We arrived in Bangkok tired with only 2 hours of sleep the night before, but full of desire to explore this new place.
First reaction: it was definitely foreign. We were fish out of water as soon as we stepped on the airport escalator and had no idea what the lady was saying to us over the loud speaker.
The culture / language / etc was … well, we didn’t really know what to expect for Thailand other than stories from Shelly & other friends who’ve been. I would call it a cross between Indian + Chinese. The writing is beautiful.
The Thai people believe people have 6 senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, taste … and feel with the heart. That last one is evident in their greetings and rules their behavior … though it doesn’t stop them from being … “capitalistic” and trying to extort what they can 
… we got both ends of that.
Walking out of the hotel, we met a woman who helped us cross the road (really) and then commandeered our map, marked out some hot spots, and called us a trishaw & negotiated us a good rate (they call this 3 person motorcycle taxi a “tuk-tuk” for the sound it makes … we wished we had gas masks to deal with the fumes from all the traffic). The driver brought us to a tour agency for us to make plans to visit the Floating Market on the next day, and then to the river ferry where we headed up stream to check out the buddahs.
We could go on and on. Suffice it to say, we met quite a few people who helped us on our way — some where genuinely trying to help, and others made us think twice. But everyone had a smile … and they were all so pleased to give us advice on what we should see and what we should know about their country (though sometimes it was hard to communicate).
The floating market was a racket. It was interesting to think about that as being the way it used to be … a Venice of types. But today, it’s just a tourist gimmick with everyone selling you souvenirs and fruit you just saw two boats down. The food was great though — tons of variety & great flavors. We also saw handicraft stores and a jewelry factory and a few other places along the way. When we managed to keep our eyes open on the bus ride, we also saw the poverty and colorful countrysides of the real Thailand.
The night markets were a whole other “colorful” experience. But I think I’m running out of eye space to tell you about it … so we’ll post more comments with the pictures.
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