M: Admittedly, John is a little better about eating thai food than I am. But in all honesty, no matter where I am in the world, a ham and cheese sandwich is always welcome.  I find it hard to turn down when faced with a plate of rice and shrimp, or bread and cheese and meat. But we all know this about the Hixx already yes?

M: When I came to Bangkok ten years ago, I arrived at the airport at midnight. I knew all the travelers/backpackers stayed on Khao San Road so I headed there. I was worried nothing would be open. Little did I know, Khao San was lit up like a Christmas tree, people everywhere, from all over the world - they were drinking and partying and shopping and it was magical to me.

John took me back there last night, to the road that had given me so many happy days. I was scared it wouldn’t hold up, that my memory was greater than the actual place. Boy was I wrong:

Here’s another shot of the energy of Khao San:

It was also Chinese New Year yesterday, man our timing was perfect:

I asked John to promise me when we get back to Bangkok, we’ll stay for a day or two. I can’t wait.

Margaret: 11 years ago, just about the same time John and I will be leaving on a jet plane, I left my warm apartment and got on a very long plane ride to Fiji. My friend Christy had been in the Peace Corps and she was taking the money she made to go traveling to southeast Asia. My mother, the consummate believer in travel, told me she would pay for me to go with Christy, so go I did.

We went to Fiji, then I broke off from my traveling companions while they went to Vietnam and I went on my own to Thailand. I arrived in Bangkok at midnight (when John and I will be arriving) and I was terrified. Where was I going to stay? what if nothing was open? But I had my Lonely Planet and it told me where to go, Khao San Road.

Khao San is like no other street in the world, it’s where the backpackers stay in Thailand and at midnight it was a scene. There were people everywhere, guesthouses everywhere, lights on, people out, chairs and tables in the middle of the street when during the day its packed with cars. I loved it on sight, I loved Bangkok on sight, dirty and crowded with beautiful monks wandering the streets of litter.

I spent weeks at the beaches on my own and met my friends again in Bangkok before we went to Chiang Mai for a trek. Then we left, I spent about a month there.

And I have such good memories of Thailand, how much safer I felt there than I had in Indonesia, how nice the people were, how beautiful it was.

I cannot pretend like I understand Thailand in any way now. 10 years is a long time to be away, it’s like a whole new place. We’re not staying on Khao San this time around, that’s for the younger kids. We’re going to different beaches and doing different treks.

But I know about Thailand what I know about Chicago, whatever it throws out at me, I’ll be okay. I can make my way there, there are people to help us. I never felt that way in Indonesia honestly, a beautiful place, but a darker place, a more violent place.

But I plan on taking my husband to Khao San Road, to have a Singha and watch the Swedes go by. Damn straight.