Friday, November 2, 2012

Bangkok photos

Here are the photos from my free day in Bangkok. Again, I remind you to click on the album to open it up in Picasa albums.  You can even zoom in on photos once you're in Picasa.  I discovered that with my last Pennsylvania album, and it allowed me to see those insects that much better! ;o)

Bangkok Fall 2012

A few more notes on Bangkok

Well, gone are the days when I didn't used to have jet lag.  I woke up after 2 hours of sleep and couldn't fall back to sleep after trying for an hour and a half, so I thought I'd get up for a while so I can start to feel tired again.

I don't have much more to say about Bangkok, but I do have to say a few more things before I add my photos.  My first impression of Bangkok was one of mild disgust.  I mean, the culture and the country seem pretty cool, but I had really disliked the number of old white guys walking around with young Asian women.  On this trip, I learned I wasn't alone.  Some of the other recruiters I met who have had more experience travelling in Thailand than I have had the same impression of Bangkok as I did.  So at least I'm not alone.

Regardless, I must say that I do find Thai people to be really sweet.  The hospitality is the same as other Asian countries, but there is something about the personalities of people there that I can only describe as sweet.  All the security guards in my hotel, for example, would not just say hello, like in other hotels, but they would actually salute me with a heel click of their boots as well!  I don't know, that's about all I can think of as an example, but otherwise it's just hard to put into words.

As for my day off in Bangkok, I went to Chinatown and then to the Grand Palace where the temple of the Jade Buddha is located.  I think I didn't see all of it.  It all started to look the same to me after a while, and even though I had a map, I felt like I got lost there.  It was a long day anyway.  I had planned to travel to places and back to the Sky Train station by boat, but I only got as far as Chinatown and then had to take taxis the rest of the way because the boats stopped running between 11am and 6pm, which I didn't find out about until I had wasted 45 minutes sitting at one of the piers waiting for the boat taxi to come by.  The palace closes at 4pm, and by the time I realised that the boats weren't running, it gave me only about one and a half hours to see it or maybe less by the time I got there.  By the time I got home, I was exhausted with a massive headache from dehydration, though I tried to drink enough liquids.

I'll post the photos later.  I think for now I'm ready to try to sleep again...