums and high tech high rise buildings. The city was still in full swing at one in the morning when we arrived at the Rooms at Silom hotel via a quick taxi from the airport. We showered and crashed on the hard, but somewhat comfortable bed. This morning was a rather uneventful breakfast which starred some wieners (not sausages) for breakfast (yuck!!!). We tried booking a tour to Ayuthaya and instead ended up in a taxi going to the floating market. The floating market is about 1 hour out of Bangkok on the super highways which truly are super amazing!! The floating market was just like in the movies, we made our way through tight canals in a small motor boat and stopped for souveniers, drinks and temples. A monk in the first temple gave us a gold piece of paper to stick on the buddha statues inside to complete the gold colouring. There were so

 many interesting things to see, but we are positive we paid nearly double for the entire trip, but we live and learn. Alecs succesfully bargained a vendor at the floating market for a smiling buddha statue from 1300 Thai Bhat to 300 and then said no....what a guy. We are now back in our hotel room for a little nap as we didn't sleep too much last night and then it's off to MBK and Paragon to shop and watch a movie!!! We are both very interested in seeing more of Bangkok and especially hitting the Skytrain!! 

11:00PM - 'I love being outside at night and still being warm," says Alecs as we walk along the intricate side streets of the Silom district in Bangkok, looking for a restaurant. "It is really nice," I say as a tuk tuk full of people passes us on the wrong side of the road. We settle into a nice cafe tucked away in a corner and order a glass bottle of coke (still loving that). It's Thursday night and we just woke up from what was supposed to be a short nap but what turned into a five hour sleep. That means we didn't make it to MBK or Paragon, but we will get there yet. Tomorrow, we are heading on a tour of Ayutthaya (sp?)that brings us back to city on a boat with lunch included! On Saturday we're going to head out to the Weekend Market and to Wat Arun and more! We're both really excited to get going and are now fully caught up on sleep! So far we both love Bangkok and it's unique eclectic style with winding side streets and warm humid weather!!!

Thanks to everyone who has been writing, we miss you all and love hearing from you! Until next time, so long!

Alecs and Meg in Bangkok

HELLO HONG KONG

HONG KONG

Temperature: + 19 degrees celcius

Track of the day: Champagne Supanova, Oasis

Cathay Pacific is by far the best airline i've flown with, and it far surpases that of China Airlines. Alecs and I are now in Hong Kong airport waiting in terminal 4 for our flight to Bangkok which boards in a few minutes. The flight to Hong Kong was a long one, but as pleasant as an economy flight could have been. I caught up on a few movies including "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" which was sad but quite good. Also, I admittedly watched 101 Dalmations and The Lion King. Food was of airplane quality but still better than our last plane experience. We both had a couple catnaps but are pretty tired now. Mom - Alecs still wants to see Mall Cop, but says maybe he'll wait for it to come out on T.V. Thank you everyone for your comments, they mean a lot to us as we are still sad to be gone. We will be boarding quite soon and I still need to use the washroom before we go so I should be off. We are both doing well and next time we write we will be in Thailand.

Love and miss you All,

Alecs and Meg