Bangkok.  Its a teaming, crowded, hot, sticky, congested metropolis with McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King, Pizza Huts everywhere.  The sky train moves one efficiently above the morass to the river, where long, narrow ferries link key destinations and a forced breeze makes things a bit more tolerable.  Chuck spent several days in Bangkok, while Gillian basically was there for a night's sleep and a few hours of quick sightseeing.  

The memories of Bangkok, though, were quick to discern - the thronging metropolis and the gold-gilded temples.  Amidst the hubbub lay numerous Buddhist temples, important destinations for tourists and locals alike.  The craziness of the urban scene melted away (almost literally in the 90 degree steam of the city) when one entered the temple grounds.  Though even the main temples were crowded, the pace was slow and the reverence real.  Chuck visited the Royal Palace, with its Emerald Buddha.  And the two of us visited the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, probably the most famous of Thailand's temples.  The gold on gold glitter was spectacular and other-worldly.  

Then, after a 80-minute flight on Thai Airways, we were in another world - Phuket.  The largest of the Thai resort areas, Puget has all of the mundane trappings of tourist resorts anywhere in the world.  But, with a little (or a lot!) of pre-trip planning, we were able to find a first-class resort more or less to its own on Kato Noi beach - the Kato Thani Beach Resort.  Great room, nice beach, decent dining, good pool, and the ever present monsoon.  We knew October would be risky weather-wise but the Bhutan trip dictated the timing of the remainder of the journey.  Out of 6 days on Phuket, we had perhaps three really pretty nice days,  one so-so day and 2 days of wind and rain.  But when the intent was to lay back and relax, the stay met our needs (and saved on suntan lotion!).  Other than a day trip to the Panging Marine National Park off the northeast coast, we basically stayed within a few miles of the resort the entire week.

So ended the more touristy part of the trip - at least for a week.  It was now back to the airport, back to Bangkok and then on to Udon Thani in northeast Thailand.  We were planning on attending a folk music, dance and arts festival in a small village outside of Udon Thani.  Only on the morning after our arrival did we discover that the festival had been moved to March (this was October!).  The Assistant Director of Tourism for NE Thailand, however, took pity on us and invited us to be her guest at a Mountain Bike Rally to be held in the same small town.  Now, Mountain Bikes are not exactly our thing, but we were here with little else to do, so away we went to the  Ban Chiang World Heritage Site and the first annual mountain bike rally.  It actual was quite interesting (at least for a while).  We were able to relax in the VIP area (except when there were actual VIPs there!), had front row positions for the start of the race, and enjoyed the evening banquet (until the rains hit near the end).  A key lesson we learned years ago while traveling is to go with the flow - take opportunities when they pop up - and it usually works out.

The next morning, we moved on to the Thai-Laos border via tom-tom (small motorized tri-cycle with a couple of benches attached to the back) and second-class bus - the way the locals travel.  Hmm.  Well, it was an inexpensive way to travel.  Now we were in Nam Kai, a trading town on the Mekong and for some odd reason, a popular hangout for American ex-pats left over from the Vietnam conflict era.  Actually, it was an interesting town, again with a few wonderful temples, simple waterfront cafes and semi-decent Italian food at the expert cafe!  It also provided our first opportunity to view and purchase the wonderful, colorful fabrics that Thailand and Laos are justly famous for.  

Vientiane, the capital of Laos, was the next port-of-call.  While we rarely take formal tours, we did arrange for a guide and driver (via the internet!) for our Laos journey. It cost little more than purely on-our-own travel in Laos would have cost and provided a much better use of our time and more insights as to local culture.  Vientiane may be one of the world's most laid-back capital cities. French influence from earlier last century, coupled with several decades of Soviet domination are the major influences on this community.  Though a communist country, there is little if any clue that you're not in a capitalist stronghold - the free market is thriving everywhere.  We toured the major temples and monuments of the city, ate fine French food for dinner and enjoyed traditional Lao music and dance in the hotel's dining room in the evening.

The following morning, it was off to the airport for our journey to Luang Probang, the ancient capital of Laos.  The Lao Aviation flight aboard a Chinese Yunnan 7 propjet was all-too-memorable though thankfully only 45-minutes in duration!  A new guide and driver met us at the airport and took us to our fabulous little hotel.  During the next two days, we strolled the streets of this beautiful town of 30-some temples and monasteries, of small cafes, and of few vehicles.  We took a day trip to some magnificent waterfalls and hill tribe villages (Lowland Lao, Hmong and others).  All in all, our favorite spot in Laos and Thailand.  And, of course, there was shopping for Lao fabrics.

Our driver dropped us off atop a long staircase leading down to the mighty Mekong.  Our guide was now joined by our boat captain, his wife, and the engine mechanic, and the six of us started our two day journey up (against the flow of the river) the Mekong.  Water Buffalo, small kids, families in dugout canoes, the occasional village, hillside caves with Buddha statues.  And a magnificent hotel (really) at the half-way point, again with fine French dining, teak everywhere and cold beer.  A splendid and relatively inexpensive way of seeing the countryside.

After a quick clearance of Lao Immigration, we were off on a dugout canoe for the crossing of the Mekong back to Thailand.  Then it was off to Chiang Mai, the cultural center of Thailand, for last minute shopping, more music and dance, and more exploration of hilltribes, waterfalls and the natural setting.  After Laos, everything about Thailand seemed so big, overscale and crowded.  Wonderful restaurants with outdoor dining (Chiang Mai, in the mountains of NW Thailand, is cooler and less humid than Bangkok); a great little hotel along the river and a close walk to the night market made Thailand's second largest city a bit more tolerable.  Certainly more pleasant that Bangkok, it served to ease our transition from the relaxation of Laos to the world of work and home where we would find ourselves all too soon.