All over Khaosan Road there are people trying to push things on you and get you to buy things; tuk tuk rides, suits, thai massage, little wooden frogs, clothes, random gadgets, fish massage, etc. We got suckered into all of them at one point or another, the last being the "fish massage".

We'd seen other people doing it, and really, it just looked too bizarre to not try. It works by dipping your feet into a fish tank full of Garra Rufa (??), also known as doctor fish, at which point the fish flock to you and nibble the dead skin off your feet.

Having been to the worlds biggest fish market just a week or so ago, I thought it only natural to visit the world's biggest market when I found out that it was in Bangkok.

So the other day (after getting mislead by a conniving Tuk Tuk) we caught a cab and headed for Chatuchak weekend market. This market is 35 acres in size, more than 5000 booths and apparently has 200,000-300,000 visitors EVERY SINGLE DAY (that it's open, since it's only a weekend market). Here's the google map of the place.

We arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday afternoon and so far have just been mostly relaxing and enjoying the food. I have a Thai friend in Bangkok that I use to work with so we've gone out with him a couple times and had amazing food (I just let him choose the food :) ). It's been quite humid, but fairly moderate temperatures in the mid-20's so quite bearable. Sam's mom arrives today, so we should finally start doing some sightseeing today or tomorrow. We're staying near Khoasan Road in Bangkok until Tuesday and then heading out to the islands.

The other day I pulled myself out of bed at 5am to go see the action at Tokyo's infamous Tsukiji fish market. This is a massive hub in the city, the arrival/distribution point for almost all of Tokyo's fish. With 32+ million people who love their fish, it's hard to imagine just how much seafood must flow through there on a daily basis.

To give an idea of the size of this market... from wikipedia:

Tsukiji alone handles over 2000 metric tons of seafood per day. The number of registered employees varies from 60,000 to 65,000...

Due to a lack of planning, Sam and I stayed in Tokyo this weekend. We'd originally planned to head out to Mt. Fuji, but unfortunately was prohibitively expensive with last minute planning (all we could find was roughly $300CAD / night). So we had to move out of our previous luxurious 215 sqft apartment into a hostel for last night and tonight. Tomorrow we're staying at a hotel near the airport since our flight out is quite early in the morning.

Anyway, our current place is a whopping 55 square feet! (about 5 square meters). Let me tell you, it's been fun :).

I'm pretty sure we could squeeze another person (with luggage) in here.