Reversing Tracks

This is in the lobby of a Kuala Lumpur hotel.  A Thai/Malaysian lady I had seen a movie with a day or two earlier dropped by to say goodbye.  I was focused on moving north into Thailand.  I was smiling, in big part, because I had been to a barber that day and had gotten my head shaved for the first time.  I share about it here.

This is a super-friendly Italian couple that shared a songthaew (truck taxi) with me (and lots of others) once I arrived on Koh Samui.  I ended up staying in a bungalow a resort they recommended.  And then another day, they took me to the Fisherman's Village.  I went spearfishing with them, and we had an Thai/Italian seafood meal that was exceptional.

Back in Bangkok, I met Rung (right).  She and her friend took me to Planet Hollywood.  Another day they met me for ice cream at Swensen's, and then we saw this movie.

After Indonesia, I reversed my tracks, heading back up the Malaysian/Thai peninsula. I flew from Denpasar (capital of Bali) to Singapore, and then took the 'jungle railway' to Malaysia and on to Koh Samui, a lovely Thai island.  I then took a train back to Bangkok and checked into the Atlanta Hotel.  On this return visit to Bangkok I reconnected with Kade. I had first met her almost three months earlier when I had visited the Jim Thompson House Museum, where she worked. Undoubtedly, once I saw her again, I was under her spell.  It was then that concluded that I would try living and working in Bangkok.  First, though, was one more trip: Vietnam.

Planet Hollywood opened in Bangkok in 1997.