Bangkok is a mixed review - frankly mostly negative. A city of 10 million, it seems to combine a layer of LA on top of a slice of, maybe, Mexico City. They give the impression that they think traffic jams were invented here. If there are any traffic laws I haven't seen any sign of them. If there is a long line at a stoplight, cars, Tuk Tuks, motocycles just spill over into the oncoming lanes. Forget what's painted on the freeway - the real lanes are a car width plus room for a motorbike to squeeze through. U-turn or left turn: fake someone out and go for it. There does seem to be some unwritten order to it; people do yield occasionally, and nod or wave to someone who has yielded. I wouldn't drive a car here on a bet.
Food - mostly like Thai food in Portland, though I've had some different things. One is the rhizome of bamboo, sliced thin. Woody, tastes mild and interesting, chew it for a while and it becomes intolerably intense. I like the flavor it adds, but I carefully pick it out. All in all, I like Khmer cooking much better, and plan to see if there are any Khmer restaurants in Portland. (I think there are some part Khmer restaurants, since I recognized a few of the flavor principles.)
People: In Cambodia, scamming the tourists was a game for two, played for low stakes with a smile. Here, it is a game of solitaire, deadly serious, smuch higher stakes, smiles only as moves in the game. Taxis, Tuk-tuks, just about everybody gets into it. Even more than he traffic, it is a big part of the reason why, if I return to Thailand, I will head for the beaches and islands or for the highlands in the north, and skip Bangkok. I'm glad I came, but if our association has a conference here I will probably skip it. Oh - and I actually did get an offer from a taxi driver to take me to "a good massage parlour."
Architecture: Worth a couple of days. Very different from the temple architecture of either Japan or Cambodia. I thought the temples at Nikko were garish; these temples set new standards of what "over the top" means. I'll get photos up as soon as I can. If I were to return, I would definitely want to hire a good guide to explain what I'm seeing. I don't think I will ever get another guide as knowledgeable as Anne was about Japanese temple architecture, but the guide I had in Cambodia was a big step up from thumbing through a guide book.
Have to admit I found the tour of the old palace a bit of a waste - but then the sumptuous furnishings enjoyed by people who don't have to pay for them has never interested me. The temples and outdoor markets were much more interesting.
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Forgot to mention food at the street markets - much of it too peppery for my taste, most of it exotic and interesting. Boiled and bbqed fish-heads, plates of tiny fish deep fat fried, vegetables and fruits I've never seen, whole chickens bbqed, duck necks (head attached) breaded lightly and either fried or bbqed. I tried a boiled quail egg inside fried won ton, meat and a squid tentacle on skewers, and bought sticky rice with sweet beans for dessert.
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