What's the capital of thailand? Bangkok!

Damn, i need Kaleb's cartoon to illustrate this...

Don't worry, i'm still alive, just haven't posted in a little while... Something about not travelling alone anymore, and something about general apathy...

Fled the south where the monsoon returned for one last fling - took a 13 hour overnight bus ride to bangkok, but it was actually very comfortable. For once the super VIP bus lived up to it's name, with easy chairs, free juice boxes, and even a toilet on board (trust me, a very nice thing to have on a 13 hour bus ride in thailand). Bangkok is a completely insane carnival of noise, traffic, pollution, and people.

Having learned from Phuket that the way to cross traffic in Thailand is simply to close your eyes and keep a steady rythm as you cross, allowing the traffic to flow around you like a river, tried to put that into practice on the 16 lane freeways here... After the first change of underwear, I was ok for the rest of the day...

Many more tales of Bangkok to be told, but unfortunately most of them involve rampant consumerism... Getting close enough to home, and christmas, that it seems easier to finish off my remaining travellers cheques to pick up some cheap clothes, presents, DVDs, automatic weapons, etc. in the markets around here, where you can very literally buy almost anything, and at a good price... Also starting to be very comfortable with the bargaining and pressure sales inherent in any purchase in Thailand, or asia for that matter... The tuk-tuks here get free gas, commissions, etc. for every unsuspecting tourist they drop off at a tailor shop or jewelry store - result, motoring around bangkok to see 4 different temples and china town only cost us 20 baht total (60 cents) but 4 different visits to various shops... Tough to cultivate that "i'm actually very interested, but just don't feel like buying today" look.

Anyways, a whirlwind next few days will see a visit to chiang-mai by train, plane, and bus, two days of jungle trekking, and two days of intense thai cooking classes, before a triumphant return to bangkok, then eventually home...

I hear you're whipping up snowstorms and frigid weather to make me feel comfortable when I get back, but i'm homesick enough that I won't mind... for the first 5 minutes or so...

So,

one last hurrah of crazy tourism, then back on the plane in spiffy style for a return to Canada... but not the end of this adventure...

Chris