Little falang in the big city

So I figure I'll write as much as I can while I'm here at Poi's with internet access. Basically I'm in love with Bangkok. It is completely chaotic, vibrant, random, futuristic, old world, and diverse-it has everything. It kind of like if you threw Japan and Vietnam together in a bowl, and mixed in a pinch of the US. It is unlike any Asian country I've ever visited.
Bangkok is a very lively and business centered city, and appears to be very much on par with the rest of the first world in terms of the businesses that are here. Yet it is still very much a developing country, evidenced by the poverty seen even here in a major metropolis. Poi told me that kids do not have to go to school here, and sometimes families cannot afford to send their kids to school, even though public schools only cost 2 Baht per day, which comes out to $20 US dollars per year. So those kids often end up as street vendors from a young age. Though there is no quick fix to alleviating poverty, education is probably one of the best ways to prevent it.
The juxtaposition here between old and new is amazing. There are giant skyscrapers intermingling with temples sandwiched right between them. Life here just seems to flow quite naturally. Cars, tuk-tuks, motorbikes, bicyclists, and pedestrians share the road, and that seems to be the chain of command in terms of who has the right of way. Lanes or lines of any color on the street are treated more as suggestions than law. But I have yet to see a single accident, though close calls seem to occur by the second.
The people here are much more diverse than I expected. There are a decent amount of Indians, Chinese, Japanese, and tons of falangs, which are us western people. Steve said that there are about 6,000 ex-pats who live in Thailand, most of them in Bangkok. However I guess that's not a lot considering that 93 million people live in Thailand. I feel like I see a lot of Americans and Eurpeans around, but they are probably mostly tourists like me.
I was able to get new passport pages pretty easily yesterday. I left my passport with the embassy in the morning and came back in the afternoon where it was ready and waiting for me. So now I have more extra pages in my passport than I think it came with originally, and I am good to go for quite some time.
Poi's mom treated me to a Thai massage and facial yesterday at her friend's salon called Bliss Spa. I had never had a Thai massage before, and it was not what I expected. It involved a lot of pushing and pulling and stretching, bone cracking, and deep muscle massaging. Though not entirely relaxing, I felt great afterwards. It is supposed to be really good for your body because it stimulates blood flow. The facial was nice too, and though it was an upscale spa it was still ridiculously inexpensive.
Afterwards Poi's family driver took me to Steve's to pick up my big bags. The traffic here is ridiculous during rush hour! The stop lights can be red for up to 10 minutes. It took us two hours to go a total of probably 4 miles. I didn't think you could get worse traffic than in LA, but boy was I wrong.
I am planning to meet up with Monica and two other volunteers from Palm Tree tonight after they fly in from the beach. I'm going to stay with them for the next couple of days in Koh San, which is a section of Bangkok. I'm hoping we can go see a Muay Thai fight tonight, which is Thai kickboxing. Hopefully Steve will be able to come too.
Poi's uncle is helping me figure out getting a bus into Cambodia, so that should be worked out by today. Her family is so friendly and generous. They are really taking care of me while i'm here. A bunch of her relatives just arrived so I'm gonna get going. Take care!