Bangkok

Ah, Bangkok!!! It's amazing to be in a big city again after so many weeks on the road...it has all of the pulse, energy, chaos, glitz, squalor, and beauty of other large Asian cities I've been to, but Bangkok is certainly unique in many ways. I was here for a couple of days 10 years ago, so it is cool to be back and experience it in a much different way this time! Jon and I have found a nice rhythm in traveling the last few weeks, and are really enjoying exploring the city- it just doesn't feel like we have enough time to see it all! We arrived yesterday on a night train from Koh Tao (we really really loved Koh Tao and it was hard to leave! But such is life on the road!) and will be heading off to Cambodia tomorrow, so we will probably save 4 or 5 days at the end of our SE Asia leg to do some more exploring here. Trains are so romantic...how they lull you to sleep and wake you up in a new city. We arrived at the Bangkok's main station around 8 am and wove our way through the city to our hostel in Sukhumvit. The public transit system here is awesome and clean and easy to navigate, so no problems there. We then booked it to the north end of town to the Chatuchak Weekend Market! This was insanity! But oh so much fun....everything you could possibly imagine being sold (spices, antiques, vintage clothing, anything and everything plastic, fake flowers, puppies-yes real ones, books, street food of all types, Qing dynasty furniture, gold buddhas, tapestries, Indian saris, chandeliers, shark fins, ivory carvings, vintage Gucci sunglasses, trinkets galore, hand-knit wool things, ancient Siam decor, and I'm sure, if we know the Thais, they were selling motorbikes somewhere, but we didn't make it that far in the sweltering heat) all to the tune of a blind traditional Thai band. And did I mention that there were a guzzillion people crammed and roaming this enormous outdoor wonderland that seemingly spread for miles?! It was great fun, but surprisingly we came home empty handed...I think we were a little overwhelmed by the enormity of it all, the intense heat and the masses of sweaty people. Normally I would go crazy at this kind of thing and buy up everything, but it is hard to do that when I know we have so much time left to travel. I keep reminding myself that it will be better to just find one really lovely thing to take home, and when I find it I'll know...
I will write more soon about our visit to the historic sights, and I am going to write a blog about our food experiences. Hope you are all well and warm :)

-Jesikah