I've been in Bangkok now for about 36 hours without major mishap. Called my gracious hosts Shamus and Ta when I arrived at the airport, got their address, dodged the overpriced "private taxi" (650 baht) and found the metered taxi stand (220 baht). Settled in, took a shower, and went out to the street for some amazing dinner (a whopping 45 baht or roughly a buck twenty for two of us). Yeah, it's not going to suck so much having to eat really good Thai food every day for the next couple months, for really cheap.

Ta and I went to one of the big markets today. After nearly five hours, we'd seen probably 2/3 of it, stopped to eat twice, and had constant snacking along the way. Ta's 3 months pregnant, not to mention that, according to Shamus, the Thai eat 5 or 6 meals a day. I was feeling pretty good, so I risked having ice in my drinks, ate some fresh fruit from the stand. Please join me in praying for firm stool tomorrow!

The market itself was overwhelming. Imagine maybe 2 or 3 city blocks packed with miniscule stalls selling everything under the sun. Hello Kitty socks in one stall, buddha statues in the next, lingerie in the next, North Face backpacks, tank tops with "Pop Star" in rhinestones, orchids, whole roast pigs.... literally everything imaginable. The overlay of cultures grabbed my interest - seeing so much Western influence alongside a lot of Japanese trends, Nepalese textiles & handicrafts, Indian religious influences, and traditional Thai stuff as well. How strange to be eyeing a Buddha statue while hearing music that some of my DJ friends back home were playing just a couple weeks ago.

Bangkok is a crazy city. Huge. Incredibly muggy. Full of cars. And buses. And pedestrians. And motorbikes. And they're all trying to hit each other without getting hit themselves. Oy. I'm finding that I'm much more prepared for less urban living. After a few days of this, I'll want to go hole up in a small village somewhere in Laos. Well, actually, after visiting Jodi and Allyn in Chiang Mai.... THEN I'll want to go hole up in a small village in Laos.

I received a confirmation that my registration was received and accepted for a 4-week natural building course outside of Chennai (formerly Madras) on the southeastern coast of India. This will build on the strawbale workshop I took last summer, and introduce me to materials like adobe, bamboo, thatch, wattle & daub, etc. If you're curious, there's some info on the course at www.kleiwerks.com. The site also contains much more information about natural building materials and techniques.

Happy full moon to you all. I skipped the festivities because I'm wearing a little thin with the traffic and mugginess and crowds. It's time to hop in the shower and de-mug a little bit. Feeling very greatful that my hosts have airconditioning and they're not afraid to use it!