New York maybe the city that never sleeps, but its constant insomnia is due to real world worries. Bangkok is the city that never sleeps because it has spent the last 5 hours sucking down hyper strength Red Bull and some form of cheap whiskey sloshed together in an over sized plastic bucket.
The vans, the buses, the tuk tuks, the cars, the motorbikes, the bicycles; The streets in Bangkok look something like a chaotic aquarium of motorized vehicles, where pedestrians are the hapless guppies.
The city spreads out along every side of you, dotted with skyscrapers and threaded with highways. The highways themselves are lined with a seemingly endless number of billboards. Huge billboards, billboards that would make Texans jealous.
To be honest orientation for teaching took up most of my time here, but I did travel to the famous, perhaps more infamous, Khaosan Road as well the Grand Palace.
Both places were experiences in their own right. The Grand Palace has served as the official residence of the Kings of Thailand since the 18th century and is incredibly beautiful. It also attracts some of the worst dressed tourists on planet Earth. Think mid nineties NFL sideline Zubaz with a Jimmy Buffett flair.
On the other end of the spectrum was Khaosan Road. The insanity of this short street is truly difficult to describe. On one side of the street you can purchase a counterfeit degree from any top university and on the other you can snack on fried insects while watching people precariously balancing beer bottles. It made Venice Beach look tame.
Thais, backpackers, expats with Thai girls (Who says money can't buy love?), Khaosan has it covered. People will have their opinions, but seeing it first hand had to be done.
If you need visual aids, feel free to hit up Google Images for pictures that are probably far better than any I would have taken had I brought a camera.
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