Thai Trip Pt2 - Plan of the Bangkok Leg

So we arrive in Bangkok at around midnight. That'll be around 11am Tx time, but with the insanity of the flights I expect Crys and I will both be pretty close to exhausted by that point. After we escape customs, we'll catch a cab to the hotel that's supposed to be booked for us, and where my step-mother Barbara is to be waiting. I suspect that will put us there somewhere close to 1am local time. With any luck we'll fall asleep shortly there after, getting a head start on getting rid of the inevitable jet lag.

Saturday we'll head out with Barbara or a day of sight seeing and to test just how accurate the old Murray Head song turns out to be (maybe Crys and I will get in a game of chess...).  One destination Barb wants to take us to is the Chatuchak or Weekend Market. Apparently covering about 28 acres and having around eight to ten thousand stalls, they say you can find just about anything there. If that's not enough shopping we may hit the floating market as well. I'd also like to see a few of the temples while we're there. The Reclining Buddha perhaps? And of course, we plan to eat as much local cuisine as we can get a hold of. Thai food in Thailand? Yes please. We'll plan to spend another day or two (or more perhaps) in Bangkok on our way back, but even so I doubt we'll hit a fraction of what we would like to see.

Sunday, no doubt after a wee bit more site seeing, we'll head for the train. The train leg looks like it will be very nice, as we meander our way along the coastline down to southern Thailand. This is the route we're looking at:

It'll be Crys's first time on a train, and it looks like it'll be a great one to ride. We'll leave out of Bangkok and head for Hat Yai. The trains leave between 1pm and 3pm and arrive between 7am and 9am respectively. By the time we arrive we'll have travelled about 588 miles. Roughly the same as driving from Austin Tx to Ruidoso Downs New Mexico (though the sleeper car will make the trip far more comfy).  From there we'll get a car and drive across to Satun, Thailand:

From there we catch a ferry out to Langkawi, Malaysia. That's where the second leg of our trip begins. I'll do another post for that one!