We arrived in Bangkok a week ago today, giving us seven days to explore the city. Here are some random observations from the past week.
- Bangkok is a relatively easy place to get around; public transport works well and barring that, getting a taxi is extraordinarily easy.
- I haven't felt a really big culture shock except during the first fifteen minutes or so when we went exploring last Thursday. I think that this might be because it's not my first time being in a part of the world where I can't even understand the written alphabet, much less the language. I remember being blown away by that the first time I experienced it in China nine years ago.
- This city is very accessible. It's not difficult to move around and most signs are in English. I think that it's in part due to the internationalism of the city as well as a nod to all the tourists who play a big role in the local economy. I'm curious to see if it's like that throughout the rest of Thailand.
- Bangkok isn't cheap, or at least as cheap as everyone claims it to be. Street food will run around 1.50-2.00 EUR (1.65-2.15 USD) a meal (without drinks), but going out to eat, even in a local restaurant, is easily double or triple that. Sure, 5 euros for a complete meal isn't bad, but it's on par with prices in central Europe. I'm fairly certain that this perception was created by much more favorable exchange rates than there are now. FYI, the Euro hit an 11-year low versus the USD last week.
- Buddhism here in Bangkok isn't as prevalent as I thought it would be. When we were in Sri Lanka, religious influence was everywhere. In Bangkok, we've seen a few temples and some monks walking around, but secularism seems to take a front seat to the religious part of the culture. I'm sure that will change once we leave the city.
- Tuk-Tuks seem to be isolated to where large groups of tourists stay. Thanks to my emergency dental needs (more on that in a future post), we're staying in a part of town that is mainly Thai with a small population of expats (I'm going to write about that too). There are no Tuk-Tuks here.
- Thai women aren't the drop-dead divas that they're reputed to be. There are plenty of good looking women here, but most of them wouldn't make me think twice about my marriage (Nathalie is fine with that)
- On that note, there are a lot of older white men walking around with really young Thai wives/girlfriends. I'm not sure I want to know the back-stories.
- The weather isn't that hot. It's only in the low-30s C/mid-80s F during the hottest parts of the day with 50-60% humidity. That's more or less Tennessee for 3-4 months out of the year.
- Thais love their Scotch. In almost every local hole-in-the-wall restaurant I've been to at night, there's been bottles of whiskey, usually Red Label or a local brand, on a cart next to the table. The cart has bottles of coke and ice on it and the patrons freely serve themselves. I haven't been offered any bottles of whisky (unfortunately), but it looks like its a cultural thing. A bottle of Red Label is around 14 EUR/16 USD in a convenience store.
- 7-11 is everywhere here. You usually aren't more than a five-minute walk from one while in Bangkok and they're open 24/7. At one point, there was an 7-11 in front of me, another one 30m/100 ft down the street and yet another one directly across the street. They sell hot dogs and big gulps. No Slurpee machine (yet).
- Speaking of 7-11, there are a ton of Japanese restaurants (7-11 is also Japanese). Japanese food is popular because it's delicious, but I didn't expect it to be that big.
- I haven't gotten a massage yet. They're really cheap (around 8 EUR/9 USD for an hour of Thai massage). I'm going to; when I need one. Nathalie got one the other day when I was having my root canal; I would've taken the massage over that. She posted a neat write up about the experience on her blog.
I'm sure there are other points that I've left out. I'll try to do this every week, or at least once a week when I'm in a new country.
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