Brazil - SF - Vegas - Thailand

After getting back from Brazil and taking a quick trip down to Vegas for a product launch, I went to Asia for a work meeting in Bangkok, Thailand.

If you haven't been to Bangkok, its a place you really should visit sometime. As far as Asian cities go, its very large and densely populated with some upside and downside. On the upside, there are some truly amazing temples with killer architecture, gigantic Buddhas, and lots of gold and shiny things. Aside from the temples, the next biggest attraction is the shopping. You can find really cool home furnishings, gadgets, mini Buddha statues, textiles, etc. Special mention must be made of the availability of cheap and excellent massage. The one free afternoon I had I got a foot massage (reflexology), followed by a facial, followed by a full on traditional Thai massage (I think the end price was something like $25 for 3 hrs of spa treatment). However, my favorite thing about Thailand has got to be the food... amazing quality, price, freshness...YUM.

Most of the food that is... I came across this cart selling assorted fried and salted treats. Upon closer inspection you'll find that each of these fried and salted critters were once among the living. I have to admit I wasn't up for trying any of these, but I did give the nice lady 20 Baht to take this photo.


The downside of BKK is that it has sort of a seedy underbelly. One thing you'll notice right away is that there is a disproportionately large number of caucasion men who are all in their 40s - 50s all hanging around. During the afternoon, its just them... siting around drinking beers. You might conclude that they are all waiting for their wives who are out shopping or getting a manicure or something. Then you might notice that there is a strange consistency to these men... most are slightly to very overweight, and lots seem to be these sort of 'working class' type guys. The look is unmistakeable... dress socks with white tennis shoes, vacation shirts, cheap bling-bling, etc. Late afternoon it becomes obvious what they are waiting for... the bars all start to fill in with local thai girls. I suppose everyone is entitled to their opinion of the sex trade in Thailand, some will argue that its their right to make a living how they choose, others will argue that the presence of so many willing consumers only makes a bad situation worse.

Anyway, besides the prostition, there is traffic, pollution, and its sort of just a crazy, anything-goes sort of place. Like I said, for a few days, it can be alot fo fun... temples, water market, shopping, eating... then use BKK as a jumping off point and get yourself over to the southern coastline.