Hello to all.
We arrived in Bangkok yesterday (two days ago in your part of town) after making a "brief" (8 hours) stop at the Narita (Tokyo) Airport. Japan seems great, just by seeing their airport. Everything is hi-tech... everything! Even the toilets (for those of you that are interested, I can go into more detail later).
They also have something we don't have in the U.S.: nice airport security personnel. They sort of apologize for being so thorugh with security. You don't get the sense that they are doing you a favor, like you do in the U.S. In fact, our flight was delayed a couple of hours, and they kept apologizing. OK, it was a corporate apology, but still, it was better than "sit your ass down and we'll tell you when the plane is ready" attitude you get back in the the States.
We arrived in Bangkok at around midnight. It's a very interesting city, it's a HUGE city. It reminds me of Mexico's big cities (like Guadalajara) where you get a lot of contrasts: opulence next to a beggar, order next to chaos (crossing the street is an adventure). The taxi rides are very exciting too, not just because the drivers drive like maniacs (or like seasoned pros, depending on how your "re-framing" ability), but because the back seats do not have seat belts. The fact that they don't wear a seat belt either kind of calms you down.
Although it is very interesting, we kind of feel like the Leonardo DiCaprio character in The Beach (yes, I know it's a book, but I haven't read it... sorry). For those of you that have seen the movie, we feel overwhelmed by the tourist traps, the tourists (even though we are tourists), the drunkards, the people trying to get your money, the pollution, etc. We are looking forward to Saturday, when we leave for Phuket, a beach area on the Indian Ocean side. We are staying there for a few days then jumping from island to island for the next week, until we come back to Bangkok for one day to go to Siem Riep (Cambodia). Oh, and they have very interesting form of taxi: the tuk-tuk. It's like a motorized tricycle, with the difference that the exhaust pipe seems to be connected directly to your lungs. It's also very exciting because the drivers zoom in and out of traffic. Another movie reference: the tuk-tuks are similar to the little tricycles shown in Octopussy (a James Bond flick with the best James Bond of all time - Roger Moore). If you haven't seen it and you are still curious, just Google it. In fact, I think I attached a picture of my P.O.V. from the tuk-tuk (remember, I'm a horrible photographer). As you will see, I'm a terrible photographer, but they will give you an idea. I think that those of you that have gmail will have no problem seeing all of them (they are pretty big files). But if I get an error message from your mail server, I'll take out most of them and send one at random.
As you will see, I'm a terrible photographer, but they will give you an idea. I think that those of you that have Gmail will have no problem seeing all of them (they are pretty big files). But if I get an error message from your mail server, I'll take out most of them and send one at random.
Hope all of you are well.
We arrived in Bangkok yesterday (two days ago in your part of town) after making a "brief" (8 hours) stop at the Narita (Tokyo) Airport. Japan seems great, just by seeing their airport. Everything is hi-tech... everything! Even the toilets (for those of you that are interested, I can go into more detail later).
They also have something we don't have in the U.S.: nice airport security personnel. They sort of apologize for being so thorugh with security. You don't get the sense that they are doing you a favor, like you do in the U.S. In fact, our flight was delayed a couple of hours, and they kept apologizing. OK, it was a corporate apology, but still, it was better than "sit your ass down and we'll tell you when the plane is ready" attitude you get back in the the States.
We arrived in Bangkok at around midnight. It's a very interesting city, it's a HUGE city. It reminds me of Mexico's big cities (like Guadalajara) where you get a lot of contrasts: opulence next to a beggar, order next to chaos (crossing the street is an adventure). The taxi rides are very exciting too, not just because the drivers drive like maniacs (or like seasoned pros, depending on how your "re-framing" ability), but because the back seats do not have seat belts. The fact that they don't wear a seat belt either kind of calms you down.
Although it is very interesting, we kind of feel like the Leonardo DiCaprio character in The Beach (yes, I know it's a book, but I haven't read it... sorry). For those of you that have seen the movie, we feel overwhelmed by the tourist traps, the tourists (even though we are tourists), the drunkards, the people trying to get your money, the pollution, etc. We are looking forward to Saturday, when we leave for Phuket, a beach area on the Indian Ocean side. We are staying there for a few days then jumping from island to island for the next week, until we come back to Bangkok for one day to go to Siem Riep (Cambodia). Oh, and they have very interesting form of taxi: the tuk-tuk. It's like a motorized tricycle, with the difference that the exhaust pipe seems to be connected directly to your lungs. It's also very exciting because the drivers zoom in and out of traffic. Another movie reference: the tuk-tuks are similar to the little tricycles shown in Octopussy (a James Bond flick with the best James Bond of all time - Roger Moore). If you haven't seen it and you are still curious, just Google it. In fact, I think I attached a picture of my P.O.V. from the tuk-tuk (remember, I'm a horrible photographer). As you will see, I'm a terrible photographer, but they will give you an idea. I think that those of you that have gmail will have no problem seeing all of them (they are pretty big files). But if I get an error message from your mail server, I'll take out most of them and send one at random.
As you will see, I'm a terrible photographer, but they will give you an idea. I think that those of you that have Gmail will have no problem seeing all of them (they are pretty big files). But if I get an error message from your mail server, I'll take out most of them and send one at random.
Hope all of you are well.
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