Observations

First, afew things I've noticed/learned about Bangkok:
1) there are a lotof people cleaning the city. This is good because it would probably smell a hell of a lot worse if they did not. Considering, I think they do a pretty good job. It's gotta be difficult to clean up after thousands of cooks on the street everyday ;-)
2) Parks are really nice. This is somewhat of a general observation, but I've really come to love the parks here in Bangkok specifically.
3) Bangkok has 2 types of police: tourist police and regulat police. We get our own police force we are so bad! haha Also, they have traffic police and sky train police. I'm not sure if these are in their own category as security gaurds are in CA, but that's how I think of them anyway.
4) On the topic of the sky train, I LOVE IT! It is an amazing way to get around and way better than the metro because it's above ground and you get to see the entire city as you zoom along. Not only that it totally beats sitting in Bangkok traffic or the awkward haggling for a reasonable price that accompanies taking a taxi, tuk-tuk or motorcycle. Whew!
5) There are pics of the king (and some of the queen) everywhere! On the streets, in my tour van, on shrines...some on the streets are building sized. TheThai love their royalty apparently.
I also need to correct myself from the last post: the current kingis Rama IX, named Bhumibol Adulyadej (and his wife Queen Sirikit). Interesting info: He is 84, she is 77 (or 76...) and he has been king for around 64 years (I can't remember precisely)