Bangkok

I arrived late at night and took a cab to Banglamphu, the backpackers headquarters of the city that is central to most SE Asia travel itineraries.  Meanwhile my packpack was still in Vancouver.  It was clear straight off that the cab drivers do not know the street names as would be expected in western culture.  I thought it was odd but have soon found that it is typical that most cabbies need to call the place that you are going to get directions.  It was quite disheartening to find out that the guesthouse that I chose from the bible was now only a restaurant.  It took about two hours of late night street roaming through the endless maze of guesthouses, street food vendors, and vegas light bars, competing with countless others in search of a bed to find a place with vacancy.   The rock hard bed seemed like a gift from god after such a long journey.

I spent my first couple of days exploring Wat Pra Kaew, the Grand Palace and Wat Pho.  The countless Buddhas, gold leafed intricate decorations, and massive colorful Wats (Temples) dropped my jaw regularly.   I also got the rare chance to see the king drive by due to a ceremony related to his sister's recent death. 

I met up with my cousin Bree and her boyfriend Shi and we experienced our first night Bazaar (night market) together.  The booths became very repetitive very quickly and continued forever.  The ping pong show pushers were quite graphic with their description of what was beyond the red drapes due to their limited English vocabulary.   Undecided, we chose to give one of the more friendly doormen an chance for our business with a coin flip.  He lost three times in a row so we decided to call it a night ping pong free.

The wide variety of fantastic foods at ridiculously cheap prices was a pleasant change from the rice and beans of South America.  Friends who had previously experienced pleasures of authentic Thai cuisine raved about the Padthai and now I understand why.  Shi, a cook by trade, goes out of his way to try some of the strangest foods viewed from westerners.  I joined him in grinding through large deep fried chewy beetles and hollow sweet locusts.  An experience yes, but not one that I plan on repeating.

The markets of China town covered a mindboggling area and were filled with everything that you could think of that I had absolutely no interest in.

Bangkoked out, I pushed to leave sooner than planed.