Bangkok is crazy. I've never been anyplace like it. New York City is close, but far tamer, more organized and utterly understandable compared to the mish-mash madness of this City of Angels. (that's what Bangkok is called. It also has an official name of 15 thai words with 43 syllables, and translation of those words (the title above) makes it clear that the people who named it think this city is pretty much the absolute best, beautiful, holy and most totally awesome place on the planet, and in the history of human-kind.) I'm not sure about all that, but I will tell you that Bangkok rocks. We've had a blast here and it was a true eye-opener to see a city built out of a culture and history that is vastly different than that which we are used to in the US. NYC is a crazy, busy place. Bangkok is crazier and busier. In NYC and other US cities there are rules. Zoning rules, sanitation rules, codes and requirements for construction, licenses for ownership and accountability for businesses and individuals. Here in this city of the Highest Royal Dwelling and Grand Palace, anything goes.

There is food everywhere, at all times of the day. Thais eat for fun, and snack all day long. Food vendors carts line every street, and I've seen every kind of dried sea-food imaginable, from the tiniest fish to huge ones to squids and octopi the size of my arm. There are ultra-modern highrises right smack next to an outdoor shrine to the Buddha where traditional Thai dancers welcome hordes of worshippers offering flowers and incense, which is also right next to tiny shacks at the edge of a canal with rusty corrugated steel walls drooping into the water below. In Chinatown the tiny alleys are packed with shoppers and workers as guys drive through on motorbikes, the rack behind them stacked high above their heads with another thirty boxes of shoes to be delivered to a shoe store where there are already enough shoes to cover the soles of a whole town, right next door to fifteen other shoe-shops, all of them bursting to the seams with footwear. I've never seen this happen before, but Lu was over-shoed. I sat on a chair on the curb, Chang beer in hand, mouth agape, as the insanity flowed by and Lu checked out one of the bazillion shoe-stores. I expected her to come out with five pairs of sandals, three flip-flops and some boots. Instead she came out in a daze, empty-handed.

"It's too much! There's too many! I don't even know where to begin!" she told me, and once again, I was amazed at what this city could do to people.

We passed through a variety of 'districts' yesterday as we walked around. The 'Spare-Parts District', the 'Bags District', the 'Shoe District', the 'Buddha District', the 'Annoying Tourist District', and of course the 'Doors and Wood District'. It was insanity! And it forced us to ask a number of questions. The most important of which is how the hell does anyone decide which 'Bag' shop to buy from when there are 30 Bag Shops in a row, and all of them have the exact same large, white rice-bags for sale? Then even beyond that, how in the name of capitalism is there enough of a market to support the sale of nineteen gazillion large, white rice-bags? If you pulled out the contents of every Bag Store on the block, you could wrap every human on the planet in a brand new large, white rice-bag. Visually, though, the 'Spare Parts District' was the most stunning. We turned a corner and happened upon this street where garage after garage contains an enormous pile of one particular spare-part for a vehicular engine. Washers, axles, bolts, rims, chains, gears, pistons, garage after garage piled high with a different part and grungy-grease covered kids out front banging the crap out of some metal form to dislodge the piece they needed to add to their pile. Eventually we came to the end of the block, and there I saw the source of all of this. A few guys were unloading a crusty engine block from the back of a pickup with the help of a small forklift and some chains. I saw the engine touch the ground and then I realized how it would go. This first garage would pull off the pistons, then pass it on down the line until it had become completely disassembled into every component part, its pieces diffused throughout the district, down to the smallest nut and bolt. And then, on the other side, someone would show up needing a new engine and piece by piece it would be reformed, recreated, shined and fine-tuned, assembled into a brand new engine that would power one of the many forms of transport available here in this Royal Capital City Full of Nine Noble Gems.

We've taken almost every form of transport available. The three we have yet to ride are the subway, a tuk-tuk and a motorbike. We've ridden busses, the Airtrain (elevated train), cabs, river ferry, river taxi, and the canal taxi. There's a lot of boating around in this city, and the people are deft boarding and disembarking. Which means that the canal taxi pulls up at the dock in a spray of water and then everyone essentially leaps on board as others leap off, and in less that 15 seconds the boat is pulling away again, loud. But it's only 10 bhat, which is about three US cents, and that fare will take us clear across the city, albeit sprayed with nasty canal water and covered in the deep stench of diesel fuel exhaust. By car, boat and train we have explored a great deal of the city and around every corner is another amazing sight. The colorful 'wats' burst upward with tall pillars covered in intricate mosaics. The temple roofs gleam hot and red in the afternoon sun. Skyscrapers of glass reflect the low-slung shacks of neighborhoods as the Skytrain rushes by silently. Cars honk and busses rumble, tuk-tuk drivers cajole us with questions of our next destinations, but we ignore them because often tuk-tuk rides result in a scam of one sort or another. People here are incredibly nice and very helpful whenever we ask, but we know that whenever a stranger approaches us, they are probably looking for the bhat in our pocket. Regular Thai are too polite to bother us about anything.

However, of all the amazing sights and experiences in this city, it was returning to our friend's house where we are staying, and then turning on the Internet 3 nights ago that was truly the most astounding. I'd read about some of the corruption claims concerning the former Prime Minister Thaskin in the days leading up to our departure. But I had no idea the depth and breadth of the political crisis occurring in Thailand during the last year. PM Thaskin has been preventing elections from happening for the last year, and the events of what just transpired are the direct result of that. We were out all day and had no idea anything was brewing. But then, the next morning we were out walking and found ourselves only steps away from some of the tanks that were all over the news the night before. There were many Thai out taking pictures of the tanks, and there were soldiers everywhere, all of them with large machine guns. Around the barrel, though, was a ribbon of yellow that signified they all still supported the King. Clearly, the generals that initiated the coup to oust the Prime Minister had the blessing of the King. On Wednesday night Lu and I attended a panel discussion at the Foreign Correspondents Club where our friend who we are staying with works. It was enlightening to hear the various reasons for the coup, the factions, the problems it was supposed to address, and how things might go in the coming days, weeks, years. Thailand has had many coups over the years. I believe it's somewhere around 15 or 18. That we were here for the latest one, and got to hear and see first-hand the details of the event, is eye-opening. I was tense strolling the streets 2 days ago. It was scary to have so many guns all around. But I am definitely excited to have had the opportunity to see something so fascinating and historical. Of course, the fact that it was bloodless and no one was injured is the only reason I can enjoy this experience. If it had gone down any other way it would have been terrifying to be here. Luckily, instead Lu and I have had an amazing, exciting, adventurous time here in the city of Divine Shelter and Living Place of Reincarnated Spirits.

Now, it is time to go buy train tickets for Chiang Mai, pick up our visas for Vietnam, and then find a happy street vendor and get another crazy-spicy thai dish, with a Chang beer, of course.