Bangkok randomness

So after many hours in planes and many bad meals and 2 decent movies (Funny People and Public Enemies) later, I made it to Bangkok.  This place is so much, it's had to process really. I got in at 2 am on the morning of the 2nd so I haven't even been here two days yet, but it feels like a lot longer. For starters it is hot and humid.  I knew it was gonna be like this, but was not truly prepared for it. The key seems to be lots of cold showers and moving slowly. 

I think I'll just share some miscellaneous impressions of the place so far, I'm not up to writing a true narrative quite yet.

the first billboard I see after leaving the airport is for Amway.
a massage parlor in the Patpong area (redlight district) advertising "special testicle massage" for 800 baht, about 25 bucks.
an elderly monk in neon orange robes casually smoking a cigarette as he waits for the bus.
a dead bloated dog floating in the middle of chrao praya river, our ferry boat barely missing it as we cruise by.
teenagers in parks all over the city practicing muay thai (kickboxing), capoiera (brazilian dance fighting), and break dancing.
a flock of naked little boys swimming in the filthy canal, they all strike various muscleman poses as our boat full of tittering tourists roars past.
as I write this I am in an internet cafe surrounded by thai children playing World of Warcraft. adding their own sound effects.
a solitary policeman mans a car checkpoint as my taxi from the airport leaves the tollway and hits the mad labyrinth of surface streets, he glares sternly at me as we drive by but does not stop us.
the Chatuchak Weekend Market, literally 15000 stalls of vendors, all the selling the same junk. this is the like the elephant graveyard of tshirt and jeans from the US, but here they find new life.
kimodo dragons cruising the grounds and ponds of Lumphini park, gorging on pigeons and giving me sideways glances.
roosters begin crowing at about midnight, the dogs and myna birds soon follow and never let up til after dawn.
the atonal gonging of dozens of huge buddhist bells leading up the steps of the Golden Mount shrine.
at 3 am 4 littles girls chase each other in the street, playing some game that involves balloons tied to their ankles.
and, that's just the beginning...

a interesting passage I just read in the Economist. It's about acutally living in a foreign country but it applies to traveling as well, I think:
"foreigness is intrinsically stimulating...an escape from the boredom and banality of the everyday. the mundane becomes superreal and expereinced with an intensity evocative of the events of a true biography... living in a foreign country can evoke many of the emotions of childhood: novelty, surprise, anxiety, relief, powerlessness, frustration, irresponsibility. It may be this sense of a return to childhood , consciously or not, that gives the pleasure of foreigness its edge of embarrassment." 
hmmm, something to chew on.

What to expect in coming posts: A log of my amazing meals here, complete with ratings, just to make you all jealous. Maybe I'll figure out how to embed a photo or two. And much much more!