The next day was New Year’s Eve. I’m sure that Bangkok was packed full of scandalous things to do on NYE but we decided to take it fairly easy and expand our public transportation resume while we were at it. Bangkok, as a city, is very oriented around its river, and one of the main ways to get around the city is by water taxi.

One of our best memories from Bangkok was wandering through the streets on New Year’s Eve, from the mall where we watched another movie (47 Ronin), to the bus, to a detour through the protest camp at Democracy Monument, back to the Khaosan area. It was a really nice way to see more of the city and get more of a local flavor.

We also managed to fulfill a long-standing aspiration by taking a cooking class through May Kaidee’s Vegetarian Restaurant. We had dinner at her restaurant our first time through Bangkok and made plans to do her cooking class when we came back. Taking a cooking class was high on our list of ‘stuff to do in Thailand’ and we were not disappointed. May herself is a very gregarious lady who built her business from scratch. She is even expanding overseas to New York where she is opening another school. We had a great time with our fellow students and look forward to sharing the recipes we learned with everyone when we get back.

It’s hard to capture the experience of being in Bangkok in pictures. A lot of the most interesting things about being in a city like Bangkok comes from walking down the street, shoving your way through crowded markets, or seeing the city from the window of a bus. It’s a city of gleaming skyscrapers, labyrinthine malls, and food stalls that glow at night under flourescent lights. The people are friendly, the movie tickets are cheap, and I would recommend it to anyone. Just remember to take the bus!