Greetings from Bangkok --

I'm having a little more adventure than I set out to have -- all the
advice I got here in Bangkok said the only way to get to Phnom Penh by
ground is to take a bus, followed by a "truck" over a "bumpy road" to
Siem Riep, and figure it out from there.  (Siem Riep is in central
Cambodia, on the other side of a great lake from PP, which is in
southern Cambodia.)  I guess SR is a more popular destination because
it is the gateway to the world famous ruins at Angkor.  Anyway, it's
6:40 on Thursday morning and I'm up early due to jetlag, getting ready
for an 8:00 am bus.

I enjoyed my 2 nights and 1 day in Bangkok more than I planned.  I had
heard 9 years ago it was the most congested, and 2nd most polluted,
city in Asia.  But I find it working and smelling OK most of the time
in most of the places.  I have stayed in two nice hotels with somewhat
English-speaking staffs for $35 and $25 the two nights.  The train
from downtown to the airport costs 12.5 cents (I accidentally bought a
first class ticket for the return trip, which cost 50 cents -- though
I have to admit it was nice to get the air conditioning!)  I had lunch
for 50 cents, and half of that was for a Coke.

I got two views of Bangkok in my first two trips -- I took a taxi from
the airport hotel to the railway station, on the elevated toll roads,
and saw upscale Bangkok -- lots of beautiful high rise office
buildings, and billboards for consumer electronics.  Then I learned I
could make the same trip for 1/60th the cost on the train.  Along the
way, I saw the poor people living in lean-tos along the tracks.  All
in all it reminds me very much of Hanoi, though it is much more
sprawling.  It has the same zoning philosophy, i.e. a machine shop
next to a drug store next to a lumber yard next to a butcher.  There
are much fewer walkers, and much fewer motor bikes -- I think most
people travel by train and bus.  I walked down some very busy streets
at rush hour last night, and the sidewalks were clear.

I was unprepared for the heat and humidity.  I guess I just didn't
think about it, so I was expecting it to be like Hanoi in January.
But we are closer to the equator than Hanoi, and this ain't January.
It started on the jetway disembarking the plane.  Most of the places I
have been are air conditioned, even the train station.  But even very
nice places, like the airport and my first hotel, are prone to drips
-- water condenses on some cool metal object, like a ventillation
vent, and drips down on everyone.  Yesterday it rained buckets for
about a half hour at 4:00 pm.  Afterward it was cooler, but the
humidity was 100%.  In the U.S., people pay good money to enjoy a few
minutes in a sauna; but in Bangkok, even poor people can enjoy a sauna
all day long.

It's a little disconcerting to open the door to enter a 7-11, and have
to wait for an orange-clad Buddhist monk to come out.  I don't know
what Buddhist monks do all day, but going to 7-11 doesn't fit into my
preconceived notions of them.  I get to keep the book, "Teachings of
Buddha", that was placed in my hotel room by the Society for the
Promotion of Buddhism.

Well, out of time, you may hear more from me later.

Bob