The Dream Hotel - Bangkok
Nice, big room
A lot of street vendors
Busy markets
A lot of activity on a Monday night
Another form of taxi
The streets are alive, just not as bright and neon as Tokyo
Alright - reporting live from Bangkok, Thailand. I'm currently on the 3rd floor of the Dream Hotel Bangkok. I didn't get trafficked in the Philippines - success!
Today has been an extraordinarily lazy, relaxing day for me. I woke up early at 5:45am in Manila. A 30-minute taxi ride to the airport had me on time for my 9:45am flight to Bangkok. The airports in Asia that I've been to so for on the trip have been really impressive. The Manila international terminal wasn't quite the standard as the others - but still fine. I watched some of the US/China basketball game in prep for the upcoming Summer Olympics as I waited for departure.
A 3-hr, 15min flight went smooth. I watched "The Intern" with Robert DeNiro. Bangkok is 1-hr earlier than Manila; therefore, I am the closest to the US time that I've been on this trip. I am currently 12-hrs ahead of the central time zone in the US. Easy to figure - it's 10:30pm here - it's 10:30am on Monday in the states.
Thailand - probably one of the most recognized name and frequently visited countries in Asia. I'd compare it to Las Vegas in the states and maybe Amsterdam in Europe - it's definitely a good time location. Bangkok is the largest city in Thailand. It makes up a tenth of the country's population. Thailand has 67 million people - ranking 20th in the world. Of any city I've been to on this trip, I noticed all kinds of non-Asian folks walking the streets. Lots of European and American tourists. We ran into a few non-Asian tourists in Japan/China -- pretty rare however.
After my flight arrived, I took a 2 train combination to my hotel. I had to walk about a 1/2 mile to the hotel after my last metro stop. All good - I went the correct direction, so only a 10-minute walk or so. I got to my room around 2:30pm. I was pretty wiped out and decided to rest a bit. I guess my body was telling me to slow it down -- I ended up waking up about 4 hours later.
So - it was early evening. I decided to go out for a walk and get some dinner. I didn't take a lot of pictures, but plan to make some things happen tomorrow.
A couple other interesting things about Thailand I've been reading:
(1) Thailand is the only southeast Asian country that was never colonized by a European nation.
(2) One-tenth of all animal species on earth live in Thailand
(3) Thailand is home to the world's longest snake (reticulated python) and the world's longest poisonous snake (king cobra)
(4) Thailand is world's largest producer of tin
(5) Thailand is home to over 5,000 elephants (about half being wild)
Tomorrow I get a little more serious on this Thailand thing. Good night from the city highlighted on the second Hangover movie!
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