One night in Bangkok...

This place is insane. Loving it though. As most backpackers do, we headed straight to Kho San Road which is a crazy street filled with vendors selling anything and everything at dirt cheap prices. It's pretty wild. The cost of a couple t-shirts for example is less than a beer back home... I don't know if the items are knock-offs or not, but I don't really care. There's neon lights everywhere and a blend of car engines and horns, blaring western and eastern music, people offering tuk-tuks (3 wheeled death machines that are far cheaper than cabs), it's like a complete sensory overload. Can't handle it for too long though, our 3 days here is enough.
It's freakin' hot here. Even though it's the beginning of the rainy season, it's been above 30 degrees everyday so far. I'm shedding my western drab for cooler, more "flowy" Thai gear. I'm gonna turn into a granola eatin', tree hugger at this rate ;) Gotta figure out a way to ship my extra crap back home. What the hell am I gonna do with a sweater?!
The tuk-tuk drivers are hilarious and seem to have no sense of self preservation whatsoever. They drive in oncoming traffic as much as the do with traffic. Corners are practically on 2 wheels, they don't brake until the last second, cut each other off constantly, and run intersections with the horn blaring. Our driver today was whistling through all this whilst giving time to contemplate our pending violent doom. All in good fun I guess, because we always get where we're going. They do tend to take side trips for with us, as they get free gas from shop owners if we peruse their crap for a while. Today it was a silver and gem store. No one to buy jewelry for anymore, so they were outta luck.
Despite my desire to hit the beaches, we're heading up north to Chang Mai tonight by night train, where we will begin our trek into the jungle. Cool. We chose to do it now 'cuz apparently now is the time of year everything is blooming and therefore prettier. We take a 4X4 to the outskirts of the jungle and then an oliphant into it. How cool is that?! The whole 5 day ordeal, including 2 guides, train from Bangkok, all accommodation, food and efelants was 4600 baht (about $140cdn). If I had started here with my Europe budget, I could have retired!
No pictures yet to post as I still haven't bought a laptop. They're very cheap here though, so it will be in the near future. Probably in Chang Mai after the jungle - don't want a monkey stealing my 'puter ;)
Anyway, if I never write again it's because I've been eaten by an elephant or a monkey, or possibly a swarm of cockroaches.