Day 32 Choo Choo Ride and the City of Angels

So when I left you I was about to do my train trip. I quickly found my car and seat number and started to settle in for my night adventure. Two Germans joined me in the adjoining seat set and across the aisle from me two 19 year old Brits completed our little corner cluster. The guys Zack and Chris were both on a gap year (for those of you not familiar, the Brits often take a year off when they are young to explore either options or do travel) So they had been trekking in the hills above Chiang Mai. They had a great trip and gave me some ideas for future travel endeavors...Got that Paul

After 3 hours of rapping about this and that we decided to call it a night. I then watched W on my laptop...Not such a great film, but the characters who played the parts looked so much like the real players. Oh yea I forgot, they came by with a great menu around 6:15 and we could get served anytime we wanted. Not bad for a 20.00 dollar ticket for a 13 hour ride, dinner and breakfast included. Around 9Pm they turned down our beds for the night and it was crawling into a cool nest to sleep...As many of you know, vehicle in motion represents David sleeping so no sooner did I lay down then I conked out for the night. In no time we were being served breakfast and I arrived in Bangkok, the city of Angels and capital of Thailand. I got a tuk tuk right away but of course he had no clue how to get to the hotel...They all say yea yea yea until you are out of the parking lot and then they realize that they have no clue where the hotel is. So a call to the hotel and me using a map we finally arrived at the hotel...Does this sound a little like New York cab drivers? So I got checked in, had a lovely breakfast and headed off for my day in town. The have a modern subway and skytrain system here so the city is really easy to get around. I had to stop at a store to pick up something we needed in NYC. I found the Au Bon Pain...Now I add this one to my list of those that I know of around the world. Kind of just lazed around the city for the day and then took a short nap and then off to Curries and More for dinner. I had a great curry dish(HOT as blazes..ouch) and then walked home...Oh yea, I found America while I was here, well at least our embassy compound (note this Rick, I know you will be there next week) , not far from the restaurant I had just eaten. I was going to take a picture of the flag but figured you all knew what it looked like anyway.

So that is the update everyone. I am off to a new country tomorrow, Malaysia, in part as I have to leave Thailand as my visa is about to run out and then they will start to fine me for each day I overstay. So my next communication will come to you from Malaysia.