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Bangkok Street Scenes

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

Sidewalk Seamstress
Sidewalk Seamstress

Small Family
Small Family

Taking A Break From Shopping
Waiting To Shop

Coffee Yen

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

Iced Coffee Stands
Coffee Yen

Coffee Yen 2

Street Food

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006
Eggs For Sale Eggs for Sale Soup Stand Street Restaurant BBQ BBQ BBQ2 BBQ 2 BBQ3 BBQ 3[Continue reading this entry]

Motorcycle Serenade

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006
Last night I hopped a motorcycle taxi at the corner. "Where you from?" the cute young driver asked. "America," I said. "America Pie" he sang to me all the way to my dentist appointment. "I used ... [Continue reading this entry]

Bar Girls

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006
Bar Girls Waiting For Customers To Buy Them A Beer And Whatever... Bar Girls Bar Girls 2

Street Noodles

Monday, January 23rd, 2006
My favorite food in Thailand is one of the many varieties of noodle soup found on street carts. Street food is safe if you select a cart in early to mid day, when the food will be fresh, and watch ... [Continue reading this entry]

A Light In The South of Thailand

Monday, January 23rd, 2006
Visitors, to the south of Thailand, including foreigners, will soon have an opportunity to experience muslim life in a village in the province of Yala. A "Widower's Village" is being built in Rotanbu Village under a resettlement project funded by ... [Continue reading this entry]

Lucky Luk!

Friday, January 20th, 2006
I called my son Doug yesterday morning. He had just returned from the fish market on Koh Samui with a salad bowl of large fresh gung (shrimp) with heads still on for $1.60 and had cooked up a traditional ... [Continue reading this entry]

Teach The Children What?

Thursday, January 19th, 2006
On National Children's Day in Thailand, it is a tradition for the Prime Minister to deliver a positive "motto." This year the wealthy PM Thaksin who owns Thai Air and other assets said that children should read more and ... [Continue reading this entry]

Bumrungrad Hospital

Thursday, January 19th, 2006
Nearly as diverse as New York, sitting in a Bumrungrad waiting room is a show of national and ethnic costume...many from the middle east...burkas, jalabas and Arabic head wear...males greeting each other by touching noses...or foreheads...I couldn't tell. The ... [Continue reading this entry]

Bangkok Business

Thursday, January 12th, 2006
Nearby, in ironically named Washington Square, is the Bourbon Street Bar and Restaurant where an entire wall, surrounding a dart board, is covered by business cards. Here is a sampling that you would probably not see at home: Halliburton, Trident ... [Continue reading this entry]

Insurgency In The South of Thailand

Thursday, January 12th, 2006
Since January 2004, southern Thailand has been gripped by a shadowy insurgency that has killed over 1,000 people and divided local communities along religious and ethnic lines. "Bangkok," ie the Thai government, has responded forcefully to the security threat, but ... [Continue reading this entry]

Thai News

Sunday, January 8th, 2006
Six days of U.S./Thai trade talks in Chiang Mai has resulted in a stalemate with the help of 10,000 protesters...an alliance of 11 groups who are resisting trade liberalization. They are not ready, says the director of the AIDS ... [Continue reading this entry]

Familiar Bangkok

Saturday, January 7th, 2006
1wXSp3CkNsDoJl3s0SgHmw-2006171154009258.gif Arrived in Bangkok on Jan 3rd on China Air after 17 hours and stops in Anchorage and Taiwan. There has been a cooling in Asia (northern India actually falling below freezing) and it has ... [Continue reading this entry]

Third Culture Kids

Monday, October 17th, 2005
Third Culture Kids are children of expatriate families who live for a significant proportion of their lives in a culture other than their own, where they travel to many countries other than their own passport country. This results in ... [Continue reading this entry]

Terrorists In Thailand

Tuesday, July 19th, 2005
Last year Thaksin's government sent in police militia to quell fundamentalist Islamic violence in a southern Thai province that is populated primarily with muslims. As a result over 60 combatants were kiilled. In retaliation, the jihadists continue to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Thainess And The West

Sunday, July 17th, 2005
The July 2005 edition of the slick upscale magazine for English-speaking foreigners called The Big Chilli ran an article with interviews of prominent Bangkok residents to get their views of what constitutes Thai culture. Two were Thai and two ... [Continue reading this entry]

Walking Out On The Iranian Ambassador

Thursday, July 14th, 2005
The Foreign Correspondents Club hosted another panel discussion last night with the Iranian ambassador to Thailand, H.E. Mohsen Pakaein Western observers were confounded by the surprisingly strong victory in Iran's recent presidential election by dark-horse candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a conservative ... [Continue reading this entry]

Press: Enemies of the Thai State?

Thursday, July 14th, 2005
The Foreign Correspondent's Club hosted another panel as part of it's occasional series on freedom of the press this week. Panel members were Anchalee Paireerak, operator of www.fm9225.com, one of two closed�websites, and executive director of and political commentator for community ... [Continue reading this entry]

“11 Minutes” Outranks Mao

Thursday, July 14th, 2005
On my way to my BTS Skytrain station, I stop for lunch at The Emporium, an upscale indoor shopping mall where there is a variety of restaurants on the 5th floor. A young Asian woman sitting next to me ... [Continue reading this entry]

What Is A Farang?

Thursday, July 14th, 2005
Or what does "farang" mean to the Thai people. It has been said that the word derives from the French. It is also the Thai word for guava so you hear farang-eating jokes. To make it work ... [Continue reading this entry]

Stories Of The Bangkok Street

Tuesday, July 12th, 2005
Ten baht (25 cents) for a motorcycle taxi gets me to the American educated dentist down the soi and around the corner in little more than a minute...scared to death that the trucks, cars, motorcycles, light poles, ... [Continue reading this entry]

A Fine Balance

Monday, June 13th, 2005
Listening to an expat radio station on the internet today, I discover that in Bangkok 2006 there will be an International Summit on Public Toilets...

A Bus To Trang

Friday, May 20th, 2005
While I was on Koh Samui visiting Luk, while Doug was in Oregon, we decided to hop a bus for Trang where Luk's family lives. This is my second visit here. We stayed in a nice hotel...Luk trying ... [Continue reading this entry]

“Oh New Shoes Lost Me!”

Monday, May 16th, 2005
1wXSp3CkNsDoJl3s0SgHmw-2006171163517229.gif After a flight from Bangkok on Bangkok Air, I have been enjoying my 26 year-old daughter-in-law on quiet Khlong Muang Beach in Krabi Province the last couple of weeks while my son Doug is ... [Continue reading this entry]

Inconsistent Thai Values

Thursday, April 28th, 2005
After nearly a dozen visits and about six months time in the city, over the last several years, we have gotten to know Bangkok a little. In this city with a population of over 9 million people we can ... [Continue reading this entry]

A Talk By Shirin Ebadi

Thursday, April 14th, 2005
Bob has been in the north for the last week so I joined the Foreign Correspondents Club the other day as a way of meeting other English speaking people in Bangkok. Membership is reciprocal with Foreign Correspondents Clubs around ... [Continue reading this entry]

Royal Wedding

Saturday, April 9th, 2005
I have both CNN and BBC on my television in my apartment so I often switch back and forth. It was interesting to notice after the nuptual blessing that the Royal couple was barely out of the church when ... [Continue reading this entry]

Trekking Northern Thailand

Saturday, April 2nd, 2005
gatQye8keZlS3vpnwrOvxg-2006186163905868.gif As soon as we returned to Bangkok from Bali Bob took a train to Chiang Mai for a trek in northern Thailand near Mae Son Hong. I stayed in Bangkok to have some ... [Continue reading this entry]

Keeping Body and Soul Together

Friday, April 1st, 2005
In Bangkok we got a good deal for a month in a beautiful completely furnished apartment on a dead-end street in the upscale Saladaeng area...close to the Skytrain and the new subway that is running again after a recent accident. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Vibrant Bangkok

Friday, March 11th, 2005
Bangkok Air From Koh Samui to Bangkok again. Not a pretty city but it's vibrant. The populace, as with much of Asia, lives outdoors-almost all 10 million of them. It is increasingly cosmopolitan and this year seems ... [Continue reading this entry]

Stamp-Out to Burma

Thursday, February 3rd, 2005
1wXSp3CkNsDoJl3s0SgHmw-2006171164904627.gif "Stamping out" consists of leaving Krabi Thailand at a border crossing...in the case of Ranong the border is with Burma...and then "stamping" back into Thailand. To do this they went to the Thai immigration ... [Continue reading this entry]

Tsunami In Khao Lak

Tuesday, February 1st, 2005
1wXSp3CkNsDoJl3s0SgHmw-2006171164904627.gif Before we left Krabi, Bob and Doug both had to "stamp out" of the country at Ranong (on border of Burma) so they could get another 30 days in Thailand. We rented an SUV ... [Continue reading this entry]

Luk’s Family In Trang

Monday, January 24th, 2005
1wXSp3CkNsDoJl3s0SgHmw-2006171170004499.gif 100_2898.JPG We rented an SUV and drove to Trang, about 150 kilometers south of Krabi, to meet Luk's immediate and extended family. We were greeted with the traditional Thai ... [Continue reading this entry]

Ao Nang Beach Krabi Thailand

Sunday, January 23rd, 2005
1wXSp3CkNsDoJl3s0SgHmw-2006171164904627.gif Bob and I have been here in Krabi Province of Thailand with Doug and Luk for three weeks now...a welcome respite after a month in smoggy noisy Bangkok where I had some dental work ... [Continue reading this entry]

Post Christmas in Bangkok & Escaping The Tsunami 2004

Wednesday, December 29th, 2004
1wXSp3CkNsDoJl3s0SgHmw-2006171170004499.gif A month in Bangkok On the morning of December 26, 2004, after a bowl of spicy Thai soup on the street outside my Bangkok hotel, I returned to my room and flipped on the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Bob’s Thai Village Visit

Saturday, December 28th, 2002
While Jana and I were playing with Chinese teenagers in Ruili in the south of Yunnan, Bob spent some time in an ethnic village in the mountains in Issan Province southeast of Chiang Mai in Thailand. The people were Thai ... [Continue reading this entry]

Ayutthaya

Monday, August 12th, 2002
Our friend Jiraporn let us gas up her car for a trip to Ayutthaya, ancient capital of Thailand about 60 miles north of Bangkok. Founded c. 1350, Ayutthaya became the second Siamese capital after Sukhothai. It was destroyed by the Burmese ... [Continue reading this entry]

Talad Nam Lam-Paya Floating Market

Tuesday, August 6th, 2002
Our friend, Jiraporn, who lived in the U.S. ten years and has a doctorate from Oregon State University in Fisheries and is now a lecurer in the Department of Fishery Management of Kasetsart University, generously drove us to the weekend ... [Continue reading this entry]

Expatriates

Tuesday, August 6th, 2002
There are many expats in Bangkok who love this city and it's people for many reasons. One day I struck up a conversation with a Brit woman sitting next to me on the SkyTrain who worked for an international ... [Continue reading this entry]

A Bit Of Thai Culture

Tuesday, August 6th, 2002
Thai people are usually friendly, warm, charming and hospitable. Sanuk, the Thai word for fun or enjoyment is paramount to the Thai�s way oflife. For something to be worthwhile it must be sanuk. If it is not sanuk ... [Continue reading this entry]

Thai Food!

Tuesday, August 6th, 2002
Our favorite in all the world! In Thailand a fork in the left hand is held upside down and used to push food onto a large spoon that is held in the right hand (reverse for left handers of ... [Continue reading this entry]

Skytrain Tuk Tuks Cycles & Boats

Tuesday, August 6th, 2002
The SkyTrain is an air conditioned jam-packed elevated transportation system financed by the World Bank that can scoot you quickly from one part of the city to another but for some reason, probably due to corruption, is in the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Krazy Khao San Road

Monday, August 5th, 2002
There is no limit to the colorful variety of activities that draw your eyes in all directions. Almost everything happens on the sidewalks or the canals and rivers...floating markets with fruit and vegetables andflowers, vendors selling everything ... [Continue reading this entry]

Sex In The City of Angels

Sunday, August 4th, 2002
August 6 2002 Bangkok Thailand The Indian pilot lovingly set the Air India wheels down on the Bangkok tarmac... Being in Thailand feels good even when you know Thais will use those beguiling smiles and soft voices to extract ... [Continue reading this entry]