Oh, how I love Bangkok. Her smell, her counterfeit goods, her street markets and her crazy tuk-tuk drivers. There is no more wonderful city than Bangkok. She is my home away from home. She is my mistress. And if I keep on this current pace visiting her so frequently, the Thai people might make me a permanent citizen.

Our first day in Bangkok was a combination of shopping, temples, embassy visits, travel booking and the obligatory meal (or three) of banana pancakes.

As my previous entry stated, our “original” plan was to fly from Bangkok to Burma (Myanmar) on our first day and start our holiday there. As we should have known, getting a visa in Bangkok was not as easy as we thought. We took a crazy tuk-tuk drive (200 Baht) through town during rush hour (a.k.a., anytime) only to find a line nearly stretching out the door when we arrived. If we had gone to the embassy first thing in the morning we would have been set. It happens to be that the Myanmar embassy isn’t open on weekends -- or during the lunch hour(s), early in the morning, or past 4:30 in the evening. We had to make some quick modifications of our travel plans.

Yet again, Myanmar had eluded me (if only for a week).

We were beat. And the only thing to help make us feel better was a trip to Pantip Plaza – the computer shopping center of SE Asia. This is where computer geeks like myself make their annual pilgrimage. It is a quest in search of cheap computer parts, pirate software and DVD movies. Having stayed in the hotel next door on a previous trip to Bangkok, I knew of a respectable place to get a massage nearby. After 24 hours on a plane and 12 hours in Bangkok, both of us needed it.

Back on Kosan Road (backpacker’s paradise), we booked a night-train ticket out of Bangkok, got manicures and I enjoyed a $2.50 hair cut. Chris would have joined me in the hair cut, but decided against in on account of he has no hair.

Our plan was now to forget about Myanmar and for the moment get out of the city. We booked two sleeper class tickets on the night-train to Nong Khai – on the Thai/Lao border to the north. It was a 12 hour train ride that took us just under 500km away from the chaos of Bangkok. At 588 Baht ($15), this was a very good way to travel. We got a good night sleep in our upper bunks and woke to an egg and toast breakfast as we pulled into the train station.

From the train station, we grabbed a tuk-tuk to the Thai boarder. The tuk-tuk drivers try to convince you that you should stop at one of the various commission-based Visa shops, which basically charge you an extra $20 to give you the same paperwork you can get at the Lao immigration office yourself. We elected not to donate that money to the Thai people. When we got to the Thai Entry/Exit point we had our passports stamped with an exit visa and wandered over to a waiting bus (20 Baht/fifty-cents) that took us across the Friendship Bridge into Lao.

The bus stopped at the Lao Customs point where we found the Lao visa process to be very easy. The entire process took about an hour and only cost us $31. While I arranged our tuk-tuk into Vientiane, Lao’s capital city, Chris paid 5 Baht to experience his first squat toilet. I think I speak for us all when I say there is no chance of Disney World putting in any attractions based on the fun that an Asian squat toilet can bring. In fact, the look on Chris’s face spoke worlds to his experience. I’ll try to post that picture later.

The tuk-tuk into the bus station cost 150 Baht for the both of us. When we stopped at the bus station we found the public bus that was going to Vang Viang. Tickets were 10,000 Lao Kip. We had no idea how much that cost at the time. Turns out it’s only $1 USD.

In a matter of 48 hours, Chris and I managed to fly 8,000 miles, take a half-dozen tuk-tuk and taxi rides through Bangkok, ride a night-train for 12 hours, take another tuk-tuk, a bus, a Songtheaw, and yet another bus. I’m not sure how far we traveled in that period of time, but let me tell you … we were ready to relax. Vang Viang, Lao would be the perfect place for such activities.