Bangkok

I haven't written in quite some time due to getting sick and feeling just too run down and weak.  The air quality in town, the many sick and ailing travelers, the air con and heat...I don't know.  It all added up to getting a deep chest cough, achy muscles, body aches and dizziness.  We still managed to enjoy ourselves.  Didn't do the usual water taxi trips to any sights. Just stayed in our little hood, ate great pad Thai from the little lady street vendor.  Three dollars bought us two large plates of delicious food.  One night we went to an old favorite, Ranee's.  They moved to a new space on the same small street and were making excellent food as always.  A hidden gem.  The only drawback is all the tourist that smoke endlessly, adding to all the air pollution.  After four nights in BKK, we traveled up to Chiang Mai.  Amazingly there was so little traffic even with all the warnings of demonstrations, that we made it to the airport in less than an hour, record time.  Sat around for several hours and then had a very comfortable one hour flight.  It takes longer to get to the airport and wait for the flight than the flight time.   I call these the "hurry and wait" days.