One Night in Bangkok

Ok... actually 5 nights in Bangkok. I was warned many times by travellers that I should get out of Bangkok "as soon as possible" and that this place is rubbish. But, actually I really enjoy Bangkok. With alot of the big cities I have been to on this trip like Saigon, Phnom Penh, Singapore (same same, but different to a city) I have been able to envision myself living there for extended periods of time. But, Bangkok is one place I could definetally not live. I consider myself a city girl, but Bangkok is not really a city... More like a giant spill of metropolis. Given that, I still highly enjoy Thailand's capital. There is ALWAYS something going on. I'm talking any minute of any day or night there is something happening. Bangkok really is a city that doesn't sleep. I've been here for about 5 days now, and am leaving tomorrow to Ko Tau, an island on the east coast of Thailand. Although I have been enjoying Bangkok, I am ready for something a bit more laid back (like white sandy beaches, clear water, and hammocks!!)

Observations/thoughts/questions/ponderances about Bangkok and the Thai people:
-The Thai people LOVE food. I'm talking obsession here. Thai food is some of the best food in the world, I really believe that. I have always enjoyed going to Thai restaurants at home, and I am enjoying tasting the real thing even more! There is so much food here it is mind blowing. Food stalls, food carts, food vendors galore! In every spare square meter of space there seems to be a Thai person who has set up a food vending area. You can get pretty much any kind of food you want on the street at any hour you want for very cheap as well. Since I have been in Thailand I think I have eaten at a restaurant once (for my birthday, a special occasion.) Here are some of the most popular foods you can get on the streets of Bangkok (and some of my favorites):
-Banana pancakes. Actually they are more like banana crepes. These are not really Thai food, I think the Thai people just started these carts because alot of Western people go for them. I had them once, and they are pretty good.
-Pad thai. You can get pad thai anywhere and watch the vendor cook it up for you right there on their portable grill.
-Papaya salad. My personal favorite. The vendor cuts up papaya (not sweet, more like strips of cucumber), tomatoes, garlic, onion, dried shrimp flakes, peanuts, green beans, a bunch of miscellaneous sauces and powders and puts all the ingredients in a big mortar. Then she will take a huge pestle and smash all of it together for a delicious and fresh result! Oh yeah, I forgot one ingredient: chillis!! I'm a big fan of spicy food and I can usually tolerate alot of spice, but sometimes, GEEZ! I learned my lesson the first few times I got the papaya salad and forgot to say: "Little little spicy!" Without this request you will thoroughly burn off all your taste buds from copious amounts of chillis, which apparently are normal for the Thais. They must have mouths of steel or something like that. Now I know to tell them to tone down the spice. Good results!
-Grilled meats. There are all sorts of vendors selling different sorts of grilled meats. Small pieces are usually being grilled on the portable stove on their carts on skewers. There are also meat balls, not the kind we would think of that come on spagetti. They are more like balls of meat. I got one the other day and was not a huge fan. I'm not sure how they do it, but I think they just grind some sort of meat up and roll them into balls and grill them. The one I had was very gristly.
-Fruits. You can get any kind of fruits you wish, cut up in a plastic bag with a skewer for easy consumption. Some fruits seen around include: jackfruit, pineapple, papaya, strawberry, banana, and watermelon. Oh yeah, they have GREAT grilled bananas on the streets of Bangkok. If anyone remembers, I became obsessed with these in Cambodia. They didn't have any in Vietnam and then they showed up again here and their in Laos but they weren't done they way I like them in Laos. And, glorious day!, I've found them again done properly here in BKK.
-Soups. All kinds of soups can be found at the street carts. Tom yum kung and also clear broth soups similar to Vietnamese pho but with all sorts of random things in there that I don't know.
-Sweets. The Thais don't seem too big on dessert, but you can find some carts that sell different sorts of sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves.
Those are the basic things that I've seen. I've seen thousands of other things around town, but I wouldn't even know where to begin on guessing what they are, or what ingredients are in them. You could spend years in Bangkok and still not have tried all the street food.

On to other stuff:
-The Royal Family. The Thai royal family seems to have a status similar to celebrities and god. I'm not sure if people actually think of them as gods, maybe the king? I don't know, but there are pictures of the king and the rest of the fam everywhere!! Apparently if you bad mouth the royal family you are in BIG trouble. I heard about a guy who drew a moustache on the king's picture and went to jail for years... The king's sister recently passed away and a few days ago every Thai person was wearing black for mourning I believe. I was walking by the royal palace and there were hundreds of people on the street selling buttons, postcards, posters, t-shirts and other things like that with the princess's picture on them. You can buy pictures/posters/buttons/magazines/books anywhere with the King's pic on them. I am trying to figure out what sort of person would be similar in status to the Thai king in the US. Definetally not the president, thats for sure. The only other thing I can think of is celebrity. Maybe like Tom Cruise or something... But people seem even more obsessed with the King than Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt.

-Lady boys. This is an interesting phenomenon that seems to be very unique to Thailand. I'll be walking down the street, watching life go by and think: "Oh, what a pretty lady! Nice dress!" I'll walk a bit closer to this "lady," only to realize that she is actually a he. These are the famous "lady boys" of Thailand. I think some of them are transvestites and just dress up as women, but alot of them have actually had a sex change and breast implants. They are still considered lady boys though. It is a very curious thing. I am wondering why there are so many lady boys in Thailand. There are exponentially more lady boys than in any other SE Asian country. Why? Anyone know? On Khao San Rd. at night time is when alot of them come out to play. They all have nice long hair, boobs, really short dresses, and pounds of make up on. Sometimes I will see a lady boy with a guy and wonder if he knows he is with a lady boy and not a woman. I must say that alot of the time it is very difficult to tell if someone is a lady boy or an actual woman. They are very convincing. Something I think is interesting about lady boys in Thailand: This culture is very conservative but also very tolerant at the same time. If you get caught selling drugs you get caught, if you bad mouth the king you go to jail, traditionally women don't have sex before marriage (or even kiss!), but lady boys, transvestites, homosexuals, and sex-changed people are all highly accepted. I think this is a good thing! One reason why there might be so many lady boys here is because plastic surgery and sex change surgery are relatively cheap in Thailand compared to the rest of the world.

-Materialism. I'm not really sure what to think about this yet. I know Thailand is supposed to be the most "developed" and "Westernized" out of all the SE Asian countries. And so far, I would have to agree. But, in no Western or developed place have I ever seen so much STUFF!! Oh my god, overload! If there is not a food vendor, there is someone selling stuff. Alot of the time it's the most random, seemingly useless stuff too. At any minute you walk down the street people are shopping, shopping and shopping. There is an over abundance of malls. There are spas, plastic surgeons, make up, clothes, electronics, shoes, bags, and on and on. I'm not critisizing, only observing. I think that having alot of material possessions is highly regarded by the Thai people. It seems so any way with the amount of stuff everywhere. It is interesting because the Thai people are also very Buddhist. I always connected very Buddhist people with sort of a simple life. It was like that in Nepal anyway. But then again, the people in Nepal didn't have the money to have anything other than a simple life. The Thai people do, and they take full advantage of this money with shopping.

Well, thats all for now. I'm off for my last night in Bangkok before heading south. Tomorrow I will try to load some pictures online.