The next morning we hopped on another river boat and headed straight towards the Ratanokosin and Banglamphu parts of Bangkok. This part of the "old city" is a bit ironic. On the one hand there are massive museums and temples (like Wat Pho), but just a few blocks north is a giant area that caters to young tourists, hippies, and the cool bohemian travellers that are venturing out on a shoestring budget.

We scurried past taxis and tuk-tuks to the entrance of the National Museum. As usual, I was sweating like a beast and praying that the museum had good AC. It didn't. We paid our ticket and headed for the coolest part of the museum which houses a massive collection of models and artifacts from Thai history. We were totally intrigued by the Thai history prior to when Western countries started to exert influence in Asia. I marvelled at the countless wars Thailand had with the Burmese. Just when it seemed like a 20 year war was over, the Burmese would attack again. Amazing!

Around the mid-1800's, King Rama IV started to incorporate more Western ideas into Thai society. He was a Western-trained member of the royal family that served as a Buddhist monk for 27 years before being crowned. He had a huge influence on Thai culture and moved to bring Thailand up to speed with the world's so-called world powers.

Rama IV's son, Rama V was even more amazing. He is revered here in Thailand in a way I've never seen before. Rama V abolished slavery, abolished mandatory labor to the state, and gave the Thai people more control over their lives. He also ventured out on a series of "incognito trips" where he would walk the streets dressed as an average Thai. He would meet people and listen to their problems. Along with this, he travelled all over the world to make alliances with Western powers. As a result, he is credited with making Thailand an influential country in Asia. Pretty remarkable.

Unfortunately most of the showrooms in the museum didn't allow photography. The few pictures I captured were merely for Shaunna and I to remember what the outside grounds looked like...nothing too special really.

After four hours of stomping around looking at statues and pottery, we ventured out to the legendary Khao San Road. This part of Bangkok is notorious mainly because it is where many travellers crash and drink and get high in Bangkok. Like many other areas that cater to young people, there was a sleugh of bars, clubs, hair-bead salons, tie-dye vendors, incense, music, etc etc. I think I would have enjoyed the area more if I was about ten years younger.. around the time when I was still amused with colored hair, crazy clothes, attitudes, and cheap jewelry.

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Regardless, we had a killer time wandering around through the countless vendor stalls and clothing shops. We passed by a few music vendors that were blasting rave music, and I couldn't help but laugh a bit. I stopped to drink as much as possible, and we enjoyed some of the best falafel in a whole in the wall restaurant in the back end of an alley.... I think it was called Shinnosa? We also ran into our old buddy Ronald McDonald. It kinda makes me ill when I see McD doing a Buddhist "wai" greeting...

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After all the commotion and running around, I was blown. My leg was still swollen, and the bruising was starting to turn a sickly yellow and purple. I got back to the hotel, fell on the bed and passed-out almost immediately. We spent the rest of the evening talking about Khao San and our plans when we get back to Austin... just a few days away.