I spent the entire evening with my leg sitting on a bag of ice. Every four hours I popped ibuprofen and massaged the swollen areas of my calf. Shaunna found an ace bandage in her bag, and I used it to support my pulled muscles. When I found the energy, I got up and gently stretched my legs. 36 hours of this treatment seemed to work. By this morning, I could walk, carry my bags, and even skip along quickly when needed.

We checked out of the Moonlight Bay Resort at 8am and hopped into a minubus heading to Krabi. These vans normally pick up guests all over the island and ferry them around to various spots along the coast. Fortunately for us, we were the only two headed to the airport... everyone else was coming from Krabi back to Koh Lanta.

We arrived at the airport at 10:30am, but our flight wasn't until 2:30pm. I was still feeling some pain and swelling in my leg, so I propped it up. I noticed that my ankle was suddenly swelling up, so I removed my ace bandage. It seems that the pressure on my ankle and the position of my legs in the van caused all the swelling to move from my calf (which is getting better) to my ankle and feet.

I propped my leg up and dozed off until we could check our luggage. Once we dropped our luggage, we ate lunch and caught our flight to Bangkok. As we approached the "City of Angels", I could see smog smothering the city. Once on the ground, we grabbed our bags and hastily ran out to the taxi desk to get a metered taxi.

Taxi drivers in Bangkok are pretty vile creatures. At one point in history, they could set prices and barter with tourists - which is the standard everywhere else in Thailand. But the rates go so high, and so many people complained, that the city enforced a metered method that is similar to taxis in the US. As is the case with most things in Thailand, corruption is high. Most taxi drivers are reluctant to use the meteres and instead try to trick tourists into negotiating a flat fee.

As we waited for cab (in a massive line of tourists), drivers would speed up, honk at us and try to wave us over. I was warned in advance that we could get a cab to almost anywhere in Bangkok for around 300 baht. If we used the freeway, we would have to pay the tolls. But it's better to use highways because they avoid the intense traffic in the city. Our total bill should not be any higher than 400 baht.

I decided to see what I could negotiate with a taxi driver...

"Where to?" he asked.

"La Residence on Surawong... Silom district," I replied.

"Uhhhh, 500 baht," he barked.

"No, too high. Use meter!"

"No meter, 500 baht!"

I said to hell with him, and I wandered back to my spot in line. Once we made it to the taxi stand, I showed them my directions in (perfectly written in Thai by the desk manager of the Moonlight Bay Resort). They waved a taxi over and gave him a slip to show him where to go. He grabbed our bags, threw them into the trunk and told us to get in.

Once we pulled away from the taxi stand he said, "La Residence... 300 baht!"

I was pissed, but I insisted... this time in perfect Thai... "Buet meter noi!" - translation: Use meter please!

He said, "Meter?" and feigned like he didn't know what I was saying.

I repeated, "Buet meter noi!"

We bickered a bit, but eventually he gave in. He clicked on the meter and started griping at the main station over his handheld radio. As we were driving on the highway, I made it plain for him to see that I was writing down his taxi number and following his moves on a map of Bangkok. I know he was irritated by this, but he kept a "cool heart" and played it straight with us.

If you find yourself in Bangkok, make the driver use the meter whether he likes it or not. There is a number here where you can call and report taxi drivers.

Our final bill was 220 baht, plus two toll fees that equalled 60 baht total.

La Residence is a totally groovy guesthouse and serviced apartment company that has 6 floors of quaint and tastefully decorated rooms. Each room is different, and the halls have piped music that play jazz, bossa nova and classical. The internet is cheap (100 baht for all day!), and they have free breakfast. I highly recommend this place.

After dropping our bags and getting situated, I knew it was time to stretch my leg some more. We walked through the dirty, smoggy streets towards Silom where I had read about a hole in the wall Indian restaurant. We passed by the Sri Marriaman hindu temple...

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... and on the way we passed through an Indian part of town. We had a delicious meal and wandered through the streets until we got lost.

Bangkok is a beast. It is massive. It is awake all night. It is full of traffic and people and dogs and smells so vile that it makes you cough. Little nameless roads wind through major intersections and down into dead ends with gorgeous temples and shops. There are food courts and markets around every corner. There are huge Asian restaurants with fish tanks on the porch with all kinds of sea life that can be wokked, steamed, deep fried or cut up raw... grouper, lobster, crab, prawns, and funky-looking fish that I've never seen before.

I feel giddy and excited to be here. Shaunna has stayed within a close range of our toilet (got the gunk again), so I've ventured out to see and feel the city. My leg cramps up whenever I need to run across a busy street to avoid being killed by taxi drivers. But I'm getting along and loving it.