One Night in Bangkok....

OK, two nights and two days in Bangkok- but for some reason I really can't resist the urge to use cheesy songs as blog post titles! And "One Night in Bangkok" is just too perfect!!!! Yes, we have been singing it...A LOT.
So, we got back in from our island paradise two nights ago on a late bus. We practically ran to a hotel room and blasted the air conditioner. Have I mentioned it is teeny bit hot here? Oh my goodness!!!
Yesterday we spent a few hours ( as much as we could tolerate) at the Royal Palace and Wat, (a.k.a. temple). It was quite a sight to see- tons and tons of gold and mirrored tiles covering the pointy temples, and huge monkey-like statues everywhere. We saw the coveted Emerald Buddha- a Buddha figure actually made entirely of jade and quite stunning. I was told by a traveler along the way that the Bangkok Palace is not to be missed, and I can see why. It is the most flamboyant and fabulous group of temples and structures I have ever seen! I only wish that Matt and I weren't basically delirious from the heat by the end of it all. We were laughing at the sheer amount of sweat one human can produce in just a few moments! And the great part is, the sweat does not really dry because it is so humid. Yuck! I told Matt, as we were giggling towards the end, that being at the Palace on such a day was like walking inside the world's most intricate and beautiful oven. Every once in a while a slightly less hot breeze would flow through, and I said that was when somebody opened the oven door to see if we done baking yet!
Well, a few hours into it, we were done baking for sure. We retreated back to our little cooler/hotel room. Usually fans are just fine to beat the heat- both Matt and I are not that into air conditioning. But Bangkok is definitely an exception!
Later in the evening, after a much needed rainstorm, we ventured out into the somewhat cooler atmosphere. We walked the tourist beat- and how can I explain this? As Matt says, it is one of the most bizarre places we have ever been. The streets are a strange fusion of West and East- with Jim Morrison and Obama t-shirts for sale behind noodle stands and Thai ladies inviting you into their bars for "the best and cheapest cocktails". There was a McDonald's and even a Starbucks....next to Thai tailor shops and ads for Thai boxing... you get the picture. Just weird!
Kinda like a mini- Asian Vegas or something? It was pretty cool, though- definitely fun to watch all the interactions and all the action on the streets. The best part was we both felt completely safe- there was a decent police presence and an overall peaceful feeling amongst the tourists and the Thais.
So, today wraps up our time in Thailand. Seems like it has flown by! I don't really have too many fun quotes or ads this time, since most of this leg of the journey was spent snoozing on the beach. I do think, however, that I forgot to tell you about a crucial detail of our trip. At the first beach- Railey-the one with the soaring cliffs and the pool- we were lucky enough to catch some Thai boxing at a local bar. It was mostly just a stunt to get people to come to the bar, of course- and it worked! We saw a couple rounds of legitimate Thai boxing until it turned into a Thai version of WWF and the winner was "knocked out". The best part about the whole thing was the MC- he was hilarious!!!! He had all kinds of interesting commentary, and it got funnier and more frantic as the fight was heating up. One of the boxers was wearing blue shorts and one red, so you were supposed to decide and root for the one you wanted. At one point, when things got really "hectic", the MC said:
'Oh my Goooood, oh my goooood....red or blue? red or blue?"
Maybe you had to be there? But we were laughing pretty hard, and have repeated that quote over and over. Somehow it just sums up the whole bizarre and wonderful experience of Thailand.
Tonight we head to Beijing. It is hard to believe we are already on our final country. Stay tuned for updates from China! I hear there is some heavy censoring of the internet over there, so if you don't hear from me, you know why....