Bangkok...
We arrived in Bangkok late at night. I managed to exchange my money and find my transportation to my hotel without event. I was amazed to find that the hotel was so beautiful. It was that kind of hotel where you never stay unless Mom & Dad are paying... :) I had no idea how much I would appreciate this hotel on my way back through Bangkok in a few weeks. My flight left for Delhi the next evening, so I had a few hours (it was Sunday by this time) to wander around Bangkok. I had no idea where to go, so I just wandered around the area near my hotel, hoping not to get lost. It was during this time, that I was "ripped off" for the first time. A tuk-tuk driver (also known as auto rickshaws in India) asked me if I wanted a tour of the city. He charged me 100 baht (about $4) for one hour. My tour consisted of a visit to a small temple, where I was "befriended" by a young woman who encouraged me to go to the "government jewelry stores". Not surprisingly, my tour guide then took me to two jewelry stores before depositing me back at my hotel.
I learned several things that afternoon: 100 baht is way too much to pay for a "city tour", Buddhist monks aren't necessarily like you'd imagine them to be (I was surprised to see one kick a dog to keep it out of the temple), you don't necessarily have to see the traditional tourist sites of a city to have a very interesting experience, "filthy" is not a word whose meaning I'd previously understood, people in Bangkok are very friendly (and most of them are sincere), there are a ton of 7-11 stores in Bangkok, and drivers in Bangkok honk their horns an awful lot...
It was nice to have this stop-over in Bangkok to have time to prepare for the many new experiences and impressions I'd be having in India.
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