It's hot.  It’s stinky.  It’s overpopulated.  But it is also pretty damn fun.  Bangkok has everything one might envision from a hot, stinky, overpopulated Asian metropolis.  You dig palaces?  Then this is the place.  The palaces and temples are breathtaking. You dig elegantly prepared plates?  Visit Bangkok.  The meals are delicious and the presentation is artfully appealing.  You like strong Thai beer?   Yes sir – you’ll hear more about this.

You like astonishingly beautiful nineteen-year-old women dancing and gyrating about on the tables?  Yeah, neither do we – that’s why we didn’t even get down to the Patpong district, nor do we know anything about it.  Never even heard of it.  Don’t know what you are talking about.

Our travels through Bangkok were brief.  Jake and I stayed just a few nights, but long enough to get a feel for the legendary Thai hospitality.  The people were so pleasant and courteous that it was difficult, as cynical Americans, not to be suspicious all the time.   There was a lot of polite smiling and cautious hand gestures accompanying each encounter. 

If you are into architecture, Bangkok is replete with elaborate temples, palaces and government buildings.  And while there are countless examples of the foregoing in and around Bangkok, the real show stopper is the Grand Palace right smack in the heart of the city.  The palace is really a collection of very ornate buildings and temples and includes the most impressive Temple of The Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Keow).

Wat Phra Keow houses a 30-inch solid jade statue of Buddha which is said to be over 1000 years old, and represents Thailand’s most sacred symbol of independence.

It was easy to get lost in the Grand Palace, as the ornate decorations and architectural stylings were overwhelming.    It would be all too easy to burn through a hundred rolls of film here. 

We spent a good part of the morning wandering about this colorful marvel, snapping pictures and listening to Dang, our guide, as he recited stories of Thailand’s rich history.

If you visit, make sure to wear clean socks and slip on shoes, as you spend an inordinate amount of time popping in and out of your shoes as you tour the numerous buildings. 

Just as our legs were about to crackle and our eyeballs about to plop out of our heads, we jumped into a small, motorized skiff on the Chao Phya river and headed off to for a delicious  lunch in a delightful open-air local-flavor restaurant right on the stinky brown river.

And even though the river was less than sanitary, the food was fantastic.

From there is was off to the garment district to have some custom suits and jackets tailored.  This can turn out to be a pretty fun experience, and relatively inexpensive (although somewhat time consuming, as you are required to visit again the following day for fittings).

We spent the balance of the afternoon shopping for silk for the ladies back at home.  From there it was off to happy-hour and then a very satisfying meal at Basil - a quaint Thai restaurant in the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit Hotel.

The following day we paid a visit to the Temple of the Reclining Buddha (Wat Po) to see this enormous 16^th century statue depicting Buddha’s transcendension from the mortal world into nirvana.   Once again the temple was mind-bogglingly ornate – and somewhat difficult to capture on film.  Here you can see Jake reading the mother of pearl pictograms on Buddha’s enormous feet.

After a Singha (well, it might have been two or three or more) and some peanuty-chickeny-frilly appetizers to hold us over until dinner, we visited the final “must see” temple in Bangkok -Wat Trimitr.

Wat Trimitr is a very small, nondescript little temple with a jaw-dropping five an a half ton, 12 foot tall, solid gold Buddha statue.  Whew!

There is some story about it being covered with plaster during some war only to be discovered hundreds of years later by an unknown dream inspired monk, whatever, but it was truly stunning to behold.  Dragging the thing out of the building proved nearly impossible, so Jake settled on paying his respects by lighting incense and placing gold foil on a small Buddha in the courtyard. 

As evening fell, we made cautious plans to grace Patpong.  Patpong, is the vibrant, noisy, crowded, world-renowned evening entertainment district of Bangkok.  It is here that one can find the legendary bars and bath houses of ill-repute, but the area is also great for wandering through a maze of hawker stalls that sell anything from “replica” watches, pirated CDs and DVDs, to food, clothing and anything else you could imagine.

In Patpong there is no shortage of runners flashing pictures and trying to pull all the westerners into one bar or another.  Tonight was no exception – and we were prime targets: young, single Americans.  Just to be good open-minded travelers, we thought it best to darken at least one such door for a quick beer (which I still contend was drugged – because I have never been so light-headed after just one beer!).

Inside we found the good-natured bikini-clad dancers smiling and winking at the relatively benign crowd.  All was rather tame, probably because it was still early.

So after one beer, we headed back on the street for some last minute shopping before retiring – resting up for an early morning flight to Hong Kong.