Bangkok

Got into Bangkok at 630am which was somewhat problematic cause a lot
of the guest houses were full. The bus dropped us near Khao San Road
which is the big backpackers hangout. Finally found one called "Merry
V Guesthouse" which is in the lonelyplanet but their map is wrong. It
was only 150bht per night for a single room! Shared bathroom, cold
shower. Very clean though and I'd def recommend it. It is def nothing
fancy but for a guy alone it's all you need at a good price. It was
kinda funny cause the guesthouse is almost exactly what is described
in the book "the beach"

I ended up staying in Bangkok longer than expected and I actually
really like the city. The river is pretty nice with cheap taxi boats
plying it's waterways (25bht) Lots of markets, a huge backpacker scene
on Khao San Rd and a bustling modern downtown area. Khao San Rd is
absolutely packed with backpackers. If you've been traveling in
Thailand you're guaranteed to run into people you know. I ran into at
least 6 people I had been hanging out with on Phi Phi. The whole
street is a big night market and there are tons of bars, restaurants
and food courts and travel agencies. The best food was on the street I
was staying on which isn't Khao San, I forget the name right now but
it's quieter and I really liked it. Anyway the food cart places on
this street seem to be the most authentic in the area with one of them
particularly so. I actually like BKK more than Singapore... Tons of
cheap delicious food around that costs around 1 dollar per plate!
Everyone hates on Bangkok but I really enjoyed it. Maybe the timing
was just right for me.

One night my german friend Andi and I wandered around Bangkok. We took
the river taxi boat (25bht) to the sky train (25bht) to the Patpong
Night Market which is full of counterfeit stuff and prostitutes. Then
we took the sky train (20bht) to the center where we stumbled onto a
really weird concert. Leaving to go to the airport I couldn't get a
shuttle cause it was 3am (normally 125bht but I got a taxi for 300bht
which was a pretty good deal for that time of night.)