Tourist's Eye View

Tourist's Eye (Bangkok) from Thrillpill Films on Vimeo.

Michael & His Condo

Back in 2005 I took some Thai language classes in Bangkok. Some of my classmates were Japanese. One was Chinese, and was Swiss. The Swiss guy was Michael. He was living in Milan, Italy, where he worked for an investment house. On holiday he would make extended trips to Thailand.   In fact, he liked it so much that he ended up buying a condo in Bangkok.

Michael standing to my right.

A condo with a great view. 

Bangkok, Yesteryear

Bangkok, around the time I was born and around the time Kade was born. Enjoy!

Expat Life in SE Asia

Swedish friend Bjorn (on the right, in the last image) built a home outside of Chiang Mai, a mountainous city in Northern Thailand. He's promised me that I can stay there whenever I decide to visit.

Here's a recent New York Times video of a chef's tour of Chiang Mai.

Flooding in Thailand

Thailand has been hit with its worst flooding in a century.

Thai Food Chains

When visiting Bangkok you may not think of trying chain restaurants. However, you would be truly missing something. These particular three are favorites of mine. I love them!

Riverside Dining in Bangkok

Rooftop Bar in Bangkok

When in Bangkok, one of my favorite spots is the Sirocco Bar at the State Tower.  It offers arguably the best view of the city.  The panorama at sunset is breath-taking.  Interestingly enough, in the new movie The Hangover Part II, this rooftop bar and the Lebua Hotel at State Tower play a big role.

My last Bangkok visit I met two of my former students for a fabulous night on the town.  Enjoy!

Urban Jungle

To get a feel for how massive the Thai capital is, click these photos once to enlarge. Bangkok has a population between 12-15 million.

 

 

To see the sites where these images of Bangkok are, go to Bangkok From Air and The Bangkok Panoramas.

Shopping: a Thai Sport.

This is "sidewalk shopping" near Pinklao Mall and Major Pinklao Cineplex in Bangkok.  Kade's home is within a mile or two of here.  When I lived in Bangkok this was one of my regular areas.  I could count on visiting Starbucks, seeing a movie and buying countless knickknacks and snacks before catching a taxi or bus back to Kade's home.  On our visit to Thailand earlier this year Kade bought some clothes while I mainly focused on spotting foods and videoing.



Another area that has now become a big, big place for sidewalk shopping is Siam Square.  You would think that Thais would be content with merely shopping in the various trendy stores that make Siam Square a fashion hotspot in Asia.  However, when those store doors are closed, more merchants and entrepreneurs take their trades and goods to the people out on the street.   It's truly an electric atmosphere when Thais go shopping!

Soi Life

A 'soi' in Thailand is a narrow street or alley. They can wind through various communities and business districts. They can be shortcuts to and from work or they can be mazes where you can get lost (especially for tourists). Some sois are quiet during the day and dark at night. Most, however, are lively networks teeming with food stalls, wet markets and small shops and houses.  Busier sois are "mini carnivals" where all your senses ares stimulated. This video shows you a typical night on the "big soi" that runs by my wife's family's home.

Gin Kao

Eating is my favorite activity when in Thailand. Some foods I go back to time and time again. Gin Kao in Thai means "dine with us."

Museum & Dinner

There are a dozen of these amazing wax museums in the world. One is in Bangkok.



Later that night, it was dinnertime with friends.

Getting Around

One of the most pleasurable aspects of visiting Bangkok is the plethora of options for getting around the city. Here are some of my recent experiences traveling around the "City of Angels."

Down by the River

This is going to be the start of my Thailand series.  I will be going in reverse order so that by the end of my postings, everything will  be pretty much in chronological order.  On this trip to Bangkok, I spent five days in the Thai capital before embarking on my Sri Lankan trip (see below).  Upon returning from Sri Lanka, I had almost another two weeks in Thailand.  My goal now is to post some of my best YouTube videos and photos.


This area of Bangkok has always been one of my favorites.  Whether it's eating fried miniature soft-shelled crabs or buying unique handicrafts or taking a long-tail boat down the Chao Phraya River, this is the place.  In this video, you can follow Kade on her pursuit of stylish clothes and you can watch me release and feed fish.

Sri Lankan Arts & Crafts

 

Buying artwork when traveling is a real passion of mine and something I have been doing for more than 15 years. My earliest pieces came from Uzbekistan. One was a painting I got at an outdoor market in Tashkent. The other was a unique piece of art that was given to me as a gift from an Uzbek friend. Later on I might post photos of these two treasures.

On Saturdays and Sundays in Colombo (Sri Lanka), artists from many backgrounds bring their work to Green Path, a street that runs along the southern end of Viharamahadevi Park (originally Victoria Park). They hang their work on the park fence, showcasing their talents to locals and tourists. For those who want to make a purchase, it's a simple negotiating system. The prices are not fixed and haggling is welcomed! Although prices are quite low compared to similar art in the United States, for example, savvy buyers work hard to get an even better bargain. At least I did! On the day Kyoko took Iris and me to Green Path, I bought one item: a modern, abstract oil painting of a Sri Lankan woman. The artist was an art teacher at a local university in Colombo. Once we reached a satisfactory price, he took the painting off of the stretcher board and then rolled it for me to take home. Just recently I got the painting framed.

During my time at Hikkaduwa Beach in Southern Sri Lanka, I had plenty of time to walk into some art galleries. Although I liked several galleries, I eventually settled on a gallery run by a brother and sister team. The brother was the artist and the sister ran the shop. What won me over were all the newspaper clippings and magazine articles showing that a major customer of his art was a gallery in Holland. Kyoko and I spent some time walking around the inside of the gallery and then behind the gallery, where a number of works were displayed outdoors. When I saw the painting of the monk walking up the temple steps, well, I just had to have it. I think I got it for $80, which I feel is a very, very good price. I bought a second painting that I ended up giving to Kyoko. Once she frames it, I intend to post it on my blog too.

Finally, if you are in Sri Lanka, a typical souvenir to buy is a traditional mask. You see many varieties and qualities in shops all over the country. Luckily, on our way to the beach, we were able to stop off at an antique shop run by a Sri Lankan young man whose English was impeccable. At the time I wasn't looking solely for masks. I was considering many things. In the end, though, when it came down to purchasing something that would most remind me of this exotic South Asian island country, I kept coming back to a mask. In fact, I bought two.