Awesome Australian Adventure A mechanical solution to an electrical problem.

In retrospect

Since arriving in Thailand two weeks ago, we haven't sufficiently described the madness that is Bangkok, so here we go.

First, the food is amazing. Stalls filled with pad thai and random assortments of meat crowd every major street. We've been getting delicious meals for 30 baht (one dollar) and picking up snacks at all times of the day. At one point late at night, we accidentally picked up skewered chicken hearts. They tasted like chewy meat beans...mm... We've found that the best way to find good food is to follow the Thai people. Most streets are crawling with tourists, but if you find a stand or restaurant filled with Thai, it's going to be amazing.

Everything else is also extremely cheap. There are street stalls selling random knick knacks. Most stores have a repetitive collection of tourist products. It looks like there's a giant factory that pumps out little figurines that look somewhat Thai: silk ties, t-shirts, bags, wallets, etc... It distributes stuff across the city to all the salespeople so a lot of the stalls sell exactly the same thing. Still there are a lot of nice things to be had if you find the right locations. There's a lot of Thai silk for sale and some designers put up their own art or original shirts. A lot of craftsmen sell their own creations and clothing, which is generally well made. At one point, we wandered into a random, very crowded alley filled with electronic components. Ben immediately went searching for current sensors without much success. Anyway, there were guys with soldering irons working on boards on the side of the street and boxes full of motors. Twas a crazy street.

On weekends, Bangkok has the Chatuchak market where lots and lots of people gather north of the city to sell their wares. So we wander into this market and immediately become lost. Every direction we turn just has more stalls selling whatever you could imagine. If you were for some reason looking for a particular stall, it would be impossible to find, but wandering around, you see the strangest things in addition to the standard products. There were humongous buddha statues, teak dildoes, an entire section devoted to pets, and a variety of offensive tshirts ("Ipood," "Nobody cares about your tweets, Matt," "Cock [coke font], quality you can taste" among the few I remember). After a couple of hours wandering through the maze of stalls picking random directions to turn in, we managed to find our way out of the market having bought a couple of shirts and bags and spending under five dollars.

one of the numerous passageways of the bangkok market

Transportation around Bangkok varies from backseat motorcycle rides to trains elevated above the city. Starting from the smallest form of transportation, the motorcycle, none of us have found occasion to take a motorcycle taxi, but we've seen at most three passengers and the driver piled on to a single bike. Most passengers sit sidesaddle, which makes it even more extreme. Next up is the tuktuk. These are little three wheeled vehicles resembling motorized tricycles with a carriage for passengers. The drivers of these vehicles are among the most obnoxious people in Thailand, persistently offering rides on their tuktuks to any tourist they can find. They then give you a ridiculous price for the ride unless you accompany them on a few stops to suit shops to take a look. Apparently, the suit shops pay them for bringing customers. We've generally avoided tuktuks and taken taxis instead. Taxis in Bangkok are similar to American taxis, except they're bright neon pink! Amazing!! There's also a skytrain and a subway, but those aren't very exciting.

Finally, Bangkok has lots and lots and lots of temples. Tons of shiny golden temples. More temples than your body can handle!!!!

wat wat wat wat wat

While we were taking a break from wandering Bangkok, we've been staying at this crazy hostel called Phiman Water View. It's run by a guy originally from California who went to Thailand to start this hostel. He is extremely gay. Very touchy feely and according to Matt, hugs with his hips. I think he's taken a liking to me... Anyway, he offered to guide Nathan and I around the redlight districts and pick out women, among other things. He allows his guests, who are usually artists, to paint anywhere on the hostel so there's cool art covering some of the walls. Its a very interesting place right next to the river, so if you're planning on visiting Bangkok, consider stopping by.

Other than doing standard touristy things, we decided we'd try to party one night and once again confirmed that we're not very good at partying. After showing up at the wrong place and having to walk a few miles to find the party street, we were greeted by booming music and what looked like a couple of great clubs. But once again, most of our group was wearing flip flops, which are not allowed inside the club. Sigh... Someday we'll do this right. Someday...

In conclusion, GIANT CHRISTMAS TREE!!

quite a large, shiny tree

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