Bangkok

Days: 41-46
Miles Travelled: 23,759

The US State Department lifted the travel restriction on Wednesday - I arrived two days later on Friday. I was planning on coming either way, but with the ban lifted, at least I wasn't going against any US warnings. Saturday morning's paper said there were two additional incidents in Bangkok the previous day - a fuel depot was attacked by the terrorists and a undetonated bomb was found near one of the Thai government buildings in Bangkok. Even though there was no longer a travel advisory from the US, there was still stuff going on. Ironically, I was reading the US Today on the same day and there was an article about 50 shootings in Chicago last month - of which 17 people died. Why we feel safe in the US and not in foreign countries is beyond me...but we do.

While I'm on the subject, I walked by one of the shopping malls that the "Red Shirts" attacked last month. Apparently local press was reporting it was just a fire, but as you can see by some of these photos, it was definitely more than just a fire.










Beyond the damage in the pictures above, the damage to their economy was seen everywhere in the lack of tourists walking the streets of Bangkok and visiting the tourist spots. There were still some tourists, but you could tell the numbers were way down. Lines to get tickets to typical tourist spots were non-existent, restaurants and bars were empty, and the famous "red light district" in Patpong was practically deserted - yes, I had to check out the red light district. They don't bother hiding it, no shame, and no end to the touts following you everywhere saying "you want massage?" Crazy, but interesting to witness.

Overall, I'm not a fan of Bangkok. It's an extremely dirty, ugly, and smelly city. The smells were horrible - from the open canals everywhere that are essentially their sewer system, to the vendors lining every street selling nasty fish and other bad smelling things that I couldn't even tell you what they were. The poverty is by far the worst I've seen on this trip. From my somewhat limited perspective, I think the difference between the poor in Thailand and the poor I've seen in Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai, etc. is that up until now there appeared to be a sense of pride in other countries regardless of their wealth or status. Streets were kept relatively clean (and odor free!) In Bangkok, there was trash everywhere - piling up on the sides of streets, the people were dirty and just didn't seem to care. Even the "nice areas" of Bangkok were surrounded by trash and bad odors!


Truly a third world country. There was no limit to what a family would do to beg for money - this girl looks like she is only 2-3 years old. Very sad.

Here's a short video of one of the canals:

And another of the main river that flows through Bangkok - as you'll see, even the fish are trying to get out of the river!

Traffic is unbelievably bad - just pure gridlock during rush hours. The public transportation system is very weak, so taking taxis and tuk-tuks everywhere was the easiest and best way to get around, but going 5 miles in a taxi could take 30-45 minutes depending on the time of day. After spending an hour in a taxi getting back to my hotel one day, I took this video of the traffic from my hotel room on the 46th floor:

I toured the Grand Palace which was nice, but as I've said in previous posts, pales in comparison to places like the Forbidden Palace and the Summer Palace in Beijing. Here are a few pictures anyway:









As with every other stop along this trip, I'm keeping track of where I'm staying. I stayed at the Banyan Tree Hotel which was very nice. Location could have been better, but not the worst spot to be.





I'm now on Koh Phuket (Phuket Island) which is in the southern part of Thailand. It rained the first 24 hours I was here so not much fun yet. The forecast is hit or miss each day, so hopefully I get more "hit" than "miss".

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Location:Bangkok, Thailand