December 18, 2012
Current location: Siem Reap, Cambodia

I’m not keeping up on this as well as I’d hoped, but I’ve decided to be okay with that! Days are extremely long & busy, which is great, and managing/backing up my photos takes up the last bits of energy before I pass out for 5-6 hours of sleep.

I’d hoped to keep up on this so it was fresh and not just a recap… but here’s the start to my recap.

Wednesday-Thursday, 12/12/12-12/13/12
Travel Days
My big anti-jet lag plan was to stay up nearly all night Tuesday night, and sleep all day on the 20 hours of flights to Bangkok, ending up on Bangkok time. It basically worked! And as a bonus, I was unconscious for enough of those flights to make them bearable. Getting off a 12 hour flight, just to get straight onto a 7.5 hour one was pretty torturous, though. I actually sort of hoped for a flight delay out of Tokyo so I could have a break between flights, but the airlines chose that particular day to run all three of my connections back to back with no delays or issues!

After a ride in a hot pink taxi, I arrived at The Bangkok Centre Hotel at 1am Friday morning. Where did Thursday go?

Friday, 12/14/12
Bangkok, Thailand
This was my first day exploring a huge foreign city alone. I headed for Old Bangkok, figuring I couldn’t go wrong by starting with the big and most famous temples.

Grand Palace, Bangkok

Covered up to visit the temple, in 95+ degree temperatures.
Grand Palace, Bangkok

Grand Palace, Bangkok

Apparently, even monks go on group tours!

Long tail boat ride on the Chao Praya river


Wat Arun, my favorite temple in Bangkok. Yes, I climbed it!

The view from the top of Wat Arun

My first meal in Thailand ended up being the best. This set the highest bar possible for Phad Thai!

Dinner in Chinatown, Bangkok

Frog in a bag, Chinatown, Bangkok

Dinner in Chinatown, Bangkok

Dinner in Chinatown, Bangkok

Tuk Tuk ride home in Bangkok

Three days’ recap down, four more to catch up on!