Forensic museum

Started my day in the usual way... woke up, ate breakfast, headed off to the local forensic museum to see real-life dead bodies mummified and preserved in glass cases... errr well maybe its not like EVERY day...

Yep thats right... on a hunch from the group of guys I met in Vientiane in Laos I went off to this strange museum which is built in a hospital. There are 6 tall glass cases that greet you as you enter, containing the bodies of 6 mummified prisoners executed for their crimes. There are several other glass containers holding evidence from various vicious crimes, such as a head cut in two to show how a bullet entered the front of the head, travelled through the brain and finally shot out the back. Photographs of various victims, some bloated from drowning, others killed by traffic accidents abound. The funniest/sickest photo is one of several factory workers using long sticks to try and remove the upper torso of a fellow worker from a gigantic drill thingy that had mushed the rest of his body up. Interesting...

Went to China Town today (after taking a boat along the river for 30 mins - only 8 baht too). Man this place is chaotic. I guess you could view this as the REAL Bangkok cliche: smoggy overpopulated streets, people walking everywhere on narrow streets populated with street vendors sending more smoke into the air as they fry whatever, random people playing musical intruments charming snakes... actually I just made the last bit up, but you get the idea!

I priced a few cameras here and came away with some VERY nice deals, but I think I might wait till I get to Singapore before I invest in one. I know which one Im getting though: Canon Powershot A70! This thing has EVERYTHING, but is still very simple! I was in gadget heaven!