The Forging Ear

   Last night we forged our way through the balmy night in search of our raison d'etre. Food. From the inexhaustible variety of cuisine availble in this international miasma we settled in Isaeli cuisine. A few minutes into our gastronomically inclined journey we crested a staircase and the spirit of Bangkok revealed herself to us in the form of a domesticated elephant with a blinking tail-light and brightly ornamented saddle being led across a bridge by two barefoot young entrepreneurs.  We were delighted and watched the grand old grey beast as it lumbered down the busy boulevard winking at us through the thick dark air with it's cheeky light. It was love at first sight, not only with urban pachyderms, but with this proud gregarious city teeming with curiosities and surprises of all sorts. We've only been here one day and we've already chewed betel with a man from Myanmar,  filled up on falafels and sushi, played Indian flutes, waxed philosophically over a teak chess board and talked about bio-diesel with canadian hippies. My pearly whites sparkle in a big thai grin as I write this, after just having them cleaned, thinking about the meals, massages and museums that populate our schedules from here to our flight back to Canada. We never quite know where this honourable elephantine city willl take us next and that's why it's such an exciting ride.