The train trip back to Bangkok from Chiang Mi was wonderful. I got a good nights sleep in the sleeper car. The Thai culture is very friendly and kind, but the differences can get frustrating. We at lunch in Bang Kuntheon at Angnom's. It was real authentic Thai food. We went shopping at Martco and I got 2 t-shirts for $2 each. It was like shopping at a Walmart. We stayed the night in Bangbon and watched two movies, Executive Decision and Speed.
We took a taxi to the hotel that our friends, Alan and Fay Bretzke, were going to arrive at. They were flying in from Australia. Since it was so expensive, we decided to stay at a place nearby for about 1/5 the price. It was called The White Lodge Hotel (350 Baght/night). It had airconditioning and a nice clean bathroom. The only problem was the AC got too cold. While we were waiting for them to arrive we went shopping in a huge mall down the street called MBK Center, also known as Mahboonkrong or Mabunkrong. It is an enormous marble shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand. At eight stories high and 330 metres long, with 2,500 shops. This shopping mall used to be one of the biggest malls in Asia, when it first founded in 1985. It is particularly well known for its many vendors of mobile phones and other electronics, as well as furniture stores. We ate dinner at "Wendy's". We went back to the room after my foot started to hurt. We found some old beer boxes in the alley to pack our souveginers in and prepared them to mail home.
The Bretzke's arrived at 3:00 am and checked in at the Asia Bangkok Hotel. We went on a small tour
with them that went to a tailor and a gem factory and stopped at Wat Chakrawat so we could see the crocodiles in the moat. It was
interesting to see how they make rings and cut rubies. After
that we stopped at a huge outdoor market. There was a street
vendor pushing his cart of fried bugs and worms. We had lunch at a nicer
restaurant with them. I bought a couple rubber geckos, That evening we went shopping again
at the indoor mall. I bought a wallet made of stingray skin
and an antique hand made pillow case that had an elephant
sewn out of glass beads on it (paid 600B ). We said by to the Bretzkes at their hotel.
