It was a sad day we had to leave Cambodia for Thailand! After a nice scenic bus ride to the border we crossed immigration and thought we would have a nice drive to Bangkok. The 12 of us, crammed into a 12 passenger van argued with 2 drivers if there was room for an extra and finally started a harrowing drive to Bangkok. We truly think our driver was crazy!! Yes we know we survived India driving but they all drive crazy and it is a strange system that works. This guy was just erratic and I am sure he was scaring other people on the road. 140 km/hr while jammed into a van is scary, when he was asked to slow down he went faster. Then when his boss was called he was ready to leave us on the side of the road! Luckily he calmed down enough to get us to Bangkok in one piece, but there was a few times I was sure things were going to end that day.

So our first impression of Thailand was not a good one and Bangkok didn't help either. The area we were staying in had more whities than Thai's and partying was the thing to do. To get away we spent our first day extremely westernized. We took the sky train to the mall, checked out the designer stores, went for McDonalds and saw a movie. It kind of felt like home except they play the national anthem and have a tribute to the king before the movie starts.

After our western day we were feeling a bit guilty so we headed out on a tour to the River Kwai. Again I was reminded why we don't go on day tours promoted by the hotels. After being shuffled from one van to another we were on the road to the river. We neglected to realize that the drive was 2 hours. We arrived at the river had 20 min at the museum and 20 min at the bridge. I guess I should back up and explain about the river Kwai. Back in WW2 the prisoners of war (mostly Aussies) were forced to assist with bridge and railroad building. Due to the conditions and bombings a lot of men died especially on the bridge over the River Kwai.

After the bridge we hoped on the train to see the Thai scenery. It was gorgeous with green hills and rice paddies everywhere. The rest of the tour consisted of a very poor waterfall, an okay lunch and a 3 hour drive back to Bangkok.

Our final day in Bangkok we decided to find a hotel that would let us use their swimming pool as we needed to work on our tans. Funny enough during our relaxing afternoon a photo shoot started up right beside us. All we can say is that Dave was loving it. He became a creeper and took photos of the photo shoot and the Thai girls even after he was told he wasn't allowed!

We left Bangkok that evening on the night train for the Lao border. We were happy to leave Bangkok!