Bangkok, Thailand

Our first stop in Southeast Asia did not disappoint. The large city of Bangkok offered a nice mix of both old and new. We ended up spending an extra day or two in a very nice hotel to plan some of our trip and for Mitch to recover from a cold.

One thing we wanted to see was a traditional Thai kickboxing match, or Muay Thai. It was a lot of fun although the tourist prices were quite a bit higher than the locals gambling in the crowd. It was interesting to see their culture at these fights with warm-up dances prior to each fight and a small band that played a rhythmic beat that the fighters would often move to. The fighters were required to be over 100lbs and 15 years old, although many seemed to barely meet this requirement. Out of the 7 fights we saw, 4 of the fighters were carried off on a stretcher!

We also went to see some of the Buddhist temples, the 146 meter long reclining Buddha and the Grand Palace, but skipped going inside the palace due to the long lines. The King of Thailand recently passed away 3 months ago after reigning 70 years which explained the huge crowds dressed in black coming to morn him at the Palace and the huge pictures of the King decorated with flowers everywhere we looked in Bangkok.

Lastly we got a taste of the "Hangover Part 2" with a visit to Soi Cowboy, an entertaining/frightening tuk tuk ride, and a glimpse at a few "lady boys".

Oh and as much as we liked the city, we could do without the traffic. Our worst Uber ride was less than 9 miles which took an hour and forty minutes!Read more