If it's all going to go wrong ... get it over with quickly

I arrived in Bangkok late Friday night and managed to lose my passport and airline ticket somewhere in the airport. Luckily when I realised this, I'd just sat down in a taxi driven by the nicest man in Thailand. He told me to wait in the taxi and he ran off. I sat and waited. Although feeling incredibly stupid, I stayed remarkedly calm. About twenty minutes later he returned with a security guy, who had all my stuff. Hooray! I guess it's kind of good to get an experience like that over and done with quickly.

Bangkok is ... dirty and crowded and ... enthralling.

The next day I spent the afternoon at Wat Po and was invited to a ceremony to see a young man become a monk. It was amazing - orange robe and all. The chanting a stuff was just incredible, and the boy's parents were just ecstatic. Chatted to the head monk guy. He's been to Australia, likes kangaroos. Spent a few months in Melbourne, too. Liked it better than Sydney. Went out that night to Patpong, which is the red light district of Bangkok and after wandering about the streets and markets, getting offers to all sorts of ... ahhh ... shows ended up at a regular kind of bar, with a great band and danced for hours.

I spent most of today on a ferry wandering up and down the river in Bangkok, checking out the city and walking around some of the less touristy areas, where I didn't see any other westerners at all, which was kind of cool.