I'm IN FRICKIN BANGKOK!!!!!!

Okay, so now you know where I'm at.

It's been a bit of a shock, but honestly not as much as I was
expecting. After the lunacy (in a good way) that was Cusco and
especially La Paz Bolivia, this seems pretty normal. (then again,
I've only been to Bangkok :)

The TUK-TUK drivers are annoying. They are the guys who drive those
3 wheeled taxis around that you see in all the movies. They always
tell you your destination's closed and want to take you to the
Standing Buddha (40 feet tall, largest standing buddha in the world.
Visit him for luck in Thailand!) I did it once, rode in teh TUK-TUK,
which was fun, and then they took me to a tourist place to sell
trips. I've been offered that at LEAST a dozen times alredy.

But...
The foods great. The citie's lively. There are backpackers all over
the Khao San road (thom, this is where you'll come stay when you get
here, but everything will be closed. Of course you'll be approached
by all sorts of nice TUK-TUK drivers who want to take you to see
"thai ladies", "thai message", "sucky sucky" (no Im not making this
up:) and of course your supply of very friendly very forward and
rather unhappy looking Thai Ladies...hmmm, not sure what they were
asking. They kept wanting to know where I was staying.)

I saw the Temple of the Reclining Buddha yesterday (yep, largest
reclining Buddha in the world, 150 feet long! It's HUGE!) and the
temple complex is MASSIVE, sprawling spires and row after row after
row after row of gold buddhas of various size, shape and orientation.
It's like there is some sort of thing with this Buddha dude, I'm not
sure what it is but I'm going to get to the bottom of it!

Tonite I'm going to the Arena for a Thai-Boxing match all nite. 4
hours of fun, people kicking the shit out of each other, should be an
interesting cultural experience.

Haven't really met anyone yet. But i'm taking a tour in Chiang Mai
(northern Thailand) with elephant riding (go thom!), bamboo boats,
treks to hill tribes. So I'll be with a crew of like 8 for a few
days, that'll be fun.

And finally, last nite there was an AWESOME thai band covering all
yuor favorite hits, like Hollaback Girl, Sweet Child of Mine, and
Don't Phunk with My Heart. It was hilarious, and full of fun and
energy. A good time!

Sooo....

That's all for now. Hope all is well there. I've made it safetly
and am having a good time.

CraigO!