The next leg of our journey took us to Bangkok, our beloved home base for several previous trips in South East Asia. For us, Bangkok radiates all the positive craziness of Asia — the millions of entrepreneurial people with shops everywhere, the wild traffic (which is so much better now that the sky train is open), the wonderful smells of any kind of foods you can imagine…we absolutely love Bangkok! 
Yet again, we were blessed to have friends living in a city we were visiting – including, Bee (Rangsima) Bhakdibhumi, our classmate from Dartmouth/Tuck who we had not seen since our five year reunion twelve years ago. Bee, her husband Joof and youngest son Bing, welcomed us with open arms and showed us a beautiful riverfront area we had never seen.
We spent the next day getting our visas for Myanmar/Burma and showing the boys parts of Bangkok. Our visa application process became interesting when a protest group marched outside the Embassy and we had a few nervous moments thinking about the movie Argo. The protesters were angered by recent attacks against Muslims in Myanmar and were burning the Myanmar flag. In between applying for and picking up our visas, we visited Wat Pho to see the Reclining Buddha and experience their famous foot and body massages. After Ryan’s foot massage, he exclaimed that he “had new feet!”
That evening we caught up with Jay’s brother’s friend, Waan. She showed us the famous four faced buddha near a massive shopping center and we enjoyed a great dinner with her while getting new dirt on Loron (Jay’s brother).All too quickly, it was time to leave on our way to Bangladesh to visit yet more friends. Thanks to Bee and her family, and Waan for their hospitality on the first leg of our stay in Bangkok!
