We arrived in Bangkok at 4AM on the overnight bus from Kuraburi after some emotional goodbyes. As per usual, the ride was bizarre. We got on to a full bus at 7 PM and all of the lights were off and 2/3 of the passengers were asleep. Once we get settled in and rolling we start hearing this real spooky soundtrack of ambient noise and wolves howling and the like while we drive down dark windy country roads. A moment later and the TV starts flickering between static and a black screen (remember Poltergeist?) . This goes on for a couple of minutes and finally we are tuned in to some Japanese slasher/mind fuck type of horror flick with full on gore happening. Neither of us know how to react to this, and it’s pretty inescapable, but fortunately it’s only half an hour before the end of it, and then all lights are off.

Fortunately, upon arrival, we had a place to go. You see, when I sent out an email letting people know that we were doing this blog, I got a message back from a close friend from college who I hadn’t spoken to in some time. Jon said “You know I live in Bangkok, right?” Well, I didn’t know that, but it was great to find out.

Jon and his fiancee, Anna, are journalists who are currently on a bit of a world tour, writing and selling stories and video pieces. They spent 6 months in Uganda, after which they went to India for 4 months, and then arrived in Bangkok at the beginning of January. They run an international freelance journalism website together called Backpack Journalist (http://backpackjournalist.org/) They’re doing really important work in a very interesting and inspiring way.

So, after arriving in Bangkok, we taxi it over to Jon and Anna’s who have offered to put us up during our stay. What had initially been planned as only a quick stop over to pick up our Vietnam visas changed and now we’re going to hang for a couple of days before heading to Angkor Wat. They have a nice apartment in Sukhumvit which is more or less the ex-pat and upper-middle class Thai neighborhood. It’s incredibly conveniently located and everything you need is in walking distance. It’s not extremely overcrowded and hectic the way 3/4 of Bangkok is. Also, everyone speaks English here.

Most of the next few days are spent hanging out and running errands (Note: If you buy a Sony camera and it breaks overseas, just forget about getting it fixed…even by Sony themselves!) and Jon and Anna are getting ready to leave to work on a couple of stories in Phnom Phen. We do go out for a great dinner on Saturday night and get fairly drunk on the Thai traditional drink of 100 Pipers Whiskey, club soda, and a splash of Coke. It’s a little sweet for my tastes but not too bad, and it’s how they do it here so what can I say? This the first real partying moment of the trip and it couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s pretty crazy to meet up with friends halfway around the world from your own home and it absolutely makes you feel like celebrating.

On Sunday we head over to Lumpini Park at 6PM when everybody’s out and it’s pretty great. Group public exercise is the norm here and we walk by about 400 people aerobicizing together. Past this we stumble upon a full classical orchestra. It’s dusk and the music is peaceful and lovely. We watch for a couple of minutes until a moment where the music is crescendoing and in comes a full drum kit, immediately plodding along mercilessly to Vivaldi. It’s good for a laugh all around and we watch for another minute or two and , as we start walking away…yep, you guessed it, the wailing electric guitar solo. It was at this moment that I fell in love with Bangkok, I only wish I had an audio clip to post here.

Still further along in the park, it’s more public exercise with a complete outdoor weight gym and a curving path with a series of more weights and related exercises. It makes you wonder why there’s no public health and fitness program in Philly. Though truth be told the population is likely too cynical to embrace it.

This time through Bangkok has been much less overwhelming than the last, but there’s still no getting around that this place is chaotic and overstimulating in a way that you don’t see in any US city, and that I’m not so sure I could get used to. Still, a good time was had and soon we’re off to Cambodia!