After much traveling, we arrived in Bangkok on the 2nd of August and headed straight to Koh Sahn Road. Sadly, as I wasn't feeling much better, we caught up on some zzz's and headed out the next morning to find a doctor. Many wrong turns and cab rides later, we found a doc that specifically treated travelers and he did the whole examination thing. He determined I should go to the hospital to have blood tests done as he could not pinpoint the problem. Although the Dr. still wasn't sure what wrong after the blood test was completed, he thought I should be admitted and after much debate I agreed. After another blood test was performed, the nurse informed me they had found malaria. Probably got it in Goa... oh, Inida. I was glad to finally know what was wrong so I could receive treatment and move on with the trip. Lindsay spent the next several days with me in the hospital where we enjoyed cable television and comfy sleeping arrangements. Luckily, during all of this she was able to have a few beers with a new friend on her birthday!

After leaving the hospital we found a nice place to stay, naming the man at the front desk "Thai Dad" because every time we were heading out he said, "Watch your wallet! Have fun." Of course it's better to hear with the Thai accent and see him with the fanny pack but either way we ended up staying in Bangkok the next 8 days with Thai Dad. We walked around the palace grounds, went to a Mother's Day/Queen's birthday festival and saw lots of Buddhist temples. There were fireworks, traditional dancing and tons of great street food at the festival. Also, oddly enough, miniature rabbits with little costumes were part of the street decoration. A weekend market we went to was the most massive labyrinth of clothes and home goods we had ever seen. Making sense of the direction those walkways curved would take an experienced marketer and we ended up looping around the same area for most of the time we were there. On a bike ride through the country we got to stop and have a home cooked lunch on the river. We also went to a night market and got to see some live entertainment in the form of lip syncing and dancing to Lady Gaga. We had to have ourselves a Thai massage and were very pleased with the experience, being particularly stuck on their much more liberal massaging techniques. We got to head back to Koh Sahn Road on our last night for a long night out with some new friends and in the morning we were off to the airport to head to Vietnam.

Cheers,
Michelle