Bangkok

It's only two hours flight from Kolkata to Bangkok, but the difference is huge, it looks like another planet. Shit, I thought Kolkata was a modern city! Guess 8 months in India got me completely out of proportions. I forgot completely about girls in mini-skirts, clean streets (no cows, now they're in the menu), skyscrapers, girls in mini-skirts, new age electronics, supermarkets and shopping malls... Did I mention the girls in mini-skirts? Damnt, they're beautiful! Although some of these dolls hang hand by hand with ugly looking Westerners, I guess not for the purpose of discussing quantum physics... Well, what to do, all this city is one huge shopping centre, everything's for sale. So I found myself in a state of some shock, which was much more overwhelming than after landing in India. I can manage it though :) Bangkok is nice, in a modern city's fashion. I really enjoyed the Sky train. It goes above the city's pagodas, palaces, monuments, parks and bridges; the stations and the cars are spotless. If there was one like this in TA, then it would be almost like here. There's already lots of Thai people in TA. The people are smiling and nice, willing to help although their English pronunciation is hard to understand. It was surprising to see lots of obese people on the streets. In India it's a rare sight, most of the people are slim and a belly is often a sign of a comfortable job with steady baksheesh incoming (police & government). Here I guess it's a sad result of Coca Cola world domination program. Food stalls are everywhere, cooking all kinds of meat, vegetables and noodles. Although they're Buddhist, the Thais are definitely not vegetarian... Of course, sight seeing is a must, all these pagodas and palaces. The train connects with a river, which has boat service, with piers close by to the important sights. The first place I went to was Wat Pho, it was really the only place I knew about in the city, except Kao San road. 1 hour of Thai massage fixed me the sens that got messed up in a sleeper coach from Varanasi to Kolkata, where I had to share a bed with 3 Indian soldiers (nevermind). It's good to feel a neck again. After 2 days I moved to Kao San, the backpackers' area. Lots of jewellery, piercing & tattoos, music, clothes and etc. Now I'm just hanging around, waiting for visas for Laos and Cambodia to arrive. When I'm done with that, I'm outta here! Shopping's not for me.
Sabai dee :)