Day 23 - Siem Reap to Bangkok

I woke up early this morning and went to a travel agent to secure a plane ticket to Bangkok leaving later in the day. I'd heard such horror stories about the bus ride (you know how I feel about busses) from Siem Reap to Thailand that I happily paid 5 times as much to fly. Time is also an issue at this point, as my trip is hurdling to its end.

I spent the rest of the morning shopping around the market and trying out a few cafes for either coffee or beer (it's happy hour somewhere, right?). I caught a motorbike out to the middle of nowhere, feeling like I was about to be waylaid the entire time, to the landmine museum. It's a very rudimentary couple of shacks and gardens set up to display a lot of information and a lot of old land mines, but is mostly impressive for being set up by a man who, as a child, was forced to plant mines for the Khmer Rouge and who now wants to raise awareness about how the mines are still a huge problem. The museum grounds also double as a school for children affected in some way by mines. I happily donated some money to support their cause, bought some museum t-shirts, and even bought some bracelets made by students at the school. Cute kids.

The last stop of the day in Siem Reap was the Butterfly Garden Bar, where you can order expensive and/or bad food and drinks while hundreds of butterflies fly around your head. The bar itself is really neat, but my food wasn't very good and my "house special" drink was remniscent of gasoline and lilac.

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Landing in Bangkok was first shocking because I hadn't seen any big planes at an airport in quite a while. I'd been in some big cities, but now I was in a BIG city and a major tourist destination. Bangkok isn't just on the beaten path, it's the place where all beaten and unbeaten paths lead.

On the bus to Khaosan Road, THE spot for backpackers in SE Asia, there were obvious first-timers in Asia (that deer in the headlights look), seasoned veterans (flip flops and asian beer shirts), and the occasional middle-aged man here for the sex scene. In Thailand, it seems, there's something for everyone. Khaosan Road is the sum of every tourist strip I've seen so far. Neon, bars, shops, restaurants, hotels, and of course banks $$$ at such an astounding density. I settled into my hotel and then found a seat at one of the bars to have a beer and to people watch for a while. There's a lot to take in here.