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Thursday Day 0 Transit Day
Took China Air from LAX to Bangkok, with a stopover in Taipei. The stewardesses were VERY nice the second leg of the journey.
Bangkok International Airport is a model of efficiency. Visa took 10 seconds... and is free for 30 days for all US passport holders. My Visa girl was a 9... wow! Welcome to Thailand. Customs is also great... 5 seconds.
Checked into the Majestic Suites on Sukhumvit Road. This is an awesome hotel with great rooms. The staff speaks English, which is always a plus. The rooms are about 1400 baht, which is $35 USD at the current exchange rate. If you want to be close to the action... this hotel is the best. It is right next to Nana Plaza (more on this later), and the Nana Skytrain Stop. Across the street is Clinton Entertainment Plaza.
Friday Day 1
Used the free breakfast coupon at the Majestic suites. Hey a Thai style breakfast, boiled rice with chicken... with just enough spices. It sure beats the boring American Breakfast. Although for the losers, you can still have an American breakfast.
There is a money exchange place close to the majestic suites. Just exit and take a right... its about 30 yards away on the right. It has big words "Currency Exchange.. Bank of Asia". The rates are good ... 42.5 baht for cash.. 43.18 baht for travelers checks/ with a 20 baht fee. It opens at 9:30 AM.
Its freakin hot and humid... tried to get my bearings and explore my first morning. One thing I found out real quick... DONT try to cross the street. The traffic goes opposite of the United States.. so when you think a car is not coming... it will. MANY scooters and motorcycles whizzing around also. The pollution is almost suffocating, in fact you will see many people wearing face masks to filter the gunk.
I was walking around the area from 8-9 AM... and noticed that there were fine women everywhere.. walking alone. Gee.. I wonder why. Also farang seeing their "girls" off... hugs and kisses everywhere.
There are alot of internet cafes around here. Also it seems that 7-11 RULES Thailand. There seems to be a 7-11 every 50 yards or so... several times I have noticed two 7-11s across the street from each other.
The Robinsons Department store on Sukhumvit seems to have 50% of its girls 7-9s. Are all the other Robinsons Stores in Bangkok like this?
I bought a power converter and a battery operated shaver at the Robinsons. I took the converter back to the apartment and gave a whirl. I proceeded to blow apart my APC surge suppressor. It wasn't a nice sound. Thank God my laptop wasn't plugged into the power supply. I discovered on my last day, that I can plug my laptop into anything around the world and it will still work. Modern laptops have power switching supplies that can take anything. Kinda makes sense doesn't it.
It seems better to roam at night. The skytrain is the best. Fast and air conditioned. I bought a stored value card and put 500 baht in it. It is much more convenient then using coins to pay for tickets. Are the guards/police on the stations law enforcement? They don't have guns or sticks.. just radios.
Majestic Suites has no problem bringing in guests. In fact, the girls at the counter started giggling. The bell boy and the security guard give approving looks. The rooms in the Majest Suites are surrounded by very thin walls. I could hear everything in the other rooms. Although.. Im not saying that this is a bad thing!
Day 2 - Saturday
Lumpini park is an oasis in this bustling place. I took a ride on the pedal boats for 30 baht.
Ok I am eating at McDonald now. It is across the street from Silom Center. I paid 82 baht for a super size chicken McNuggets meal.
Panthip plaza is awesome... cds are 100-150 baht each. They take your order and come back in ten minutes. To get there.. just take the skytrain to Ratchathewi station... walk north on the right side of the street.. then take a right... it will be on your right hand side.. after about 5 mins. I will be returning to Panthip tommorow.
Since Majestic Suites was overbooked for tonight.. Bob booked a room at the Zenith for 1800 baht. It is an excellent room... but they charge 500 baht for joiners... and they must register at the front desk. I understand the need for security.. but I think it is too much of a hassle for me.
Day 3 - Sunday
I was given a breakfast coupon for the Zenith Tropical Max Buffet. Its an excellent buffet. Service is great.
I went to the Starbucks that is across the street from Majestic Suites. Its two stories.. and the second floor gives you a great view of the street... and the wonderful traffic. It is really interesting to see how the traffic works. Basically the lines painted on the street mean nothing. People driving the wrong way... motorcycles everywhere.. Cars drifted between multiple lanes. It is insanity, but it seems to work. The Mocha Frap (Venti) was a great deal, and it tastes the same. I also met a few Americans there... I would guess that Starbucks is a tourist only place.. since not that many Thais can afford the price.
I took my Frap to the skytrain.. the girls inside the booth said that I could not drink the Frap inside the train.. So I thought I would finish the drink before getting on.. A security guard came running up to me a few seconds later... and put my drink inside a hello kitty bag. Talk about service.
Excellent service on the skytrain... I accidently went up the wrong stairs.... the one going away from Panthip Plaza..The security guards radioed ahead to the second floor.. and he helped me get to the other side.
I went to Panthip again. Bought dvds and more cds. Also bought a soft cd holder.
Today i decided to ride the skytrain to the limits. On the last station is an awesome shopping mall. Just exit to your right. It has an excellent supermarket where you can buy all of your stuff.
Another strange thing happened on the skytrain... In the car that I was in.. there was one seat empty. A mother and child came in, and the mother sat down. I gave up my seat for the child. The child wai'ed me... was I supposed to wai back? Also... everyone in the car seemed to be shocked that I did that. Is there something I shouldn't have done here?
By now... I have seemed to acclimated to the humidity and temperature. It doesn't even bother me too much now. It might be because Im riding the skytrain so much. Just make sure you drink lots of water.
The BTS doors stay open for around 8-10 secons... Just enough time for people to get out and get in. I like it... much better than any "mass transit" cough choke.. in Los Angeles.
I went to MBK plaza and Silom Center... both are huge shopping centers.. To get here.. just take the Skytrain to Siam station. You will get to Silom Center first... you can walk through Silom Center to get to MBK. You cant miss MBK... huge neon letters MBK. MBK is HUGE.. probably bigger than any mall here in the United States. On the top floor of MBK is a nice movie theatre and several Internet Cafes. I ate at the Pizza Hut.. 85 baht for a personal pan-meat lovers 10 Baht for a Pepsi
Ok... enough with eating at US places... Im in thailand so.. I probably should eat Thai food.
Another observation... speaking a little thai will help you alot. Even attempting to speak thai will earn you brownie points. The first few days... I didn't try speaking thai. But today I started speaking more thai.. and it seems to get you better treatment. Also, quite often.. they start machine-gunning thai at you.. thinking you are a native speaker. this might also have something to do with me being asian.
Day 4 - Monday
In the last few days that there are quite a few "foreigners" around. A bunch of Americans, but also a fair amount of Europeans. Mainly British and French.
Also... does it seem like everyone has one of those Vicks Vapor Inhalers here?
Visited Panthip again... and bought a sh*tload of more stuff.... and thats all she wrote... because I don't think I can fit any more cds and dvds without catching the attention of US Customs.
Just when I thought I saw it all... I was feeling hungry at around 2:30. So I go to MBK for lunch... My God... I guess I went when the colleges got out, because there were FINE girls everywhere in dark blue... slit dresses.. Very very nice.
The KFC on the top floor has excellent service.. in fact I tried throwing away my trash like in the States.. and a girl actually ran up to me and took the tray away. The KFC also has a public wash basin.. so you can wash your hands after you eat. Talk about the hygenic Thais!
I went to an Internet Cafe that only cost 3 baht per minute.. with no minimum.
Day 5 - Tuesday
My last full day/night here in Bangkok.. and I haven't spent 60% of the money I brought with me. Wow.. I suppose Bangkok is a good bang for the buck.
I walked about a bit in the morning.. I tried to go to the Starbucks again.. but they had no electricity. I went to Coffee World about 30 yards east of Majestic suites. Ham sandwich and Mocha Gold was only 150 baht.
I bought 2 books from Asia Books 450 baht each.
I also went to Panthip for the fourth straight day. I bought another cd case to store all the cds.
I went to the Nana Entertainment Complex that is just west of Majestic suites. I had no idea which bar to go to... so I decided to explore a bit. I took the escalator to the second floor of NEP. I got to the top and saw a bar to the front and to the right. At least a dozen girls were standing in front of both... wearing bikinis. While I was gawking at the girls in front... two girls grabbed me from the right and pulled me into their bar.
Wow... 8 girls dancing on stage topless... I sat down and two Thai girls sat to my left and right. They proceeded to feed me peanuts. I bought a coke (I dont drink alcohol so don't laugh) for myself and the two girls. I tried to talk to the girls... but they spoke limited English. Both said that they have only been working for one month (gee... a standard answer). The girls asked how was Japan... everyone seems to be mistaking me for Japanese, which is not good.. because they will price me accordingly. The mamasan sat down in front of me and asked if I like any of the girls. I asked how much... she said 500 baht barfine... I agreed and also paid my bar bill of 145 baht. The girl went upstairs to get dressed. (stuff deleted) I paid the girl 1500 baht for a short-time at my room. This is more than I should have paid.. but it was my last night in Bangkok. As I was dressing up, she kept asking Where are you going? I said, I am walking you back to NEP.... she kept asking the same question a few times. I walked the girl back to NEP.
Day 6 - Wednesday
Only a few more hours left in Bangkok. I suppose that I should leave for the airport at 2:00 PM, since my flight leaves at 4:00 PM. Bangkok traffic just plain sucks.. so I don't want to chance anything.
Im going to try to get some shopping done.. I need to buy presents for a few people. I might try to do some other activities just before I leave. I have 5000 baht left (shopping will barely make a dent in that).. and I haven't used $200 USD of Traveler's checks. I wonder if they have an expiration date?
I ate lunch at the Tony Romas across the street. I had shrimps on a skewer, soup, chicken tenderloins, and a sprite... all for around $20. I think would be the same price as in the states, probably because it is an American chain...
Well all in all a very good trip, awesome sites, a whole different world. Extremely cheap place. I budgeted $100/day for this trip... and I have $300 left.
Pretty uneventful last day... now it is just a long flight home... with lovely China Air Stewardesses.
