Bangkok in the rain and traffic.

After landing an hour late, we finally made it to the hotel by 2 am. After doing the days washing we turned in about 0230, and got up at 800 to head for breakfast.

 

Since we'd all been to Bangkok many times, and have seen all the tourist things, we let it up to Rhonda to pick something to do since she's only been here once. Tour the town. Duh.

 

We rented a car/driver and had him take us to the MBK mall to check out the handicrafts. There's a full floor of all the local stuff, and we'd all bought elephant carvings last trip. This time it was easier, a small backpack and some "one size fits all" Thai decorated (that means elephants, and more elephants) pants.

 

After that quick round of shopping we headed over to the reclining Buddha, one of the sights Rhonda missed last trip. I (Augie) decided to go geocaching because there were a few within a 1/2 mile of the entrance to the temple. They went in, A went off.

 

I got about a 1/4 mile before it started raining. Then raining some more, then downright pouring buckets. I had made it half way to the RamaIV statue cache, and ran the rest of the way to get shelter under the statues gazebo. I shared it with a man who had built a home under the dome behind the statute. It rained too hard to move for over a 1/2 hour, an when it finally let up to a drizzle, I found the cache, and headed back because I was running out of time. Soaked thoroughly, I kind of scraped the water off and waited for the sun to dry me as I walked back.

 

I met up with the group and the decision was made to go to "cabbages and condoms" a restaurant somewhere in Bangkok. We started out without a clue about where it is except it was last reported to be near the Landmark hotel. The driver was having a hard time understanding where we wanted to go since he had no idea that such a restaurant existed. Neither did I, and I'll direct you to their website rather than trying to explain it. A picture is worth a thousand words, and several pictures maybe too many words.

 

We decided the Landmark was the place to go and we'd figure it out from there.

 

But the Buddha was reclining in the temple instead of doing his job in our car. Once we were picked up, we were crawling along, literally. In an hour and a half we moved a little more than a mile. We hit a world personal best for me... a 19 minute red traffic light with no traffic accident involved. Followed by several 10 minute lights, a lot of 5 minute lights, and no "short" lights, except in our direction. When we got a green, it didn't even last 30 seconds. Finally we got to an area where the traffic was lighter, and we made the last 10 miles in about an hour.

 

This is incredible. The driver told us that it was like this every day. EVERY day. 11 miles in 3 hours, and not a blocking accident is sight. How does anyone stand it?

 

The "Cabbages and Condoms" restaurant is as you might guess is a condom themed restaurant. The pictures will clear up the mystery. Food was typical Thai/Chinese good when you're hungry but not "great." We found it by asking the concierge at the Landmark who directed us to it.

After the meal, we took another long short ride, another hour to cover about 20 miles to our hotel next to the airport.

 

By the time we were packed and ready to go to sleep, it was only a few hours to our 0330 wake up call.