My trip to Bangkok

It was time to bid a sad farewell to Laos and head to Bangkok and the next leg of my journey. There is a very convenient tourist bus from Paksae through the Lao-Thai border and all the way onto Ubon, a major city where one can catch the train or the bus to Bangkok. This bus was full with Lao, Thais, and Falangs alike, including two Canadians who felt it necessary to each bring a small Styrofoam cooler of beer along for the journey (I innocently asked if they had been fishing). You have to get off the bus at each side of the border to clear customs, and these two were almost left at the Thai side. They got back on the bus, huffing a bit, and saying "what a country, eh!!!" (no, I did not make that up).

We arrived uneventfully at the Ubon bus station, and several people and I took a tuktuk over to the train station because I was really looking forward to that sleeper car. Sadly, everything except third class was sold out, which then meant we had to take another tuk-tuk the 20 minutes back to the bus station where we started. And then I got charged 3 baht to use the squat toilet... and it was extra if I wanted toilet paper (I always carry my own, thank you very much). Grrr. :)

We took the "regular" bus for 300 Baht ($8.50) instead of the VIP bus. Both had air-conditioning, which was all I cared about. It turned out this bus also stopped along the way, but since no one was bringing on any chickens, sacks of grain, or any other large, bulky items, I could care less. After about an hour my seat mate left and I was able to stretch out a bit. We arrived at the bus station at 5:30 a.m., which was really far too early an hour to call on the Hargers', my surrogate family in Bangkok. I therefore decided that I was going to get there via public bus #77. I traipsed around for hours trying to find public bus #77. And all the time, all the helpful Thais who saw me traipsing around lugging my big backpack, suggested "Taxi". I am not frequently stubborn, but this was going to be one of those times. Until I finally realized that nothing was worth this amount of hassle and went and got a damn taxi. It took 10 minutes, cost me less than $2, and got me right to the Hargers' door. I hate it when I'm wrong :)

I have now met the nicest cats in Thailand, all 8 of them. 4 of them are female orange tabbies, which are somewhat rare in the US. They are all silky, clean, and friendly, and I feel like I'm in cat heaven at the moment. Things have changed a bit here: Bouquet is 18 today, and Jamie will turn 13 later this year. Jamie, Tap and I went shopping for a new camera. I was able to find the same camera at the same price I paid in the US (except made for the Japanese market), so I'm thrilled. We spent the better part of the morning wandering through various malls in downtown Bangkok. Wow... this has become a shopping culture, make no mistake. And the number of Thai males I saw with "product" in their hair was astonishing. Jamie and I saw the movie "300," based on a graphic novel about the stand of 300 Spartan warriors against a much larger Persian army. Too much gratuitous violence, but good for a couple hours of air-conditioned entertainment. Now back to kitty heaven :)