Grinder backpacking Asia round 2

Quote: FleaStiff

As long as your money ain't hypothetical you will undoubtedly have no trouble getting access to any cockfight in Mexico, Phillipenes or India.

I hypothetically have non hypothetical money.

Quote: PokerGrinder

I hypothetically have non hypothetical money.

This is confusing me now... Looking forward to vicariously living your awesome trip with you through your awesome pictures and stories! I assume you have a hit list of AP things to check at new casinos? PM me if you'd like a list, in exchange for some info ;-).

I'm torn about the cockfighting (insert Axel's less than witty reply here). I think it would be a unique experience that's apparently native or "maybe" legal over there? I have no idea... but none the less to watch two animals be forced to slaughter each other, might be a bit rough to watch =/. To each their own, but in the end I think I'd bow out of it... you know, unless I was getting REALLY good odds.

I am torn as well about the cockfighting. I mean on one hand it’s brutal what they do to those animals but at the same time it’s native to the country. If it were dogs I would never watch it but cocks, maybe? I don’t think that is a good justification.

Quote: Romes

This is confusing me now... Looking forward to vicariously living your awesome trip with you through your awesome pictures and stories! I assume you have a hit list of AP things to check at new casinos? PM me if you'd like a list, in exchange for some info ;-).

I'm torn about the cockfighting (insert Axel's less than witty reply here). I think it would be a unique experience that's apparently native or "maybe" legal over there? I have no idea... but none the less to watch two animals be forced to slaughter each other, might be a bit rough to watch =/. To each their own, but in the end I think I'd bow out of it... you know, unless I was getting REALLY good odds.

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/b0ff50ea-1a94-4e89-b1b7-7b421eb27485

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/5e8363c3-a299-4ad2-8d32-8f97bd915028

Quote: PokerGrinder

I am torn as well about the cockfighting. I mean on one hand it’s brutal what they do to those animals but at the same time it’s native to the country. If it were dogs I would never watch it but cocks, maybe? I don’t think that is a good justification.

watch it on youtube to get your curiosity fix?

Quote: PokerGrinder

The whole cockfighting idea is interesting. Soopoo if you had gone was the hypothetical invite the only way to get in? Or could a westerner just show and hypothetically get in?

Of course this is all hypotheticals.

I honestly don't know. I've heard there is a small admission fee.

Well I just landed in Korea (the good one) and I’m pretty sure I’m going to miss my connection because my last flight was delayed twice. Standing in a very long line at the moment and my flight leaves in 37 minutes. We will see I guess. I’m too tired to be worried.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Well I just landed in Korea (the good one) and I’m pretty sure I’m going to miss my connection because my last flight was delayed twice. Standing in a very long line at the moment and my flight leaves in 37 minutes. We will see I guess. I’m too tired to be worried.

There's a good one???

Quote: AxelWolf

There's a good one???

No.

I ran for my connection and got there only to find out the flight was delayed by 30+ minutes, oh well I got a good run in. I had terrible fish on sticks in the airport. I was starving and it was there.


I paid 5300 South Korean moneys not really knowing how much it was. I figured it was about $5 Canadian, turns out it was $5 USD.

The food on the flight from Vancouver to Seoul was really good.

I’m not really sure what I was eating but it was good. There was beef, cucumbers, two types of mushrooms, and then two veggies I couldn’t identify which were both good. The spicy pickles in the corner went well with the rice and hot sauce. Korean hot sauce is really strong and flavourful.

When I arrived in Bangkok I grabbed my bags and grabbed a taxi. Right from the start he was trying to scam me but I’m used to it and don’t put up with cabbie’s shit. I had to tell him about ten times to turn on the meter which was covered by a towel. Eventually I just uncovered it for him and said run the meter. He tried to tell me the 25 Baht toll was 100 and I told him I’m not paying him that. Then he tried to tell me I should pay him more because he has to go back and forth to the airport. I said that’s not my problem. In the end he was very nice about finding my hostel (he even called the hostel since we were having a language problem) so I tipped him 50 Baht and then the hostel front desk said people don’t tip cabs in Thailand. Oops I wasted $2, who cares lol.

I was starving so I walked down the street to the night market and walked for 30 minutes or so. The humidity is crazy here, I was soaked. I bought 3 sticks of meat and veggies which they cook from raw on the grill. He also went and got me sticky rice for free when I said how hungry I was. He asked me if I wanted the spicy rub that they were putting on everyone else’s and I of course said yes. The rub had so much flavour but was insanely spicy. I loved it but my lips are still tingling.

The bottom three sticks are mine.



I walked back to the hostel to cool down in front of the fan. The Thai girls are so beautiful, I think I’m in love. I know, I know bring on the lady boy comments lol. Now I’m going to bed. It’s been an insanely long 2 days.

Meeting lady boys.

We all know that's the real reason you were so very nervous.

Yeah, watch out for those hot 9 year olds in Angkor Wat. More addictive than Video Poker and twice as dangerous if you're loaded down with cash.

So is death. I'd advise avoiding both.

Need more photo please.

Backgammonkid joined today, already commenting in this thread, I suspect you'll be gone soon

Quote: BackgammonKid69

Yeah, watch out for those hot 9 year olds in Angkor Wat. More addictive than Video Poker and twice as dangerous if you're loaded down with cash.

yeah, careful of kids trying to pick pocket you.

I was in Rome a few years ago and these freaking gypsy kids was swarming all over the place.
I've even saw a few just put their hands in people's jacket pockets

Welcome to Bangkok.

In regards to cock fighting, it's not that big in Cambodia. Not sure where the member was. It's the national sport of the Philippines. Never heard of it in India but not been there. In Indian "hostels" a toilet can be a simple plastic chair with a hole cut in it with a bucket underneath. Use caution. As far as lady boys in Bangkok(and Pattaya), you can tell unless you are drunk. Lady boys don't "date" either, it's for money.

Quote: Romes

I'm torn about the cockfighting (insert Axel's less than witty reply here). I think it would be a unique experience that's apparently native or "maybe" legal over there? I have no idea... but none the less to watch two animals be forced to slaughter each other, might be a bit rough to watch =/. To each their own, but in the end I think I'd bow out of it... you know, unless I was getting REALLY good odds.

Hi Romes. There are several differing opinions about cockfighting. Let me first say it isn't a "unique experience". There would be no excitement what so ever if you didn't have money on it. The second or is it first? argument is that at least the cock has a chance to live for another day vs. being slaughtered for human consumption. There is a processing plant just outside Bangkok which slaughters 200,000. chickens a day..yes a day...and who knows how many folks like Tyson slaughter. It's not entertainment, it's gambling.

Yesterday was a fun day! I woke up around 10 and went downstairs for the hostel breakfast. Toast, yogurt with oatmeal in it and coffee. I started talking to the owner of the hostel who told me go to Chatuchak market. He said it is simple to get to and explained how. I took the MRT (subway) to the market and walked and walked and walked. It went on forever. No matter what direction I went the market never ended. Lots of clothes, souvenirs and food.




I got some spicy meat on sticks which is always good. I’ve noticed that spicy in Thailand is a lot spicier than other parts of Asia. I like spicy but the food has been pushing my limits which isn’t a bad thing. I also got a kabob which was ok but not great. For some reason they put this ketchup based sauce on it. Ketchup is a weird taste when you are expecting to taste hot sauce.

I then found my way back to the MRT station and started walking the other way in the market because I was overheated and determined to find the ice cream that I saw people eating. I ended up finding coconut ice cream which was amazing. I was a big fan and I will definitely be getting that again.

All together I got 3 meat sticks, a kabob and ice cream for only 145 Baht or $6 CAD.

I got back to the hostel and met a girl from Estonia. Very nice girl, her accent was a tough one to figure out. I called an Uber to go to the poker game that runs in Bangkok. My driver got me to where I needed to go but I couldn’t figure out how to get to the building I wanted. I ended up walking around for about a hour and just when I was about to give up a guy came running towards me to take me to the game. I guess the lost white guy sticks out like a sore thumb in a residential area of Thailand.
I waited for about 45 minutes for a seat in the game. While I waited I ate and had a glass of wine.

This game is amazing. The house provides food, drinks, phone chargers and they even pay for your taxi home! Also they had three tiny dogs which makes me happy. They run 50/100 Baht which is about 2/4 in Canadian dollars. I left up 1600 Baht or just over $60.


I got back to the hostel (despite the driver being afraid of the road) and found the Estonian girl again. We ended up going out for food and drinks. We ended up in a Japanese hot pot place that was different than the ones that I’ve previously been to. It was ok, not great but with enough beer anything is good. I love Thai beer, I drank mostly Thai beer in Asia last year.


After dinner we went to this karaoke bar that had live music instead of karaoke which makes no sense for a karaoke bar lol. We ordered more drinks and listed to this guy who sang really well.


After the guy finished his set we walked to the market where Ave (Estonian girl A-Vay) bought some clothes and then we headed back to the hostel. Luckily most hostels sell beer so we continued to drink until about 3 am. The guy working at the hostel was amused by us and joined us for a bit. Around 3 am I managed to make it to my room to sleep off the drinks. Amazingly I woke up without a hangover! Go Thai beer!

Well that’s all I’ve got from yesterday. I’m not sure what the plan is today but tomorrow I fly to Sri Lanka for a day before my flight to New Delhi the next day. Hope I provided enough pictures.

Great report!!! Can't wait to read about the rest of the trip!!

PG, your summaries remind me of why I love to travel, and live to travel. You do it right!

Thanks Soopoo. I hope it reads well, I’m usually half asleep as I do these reports.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Thanks Soopoo. I hope it reads well, I’m usually half asleep as I do these reports.

Reads very well. Keep it up!

I got to say, while the photos of the local street cuisine look enticing, I have to wonder how safe it is for westerners to eat. Any signs of gastric distress yet?

Quote: TumblingBones

I got to say, while the photos of the local street cuisine look enticing, I have to wonder how safe it is for westerners to eat. Any signs of gastric distress yet?

With all those spices, mustards and vinegars at work, pathogens don't win. Street vendors prepare things quickly and simply, there is no opportunity to have things sit around in dirty pots and pans.

Sure in some societies fishing via cyanide is acceptable as is adding fusel oil or insecticides to spike beverages but look at our history in the thirties with bathtub gin and brain diseases knowingly risked.

Hoping your night with thst Estonian woman ended hapily.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Amazingly I woke up without a hangover! Go Thai beer!

I hear that its not the Thai beer but the Thai temperatures. Its so hot the beer gets boiled out of you before you can get drunk.

Tumblingbones I spent a month last year eating street food and never had an issue. You eat where it’s busy, I avoid the places that nobody is eating because it means the food has been sitting there for awhile. Also anywhere locals are eating is gold!

Fleastiff that could be possible although I was definitely intoxicated.

GWAE sadly that didn’t end as well as I had hoped.

I have about 6.5 hours before I fly to New Delhi via Sri Lanka where I will stay for a day. I have really enjoyed my couple of days in Bangkok and I’m excited to return to Thailand for a couple of weeks in February.

Yesterday I woke up around 10 am, had breakfast and wrote to you all. Everyone at the hostel is so friendly. Two of the workers (possibly owners) are married and have the cutest 2 year old girl that runs around the hostel. Yesterday during breakfast she came around handing out tiny bananas. I have to say that was the cutest delivery service that I’ve ever seen.

A few hours later Ave and I headed to the Chatuchak Market which I had visited the day before. She didn’t believe me when I told her how big it was, no matter which way you walk and for how long it just keeps going. I’m not sure if I mentioned this yesterday but the Chatuchak market is the largest in the world or at least that is what the hostel worker and a tshirt I saw at the market said.

Ave dove right in and started buying things. She said she held back but she bought a bunch of clothes and nicknacks. I bought a tank top with a colourful elephant on it and a coin purse, also with an elephant on it, both are for a friend who loves elephants. We stopped at a little roadside restaurant and it was just barely a restaurant. If you have been to Asia you would understand what kind of “restaurant” this is. I ordered fried chicken on yellow noodles which turned out to be a soup even though I didn’t order soup on purpose because of the heat. Either way it was amazing! It had the noodles, chicken, bean sprouts, lettuce and peanuts which I poured broth onto.

Ave ordered boiled chicken on rice which I’m almost 100% sure is called Hainan chicken which Eric and I had last year in Asia. She wasn’t thrilled with it.

After lunch, extremely small portions we went to the meat on stick stand. Ave doesn’t like spicy food at all but decided that she wanted to try the spicy ones I had the day before. We got a couple and she was coughing from how spicy it was. I couldn’t do anything but laugh since I had warned her that she shouldn’t try it. Oh well some people just have to learn the hard way.

It was around 30 Celsius yesterday so by the end of 3 hours walking around we were both sweaty and exhausted. We went in search of coconut ice cream and we found an amazing one. This one came in half a coconut. The fruit was shaved off the coconut and left in the coconut bowl. Coconut ice cream was scooped on top and then you could add toppings. I was boring and only roasted peanuts as the pickled fruit things didn’t look very good.

At this point we took the metro back to the hostel. Our afternoon out wa full and yet still so cheap. The two gifts I bought were 90 Baht, lunch was 100 Baht, the meat sticks were 20 Baht and the ice cream was 50 Baht. So all together I spent 260 Baht or around $10 Canadian.

We got back to the hostel and I later on my bed to use my phone, the next thing I know it’s over two hours later. I guess I fell asleep, I was so tired from the humidity. I woke up, lounges around and didn’t do much for the rest of the night. At around 7:30 I went in search of dinner. I walked around the night market by my hostel for about a hour before ending up at this Chinese restaurant down the street from where I am staying. I splurged and ordered noodles with veggies and this spicy chicken dish. The noodles were excellent and so was then chicken. The chicken was like little riblets, they were fried with tons of chilli peppers and different spices. The flavour as always was amazing. Why is North American food so bland?

This a beautiful art piece in the hostel. If you zoom in you can see that it is made up of toys, dolls, clothes pins and many other things. I love it.


I messaged a few people back home as they were just starting their day and then I fell asleep around 10 pm. Like I said the heat and humidity really takes it out of me.

Well I’m going to go have breakfast and then pack before I head to the airport. See you all on the flip side.

I don't know. The hostel art piece looks a little creepy to me. Enjoying the thread though.

Quote: MaxPen

I don't know. The hostel art piece looks a little creepy to me. Enjoying the thread though.

Haha I can see how someone might be creeped out by it. I really like it though, does that say something about me? I love the Goku doll from my favourite anime, Dragonball Z. It is in the red section.

I’m enjoying the TR very much PG! Did you get a chip from the housegame? How was the rake?

Amazing how cheap some of these countries are. If you bought all that around here it would easily be $50

I did get a chip. The rake was standard for Asia, actually on second thought cheap for Asia. 5% up to 500 Baht which is just under $16 USD.

GWAE that is nothing. Bangkok is one of the most expensive places I’m going to visit in Asia. My entire month in India will be about $650 USD which includes a lot of high end travel. I will be flying a lot, all my train tickets are 1st class and I’m staying in the nicest hostels. The $650 also includes day to day expenses. You can live VERY well in these countries for very little money.

Thanks for writing this report. I am definitely enjoying following along.

I’m glad you are enjoying it Mikey. I will be keeping it updated over the next 3+ months so I hope you and others enjoy the journey.

Well I made it to Sri Lanka. I got very lucky finding the hostel and got ripped off by a tuk tuk but only for a few hundred rupees so I don’t really care because it is $1.30 usd that I might have been screwed over for. Basically I don’t care lol.

Quote: PokerGrinder

got ripped off by a tuk tuk but only for $1.30 usd .

When in Rome do as the Romans do... and kill the tuk tuk driver over a $1.30. Not a Tamil area I assume.

Quote: PokerGrinder

I did get a chip. The rake was standard for Asia, actually on second thought cheap for Asia. 5% up to 500 Baht which is just under $16 USD.

GWAE that is nothing. Bangkok is one of the most expensive places I’m going to visit in Asia. My entire month in India will be about $650 USD which includes a lot of high end travel. I will be flying a lot, all my train tickets are 1st class and I’m staying in the nicest hostels. The $650 also includes day to day expenses. You can live VERY well in these countries for very little money.

On occasion I will drive uber for a while. I picked up some guy from morocco and we were talking about the country. He gave me his number and said if I ever wanted to visit that I should call him and for $100 USD he would be my personal tour guide all week and I would probably only need about $150 a person for a week including food, housing, souvenir, and activities. I thought he was crazy, but maybe not?

Awesome trip report as always! Love all the pictures, places, and people. Ave certainly seems to smile at you a lot! Just sayin, I hope there's more to that story =P. Thanks for posting the trip report, I really enjoy seeing all of the places I've been unable to make it to so far and hearing about your fun adventures!

Quote: PokerGrinder

Well I made it to Sri Lanka. I got very lucky finding the hostel and got ripped off by a tuk tuk but only for a few hundred rupees so I don’t really care because it is $1.30 usd that I might have been screwed over for. Basically I don’t care lol.

tuk tuk? How did they rip you off?

Quote: Romes

tuk tuk? How did they rip you off?

Maybe he long hauled him through the airport tunnel.

Quote: DRich

Maybe he long hauled him through the airport tunnel.

That... was.... hilarious.

There’s supposed to be a “Bellagio” in Sri Lanka. It will be interesting to hear how it compares to the one in Las Vegas.

Quote: GWAE

On occasion I will drive uber for a while. I picked up some guy from morocco and we were talking about the country. He gave me his number and said if I ever wanted to visit that I should call him and for $100 USD he would be my personal tour guide all week and I would probably only need about $150 a person for a week including food, housing, souvenir, and activities. I thought he was crazy, but maybe not?

My ex is in Morocco now on a trip. In 1984 we went there on our honeymoon. You needed a tour guide, if you didn't have one the locals, in tourist areas, descended on you like fleas trying to sell you something. The tour guide you hire, well worth it in my opinion, makes more money from a cut of what you buy from the 'preferred shop' they take you to. Trust me, it would have been very uncomfortable to leave a 'preferred shop' not buying anything. I haven't done the poverty, stay in unsafe fleabag hotels, eat crap, ride the unsafe, overcrowded public buses type travel in decades, but even so, $150 a week sounds too low.

Quote: SOOPOO

My ex is in Morocco now on a trip. In 1984 we went there on our honeymoon. You needed a tour guide, if you didn't have one the locals, in tourist areas, descended on you like fleas trying to sell you something. The tour guide you hire, well worth it in my opinion, makes more money from a cut of what you buy from the 'preferred shop' they take you to. Trust me, it would have been very uncomfortable to leave a 'preferred shop' not buying anything. I haven't done the poverty, stay in unsafe fleabag hotels, eat crap, ride the unsafe, overcrowded public buses type travel in decades, but even so, $150 a week sounds too low.

The guy I talked to did say he would not recommend going without a travel guide. It is possible that he even meant we could stay in his house.

Yesterday (well two days ago since I wrote this yesterday but had no wifi) I took it easy in the morning before my flight at 1:55 pm. I was planning on doing my write up and then reading my book for awhile but instead I decided to head to the airport around 9:40 am after doing the write up. I figured I could read at the airport just as easily and then I have the peace of mind that I’m already at the airport. Hailing a taxi proved to be impossible as the hostel staff couldn’t find one that wanted to go to the airport. Eventually she ordered one off of Grab (ride sharing app) and the driver was very friendly and efficient. 30 minute was only 285 Baht or $10.50 Canadian.

I got to the airport and was sent to section Q which had a line about 300 people deep. I thought to myself crap, I guess it’s good that I got here early. I got in line and luckily was told pretty quick that this was only the line for Russian airlines and Sri Lankan airlines was farther into section Q. I was relieved and got checked in for my flight in less than 15 minutes. I was hungry so I went to a restaurant and quickly remembered why I don’t eat in airports... they are beyond expensive. For a little plate of Pad Thai (very tasty and my first Pad Thai in Thailand) I paid 286 Baht when that same dish outside of the airport would have cost no more than 100-120 Baht. Oh well add it to the wasted money section of the trip, there will be a lot of that lol.


I found my gate and boarded my flight. I thought I had booked an aisle seat but somehow ended up with a window, oh yay being squished for 4 hours. Luckily I had a tiny 75 year old Indian man in the seat next to me so it wasn’t too bad.

The flight went by quick. I watched Spider-Man Homecoming and then played backgammon on the planes tv screen. I picked the advanced level for the computer and yet the computer kept making really odd moves that I think are terrible. I don’t think I’m an expert but I grew up playing the game with my dad so I definitely know when someone is making stupid moves. I kicked the computers butt.

The old man beside me must have been the most determined person I’ve ever met. He was trying to play solitaire on the tv screen but clearly had no idea how to play. After about 25 minutes of him flipping through the deck of cards and trying to put all the cards everywhere I started to try and help him. I was showing him how to put cards on the right spots but he wasn’t picking it up. He spent another 20 minutes doing what he was before trying to put the wrong cards everywhere. Every so often I would point to the screen and try to help him but it wasn’t working. Eventually I asked his son if the father spoke English and he said yes. So the old guy took off his headphones and I explained how the game worked and he seemed to understand. We both put our headphones back on and he went back to playing the same way for another half hour before finally giving up. Clearly he had no idea what I was saying to him lol. This determined man amused me quite a bit, I would have given up after about 5 minutes.

I got to Sri Lanka and decided to see if I could find the bus. The air conditioned bus was only 130 Rupees (about $1 Canadian) while a taxi was 3000. I just wasn’t sure if I’d be able to find the correct bus. I got lucky and a British guy said hi so asked him if he knew where the bus was. He did! He showed me it was right across the street and it would take me to the central bus station. The airport had no wifi so I really wasn’t sure how I was going to get from the bus station to the hostel. The man sitting next to me on the bus was talking on his phone when he started speaking perfect English, I was in luck again! I asked him for help and he was more than happy to help me. His name was Charlie and he worked at the airport. He told me which bus I will take to get to my hostel and how to get to it. When the bus arrived after a hour he decided to walk me straight my bus just because he wanted to be nice. I actually thought I was going to get mugged as we passed through the alley because I couldn’t understand why this man was being so kind. He left me at bus and I thanked him profusely. I got on the bus which was tiny and had neon lights surrounding a G-d. (I think)

I managed to communicate to the guy taking the money what stop Charlie had told me and I actually managed to get off at the correct stop. This is where the night gets fun. I had no clue where the hostel was from there so I found a tuk tuk and he said he could get me there. He took me to a different hostel and I don’t think it was a scam because he wasn’t pushing for me to stay there. The hostel worker told him how to get to the right hostel and off we went again. We arrived and he asked me for 500 Rupees which is insane and he kept bringing down the price as I said no. Eventually we landed on 200 Rupees which I knew was insane but I just didn’t care anymore I was tired and hungry and didn’t feel like haggling over 50 cents. I checked in and found out that if I had known what to look for the bus stop I got off at is 2 minute walk from the hostel. Oh well add 200 Rupees to the wasted money section. Like I said that section is going to get big.

I didn’t have much planned for the night except for going to some casinos to collect chips. I had 6 planned stops and managed to find 3. 50% is a pass right? First I used google maps to walk 15 minutes to Casino Marina which I found with no issues. I went in and found the BJ table where I very quickly won 6000 rupees.

The casino had about 30 tables, a small poker room and 75 slot machines. Table games are king in Asia. I grabbed a chip and left. Stardust casino was supposed to be just down the street but the maps took me to someone’s house. I got back to Casino Marina and they said this was stardust which I just assumed meant they wanted me to come back inside. I googled the casino and couldn’t find information saying it still existed so I walked 15 minutes to Bellagio Casino. The Bellagio was much bigger and much nicer than Marina. I played BJ and lost 20,000 rupees and still had the urge to gamble. I know it’s stupid but sometimes I just feel like messing around. I managed to lose 300 USD before giving up. The casino had about 50 tables and 20-30 slots. They have a free buffet for players so I had a few plates of amazing Indian food upstairs before heading out. One of the dishes was a curry crab and that was so good. The crab was sweet and the curry was spicy, just perfect. The food was the best Indian food I’ve ever had.

I took a tuk tuk to Bally’s casino after nobody knew where the other one was that I was looking for. I negotiated 250 rupees for the ride which I’m sure was too much but I didn’t care much. Haggling for pennies seems so silly. I ended up giving him 300 because he got me there so quick. Tuk tuks are efficient but scary too. The drivers are nuts and there doesn’t seem to be any rules to the road. The wind on my face felt good with the heat though.

I got to Bally’s and could tell this was the nicest of the casinos by far. There were so many tables, too many too count or too be honest too many for me to want to count. I played baccarat because the table limits for BJ were extremely high. I won 300 USD and 500 rupees so I was only down about 13,500 rupees for the night. The cards had massive numbers on them, I’ve never seen that in a casino before.

These casinos are great in that they will let you buy in with USD and cash out in USD and they give you the actual proper rate without charging anything. I wasn’t able to find the other 3 casinos and nobody was able to help me find them but I don’t think they exist anymore. Bally’s was the only one I needed to sign up for a membership to go in. They also had a free buffet and I think the bar was free too. There was a live band that was playing some great music, they did a great version of John Lennon’s imagine. They also had two stripper poles where girls in underwear would dance. Seemed odd for a casino but the girls were really hot so who’s going to complain. There were so many gorgeous non locals (white girls) that I’m pretty sure were prostitutes. They kept smiling at me and asking where I’m from. A couple of them were dimes. Beyond gorgeous girls. You could tell by their dresses and heels that they weren’t there to gamble. Ballys and Bellagio are owned by the same company. I then took a tuk tuk back to the hostel. We negotiated 300 rupees but after calling the hostel for directions he wouldn’t take me for less than 500. I was tired having been awake for 20 hours and I didn’t feel like finding another ride. I decided 200 extra rupees was worth getting back.

The hostel was crap. No locks on the doors and the rooms were insanely hot. On the plus side when I woke up at 1 am there was a butt naked German girl walking around after her shower lol. No shame I guess. I met two nice travellers, a British guy and a different German girl. Lisa (German girl) is going to send me a message when she’s in Thailand as we will most likely cross paths again.

This morning I took a tuk tuk to the bus and the bus to the airport. I’m now sitting and waiting for the plane to leave in about a hour. I’m not sure how long the flight is but hopefully it isn’t too bad.
Some pics from the bus station and the market beside it.

Awesome stuff. Keep it coming.

You go wandering around, no idea where you're going, don't speak the language, eat unknown food....and THEN it gets fun. You're a riot. I've done a fair amount of overseas solo traveling, but you have me beat all to hell. Way to get out there and live, PG. Keep it coming.

Haha ya I am weirdly comfortable in foreign countries now. I was so afraid to get lost last year in Malaysia on my first day travelling solo. I was walking down dark streets in Colombo and I was thinking to myself that I should probably be nervous but I’m not at all lol. I don’t why but I just feel comfortable and I figure I’ll eventually get where I need to go. As far as the food, if it looks good and smells good then I’m going to eat it. Might not be the smartest plan but I haven’t crapped my pants yet. (Crosses fingers)