Our last few days in Bangkok haven't been the most productive. We saw two more movies which puts us at 4 movies in 7 days in Bangkok over three visits. It's not that Bangkok isn't interesting, it's that we crave English media. Basically, we tied up loose ends and got ourselves somewhat organized for Japan. We picked up our suits (and we look damn good!). We bought our railpasses and booked our hostels. We finally made it to the Grand Palace (the opulent former home of the king of Thailand) after 3 failed attempts. We have really taken advantage of all the wonderful foods and drinks that can be bought from street vendors here. We've been in SE Asia that little is new to us now. Although, we did see an elephant on the street the other day. That's not too common anymore since they banned elephants in the city only 5 years ago. The king is absolutely revered here and so we had to get our king memento: we burned a copy of his jazz music (burning it as opposed to buying it seemed the more Asian thing to do).

We are off to Japan now! We haven't even arrived yet and we've already spent a 1000$ there on trains and accomodation. We'll be pretty quiet over the next 2 weeks as it will be pricey. February 15th and then it's home for us.

Sala hantle (take care)

j & m