Back in Bangkok yet again. It's my third time here and this time I realize how little of this city I've actually explored. I am usually in such a hurry to get wherever's next that I don't get far beyond backpacker central. With at least a few more stops back through here, I imagine I'll slowly get to know it a bit better.

Last night Jon and I took a cab to Ministry of Sound for some dancing only to find it's sadly under new ownership and is now called Double-O. After passing two front uniformed doormen, we paid the cashier our cover charge and walked through a set of double doors held open by another uniformed doormen where we were greeted by a bevy of *more* uniformed flashlight-wielding employees all eager to show us to a table, the restroom, the bar, the dancefloor, whatever suited our fancy. Granted, it was a slow night, but we figured there had to be at least 10 times the employees necessary to keep things running smoothly. This amused me greatly.

Our departure from Koh Pha Ngan was hastened by the arrival of a tropical storm that made lounging around the beach in hammocks slightly less appealing. We stuck it out at first, even rented a motorbike to try to get to this legendary bar called Amstardam Bar [sic] during a short break in the storm, but got only as far as Thong Sala, the most developed town on the island, where we stopped for dinner before the skies opened up again. Two hours, one pizza, several beers, a game of pool and one session of foosball later, we resigned ourselves to the torential rain and hopped back on the bike to get back home. We arrived 20 minutes later soaked to the bone and decided to leave the next day.

We took the ferry on rough seas to the mainland and then another overnight train back to Bangkok. With a dining car, a bed (albeit a small one), lots of people and the ability to move around, these trains are quickly becoming my favorite way to travel. Before boarding, we loaded up on snack foods, a bunch of cheap Thai beer and an even cheaper bottle of Thai malt liquor, which we then shared standing up in between train cars with three Canadian guys we met on the platform after everyone else had gone to bed. We drunkenly rolled into our sleep compartments, but the A/C in our car was broken and the heat kept me awake. I decided to take a cold shower (the only kind they have here really) to cool down and accidentally dropped my favorite necklace, a moonstone I bought in Napa, down the toilet and out onto the tracks. Sad as it was, I had to laugh.

We're leaving again tomorrow morning for Ayuthaya, the old capital city about an hour north of Bangkok. Now it's time for another massage.