Bangkok, Thailand

From the moment I stepped off the subway, I knew Thailand was much different than anything I'd ever seen before. I had about a twenty minute walk from the train station to my hotel, with completely gridlocked traffic and motorbikes whizzing past me. Lots of food stalls on the side of the street offered bizzarre foods (some with fried insects).

Unfortunately my flight from Singapore was delayed over 4 hours, so I didn't arrive in Bangkok until 7PM at which time it was already dark (and raining, somewhat). I sure didn't mind spending that time in Singapore's excellent Changi airport, and got quite a bit of work done while there.

Upon check-on I went back out and do what I always do immediately upon arriving in a new city: just start walking around (with no particular destination in mind). The atmosphere here is high-paced, an assault on the senses and clearly much different from westernized Hong Kong and Singapore. As I was pushed through the streets with the huge crowd of traffic, many of the side vendors begged me to buy their products. It's pretty obvious that westerners here - especially those with American accents - are assumed to be very rich, and so they target you more than others. For dinner I stopped in a modest restaurant to get some Pad Thai - for a total of $3!

The streets of Bangkok are dirty, fairly crowded, filled with insane traffic (and by traffic I don't just mean cars - every sort of motorized vehicle you can imagine is on the streets in Bangkok). Often the food you'll see being offered is very "raw", just like in Hong Kong.

The next day I got on the Skytrain for the Silom MRT station to see Lumpini Park, which I hear is a nice park in Bangkok with people practicing Tai-Chi. Unfortunately it was still raining in the morning, so barely anyone was there. I ducked into a Starbucks for a few hours to escape the rain and have my daily fix of espresso.

I continued to head west on the Skytrain to hit the Chao Phraya River, the main river running through Bangkok and one of great importance to Thais (much of Thai history can be traced back to this river). I took a river boat up most of the river and got some great views of the (rather run-down) developments alongside the river. I got off at the Tha Tien Pier and immediately took a different river boat across the river (which costs 10 cents!) to visit Wat Arun, an amazing Buddhist temple on the side of the river (and one you see in most skyline pictures of Bangkok).

After exploring Wat Arun for a while I crossed back over the river and, after walking around the area and the shops for a bit, found my way to Wat Pho - another and more elaborate Buddhist temple. Unfortunately while I was here a very heavy downpour left me stranded in one of the buildings for over an hour. Once the rain subsided I started walking around a bit more and found a place to have dinner - Tom Yum Kar soup (which I've had before in the US, but was so much more flavorful and spicy here).

After dinner I decided to try a Tuk-Tuk ride. Tuk-Tuk's are the three-wheeled taxi cars you see all over Bangkok. It was really an interesting (and somewhat scary experience) weaving through traffic in one of these things. There appear to be no enforced traffic rules in Bangkok whatsoever, which is a good thing since if there were traffic would move at an even slower pace. The journey was a bit long and frankly didn't take that much less time than what I could have walked (due to Bangkok's ridiculous traffic), but at least I got to rest my legs.

I got off at Siam Square, which is a major focal point of social life in Bangkok, and went immediately into Siam Paragon, a famous shopping center. Siam Paragon is the largest and most elaborate shopping mall I've ever seen. Everything was ornate, new, and the mall had a full 8 stories (sitting on some substantial area). I also just couldn't believe the number of people in the mall - it was quite crowded, but just didn't seem very "packed" because of the huge open space. I stopped by a shop that seemed very similar (but better than) Coldstone Creamery for some ice cream and spent a few hours walking through the shop and looking through the large bookstore they have there (larger than B&N in Pittsford).

In my remaining time in Bangkok I did more exploring on foot. Unfortunately Bangkok isn't very easy to get around and is very sprawling, so I was pretty much limited to what the Skytrain provided access to. On Sunday I decided to get on the Skytrain and just get off at random stations and have a walk around. Most of what I saw through this approach was pretty uninteresting, but I was fascinated by "Victory Monument" which is a large roundabout akin to the Arc Du Triomphe in Paris, with a massive elevated walkway around the entire thing. I spent most of the rest of the day making use of a solid internet connection I had at a local coffee shop and wandering around Siam Square area once more.

That night I decided to see a movie (RED) at Siam Paragon Cinemas, the nicest movie theater I had been to. Ticketing was done via computerized screen where you can select your seat. Attendants were available for questions wielding wireless iPads. Leather lounge chairs were placed about for people to wait in, and multiple popcorn flavors were available.

The next day I went out and took the river boat ride again, this time going up the entire length of the river and on the way back getting off at Grand Palace, an enormous complex of historical Thai and Buddhist monuments and the residency of the Kings of Thailand. There were lots of good photo opportunities here as I walked throughout the entire complex.

I'm spending the rest of the day here in a coffee shop getting some work done and reading up on Dubai and Abu Dhabi, in which I will have virtually no access to the internet. My flight to Kuwait (connecting them to Dubai) is at 3AM tonight.