Guts of steel, stray dogs and fried grasshoppers

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The title says it all. I've been in Bangkok for 4 days now, and so far so good. I've been eating food from street vendors that is so spicy that the teary eyes and runny nose aren't enough to put out the fire in your mouth. You can eat a full meal here for about 80 cents. I'm playing a bit of Russian roulette with the food, and so far my stomach is handling the assault quite well. I had a bit of a scare today, but all is good now!

This city is a mass of yellow shirts (Thais wear them in pride of their king), dirty markets (live eels and catfish for sale, hairless cats chasing rats, stray dogs, pet squirrels in cages, deep fried bugs (I tried a grasshopper last night!), raw fish and chicken swarming with flies and unknown sources of water on the ground) combined with the hussle and bussle of the musical yet whiny sound of Thai voices, honking horns, over-crowded buses with sweaty locals hanging out the windows, Tuk-Tuk drivers nearly tipping their 3 wheeler, open-air cabs over, rivers polluted with sewage and water taxis that spray the lucky passengers (I was so lucky...) And you have Bangkok...

Thai people come in two forms. The very sincere, friendly, helpful type who are always smiling and feeding you beautiful compliments, and key to this - wanting nothing in return. There are also the slimy, un-trustworthy vendors and tuk-tuk drivers wanting to take every penny (or Baht) you have and scam you in any possible way. So as you can see, so far I have a love/hate relationship with them.

I've done a bit of site seeing, but mostly just shopping. I've exchanged my somewhat "passable in Europe" wardrobe, for more of a hippy-dippy beach bum collection. Today I went for a Thai massage, that was uber relaxing. It was for an hour and only cost me about $7. The prices here are incredible, especially compared to Europe! I'm headed up to the north tonight where it is apparently much cooler, so I'm looking forward to that.

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Photos

It's the King's birthday and everyone's invited!
I opted for a yellow shirt I could wear again, but everyone here wears this special shirt to honour their king. People wear them every day!!

The reclining Buddha
This guy was huge. They take their Buddha very seriously

Brilliant Thai Food
The best food is sold at street-side vendors like this one. Its a masterpiece of aromas, colours and flavours.

Comments

[Carlos Rosado]

Hey prima
Hey, its your primo Carlos... Ill be in europe in a few days? gonna be arround at all? I know its a long shot... but with all this moving arround you never know. Ill be in Norway, Germany and Latvia... but in any case we should keep more in touch =) I linked your stie from my blog by the way www.carlosrosado.com/blog talk to you soon!