I was in Kansas City this past weekend, to work, not to play. And yes, this was booked well before Royals fever kicked in! Blue blue blue everywhere. Go Royals! (Sorry Nats.)

Honestly, when I found out the meeting was in Kansas City, my first thought was "ugh". Yup. Not excited. But, dear Kansas City, I liked what I saw and wouldn't drag my feet if I had to return! In fact, the marathon and half marathon were running on the Saturday I was there...not crossing that off the list of possibilities....

I've been sort of mum about Chiang Mai as there is sooo much information from travel bloggers about the city and surrounding area. And I'm sure I'll get some hate mail for what I'm about to say.

I'll fully admit that when everyone loves something (as much as so many people purport to lovvveeee Chiang Mai), I'm immediately suspicious. In fact, I tend to dislike things that everyone likes. So, Chiang Mai had a lot to live up to.

Everyone says you can't go to Bangkok without checking out a rooftop bar. So we checked out a rooftop bar. Not because we like to listen to what everyone says, but because we (like many visitors) wanted to see the Bangkok skyline and grab a drink after another hot day of being a tourist.

We chose the Banyan Tree for one reason only: because it was next door to our hotel. If nothing else, we were consistently lazy after a day of sweating profusely and seeing Bangkok.  Fortunately for us, the Banyan Tree was just around the corner.  Unfortunately for us at the time, it was raining. In fact, it rained each night we were in Bangkok, which cooled off the city for just a bit in the morning. Considering it was still "rainy season" we counted ourselves as extremely lucky, and the respite from the heat in the mornings was also welcome! 

We wandered over to the Banyan Tree hoping that it wasn't enough rain to close the upper deck, but it was closed.  Good news, though-- they have another bar on the 52nd floor called Latitude, which is covered, but where you can still see the view. I have no idea if the view is "the same", though they said it was.  Everyone talks about the Moon Bar, but you never hear about Latitude--I'm sure the Moon Bar is better, but seeing as it was closed, we were happy there was an alternative. The view from the 52nd floor is definitely still impressive, and you can see the miles of Bangkok lights. 

We were in Bangkok for a little more than 48 hours...which isn't very long for a city that is THAT big, THAT varied, with THAT much to see.  It was our very first trip to Bangkok, a necessary but also desired stop on our way to Bhutan.

We knew, more or less, what we wanted to see in our two days.  We didn't want to go out, a la Hangover style, and waste our days being lost and hungover....and we aren't big on clubbing, so we were able to spend early mornings out seeing the sights before the hoards. And I mean hoards...the Grand Palace was still incredibly crowded with visitors.

We wanted to see most of the sights you read about in things entitled "Top 10 Sights of Bangkok".  It would be a bit of a long day, but totally worth it.

What made it all easier was hiring a guide for the day.  Her name was Mandy (@Mandyguidesmile), and she was awesome (totally unpaid endorsement...we hired her)! She's a registered tour guide, and helped us navigate the insanity of Bangkok with ease. No haggling with taxi drivers about turning on the meter, no getting lost (though DH is admittedly fantastic with a map...I....not so much), no wondering where to go in each of the temples, and with plenty of information and history to go along with each stop.

When we were in Bangkok, we had briefly seen a mention of a snake farm. I mistakenly assumed that this was probably a farm, for snakes, since I didn't know whether snake was a delicacy (or just an edible commodity) in Thailand, or perhaps for export. Or for skin for shoes, purses, ipad cases, whatever. Probably complete with cobra charming...

Not interested in a snake farm for these purposes. At all. For many reasons.

*ETA:  These types of attractions do exist in Bangkok, too.

Fortunately, I picked up my guide book and happened to be reading something else that was near the "snake farm". So I stumbled into the brief description...What a misnomer! If anything, you could call it a "venom farm" or an anti-venom farm. And I guess in relation, it's a snake farm since they "farm" (I don't know if I would say farm...but I digress) snakes for venom. But it's actual a World Health Organization Collaborating Center for research on venomous snakes and the production of anti-venom, named the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute.

UM, SIGN ME UP.

We had one very expensive dinner while we were in Thailand, at Nahm in the Metropolitan by COMO. Since we were staying at the Metropolitan, and Nahm has been ranked as one of the World's Best as well as one of Asia's best, well, why pass it up?

We decided to do the tasting menu because who knows when we will return to Bangkok again. I'm definitely glad we did as it allowed (errr...forced) us to try some things I never would have ever dreamed of trying.

First, the service at Nahm was great. Attentive, but not annoying. Friendly and helpful, but not pretentious or condescending. Courteous. I'd definitely give it two thumbs up. 

Now, on to the food...

We spent two days in Battambang, heading there between our time in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.

Early one morning, our tuk-tuk driver/guide took us on a great tour of the communities just outside Battambang.  We buzzed around in the tuk-tuk all morning, visiting a wide variety of places with his informative, humorous, and candid commentary. I think the tour route is pretty standard, but that didn't make it any less fascinating.  

I don't really think Battambang gets as many visitors as many other places in Cambodia; none of the visits felt stages or commercialized.  I feel like we saw much more of the "real" side of Cambodia in Battambang, beyond the hustle and bustle of Siem Reap with visitors crawling everywhere, and the pollution and city feel of Phnom Penh.  As the pictures show below, we saw the making of so many things! Battambang Province, I believe, is the leading rice-producer in the entire country. 

We made a point to visit Wat Wamrong Knong, which has a very well done carving sequence, called the Well of Shadows, which depicts the horrors of the Khmer Rouge. I've included a picture of the dedication below, but I think the wall itself is best seen in person, rather than online.

ETA: If you are a local doing any one of these things, I feel the exact same way as if you were a tourist. I don't discriminate. STOP DOING THEM.

I feel like I'm pretty understanding, and I need to be, considering I live in a hugely popular tourist destination. I'm friendly, I smile, and I'm happy to help with directions or a restaurant recommendation. I don't even mind chit-chatting with you, or letting you pet my dog when you miss your dog at home.

I do feel (and realize) this has been done to death. I also don't want to seem cranky or negative, but some of these things just have got to be said, publicly. These aren't nit-picky. They aren't pet-peeves. You can't read these and say I'm being unreasonable (and if you do, I think you're unreasonable. Fine. I'm cranky). And no, these are not isolated incidents. Yes, I would say most of the time they are done by visitors. So, sorry I'm not sorry for doing this post.

These are the five things I see tourists do in Washington DC that make me want to throw sh*t. They really, really get my goat.

We went to Egypt in September of 2012.   Yes, we were in the country when they burned the flag at the American Embassy, and we were in Cairo directly 3 days after. 

Everything was fine. Despite the ridiculous American news, the rest of the city was unaffected. The coverage in the States desperately tried to make it seem as if the sky was falling.  "There are rioters everywhere!"  Uh, false.  If Cairo was the Pacific Ocean, there were rioters in Kauai.  I.e. about two blocks of an absolutely enormous city.  Sure, I wouldn't go to that one block, or probably the surrounding radius, but to say all of Cairo--much less all of Egypt--was in chaos was ridiculous. 

Times were tough for an economy that relies heavily on tourists, which was easy to see when we were the only--yes only--group at the pyramids one morning.  One other bus showed up a few minutes later, and a few more trickled in as we were leaving.  The place was empty. I commend tour companies, like Abercrombie and Kent (who we used), who continued (and still continue) to run tours. I really, strongly, feel that safety was not an issue when we were there. Yes, we did have an armed guard with us in the bus, and yes, there were gunmen on nearly every boat we saw on the Nile (including our own).  But if there was ever a trip that convinced me not to believe American news coverage, this was it. Perhaps our experience would have been different as independent travelers?

Locals were nothing but courteous, kind, and helpful. And we were actually harassed FAR less in Cairo than we were in other parts of the country.  While people in Khan el-Khalili (one of the biggest souks) surely tried to sell us things, it was not the in-your-face type approach found at Luxor, Karnak, Abu Simbel, and other places.  In those places, they would latch on and continue yelling through the bus windows, to the point where you were both uncomfortable and exhausted.  In Cairo, they'd just ask if you were interested in something if you picked it up. Fair enough. They also would ask you where you were from and thank you for visiting Egypt.

Unfortunately, trash collectors were also on strike when we were there...I'm sure the city isn't sparkling clean when they aren't on strike, but it was the dirtiest city that we've been in, ever.  And when I think of bad traffic yesterday in Washington DC...nothing compares to Cairo. That traffic is truly horrible. 

But, Cairo is truly a beautiful city, with much intrigue and incredible history. It's called the city of a thousand minarets for a reason! If you like religious studies or archaeology, it's obviously a wonderful destination.  Here are my favorite sights from Cairo for this week's Flashback Photos.

Have you been to Cairo or Egypt more recently? What was your experience?

We visited DC Brau on Saturday, one of the larger breweries in the District right now, although the craft brewery scene is definitely growing quickly here. 

Of course we went to a Mexican restaurant after DC Brau. I don't have pictures of the food, as I was too hungry to bother, but if you are around H Street NE, the queso fundido and the enchiladas at Impala Cantina are delicious. I resisted ordering a second round of queso fundido...my health will thank me. My stomach still is angry about that decision. (Backstory...we are running a marathon in October, and now that our long runs have topped 14 miles, I suggest you read "the feeding" for a little more insight to my ravenous eating habits). 

On to DC Brau....