Greetings from BKK

Greetings from Bangkok! I had no troubles on the flight in and one of the professors I'm working with, Carola, picked me up at the airport. We've spent most of the week visiting various Thai collaborators at departments of Forestry/Conservation. I have explored the city around our hotel and managed not to get lost by pure luck and gut instinct, and a dog that closely resembles a pig as a landmark. So far I have only been able to identify numbers in Thai conversations. A lot of sensory overload and hot and sweaty people overload. The food is better than I expected with a distinct mixture of tastes -- lemon and chili and mint and fish oil, making each bite unique. 

We have been in the city longer than planned so today I played tourist and visited the Grand Palace and Wat (temple) Pho. Thai can get in free at any time, but foreigners have to wait to buy tickets at 8:30am. (I arrived at 8). Immediately though, I had local people trying to "adopt" me. A school teacher tried to show me how people "pray," but a guard promptly escorted me to the gate. Then, as a group of people started toward the entrance I got up to join and was pulled along by an elderly woman patting at my arm and rambling in Thai. Once again, I was wrong, it still wasn't 8:30 and a guard barked at me to wait. Finally I bought my ticket. The Palace is a 2km complex of golden, glass tiled spires, and gaudy statues that houses the emerald Buddha. No pictures allowed and to show respect you remove your shoes and sit with your feet pointing away from Buddha. Wat Pho houses the chapel of the Reclining Buddha, a 45m-long gilded statue of plaster-covered brick which depicts the Buddha entering Nirvana. The chapel is only slightly bigger than the statue, so you only get a surreal close-up view of the body. My highlight for the day was hearing a group of monks chant. It was a nasal sounding hum amplified by tight fabric paddles they held up in front of them. We head out to Phu Khieo wildlife sanctuary tomorrow.