A nice and fun place to eat has the unlikely name of Cabbages and Condoms.  Don't let the name turn you off - the food is great.  Sukhumvit, Soi 12

    If you haven't had mango with sticky rice at the Spice Market restaurant at the Four Seasons in Bangkok, you haven't had the best.  It isn't the place for backpackers, of course, but if you can clean up a little and don't mind going "high end" for dessert, you will not be disappointed.  Think you've had sticky rice and mango before?  Think again.  This is the sh*t. 

    Hey, a Seattle-ite will need a fresh brew at some point.  Try the Londoner Brew Pub - Basement of UBC II Building, Corner of Soi 33, Sukhumvit Road

    To get a feel for the size and lay of the land in Bangkok, get on the elevated train and ride from one end to the other and back.  It's a cheap, clean and safe way to get around, and the elevated view gives you a nice perspective.

     Hire a long-tail boat for a few hours to take you along the busy river and off into the klongs of the Thomburi side of the city.  Don't go with a group - just hire the boat and boatman for the two of you so you can call the shots.  It's a great way to see non-urban Thai life without leaving Bangkok.  The boatmen have spots where they stop and where they can get a commission if you buy something, but they aren't insistent - if you tell him no, he'll keep going.  The less time you waste at tourist stops or temples, the more time you'll have for getting way, way back in the narrow klongs.  Keep an eye out for a Washington license plate adorning the exterior of one rickety little wood-frame house on a backwater kong.

     Try to get out at dawn to see the sunrise reflecting off the mosaic-like exterior of temples - very cool as they glitter and glimmer.  The Thai temples are really nice - ornate - but for me, see a couple of them and you've seen enough. 

    Oh, if you're in Bangkok on Saturday, go on up to the Chatuchak Saturday market - it's a zoo, literally and figuratively.