DC to Denver to Bangkok

I recently made the difficult decision to leave DC, the place where I have spent the last 6 years. There is lots I love about DC, but it felt like it was time to go. Leaving friends and co-workers was difficult, but wonderful inventions like the information superhighway and airplanes make these the people not so far away... Speaking of difficult decisions, this major decision forced me to make another much easier decision... get my travel on while I have the chance! SE Asia it is!

I drove out of DC at noon on September 30 and arrived back in Colorado Springs around 10 p.m. on October 1. Driving 1,750 miles over a day and half is not fun, but there were no snags, so I consider myself lucky. I spent a couple days in the Springs and Sunday in Denver for the Broncos game before heading to DIA first thing Monday morning. Dad drove mom and I to the airport before the sun came up on Monday... oh wait, mom is coming?! I failed to explain...

During my last weekend in DC I alerted my family that I was taking off to SE Asia for the rest of October. Getting little enthusiasm from the parent gallery, I essentially invited/dared my mom to come with me. Little did I know she would bite! A week in advance I booked my mother's ticket to join me for the first part of my trip. She will be with me for Bangkok, Siem Reap (Angkor Wat), Cambodia and Hanoi/Halong Bay, Vietnam, before flying back to the states. Let me just tell you my retired second-grade school teacher mother does not have an ounce of spontaneity in her blood... I guess she proved me wrong (I also think she surprised herself).

Ok, back to the trip... the flight from DEN > LAX > TOYKO > BANGKOK was long and uneventful. Tacking on another 10,000 miles to my cross country trip within a week makes me think I should just finish a quick around the world journey while I am at it! The highlight of the trip was a 5 hour layover in LA where my brother picked me up and took me to lunch at Manhattan Beach. It sure beat the hell out of sitting at dumpy LAX. We arrived in Bangkok around 11pm, with just enough time to catch the final train into the city.

Our first day in Bangkok, I got mom started right lowering expectations of how fettyfun travels. Lots of walking and eating at obscure places (haha). We walked about 25 minutes to the main sites in the city, on the way we stopped for some tasty bfast soup featuring noodles and pork. We also ventured through a beautiful garden. After that we visited the amazing Wat Pho temple, home of some amazing architecture and a giant reclining Buddha. We followed that up with a visit to the nearby Wat Phra Kaew and Grand Palace. Again, these were amazing sites. When you see images of Thailand aside from the beaches and elephants, these temples are what I picture. After our temple visits and a downpour of rain we were starved and found a great stall by the river for some Phad Thai and drunken noodles. Mom claimed it was the best she ever had!

After a quick rest, we ventured out for the evening, via the metro and our two feet, to a cool rooftop bar recommended by Thai expert Laura H. Great views of the city and overpriced drinks and apps really were a great ending to our first night in Bangkok.

The next day we visited a nearby temple (Wat Traimit) with an awesome golden Buddha and wandered around Chinatown, the neighborhood we were staying in. Mom's favorite part about getting around Bangkok streets and sidewalks were the motos, they were all pretty much out to get her! That afternoon we took a taxi (another mom favorite) to a Thai cooking class in the old part of town. Mom and I were the only students that afternoon and really enjoyed the private class, first visiting a local market (via tuk-tuk, again a transportation favorite of moms) and buying provisions, before making green curry paste, tom yum soup, green curry chicken, Phad Thai and sticky rice with mangoes. A long walk home to work off our massive meal, ensured that we were down for the count that night.

Right now we are waiting at the airport to get to Cambodia... We have had multiple cancelled flights to Siem Reap, but are sure we will get there early this evening. More to come...