We only had 1.5 days in Bangkok but we managed to get to the Royal Palace, a gigantic standing Buddha and the very famous reclining Buddha.

We rode the river taxi which is a very effective mode of transportation and fun to boot.

We ended our first day on Khao San Road which is a 1 km strip (no vehicles allowed) with countless budget guesthouses and mid-range hotels, internet cafes, swanky bars and clubs, restaurants, massage parlours, travel agents, bookshops, market stalls, tattoo shops and much, much more. We had one of the best pad thais of our trip made by a sidewalk vendor.

We went to Chinatown on our last night thinking it would be like Khao San Road but it wasn't so we skedaddled back to the hotel for a quiet dinner and then to bed so we could catch a few hours sleep before getting up at 3:00 am to head to the airport for the trip home.

Our itinerary took us to Tokyo on the way home on Sunday. We spent quite a bit of time trying to find out if the earthquake was going to impact our flights but all we could find out for sure is that the same flights on the previous day had been cancelled. We eventually just went to the airport as scheduled and the flights did go although the flight from Tokyo to Vancouver was delayed by 2 hours.

We had 6 hours in Tokyo, and I have to admit that it was a bit nerve-wracking and we were not sorry to leave. We were expecting more chaos in the airport, but it was business-as-usual. One store was closed due to the earthquake according to a sign on the door. Our flight to Vancouver wasn't even full.