First Day in Asia

Bangkok: Day 1

The airport is only 2 years old and looks very modern. Riding over on an A330 with a capacity of 300 people, I was surprised that there was no jet way for the plane to pull up to so we could disembark. Instead, they wheeled up the stairs and put us on busses to take us to the terminal. Not sure what that was about. Customs was a breeze and they had plenty of staff considering it was midnight, which was a relief. The Asians were very formal both here and in Japan from what I have seen. In Thailand when they thank you they put their hands together and give you a little bow. How pronounced this process is depends on what your social status is relative to them. Since I am a Farang (American / westerner) I am not sure where I stand yet.

One of my first purchases on the trip was a bottle of Aberlour 10-year at the duty free shop. They had a great selection of Scotch including some cask strength MacAllen which I took a pass on. Having a bottle with you for those moments when you need a taste of the refinements that only the Scottish highlands can offer seems like a great way to take the edge off a foreign city.

The metered taxi took us through the city to our hotel for 500 Bhat. Bhat is the national currency and is 34 bhat to a dollar making our ride about $15. At night pretty much all cities look the same from an interstate style highway and Bangkok was no exception. We stayed up until 2:30 sipping whisky looking at night view from the hotel window.

We are staying at the Sheraton Orchid Hotel on the river. The rooms have great views of all the long boats and river activity. The river is central to most of what is happening here with the barges overloaded with cargo and the long boats overloaded people.

I was able to get by with a few hours of sleep last night. After snoozing on the Tokyo – Bangkok leg of the flight I only needed a couple of hours. Right now I am enjoying a cup of Thai coffee and am paging through the local paper which is the Bangkok Post.

Today we are going to look for a river boat and check out the city from the water to start since the traffic make 494 look like the autobahn. Likely destinations will be the temples and Chinatown. More details on that later.