Bangkok daze

I'm still in Bangkok and am enjoying it - didn't the first time I was here. The city has done something about the traffic -still v.heavy, but it does move now and the air has the appearance of being very clear. Much better than the Pak/India mega-cities I've been to.
The city has all the look of a modern metropolis of the future, with fantastic skyscraper architecture and skytrains whizzing between the gaps.

A chicken sandwich from Calcutta airport (I was hungry and desperate) gave me a parting present of food-poisoning shortly after my arrival in Thailand. Just about over that now.

For the last day, I've been hanging out with a French Canadian (Martin) and a fellow Brit (Callum) and their company has helped lift my spirits considerably. The three of us did the obligatory exploration of the dodgy areas of the city last night. I picked up a bag of fried locusts for 20 Baht. I'd always thought these insects to be an underused source of animal protein and been keen to try them - a bit like prawns, I expected. Well, not really! They were quite tasty the way they'd been cooked, but no flesh - just a crunchy sensation of dry legs and skin. Callum relieved me of one of them and I passed another to the friend of a hooker that Martin was chatting to. A bit of exoskeleton just fell out of a gap between teeth twelve hours later. Ugh.

I'm getting my visa (hopefully) for Camodia tomorrow. The embassy here seemed very efficient with no waiting at all and a promise of next-day service. Excellent, Along with Laos (the most heavily bombed country inhistory) and Vietnam, these three countries are a testament to the UShaving *the* modern history to be ashamed of