Animals

The remainder of my time in Bangkok was, understandably, low key. Jon and I went to a movie called Perfume: The Story of a Murderer at an ultra-modern theater in the Siam Center shopping complex. It's worth noting for what came before the movie. It is tradition to show a sort film about the King while playing the national anthem. Everyone stands and salutes. I find their devotion to the King to be increasingly curious.

01 Pre-Zoo Viewing

The next day Jon and I went with Matt and Sharon to the Bangkok Zoo. Sharon loves animals (possibly more than she loves Matt) but had never been to the zoo. We warned her that she'd probably find it depressing, but she wanted to see for herself. We spent the whole day there and had a wonderful time. I got to see more elephants. It was like any other zoo I've ever seen, save for the Red Panda and the WWII bomb shelter. (Still not sure why that was there).

02 Tiger, Tiger, Tiger

The last thing we did in Bangkok was arrange our next stop. We heard about a little family-run farm in the western hills. The family takes in travellers and shows them authentic Thai living for a relatively small cost. I was excited. Nothing could be more opposite of Bangkok, and that was my main criteria for a next stop. On top of that, we'd first spend a night in the city of Kanchanaburi, which is home to the Bridge Over the River Kwai.

**Update**

I almost forgot to mention my run-in with Mussel-Yam. He was a professional Muay Thai kickboxer who'd just had a sex change. Just kidding. Yam is a variety of Thai salad, and mussels are shellfish. In fact, mussels are my favorite shellfish and I felt like trying some different Thai food. I ordered the dish and the restaurant owner looked at me like I was insane. I assumed he thought I wasn't used to shellfish, so I insisted. It turned out that Yam is some of the hottest food on the planet. My entire head turned beet red, and my nose ran like Niagara. But I finished the whole plate with the help of a few cold beers. My stomach hated me for the next few days. Just thought I'd pass that on in case any of you go out for Thai food.

03 The Zoo's Air Raid Shelter

04 Matt Harassing a Monkey

05 Elephants

06 Hot-Ass Muscles