Goodbye Vietnam, Hello Bangkok!

We made it-- we're in Bangkok again. After 65 fantastic days in Vietnam, a place where we had so many good times, saw so many amazing places, and met so many awesome people, we're pretty sad to leave. Just as we were really getting used to the Vietnamese way of life, the language, the food, it's time to trade it all in for something new. Yarrr visas....

And it's definitely strange getting back in a place that's still quite familiar even after two years of being away. We arrived late last night, on a plane ride that took less time than the bus trip to the Hanoi airport. One of the nice things about Bangkok though-- polluted and sticky and hot as it is, you can show up at 12:30am without a place to stay and still have a million rooms to choose from. (In Hanoi you'd be pounding on the metal shutters of the closed hotel lobbies, waking up the staff who sleep in the lobby!) But it also means we're back to the stuff we forgot about-- teeny, basic rooms with shared toilets (though I swear there was toilet paper in the bathrooms the last time we were here!) Ew.

Ah, we'll get used to it. There's plenty to be excited about-- great food, smiling people, those fabulous beaches down south, and today, Chatuchak Market. It's the mother of all markets, it only goes on the weekends, and the stalls and the bargains go on forever. Now if only we could remember how the bus system works again....