After Bangkok

So Dave wrote about our first days in Bangkok so you can go to his blog at hotwatertravels.blogspot.com and see some photos and hear about that. I am going to write about what happened next. But first let me just say the food is amazing. We have not had a bad meal yet. I always liked Thai food but now I really am impressed. I also like the weather (hot and humid) and the people are very laid back and calm. Enough of the generalities.

So we took the night VIP bus from Bangkok to Lamprang. It left at 8:00pm. Seats recline, they bring you water and snacks, there's a nice lady in a uniform waiting on you, (They love uniforms here.), its as comfortable as a bus can get. I want to sleep but I can't so I read and then finally start to doze off. Of course once I am some what asleep we stop and the nice lady says we should get off to eat. Everyone gets off the bus. Dave wakes up and we decide we should do what the lady says. Anika is so asleep we don't want to wake her. So we leave her on the bus. We get off and wander the terminal in a stupor. It is small so this take about five minutes. We then turn around to get back on the bus. The bus is gone. In its place are four other buses saying they are going to the same place but none of them are our bus. It feels like a Twilight zone episode. Our kid is on the bus. We left our kid on the bus and the bus is gone. We are dazed, its 1:00 am and no one speaks English. We both just keep repeating that we can't believe this is happening and the bus has to come back, but I am feeling like the worst parent on the planet. Finally we figure out the bus went to get gas and us coming back. Then I go into "oh my god what if she wakes up and we aren't there" mode. Finally the bus comes back and we get on and Anika has slept through the whole thing. If any one knows our "boat ride from hell" story from one of our many Mexico trips, where Anika slept through the scariest boat ride ever, they know we should not have been surprised about this. We are delirious with laughter, maybe hysterical is a better word as we recover from the scare.

We arrive at the Riverside Hotel in Lamprang at 4:30am. Luckily the gate is open but not so lucky no one is awake. So we wait until 7:00, watch the sun rise over the river. When the restaurant opens we eat breakfast and then we need to wait to check in to our room, dozing and reading, taking a walk around the neighborhood, until 11:45 when we get to our room and collapse in our beds. No more night buses is all I can say and hope.

We have been here two days now and it is much nicer for us than Bangkok. The town is manageable for walking and exploring. Today we went out of town to the Elephant Conservation Center. Elephants have been revered in this part of the world for centuries. In Sri Lanka they have been protected since the 12th century, just to give you an idea. But due to habitat destruction and the banning of logging ( the main work they did ) they are very endangered. This center does education and breading, has a hospital and gives tours. We saw a demonstration of how the elephants and their mahouts/trainers work together, took a ride (one of my dreams fulfilled), fed them, saw a brand new baby and just watched them all doing their thing. It was great. For me the highlight of the trip so far, besides the food. Maybe photos next time. We haven't been gone a week yet (Hawaii doesn't count) and it feels like we have been here a long time. Tomorrow I hope to get my first Thai massage and see the largest teak structure in the world.