Catching Up

Bangkok:
Was there for 2 days...during the most violent of the protests. Funny thing is, the majority of the city was out celebrating and throwing buckets of water on us and a few people were out wearing red shirts...and well, mainly standing around.

First night: Went to the night bazaar...which had everything from new age decorative stores...but at maybe 1/10th the price. I once again, failed at negotiating... but got 2 awesome candle holders for US$ 1.50 each and a "tiffany's" bracelet for US$15. There was some food...but mainly deep fried and kinda spicy... but alcoholic drinks were about $1 ;)

From SG, Bangkok + Rawa

Second day: we saw temples, or Wats. Words and even pictures can't describe how incredibly shiny and closely positioned these Wats were. We really wanted to add the sparklies on all the temples to emphasize the shinyness and take away from the overexposure on our cameras...but only found out later that that was a mode available on Darris's camera. Here's an attempt at showing the shiny:

From SG, Bangkok + Rawa

more available here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lele.yu/SGBangkokRawa#

The water fights seemed like they were starting but we only got a water gun sprayed at us a couple times. Our attempt to get a good meal in AC failed a little bit... as we headed to an expensive stuffy hotel with pretty bad food... but... it got us a free ride across the river to where we'd take a boat ride to our next wat

Third day:
We were supposed to go shopping...but here was where the protests actually affected our travels. the malls we were supposed to go to were closed so we ended up going to jim thompson's house instead. Shopped a little, then hopped onto a tuk tuk onto Khao San where the water fight was mainly going on. This was CRAZY. Water guns everywhere. People chasing you around with white stuff to smear on your face, people taking water bottles and dumping ice cold water down your shirt. The best part was that the merchants selling water along the sides would use a bowl to throw water at you as you passed. The key was not to make eye contact with ANYONE or else you'll be locked in combat... my strategy was to spray those smearing others with white stuff...this didn't work out too well... Afterwards, we found that all the paper in my bag had completely disintegrated...good thing we got plastic bags for our cameras, but this of course means...no photos :(

Our method of transportation from now on was tuk tuks as we were soaking wet and had white rice powder smeared all over us. Danger here: if you're sitting waiting for a red light in a tuk tuk, people will come over and pour an entire bucket of water all over you... and this will inevitably happen when you're just about to get dry. of course :)

Went to China town, but it was mostly dead, then went to get a massage, then went to dinner and tried for the sky bar...unfortunately, we weren't properly dressed...i think this is the first time anyone's given me a hard time about dress code!

Then we were back in SG for 2 days..went to satay... went out... darris was dressed in a t-shirt and board shorts, which caused some issues getting in anywhere...

...and onto Rawa. White sand complete with clear water beautiful mountains and a sky filled with more stars than I've ever seen... add to that some shooting stars :) We kayaked around the island, snorkeled, but were generally pretty lazy...

Question: should I get a waterproof camera case? It costs more than the camera...but I'd have such better pictures right now if i'd gotten one...