I find myself with some extra time on my hands before we set off to the train depot to catch our ride south so rather than sit around I though I would write a little about our time in Bangkok.

We arrived really early in the morning so after a brief tour of the area we are staying in the three of us hit the hay. The next morning we explored more and did some shopping, which is pretty much what you are doing when you walk around Khao San Road, whether you like it or not. The area we are staying in is the backpacker capital of Bangkok, so there is an abundance of shops, stands, markets, people, taxis, tuk-tuks (motorcycle type rickshaws), dogs, cats, small vermin and smells both good and bad. It is kind of the Bourbon Street of Bangkok. The city itself is very cheap (money wise), very fast and very intense. You seem to have your every need met, unless your need is to be left alone, which is not going to happen, at least in this part of town (downtown is quieter). There is also someone willing to help you out, even if you did not ask and don't need help, which is nice as long as you remind yourself to not get frustrated. If you need a expensive looking cheap personally tailored suit then Bangkok is your place, if not, then you spend a lot of time stopping yourself from strangling well dressed suit peddlers. The funny thing is, although I realize I am not painting a good picture of the city, it is actually a lot of fun. The people you meet are so interesting and kind, and oftentimes genuinely want to learn about you even though you both know that after 10 minutes you are likely to never meet again. The architecture is beautiful, especially the temples (which we have not even explored yet).

There is a lot to learn here about getting used though. For example, our first and last experience with a tuk-tuk ride was from downtown back to our hostel, which was a long way. We marveled at how cheap the ride was (around 1 dollar for three people), until we realised that there was a stop along the way. We learned the hard way that the tuk-tuk drivers have deals with shops in which they bring tourists, and as long as the people go in and look for 5 minutes the driver gets free gasoline. This particular driver told us that in broken thainglish, but we misunderstood and thought he needed just to stop and fill up. It did not kill us and we helped the guy out, but from then on we have shied away form the tuk-tuks because they always try and take you places other than where you want to go! They would rather take you on an hour "tour" for free than let you pay them just to drop you off 10 blocks away!
Our other learning experience involves feeding pigeons. We were walking through the park and all of a sudden two people shoved/poured bags of corn kernels in our hands. Within seconds we were swarmed by a ridiculous flock of pigeons. The three of us were pretty confused but we naively thought it was just some kind of good luck deal as it was the Thai New Year and we did not have much of a choice in the matter anyway. We rolled with it, had a few laughs, got some good pictures and started to take off. It was then that the people who shoved the goods into our hands (literally) started to demand money. As they were asking for 150 baht each (approximately 5 dollars) we reasonably balked. They were adamant about the price however and grew semi-upset at the notion that we would not pay a ridiculous sum after being hoodwinked. Eventually we settled for less but lets just say that afterward we all felt a bit cranky and used. We learned some valuable lessons though: not much is for free, keep a sharp eye and with all due respect, don't let yourself be bullied. Finally, if you ever want to make a killing in Bangkok, all you need is a bunch of baggies of corn kernels and some unsuspecting tourists.