Bangkok - First Look

Tuesday, October 16

Bangkok is crazy - it is HUGE, and also has a population of 10 million people. I think all of them are on the street at once! Motorcycles (little ones) are everywhere, and they weave in and out of the constant flow of traffic like madmen. Lots of shopping and just walking around looking at the sights and the people.

It's hard to reconcile the fact that lots of good food is sold from push carts on the streets, but under those carts runs (often) raw sewage. "Don't look down" has become my new motto.

Three of us took a trip during the afternoon to tour some of the canals that run around the outskirts of the city. How odd to see shacks made (literally) of cardboard next to temples that are highly-maintained and totally ostentatious. (And, probably, it was the people in the cardboard shacks who helped pay for the temple upkeep). I have great pictures of raw sweage being dumped into the canal, and kids swimming just yards away. They all seem healthy enough.....interesting.

Then, we were served a lot of different kinds of fruit, some of which I had never seen before. My favorite of the day" Dragonfruit, which looks like a red, angry dragon (including scales) on the outside, but is white with tiny black seeds on the inside. Sweet, very sweet.

At the end of it all, a traditional Thai massage (with oil) given by a woman who probably weighed all of 100 pounds dripping wet, but who could (I swear) have snapped any one of my bones with one hand. Pure pleasure. Afterwards, I went to the room to lie down for a minute and woke up two hours later. Who cares - I am on vacation!!