bangkok

India is the only comparison I have to make, Mumbai (Bombay) to Bangkok, there is no comparrison. Life/travelling is so much easier here. It's definitely cleaner, water isn't a concern (in Bangkok anyway). There are far less touts, people wanting to take you to "their friends " or "the best hostels" or "this temple is closed you should go buy jewelry". I'm not constantly wondering who will be next to hassle me.
Yesterday was my first full day here. I spent several hours at the national museum learning about Thailand's history. From their I headed to my first wat, or temple. Wat Po is home to the reclining Buddha which is so much bigger than I could have imagined. At least 10 times my height and probably 150 ft long, shining gold immense. The temple buildings are all covered in mosaics of gems, statues everywhere and it's home to the Thai massage school. For 300 baht, less than $10, I got an hour long Thai massage. There wasn't nearly as much contorting of me as I'd expected, although it did end with a spinal twist that popped all my vertebrae, ahhhh!
I also had my first encounter with street food in the form of a rather tame mango with sticky rice. Today, I'll eat street food for lunch, maybe a rice porrige. I also want to get a drink off the streets, they serve them in plastic bags with ice and a straw. Also today, I'm going to visit a tailor and have some clothes made, then off to China town for some thai pants and a sarong. I've had word from the program that it's been quite cold at night there and I'm afraid I might need some more warm pants, a hat at the very least. I think a sarong is in order as I can use that as another blanket to supplement my sleeping bag.