From Bangkok to Ayuthaya to Chiang Mai

I thought I had kicked the bedbugs, but I woke up Friday morning in Bangkok to find a few spots of blood on my sheet just below the pillow, a strong indicator that they had returned.  I got a bottle of rubbing alcohol, found a new place to stay for the night, and did the whole de-bedbugging procedure again.  I REALLY hope I've finally kicked them (or perhaps this was a new case).

That night, I met up with Jenn Franson, a friend from DC who is teaching in Bangkok for a few months while her fiance, Nate, is finishing up his final year of grad school.  Jenn and I walked around Chinatown for a while, sampling all sorts of delicious foods from the vendors lining the streets as part of some kind of vegetarian festival.  For the most part, we followed the approach to food selection I've adopted since arriving in Thailand: find the vendor with the most locals waiting in line, get in line, and then when I get to the front of the line, I point at whatever item I saw the most people ahead of me order.  In addition to leading me to some great food, it also reduces the likelihood of food poisoning (because locals wouldn't eat there if they had frequent problems) and allows me to see what other people paid so I don't get overcharged (though this is not that big a problem with most street vendors, since the prices are so low anyway).

After eating our fill, we decided to catch a cab to Vertigo, a bar on the roof of the Banyan Tree, the tallest building in Bangkok (59 floors), which also happens to be next to Bangkok's version of Central Park.  All in all, you'd think it would be a fairly well-known destination and cab drivers would know where it is, right?  Well, you, my friend, have clearly never been to Thailand.  I have never been anywhere where so many people are so terrible at directions.  Even when shown a map with street names in Thai characters, the majority of people I have approached for assistance haven't even been able to point out our approximate current location.  Despite the help of a couple friendly Thai students who knew where we wanted to go and spoke to cab drivers on our behalf, it took us three tries to find a driver who understood APPROXIMATELY how to get there.  When we finally arrived, we each enjoyed a delicious cocktail that cost more than my accommodations for the night, but the view was totally worth it:

The next morning, I took a bus/van to Ayuthaya, the former capital of Thailand, and spent most of the next two days exploring the Wats (temples) and markets by bicycle.  The "city" is an island surrounded by rivers and probably only about 4km by 4km, so it was easy to cover pretty much everything worth seeing in that time.

I'm now in Chiang Mai and will spend 3 nights here before going on a 3-day, 2-night trek, where I will stay with some indigenous tribes, hike, and go rafting and/or elephant-riding.  After the trek, I will return to Chiang Mai for 1 more night, during some large festival, then take a 2-day slow boat ride to Luang Prabang in Laos.  Pretty much everyone I've talked to has said Luang Prabang was their favorite city in Southeast Asia, so I'm looking forward to seeing it for myself.