Out the window of the plane, Bangkok’s clean geometry of color and development remind me a little of the midwest. Even at a minute from landing there are still more green sections than building sections. Interspersed throughout are big rectangles of water, the size of several city blocks at least. A few of them are a little wooly around the edges, with big green patches on their surface that look like giant lily pads; most of them are no-nonsense, though. Some are bifurcated by thin land bridges, either vertically or horizontally, always dead straight. As we get lower things start looking less midwestern: fringes on buildings like Chinese pagodas, and roofs everywhere in a weird shade of electric blue.
I decide to hire a car from a desk at the airport, rather than deal with a curbside taxi; I had the foresight to ask Jitti how much to expect to pay for ride to the gym, but then I forgot to write it down. I figure I am paying a 100% markup or so, but it's worth it if I can streamline things a little, because I’m really tired; at this point it’s been about 40 hours since I’ve slept. I don’t fall alseep in the car, but I drift in that direction. The street signs are all in Thai, but the billboards are mostly in English. The driver has on a Peter Gabriel CD. I find out later it was more like a 300% markup.