First of all, Saturday night was a big party at the Grow apartment/hotel - the staff threw everyone a New Year's party, with Karaoke, food, and prizes. It was really fun.

And then, for my last day in Bangkok, Cliff and I went touring around on Sunday - we went to a Thai neighborhood market where I actually found a pair of black casual shoes that fit for $4.50.  Bangkok is dynamic, chaotic, and exhausting - so a nice thing to do is take a Canal Boat on one of the city's waterways, and head down to Banglamphu - a place with temples and monuments, and backpacker guesthouses and restaurants.  We took two canal boats to get there, and soon arrived at bustling Khao San Road - a well known tourist hangout with many bars and good people-watching.

We had beer and snacks, and enjoyed seeing everyone interact. Yes, there were food vendors selling roasted black scorpians on a skewer! And while most of us said no, the guy in front of us bit one right off the stick. After enjoying the madness of Khao San and taking a few selfies, we headed back to the hotel.

The next day I flew to Hanoi - and began my Vietnamese adventure.