Vegas meets Thailand

Four days of hustle and bustle in Bangkok was enough. Khoa San Road, aka "tourist hell" was elbow to elbow tourists and street vendors. Although we were staying at Khoa San Palace, dead center on Khoa San road, we did our best to avoid the place.
After first being the target of a tour agent scam (which we narrowly avoided) we booked a four day package to take us to Siem Reap, Cambodia where we would explore the ruins of Angkor Wat. Our last night in Bangkok consisted of a trip to the local boxing arena, which of course features Muay Thai kickboxing. The problem there was that they charge FIVE times as much for a tourist as for a local. Two times, three times, sure... so we decided to head across town to the Siam Niramit theatrical performance.

Siam Niramit is a Thai cultural extravaganza, presenting five acts that represent different aspects of Thailand's music, art and religion. Having never seen a real Vegas show, I can only say that Siam Niramit is precisely what I would imagine a Vegas performance to be like. Or maybe it is the Disney version of Thai culture. The point is, we had a great time but left wondering whether any part of the show really resembled the regions historical culture.
The theater is devoted entirely and solely to this one show, with a large gift shop and replica of northern and southern traditional villages. It holds some world record for the tallest theater. You can even feed a real baby elephant!
After the show, we dilly dallied long enough to get on the shuttle bus with a bunch of the performers. We were dropped off at the subway, which is either brand new or meticulously cared for. We took the subway to the sky train and the sky train to a taxi. I pause briefly when we exited the sky train to snap a few photos of a Bangkok city streetscape. Very beautiful in a brutal urban sort of way.