We moved

Decided to save 120Baht a night and move to a new guesthouse that is much nicer than our previous room as you can see by the pics. Plus we get a balcony to enjoy the evenings on. Started to take the water taxi around the city and it has been the best way to get around. The poverty along the river is just unbelievable, but at least Coke still gets some ad space.

Scammed

Well, we fell victim to our first Bangkok scam yesterday. See the pictures for a view of a tuk-tuk. These little motorized rickshaws seem like an ideal way to travel around the city at a cheap price, but beware. We were basically hijacked by the driver and taken to many destinations we did not want to go to where merchants would try and sell us various items from cashmere suits to travel visas with the tuk-tuk driver collecting a commission for bringing us to them. We never arrived at our stated destination and eventually just paid the driver off to leave us alone. All in all it was a pretty funny experience and we have had some good laughs about it. The whole ordeal only set us back $2.50 and we feel we had a true Bangkok experience.

Bangkok

So we're here. It's day 3 in Bangkok and all is well. Bangkok is a steamy place and the air pollution gives you an instant headache when you walk outside, but we are enjoying ourselves nonetheless. As you can see from the pictures, our lodging is pretty sparse, but it has AC and a hot shower and is very clean.
Plus, we have a 7-11 just about 100 feet to make us feel right at home. Onto Northern Thailand after the weekend. The 5 hour train journey to Sukhothai should be interesting.

We're Here!

No pictures yet, but Erik and I arrived safely at about 1:30 this morning. We stopped for a couple Singha beers near our guesthouse and are trying to get our bearings. Bangkok is interesting so far, though we have only seen a few streets surrounding our hostel. We will be heading out tomorrow to try and navigate the public transportation syaytems and see a few temples. It is currently 2:51 am, must be near 100% humidity and about 85 degrees. I suppose we'll get used to it. :) Can't wait to see what the weather is like in the afternoon. After 30 hours of travel, we're off to sleep for a bit. Stay tuned.

The Big Day

It's finally here! We leave early tomorrow morning for SE Asia. Here's a map for the geographically challenged.

On to the Midwest...

Erik and I spent another month visiting friends and family in Muskegon and Chicago prior to heading to Florida, where we are now visiting Erik's family. We leave November 13th for Bangkok. We'll keep you posted....

More Red River...

Red River, New Mexico

September was spent at the cabin in New Mexico.

Goodbye, Oregon

At the end of August, Erik and I left Portland, OR to begin nearly 6 months of travel. Our stops include one month in Red River, New Mexico, one month in the midwest visiting friends and family in Michigan and Illinois, another few weeks in Florida to visit Erik's family, and finally, on November 13, we leave for SE Asia where we will backpack Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. We will return to the US on March 13, broke, but hopefully inspired.