Ruth and Jefrey came over for a vacation and we sure had a blast. The jam-packed nine-day holiday ended all too soon; I hope I get to see more of my friends as often as I want. Come to think of it, who else but really good friends would spend for a quick break and hop on a plane to Bangkok just to see me? I’m sure it wasn’t the elephant show, the magnificent temples, the Songkran festival, the really cheap clothes, the river cruise, the beach or the exotic cuisine that drove them here. Right, guys? Guys?

Saturday morning at 1AM I practically dashed to the airport to fetch Ruth and Jeff. I was very excited to see them again and wanted to make them feel very welcome so when the passengers started pouring out from the arrivals section, I hailed this over my head for them to see and find me:

Several people were looking in my direction and reading the poster with curious expressions on their faces, probably thinking whether we were members of a cult or something. The answer is yes.

In a nutshell, and because I’m too lazy to document everything in detail, here’s what we squeezed into our short holiday:

- toured a number of temples

- talked and joked and made fun of people - including ourselves

- cruised the Chao Phraya river and had dinner at the top deck of a floating resto

- devoured a lot of Thai food and prayed we won’t get hemorrhoids (or in Jeni’s words: cauliflower anus)

- got caked on the face and splashed with water in Khao San during the Songkran festival

- enjoyed world-class jazz and acoustic music at the cozy Brown Sugar

- fed the pigeons at the park and got “peck marks” all over our arms

- walked around Patpong, Bangkok’s red light district, and got hundreds of offers to watch the naughty “Pingpong shows” (the expression on Ruth’s face was priceless)

- tried Lebanese cuisine and decided the lamb made us very sleepy

- fed an elephant prancing about in Sukhumvit road

- braved the heat and shopped for bargains in the famous Chatuchak market. Twice.

- went to Jim Thompson’s house museum and listened to conspiracy theories about his disappearance (my favorite was that he stepped on a vortex and got teleported to the year 2433, where he was trampled by a giant troll by the name of Juno– my own theory)

- saw the entire Bangkok skyline from the tallest building in Thailand

- watched a boring crocodile show (no man-eating happened- we were shortchanged!)

- watched some elephants in Samphran do some amazing acrobatics, soccer and even role-playing 

- watched a magic show where the magician’s assistant, a ladyboy, showed complete nonchalance and boredom it was too hilarious

- had coffee and found a freaking little roach inside my cup (I didn’t find out about it until I had my last sip, whereupon I choked and gagged… and died…)

- introduced Ruth and Jeff to my favorite ice cream flavor – Rum Raisin

- went to the beach in Pattaya and saw nice waters but no beautiful ladies

- had fresh Japanese food in an authentic Jap resto where we asked the waitresses to take our picture but got a quizzical look on their faces instead, like they’ve never heard of such a ridiculous idea before

Read Ruth’s blog about our escapade here. Will post pictures soon!