We arrived in Bangkok in early December, 1998 after a cold week in South Korea. After a few misadventures in the airport (my friend Ann and I flew on different airlines, and had two or three snafus before we successfully met at the correct terminal) we headed out towards our next adventure. For the first night, we stayed in the "Miami Hotel" - the likes of which are best described in many of William Vollman's novels. The first thing we realized upon leaving the airport was that it was HOT, like really unbelievably hot, far worse than the Boston summers I'm used to, and something I was quite unprepared for after my generally northern travels prior to this. The second thing we noticed was that cab drivers in Bangkok drive faster than your average test pilot (oh, and no seatbelts.) When I wasn't screaming for dear life, I noticed the cab's spedometer pegged at 160 kph (that's 100mph,) on city streets. More to follow...