Two Nights in Bangkok (another guest posting by Jer)

As one who has traveled almost exclusively in the Western world (apart
from Israel, which is still pretty western in most ways), Bangkok is
unlike any city I've ever been to. I loved the energy it exudes and
its ability to cram unimaginable amounts of stuff and people into
remarkably small spaces. I had mixed feelings about the "wild west",
caveat emptor in the extreme, lawless feel that the place had that
made me feel a bit edgy and more vigilant than usual. This was one of
the few places I've been where warnings from Lonely Planet and friends
actually came true. People would appear around every corner trying to
sell us stuff or arrange tours. And finding a cab driver willing to
use his (if there are female cab drivers in Bangkok, we did not see
any) meter could be a major hassle.

One story that captures the sense of what I'm talking about:
Melanie mentioned in an earlier posting that we went to Jim Thompson's
house (the guy she said had good taste). Almost equally interesting
was our trip home. It had taken us about 25 minutes to get there in a
very creatively (i.e., Asian-style, in which all road markings and
traffic laws are ignored in the interest of getting there faster)
driven tuk-tuk, and traffic was now even worse due to impending rush
hour. The woman at the house (Jim Thompson's) suggested that we take
the canal boat for, like, 10 Bhat (30 cents US) per person. We walked
along the nearly-overflowing, smelly and choppy canal for a bit to get
to the dock, where a dozen or so people were also waiting. A boat
going the other way pulled up, so we watched to see how the procedure
worked. Within roughly a second or two, the boat had pulled up while
people more-or-less-simultaneously got off and on, and those who were
even a millisecond too slow (and there were several) watched it pull
away. When our boat was approaching, we were sure to be ready on the
dock.

This isn't, it bears mentioning, like getting on the ferry to Mackinac
Island or something where there's a gangway and people taking tickets
and such. The boats have open sides and rows of benches down low that
stretch the entire width of the boat. You pick a row while on the
dock, and jump onto the side of the boat and step down onto a bench.
In our case, the boat was crowded and nearly full. In the 2 seconds
the boat was docked, I jumped onto the side of the boat. The people on
the bench below me, despite seeing me standing there precariously as
the boat pulled away from the dock, didn't move over. Not having much
choice, I jumped in anyway and eventually the people did move. A scary
moment, though. Once on the boat, there are tarps people hold up (via
strings rigged with pulleys) to avoid being splashed by the nasty,
polluted water. The problem with these being that they're opaque, so
it can be tough to see where you are. Happily we got off at the right
stop and didn't fall in or get too splashed. A unique transit
experience certainly worth 30 cents.

As I said above, another remarkable aspect of Bangkok is its density.
We had already been to Chiang Mai and were aware that much of the Thai
economy is premised on selling inexpensive goods on sidewalks, but
Bangkok still felt crowded. It's not a small city by any means, but
every nook and cranny is packed beyond capacity. When Mel and I would
try to stop on the sidewalk to look at our map, for example, the only
sidewalk space not completely taken up by restaurant tables or
sidewalk vendors was in front of doors. And when restaurant tables
were on the sidewalk they sometimes had nothing to do with the retail
space they were in front of. Sidewalk vendors are one thing, but some
restaurants operated entirely on the sidewalk, kitchen and all! And
when we walked around in Chinatown there, the pedestrian traffic was
absolutely wall to wall. Mel and I got separated several times
because I was insufficiently aggressive (apparently) in my walking.
But even those crowds didn't stop the occasional motor biker from
trying to get through.

Also remarkable for its density was the Weekend Market we went to.
Imagine an art fair, a few flea markets, a couple food courts, a busy
Chinatown, your local pet store, and a couple factory outlet stores
all rolled into one. Now multiply this image several times, and add a
couple thousand more people than you think should reasonably fit in
that amount of space. You now have a vague sense of what the market
was like. We wandered around for a few hours and only saw a small
fraction of it. We also drank fruit shakes and bought some noodles
with fish balls at a food stall for lunch.