Hi all. Second time at a computer since I've been here, but the first place kept crashing on me so no post then. I'll post some old stuff first:

The first leg of getting to Bangkok was a 12 hour flight. Asiana Airlines was voted the best airline in 2009. A little premature maybe, but it was a very nice flight. I had a row to myself, so I took a nap and brushed up on my Thai a little.
After 7 hours, 3 embarassed hostesses asked me to move for a passenger complaining of back problems. I've been there myself and figured I could do with some good kharma before visiting a largely Buddhist country, so I moved and got an aisle seat with extra leg room and an empty middle seat next to me. I was thanked by entire flight crew, and was given a rum and coke that probably took the enamel off my teeth. I don't think the passenger who woke up with me invading his row was as well compensated.

I spent 2 hours walking around Incheon airport (South Korea), and then slept for most of the 6 hour flight to Bangkok.

2am: I got in after public transport was closed, so I had to take a cab. Instead of lining up for a disgruntled cab driver like in the US, in Suvarnabhumi Airport they line up to smile and rip you off. The "system" the airport provides just facilitates the extorsion with a smile, since they pair you up with a cab driver. He offered me a flat fee, but when I asked for the meter he said it was broken. Apparently hiding it under a wash cloth breaks it.

2:20am: Lanes are about as relevant as speed limits. If there was a car next to the cab, he got closer to it despite the four lane freeway being almost empty. If there was a car in front, he sped up (up to 140 k/hr), but if there was no one in front he slowed down to 60 k/hr. Fun.

2:45am: Met up with Lauren at Suk11 hostel.

6:14am: After a light nap, I took a stroll around the neighborhood. We are wedged between a "quiet" red light district & an expat/ambassador neighborhood. They both see a lot of activity, though of different kinds and at different times. Seeing the Thai locals start their day before the tourists began to stir was a great intro to Bangkok though.

Despite the almost complete lack of trash cans, the streets are free of trash save for the food waste the street vendors sweep into the gutters and toss into the canals. The fish seem to love it.

Getting around Bangkok is fairly convenient. We are staying close to the skytrain, which is an elevated metro system that was completed in the new millenium. Clean, airconditioned, and cheap. We can easily get to the river from the hostel on it, and from there we can take longboat ferries to get to other parts of the city.

We took the ferry up to Khao San Road, a backpacker "ghetto" or "haven," depending on your perspective, and then were offered a very cheap tuk-tuk ride. Lauren's new friend "Dan" was very friendly and lucky us! Because of the recent turmoil, today was a free gas day! Only 50 baht for a tour of the temples!

Of course it included low-key non-tourist temples, but also a travel agent, a tailor, etc that we finally convinced the driver Kob not to take us to anymore. Either way it was fun and cheap.

For an airconditioned break we checked out a huge mall just off the sky train, MDK. This place has an incredible food court with prices comparable to the street vendors. Awesome.

That night we went to a night market. We explored for about 45 minutes, going up and down each row methodically, before we realized we'd only seen about 1/6th of the place. It also has a huge beer garden with a food court. It's like an overblown Paddington Market in Sydney. Great deals on clothes, souvenirs, bags, and anything else. And the less you want it and the later in the night it is, the cheaper it becomes as the vendors slash the prices if you just stop and look.

The next day we saw a very red sunrise over part of the skyline from the sky train as we headed out to explore chinatown. After squeezing up through the stalls of pungent foods, we walked through a very non-tourist area full of auto-part shops etc. We were 2 of 10 white people in the market, but we were on our own out here. We finally stumbled on the alley we were looking for: The Monk Bowl Village.

I'll have to pick up from here later. We're currently somewhere between Bangkok and Chiang Mai, in Sukhothai, but my time on this computer is about to run out.