"One night in Bangkok..."

Bangkok! Known for it's racy night life and cheap knock off goods we've spent our last three days here bumming about.  We stayed in the very touristy area which was the perfect place to sit with a drink and watch the people go by.  There were the young party animals, the hippies, the people who thought they were hippies and our favourite the washed out old guy who came twenty years ago and never left.  One of these colourful gents lived in our guest house and cornered us with all sorts of life drama.  Our last day, as we were heading out for breakfast he was just coming home, shirt unbuttoned so you could see his bony ribs sticking out, covered in scars, eyes puffy and droopy at the same time, hair all matted.  He shook his head and said he was so confused. He had just spent three wonderful days with a..um..lady of the night and then last night she kicked him in the teeth and he could not figure out why..I had some guesses but decided to keep them to myself.

We really enjoyed our last few days and as the thought of seeing yet another temple left us feeling lukewarm, we instead hit up a bunch of art galleries showcasing Bangkok's up and coming artists. Later in the day a walk through Chinatown resulted in us getting hopelessly lost.  Squeezed in narrow alleys we were surrounded by a phenomenal amount of stalls selling some of the most useless bric-a-brac we have ever seen; it seemed like we stepped into some weird alternate dimension that we couldn't get out of.  Eventually we found streets again with names and traffic and daylight...

Wanting to soak up as much of Asia before we left we made the most of our Bangkok nights.  We indulged in massages on the street which are the same as regular massages but instead of candle light and the sounds of nature there is the glow of a neon  7-11 sign and the sound of street vendors (but that's part of the fun). Bangkok has some interesting night markets. The first was a flower market that operated in the middle of the night so the flowers don't melt (as we do) in the city's heat.  Three city blocks and a huge covered area where overflowing with the most colourful flowers I've ever seen.  Our second night we sought out the illusive vespa night market, a gathering of Bangkok's alternative crowd. Selling and buying used treasures were hipsters, punks, hippies and the occasional tourist.  While it was hard to find we were rewarded with live music by a punk band before making the trip back home.   Bangkok didn't disappoint and our last night we ate our way through the city streets one last time before having to say good bye to Thailand culinary pleasure. 

R