Bye Bye Bangkok, Hello Hanoi

Last day in Bangkok. Yesterday we visited the palace, which was beautiful but crowded. Furthermore, we had to wear sweaty, borrowed, clothes to cover our indecent Western bodies whilst on the palace grounds. After an hour or so on the unbearably hot city streets we managed to find a little vegetarian thai restaurant that had come highly recommended from several people. It was heaven. By far the best Thai food either of us had ever had, let alone vegetarian. It was, however, buried in some random alley, complete with half-dead animals deficating EVERYWHERE.

Finally, we took a trip to Khaosan Road -hectic road from the movie "the Beach"- which was under quarantine for an H1N1 outbreak. We didn't venture too far down the road due in part to the fact that we didn't have any masks (which are worn by the large majority of Thai people).

On to Hanoi, Vietnam tonight. We don't know where we are staying yet so we will update whenever possible.

And we are having difficulty uploading our pictures to the computers over here but we will try again in Vietnam.

Bye for now.

Joe and Nicole

Bangkok

Hello from Bangkok. We have safely arrived in Bangkok (not without some tears). First day was a whirlwind involving last minute ticket purchases just so we could leave Calgary (poor planning on my part-joe). Over 20 hours of travel time left us both pretty wiped. However, the guesthouse in Bangkok is amazing and indiscribable ( www.suk11.com ); we will try to attach pictures in the future. First night involved dead dogs wrapped in newspaper on the street, middle aged North American men with all kinds of prostitutes and street meat galore. We recieved numerous offers to attend "ping pong" shows which prompeted Nicole to ask "why would we want to go watch people play ping pong?" Ha. Look it up if you are also in the dark. Going to the Palace of the Emerald Buddha today (a trip requiring train, bus and boat), future plans unknown.

Bye for now.

Joe and Nicole

South East Asia

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
-Robert Frost