Asia Update #37 - Bangkok

Bangkok was awesome. Has so many amazing temples and the intricately decorated Grand Palace.

Amazing stuff. Everything is so intricate. Each figure or wall is made up of small gems, jewels, gold leaf, or pieces of metal. Huge buildings appear to be assembled one small fragment at a time. And there are so many buildings. Seemed to be temples on every corner. Lots of Buddhas all over the place. The Emerald Buddha was definitely cool, but I think the reclining Buddha at Wat Po was the most impressive (given that the Emerald Buddha was only a few feet tall, but the reclining Buddha was larger than two buses may have had something to do with it…).

One of the forms of transport in Thailand is the Tuk Tuk. They are basically 3 wheeled motorcycles. They got there name from the sound of the two cycle engines they often use. Kind of fun to ride in, but we did have some trouble when we rode in them when the driver would try to renegotiate the fare (it is negotiated up front) or to take us to some friend's store where we would be offered overpriced stuff (and the driver would undoubtedly get a kickback). Below is a picture with a couple of them, along with some standard cabs (which interestingly enough, are sometimes cheaper than the Tuk Tuks).

The locals generally used motorcycles for everything. Family car, taxi, pickup truck, etc. - all were jobs which we saw motorcycles used for in Thailand. Probably the most interesting to see was the family of 4 riding on a standard motorcycle (no sidecar or anything like that). We never did quite get the guts up to take a motorcycle taxi.

Just like the other areas of Thailand, prices here were very cheap. Food and souvenirs were very cheap, such that an American can eat like a king and still pay less than you would for cheap food in the States. And bargaining is normal, so you often find yourself bargaining for the last penny until you realize that it really doesn't make a difference. And we had a fun time trying to pack all the souvenirs and such which we bought.

I had heard that Bangkok night scene was the sleaziest of them all, but didn't get the opportunity to check it out (probably thankfully). We instead decided to go to the local Irish Pub/SCUBA center (interesting mix, eh?). We heard about the place on our dive trip in Pattaya - they also had some divers on the boat we were on.

Vacation's over. Time to go back to work. Bummer, eh? Definitely was a great time.