Bangkok!

I am in Bangkok now! I stayed in Mae Sot for a little longer than I expected revisiting friends and the clinic. As it turns out, a bunch of friends from Mae Sot were headed to Bangkok this weekend, so I joined the mass exodus. It's great! This is a place where I've not spent more than 12 hours on my five previous visits and never ventured beyond the airport, bus terminal, or Khao San Road area. This time I am staying at the Sukhumvit Road area, which is downtown near several air-conditioned malls, shopping areas, and go-go bars. It sure beats the backpacker ghetto of Khao San Road. I'm close to the skytrain, which connects to the subway and riverboats. The city is readily accessible! Bangkok's downtown is enormous -- a mixture of modern high-rise apartment and office buildings next to old two-story shops next to squatter's shantytowns with rusty corrugated tin walls and roofs.
We visited the weekend market, Chatachuk and Chinatown in one go. I am, it seems, a poor shopper, finding the shuffling aisles suffocating after an hour. Today we visited the Grand Palace for a peek and Wat Pho, with a massive reclining Buddha.
The weather has been warm and humid, which has made it perfect for the rooftop pool and bar, with great views at night. What a change from Mae Sot's daily deluge and neverending dampness. As a result of the rainy season, my clothes, after nine months of handwashing on the road, have acquired a funk that simply re-emerges whenever they get wet.