Turns out my first hotel (that I had arranged via Internet from China at about $18 a night) was in the middle of a massage parlour district catering almost exclusively to Japanese businessmen and tourists.
Unless you've been there, it's difficult to imagine an upscale building the size of a Las Vegas casino that, other than serve drinks and a few side dishes, is simply an enormous bath and brothel. There are plenty of web postings about the services offered there. But, even if you're not in the market for sex, it's something worth seeing -- dozens of women in evening attire or bathing suits lounging behind a glass enclosure (much like looking in a fish bowl), while the male clientele relax before announcing to an employee that they have selected number so-and-so.
I stuck my head in one of the largest establishments, Caesar's, but didn't even stay for a drink. Being of European ancestry, I got the feeling I wasn't particularly welcome, anyway.
For Westerners, there are three major sex districts, of which I walked through two -- Soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza. Again, it's something worth seeing, whether you approve or disapprove.
Bangkok, however, is long past its heyday as a sex-tourist destination for American servicemen on leave from Vietnam. Now, it's a bustling commercial center bursting at the seams from rapid and, often, uncontrolled growth.
When I first started to travel around the city it seemed pretty much impossible to get from point A to point B. I tried the local transit system and promptly got lost in a maze of interconnecting buses, some with air conditioning, some without, and all crammed to the point that you didn't worry about pickpockets, because even they were jammed in too closely to work.
But, as time went on, I slowly experimented with tuk-tuks, land taxis, water taxis, the Skyway, and the subway. Eventually, I found it pretty easy to get around.
Of course, I made my pilgrimage to the backpacker's haven around Koh San Road. But, I found it too dirty, congested, and youth-oriented for my tastes. After a while I moved out of the main tourist areas, finding small guest houses that were quieter, cheaper, and generally filled with more interesting people.
I still visited the major religious shrines and tourist attractions. But, my best times were had wandering the streets for hours at a time and just running into things I hadn't planned on.
One day that will always stick in my mind was when I came upon the Bangkok Zoo. As far as animal attractions go, it was nice, but nothing special.
I strolled through their grounds for about 90 minutes before noticing that an island on a big lake there contained some monitor lizards -- those dragon-like reptiles that passed for dinosaurs in 1950s B movies.
Well, I had never seen one before that wasn't behind glass. So, I found it rather interesting from a distance of 50 yards. Then, I noticed a couple were swimming in the water only about 25 yards away. That was even more interesting!
After a few minutes of watching the animals, I felt something step on my foot. I looked down, and there was a 5- or 6-foot lizard staring back at me and licking its chops!!! I let out a scream like a little girl and had to thump on chest to get my heart beating again.
But, enough of fear and loathing in Bangkok. (For those of you who aren't familiar with Hunter Thompson, I apologize.)
Eventually, I visited a number of the islands in the Gulf of Thailand and managed to get sand between my toes and to suffer some world-class sunburns.I even hung out in Pattaya, another destination mixing sand and sex.
The picture above was taken from a Pattaya Starbucks, where I often spent my mornings relaxing on their outdoor veranda and listening to the mix of languages from tourists and locals who came in to indulge their caffeine cravings.
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