First Impressions

Wow so here I am, being amusedly overwhelmed by the whirlwind that I've jumped into. Every sight, smell, taste and interaction is a new sensation and I am happily bewildered. I can't yet absorb everything and turn it back to tell you in a conclusive or comprehensive fashion so I'll just describe what my sensory organs are experiencing and hope that you get a feeling of what this place is like for the first few days.

Bangkok is like a rainforest that crashed into an urban downtown: it's sprawling, modern, delicious, diverse, stinky, muggy, fresh, touristy and tropical. Walk down the street and you'll see individual slices of sushi rolls for sale for 6 baht (15 cents) each, bags of fresh ingredients for homemade soup including everything you need - sauce, garlic, onions, basil, lemon grass and shrimp powder, a monk in a saffron robe getting out of a cab, children buying cups of icecream from a street vendor, mystically beautiful, elaborate spirit houses outside of every business, wreaths of flowers hanging from the buildings, male expats in their 50's hanging out with young Thai girls, bright green and pink neon taxis, sizzling oil frying fish across from a flip flop vendor, tiny trendy Thai girls sending text messages waiting for the bus, exhausted fat dogs lying prostrate on the sidewalk, scrawny cats running into shops, a pidgeon landing in a bowl of peanuts for sale, and Dutch, French, Japanese, British, German, Spanish and American tourists everywhere. You'll hear the sound of a motorcycle constantly revving, and Beyonce and Shakira screaming at you advertising their bootlegged cds from Khao San road. Some of the foods to experience; drinking out of young coconuts, eating dumplings on a stick, sampling bitter fresh olives served with chili sauce, bags of fresh mango, pineapple, papaya, watermelon, apple, guava, and a mysterious fruit I described as "pear and honey" before being informed it was a fresh date! (Which I've never seen before) . Smoothies with coconut, dragonfruit, lychee, persimmon, beet and strawberry. At night you'll see a truck full of dead pigs being delivered for the market the next day, obnoxious drunk guidos being rude on Khao San, Thais sitting outside at the many street stands for dinner, little boys playing what is some derivative of World Of Warcraft in internet cafes....

Just a glimpse of my exceedingly stimulated brain on sensory overload. There will be a more selective account once I can digest some of this experience, thanks for reading!