Bangkok Round 2

The last time we visited Thailand was in 2005, our first international trip together when we came to teach English in NE Thailand and then travelled for a month after as well. There was a huge culture shock the first time he came but now that we knew what to expect, the novelty has worn off a bit. The transvestites, the women lining the streets waiting to be "chosen,"  the smells (good and bad), the multitudes if street hawkers, fearing for your life as you walk across the street, etc. Bangkok has changed a lot since we were here last and there are a lot more American . There are a ridiculous amount of tourists here compared to Tokyo and you can reasonably expect that a Thai person working at any establishment knows English which really surprised us. We would ask questions in broken English but get responses in grammatically correct sentences, which was strange.  We loved the hotel we stayed at -  Crowne Plaza Lumpini Park Hotel, which also had a great location close to a sky train station. We didn't realize it at first, but our hotel was close to the Pitpong, which is the red light district of Bangkok. We got asked a million times if we wanted to see "a sexy show" or a "ping pong" show, as we heard it.  This time around we are just enjoying the city - eating and shopping with out scrambling to the tourists sites since we did them all the last time around. Again it was a short visit but we will be back later in our trip. Loving the fruit especially mangosteens and passionfruit, especially since you can't get good quality ones in Canada. Of course, I have a food report in every post! Had awesome cheap Thai food at a hole in the wall called P Kitchen (tripadvisor recommendation) and yummy Indian food at Indian Hut - both recommended! Our next stop is Nha Trang, Vietnam, which is a beach town north of Ho Chi Minh City. It's a bit strange to take Turkish airlines on a flight from Bangkok to Ho chi Minh.  We have a flight almost every 3-4 days for 3.5 weeks- Adam's nightmare unfortunately.