Call Me, Maybe

There are many things we are going to miss about this city and place we call home.  One of them happened again last night during dinner.  While at a lovely "final meal" at one of our favorite local Vietnamese Beer Gardens (yes, it might just be the Vietnamese Hooters), we had the good luck of being placed with a server who spoke a little English.  After a few minutes of sizing us up and checking us out, she approached our table and tried out her English.  And, the floodgates were opened ...

Heidi had a new best friend!  For the 2 hours we were at dinner, our server basically pulled up a chair and shared her life story with Heidi.  The language barrier was huge so there was a lot of hand-miming, "choosing another word" and restating the question multiple ways.  By the end of the night, this young lady was beaming and excited and handed Heidi (a hungry Heidi who did not get much eating done) a piece of paper with her name and phone number on it.  Yes, this lovely girl asked Heidi on a "date" to drink coffee and practice her English.  The hardest part was taking the number and not having the correct words to communicate that in a matter of days, we will be gone from HCMC forever. 

"Hey, I just met you... and this is crazy.  But here's my number.  So call me, maybe."

The proof is in the paper.  Her name and number are being covered to protect her identity! 

Another Day in the BKK

Yesterday was our last full day in Bangkok. After many days of going and going and going, we actually kind of took it easy and enjoyed the day at a slower pace. Instead of planning out many things to do we just took the day as it came and waited to see where things would take us. In the end, our "wait it out and see what happens" approach offered us tons of great and awesome surprises like boat trips, Formula 1 Tuk Tuk rides, a delicious lunch, and a some great free live music.

We took a "cruise" up the river.  This cruise was actually a massive ferry boat where locals and tourists sat in small plastic chairs and listened to a woman chatter on about who-knows-what for a few hours.

On this boat you had the option to sit, stand, or even sit on the railing.  Safety first in Thailand.

This boat trip provided many opportunities to quote favorite lines from the great movie What About Bob?

We exited our cruise into Chinatown where we quickly got lost in very narrow alleys of many, many, many cheap (and in our opinion, unnecessary) goods.  Did you need a headband with a giant fake tomato or apple attached to it.  Done!

What is that?  Another version of a hot dog wrapped in a delicious crepe like batter.  Yes, please!  It is the Thai version of a corn dog.

Our Tuk Tuk driver raced us around China town.  That is until his tuk tuk broke and he unceremoniously kicked us out of the car with a map in hand.

Our day wrapped up with a fantastic surprise. As we were eating dinner at this tiny outdoor restaurant we heard what sounded like someone setting up music. After following the sound we came across this little outdoor beer garden that was packed with people enjoying some great covers of classic Thai songs, a warm evening, and cold beers. We ended up staying for two hours and making friends with the guy who played the symbols.

 

Sweat, Shop, Refresh

One of the reasons that we love Bangkok so much is that there seems to be a never-ending supply of really fun activities. Beyond the big tourist sights, the city offers so many opportunities to explore, relax, and enjoy. Yesterday we were able to blend hitting up some major tourist attractions with doing some things off the average tourist radar.  The majority of our day was spent checking out the merchandise at the crazy weekend markets, eating delicious Thai street food (oh, that woman is selling hotdogs wrapped in rice paper and then deep fried with a side of sweet and spicy chili dipping sauce -- We'll take 2), sweating and then stopping said sweat with a nice chilled beverage, and just enjoying all of the hustle and bustle that is BKK. 

After all that excitement and hubub, we spent some time in a beautiful, quiet park hanging with the locals and their swords (no - really, it was sword dancing practice hour).  Then, we hopped on some motorbike taxis and hit up a restaurant that has some of the biggest cocktails in town.  During these more quiet times, we realized that the reputation Bangkok has of being a big, dirty city is quite inaccurate.  Rather, just like anywhere else in the world, it is a city with some really great qualities and some areas for improvement.  We just choose to focus on the positive!

Thai iced tea for some reason is even better in Thailand.

The papaya salads are crazy spicy. Supposedly they are spicy so you sweat more and your body cools off.

Chicken on a stick!

We went to dinner at one of our favorite places to eat in Bangkok. We would be lying if we didn't say that we also went here because of the absurdly big cocktails.

When you partake in the "buy two get one free" promotion they bring all the beers out at once. This was a exciting and daunting task laid out in front of us but don't worry we made it through all of the beer.

Here is the view from our room on the 28th floor. Pretty pretty.

BKK Day 1

Back in Bangkok. We had a great impromptu vacation here over New Years so we decided to come back and wrap up our SE Asia travels in the city. This city is HUGE and provides tons of great activities, sights, smells, foods, and drinks. Despite having spent quality time here just six months ago, we have already seen new sights, burned our taste buds at new restaurants, and felt like we are experiencing BKK for the first time all over again. However, we are a little smug when we see other travelers struggling to figure out this mega-city that we "know" so well.

First we went to the Bangkok Art and Cultural Center. It was a free art exhibit space where we were literally the only people there enjoying the wonderful pieces. (We don't count the group of 10+ Chinese male tourist who spent their entire time in the ice cream shop)

Adam likes art.

Heidi really "got into the art" at the center. Haha...

Our favorite exhibit was the one that you could spell out any word that did not have more than five letters. We thought of many possibilities (some not appropriate for the museum) but settled on just spelling our names.

We did not get tired of seeing our names in the lights and actually took pride in the fact that they stayed up the entire time that we were there. Oh wait, but we were the only ones there our entire time in the space.

Trapped in a modern art piece. Scary!

After the Art Center we visited the home of the Thai silk king, Jim Thompson. No he does not live there anymore, otherwise there is no way that we would have been able to step foot on the grounds of his ridiculously large and lavish home.  According to our guide book this is referred to as "a place where we all would live if we had money, class, and style."

Part of the tour involved reading your Thai horoscope. We thought that this was all fun and games until we learned that Jim Thompson disappeared in Malaysia, never to be seen again, the exact year his Thai horoscope called for grave danger. Crap, Adam's grave danger year is only two years away.

After sights and lunch we checked out an antique car show. In true Bangkok style it was of course being held in a a mall.