bangkok.

riding through the busy streets of bangkok in the back of the airport taxi cab, bryn & india both stuck their heads out of the window, stupid grins plastered on their faces. the sky scrapers scratching the clear blue sky. the sidewalks, garbage free. the cleanliness, the polished surface that bangkok greeted the pair with after two months in india made them gape.

thanks for the ride, man.

bryn & india took advice from their friends tristan & liana who traveled through southeast asia earlier this year. they directed their cab to khao san road with zero expectations. what they found was a single stretch of city crowded so tightly with bars, food carts serving pad thai and crunchy spring rolls, skinny teens hawking 'cheap beer' and 'real ray bans, real leather wallet,' and wrinkled faces promising a ride to the best ping pong show you see. there were coffee houses and 7-elevens and alleys with tables covered in plastic jewelry. there were hookers and foreign families in cargo pants and dreaded druggies and really everything in between. khao san was a safe haven for crazies and cool kids.

bryn & india checked into the khao san palace hotel and took their first real showers in over a week. they felt like a million bux. there was a pool but they didn't use it because they were busy.

during their first day on the consumerist touristy loud party street of khao san, the two went a little crazy. stuffed themselves with spicy noodles and got three dollar pedicures and started to drink beer too early in the day. it was a sort of relief to be back in the society of a working city after so many weeks in the wonderful but dysfunctional mountains in northern india. that first night, they slept soundly on their firm bed to the sound of cnn buzzing on their television that hung in the corner.

khao san cracks off.

homie is subtle.

the next day, bryn & india braved the hot hot sun and walked along the river in search of a boat tour. after some friendly bartering, bryn's price won out with a tiny woman selling boat tours out of her riverside restaurant. so bryn & india joined a silent man in a motorized long tail boat who revved the engine and took them off into the middle of the wide stretch of water. after a few miles of the big city view on either side of them, the driver swung the boat down a tiny canal, and for the rest of an hour, bryn & india sailed past ancient looking homes on stilts, their front yards the calm tributaries to the river in bangkok. they saw a crocodile like water monitor lounging in the sun. they bought cans of cold beer from a woman selling iced beverages out of her small boat. they cut through the brown water at a quick pace, the greens of the surrounding jungles flashing past them.

what's up, rivah.

from her, we bought 3 beers.

the rest of the day was spent walking, past the city palace with blooming flowers in the front yard, through multiple markets where they shared a fresh fruit shake and bought ancient looking buddhist charms for pennies. after dinner that night, close to their hotel, the two continued their walking tour of the city, and strolled for hours in the dark, past the giant swing and the gaudy democracy monument, next to skinny canals with the surrounding sidewalks busy with the smell of dried fish and hot cooking oil.

the next day, bryn & india decided to try out a day on their own. after the small town trekking in india, the two were excited to be in a big city where they could separate and attempt to be independent travelers, even if for only an afternoon. bryn wandered around the neighborhood, picked out a thai restaurant with cushy chairs, and soaked up the sun with pad thai and a book. india walked towards the river and spent a few hours winding through the wide corridors of the bangkok national art gallery, where she discovered a variety of thai modern artists who painted stories that made her head spin.

in the late afternoon, after their private adventures, bryn & india met at an internet cafe and watched their first thai monsoon come in. the pounding rain came in heavy sheets, pouring hard for five minutes before reducing to a pitter patter, and then suddenly starting up hard again. finally, after the sun had set, the clouds disappeared and the sky opened up and the sidewalk shone with puddles and the football fans came out.

the world cup final was broadcast in bangkok at 1:30 am. but from the moment that night set in, the tourist center of khao san was booming with spanish and dutch fans. the population was split almost evenly down the middle into a pack of screaming orange and a crowd of chanting red jerseys. bryn & india, looking ever so gentile with their fair skin and strawberry hair, were mistaken twice for holland natives, and approached by fellow foreigners who would ask them questions in thickly accented dutch before realizing that bryn & india couldn't understand a thing. the two took the mistakes as a sign, and quickly donned orange tee shirts, painted their cheeks with the image of the dutch flag, and set off into the wild crowd cheering for the netherlands.

        

go holland.

yikes!

needless to say, their cheering was, unfortunately, quieted for good around four am when the spanish scored on the netherlands with minutes left in the game. still, their night sipping cold changs on the street in front of a huge projection screen showing the game was a memorable one.

the next day, after recovering from their late late night, bryn & india walked along the river to find wat pho, one of the most famous, and oldest, buddhist temples in bangkok. here, they saw their first giant buddha, an indescribably large reclining gold buddha, looking serene in his relaxation. the surrounding smaller temples were filled with thai women doing their daily prayers. as india slipped off her sandals and entered one of the smaller buildings, a woman turned to look at her and eased herself off of her knees gracefully, despite her older age. without speaking, she took india by the hand, and mimicked her own prayers as a lesson for india, teaching her how to light the many sticks of incense, touch them to her head over and over, place a blooming lotus flower in a vase at the base of the buddha, and then touching your head to the ground. after practicing, the woman seemed pleased with her pupils efforts, and india left the pho feeling elated.

        

big buddha / wat pho

got taught by a woman with kittens.

that evening, the two travelers joined a group of british and australian surfers all headed down to the very south of the country. krabi, and the beaches of thailand, awaited them.