Today I toured three temples, all around 250 years old, ornate, some in disrepair. I was hanging with folks from Bangkok, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mumbai. One gets a lot of different perspectives on American culture and politics from a group like that, although they also quizzed me at great length about America's view of China. Hope I represented our 300 million with the proper response!
Anyway, one last shot at some Thai from a street vendor. Found a spot where you could smell the curry from a block away. So, had a huge plate of steamed rice, chicken stir fried with Thai chilis, and curried eggplant with another vegetable which, frankly, I couldn't identify, and the language barrier was impossible to overcome in order to find out. I sat on a very short blue stool, eating on a nicely clean stainless table beside a very smelly alley. I knew I had picked the right spot when the tuk-tuk drivers started parking and joining me. The lunch was excellent for a lot of reasons. Despite 94 degree heat and 50%+ humidity, I wolfed it down, even adding a fair dose of Thai chili sauce to the mix. Add in a bottle of water and the total tab was 45 baht, which works out to - hold your breath - $1.33. Really. But, I'm ready to get back to the 'ville, which I'll hit tomorrow. Cheers.