Bangkok, Thailand

Santa’s comin’ to town on the back of an elephant…

Spent most of the day walking my dogs off while Christmas shopping. Not much mention of Christmas ’round these Buddhist parts… Not like Singapore, which always gets extra high-tech and glitzy this time of year. Or Kuala Lumpur — even though it’s a Muslim country. New Years gets a mention here in Bangkok, but that is probably aimed more at the Chinese population. You just get the odd sounding Christmas tune in department stores. That’s about it, here in ninety degree heat. Actually, the weather’s be quite ideal (and perhaps a bit cooler). Nice, dry, warm, and sunny. What Perth should be like right now.

Before I hit the markets and shops, I spent a few hours checking out old Jim Thompson’s place. Jimbo’s a Yank who’s credited with opening up Thailand’s silk trade. He studied architecture at Princeton before being sent to Thailand during WWII (the big one) to do espionage work. Jimbo decided to return to Bangkok after the war ’cause he fell in love with the place. He decided to make a living by promoting Thai silk around the world. Considered quite the hero for it.

Jim Thompson is actually the second American I’ve come across in the past 18 months responsible for opening up a foreign country’s trade. The first being Tom Price in Western Australia, who is credited with opening up Australia’s mining industry for export. Anyway, Jimbo collected traditional Thai buildings and resurrected them on his old property, which is now a nice museum, just around the block from my guesthouse. Jimbo (as I’ve obviously come to call him) mysteriously disappeared while on vacation in Malaysia in the 1960’s. Adds to his legend status, I guess.

One of the many interesting things about Jim Thompson’s place was the fact that the main house was positioned with its front door pointed towards a little skinny river canal that ran the length of inner Bangkok. The premises may have been tucked away back up some alley, but in the day it was built, the canal system was the preferred mode of transportation in this city. Bangkok was known as the “Venice of the East”. To this day, regular long boats frequently ferry passengers back and forth on these canals. And unlike the few remaining cable cars of San Francisco, the people who ride these boats aren’t predominantly tourists.

Had another nice cheap Thai meal tonight. Maybe $2 this time. Funny thing I’ve learned about Thais. When they say spicy, they mean burn-your-mouth-off and sweat-a-gallon spicy. But when they say “not spicy”, I’m still finding the food to be about as hot as anything labeled “spicy” in Western supermarkets. Guess their taste buds are too burned off to recognize mild spices anymore. ‘Course, the cure for an overly hot Thai meal is a nice scoop of coconut ice cream.

Saw an ad in the paper today for my flight to Los Angeles tomorrow. It’s a brand-new spanking plane with a personal entertainment system on each seat. Hopefully that will help break up the monotony of the 15 hour non-stop flight. Maybe I’ve got that wrong though — it could be quite fast, since it’s scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles 20 minutes before it leaves Bangkok.

Bangkok, Thailand

My Bangkok Hangover…

Well I’m safe and sound in Bangkok, but not before arriving with a throbbing migraine as a result of the 8 hour red-eye flight to get here from Perth that started at 2AM. Fortunately, I had one last migraine pill in my carry on luggage and went straight to a men’s room on arrival to pop it down my gullet. Unfortunately it decided to pop down the sink drain instead. $7.50 down the drain (literally). Fortunately I had more migraine medication in my checked baggage, but that took a little longer to get to (after the additional headaches of immigration, baggage claim, and customs).

Once I got to my guesthouse, they acted like they had no record of my reservation — even though I made it six weeks ago. I followed all their Web site instructions to the “T”: had it confirmed, and then re-confirmed by e-mail both Saturday and Sunday and re-confirmed again by phone on Monday (two days before my arrival). Oh well, they came up with a room for me anyway. I guess I shouldn’t complain for $10 a night.

I spent a few hours napping this afternoon, trying to catch up on my lost sleep from the flight. Then I spent several hours dizzily wandering the streets and shopping centers of downtown Bangkok. Tonight I had a nice yummy double meal of Phad Thai (cooked before my very eyes) and barbecued chicken and coconut flavored rice for a whopping US$2.41!

I’m currently blogging this from the top floor of a giant shopping mall called Siam Square. They have huge movie theaters here that offer deluxe viewing packages (recliner seats, free eats, etc). King Kong perked my interest, but it doesn’t look like it opens for another week. I’ve heard you’re required to stand and pledge allegiance to the King of Thailand (aka the King of Siam) before all movies here. That, in itself, could be interesting.

At this point, however, I’m just looking forward to a good night’s sleep….

Australia

Out of the refrigerator and into the freezer…

After a year of hunkering down and keeping my nose to the grindstone, it’s time for another break. I have to say I’ve been feeling a bit gypped over the past few weeks. The temperatures here in Perth still seem to be hovering around our winter norms, even though it is supposed to be summer. And now I’m heading for the frozen tundra of North America. Oh well… at least I’ll have three days to sizzle in the tropics enroute. Bangkok always seems to be in the nineties.