First Day in Bangkok

As you can see from the pictures in Marie's earlier post, we arrived in Bangkok last night. Thai Airways has a 17 hour nonstop flight from NYC. They have 3 classes of service -- Lie-flat business class, good ol' Economy and Premium Economy (which has exactly the same meals/service as coach, but 10 inches more legroom). Should any of you choose to take a flight this absurdly long, lets just say the $150 ($9/hr) for Premium Economy over regular coach was WELL worth it. Thai Airways service is great (3 full meals, free booze, on-demand sandwiches, on-demand audio/video/games, etc.), but the legroom was a godsend.

In Bangkok, we are staying at the New Siam II hotel, which was recommended by some friends. At $13/night, its meets the criteria of clean, and low cost!!!! Very similar to a Red Roof Inn/Days Inn in that its clean, has international TV and air-conditioning.

Initial thoughts of Bangkok:

- Its somewhat similar to New Delhi in that its truly at the crossroads of old school eastern and new school western culture and economy. Lots of modern skyscrapers, traditional homes, and beggars in the streets.

- Religion (buddhism) plays a large role in the culture. Lots of "wats" (temple) all over the place.

- Thailand is a Kingdom. There are signs/pictures of "The King", "The Queen", "Long live the King" and people in official "King" yellow shirts everywhere.

- 90% of the tourists fall into 4 basic groups:

• American/European/Australian ex-pats;
• Backpackers from the ages of 18 to 60;
• Young families; and
• Creepy old dudes looking for prostitutes.

Our hotel has patrons of the first 3 categories. There are no less than 5 signs that read "Prostitutes are not allowed in the guest rooms", to discourage the last group, which is a very good thing.

We're still quite a bit jet lagged (hence, this posting at 3.13am), but all in all, so far so good. We'll be in Bangkok until Wednesday, while our visas for Laos and Vietnam are processed.