One night in Bangkok...is not enough

The city of Angels got us - and it got us right.

We arrived in the Thai capital last Saturday after having said goodbye to Chakkarat and our new friends there. The second we had checked in to our guesthouse at the heart of touristic Bangkok (yes, Khao San Road captured us), the city got flooded by a massive thunderstorm - just like every day we spent there. There seems to be hardly any drainage system so the water stayed where it was, in the streets. Therefore, in order to get somewhere, you had to wade right through - not so bad at the temperatures in BKK if it wasn't for the bugs, left overs of food, shoes, chairs or UFOs (unidentified floating objects) that pass by your bare feet and that you just can't ignore, however hard you try.
Together with Peter and Mameow we wandered a nightmarket at the foot of King Rama the firsts monument where we had great custom made noodle soup (very different from Chinese style!), checked out Khao San and its bars at night a couple of times, shopped around BKKs greatest shopping malls at Siam for a whole day, had a very short rocking
experience at the Hard Rock Cafe, spend some time in the biggest and most luxurious hospital I have ever seen (Mameow's new workingplace), met Mameow's brother and his girlfriend on Peter's last night dinner/party and witnessed male showing off at its best when Peter and he started arm-wrestling (let's just say it wasn't the proudest of all Niehoff-days...) - and then it was time for Peter to go back to Germany and time for Mameow to go back to work, and suddenly it was only the two of us again. We needed a plan.

Family Reunion

 

Khao San is a safe place...

After a day of just short walks around the area and a lot of time in front of the computer and Lonely Planet guidebooks we had our plan. So the next day, we continued exploring BKK some more.
 

Blending in with the locals

We had a great walk through the old part of BKK, where most of the major sights that BKK has to offer (next to its fantastic every day craze that is awesome to witness and be part of just as it is) can be found. We visited a couple of wats (temples) and were part of some kind of Buddhist worship in one of them, got into history a little at the democracy monument and the October 14 memorial, we saw the grand palace of the king and walked around the great temple of the Emerald Buddha (that is actually made of jade), went "window"-shopping on the amulet market, walked along the little alleyways and tiny shops at the Chao Phraya riverside, and enjoyed the sunset over the peoples park before we had a memorable last night out in BKK.

In front of the Grand Palace

Very early the next day, we left town and were on our way to Cambodia, home to some of the most spectacular temples in the world. And that is where we are headed - Angkor.