Business, Fun, and More Business

Business, Fun, and More Business

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2006--Bangkok

I was up early again today. I have been leaving my curtains open so that the sun will wake me in the mornings. Today, that was at 6:30. I stayed in bed and watched BBC News for about an hour. Then I got up and cleaned up for breakfast. I sampled a little bit of a lot of things again. Most of what I ate was the same as yesterday. But I added a piece of a heavy chocolate cream cake to my plate of food this morning. I'm not used to sweets these days, so I ended up leaving part of the frosting; it was just too much sugar!! (I know some of my friends won't believe I would ever say such a thing.)

I had to deal with business first. My dental appointment with Siam Family Dental Clinic was at 11:00. I arrived there and waited. Then they told me that they had opened another office two blocks away and that my dentist was at that office. So they walked me over to it. It takes up two floors of a building that houses shops below. All the equipment is new. As usual, the first thing I did as I entered was take off my shoes and put then in a shoe closet, then I picked out a large pair of bagged cloth slippers and took them out and put them on. The dentist told me I am still brushing too hard even with my soft bristle brush. She cleaned my teeth and inspected them. There is a dark spot that could develop into a cavity she said, but she said we would wait; if I floss (and I do every night), it should be a while before it is big enough to need drilling and filling. She charged me about $18.50 U.S. and told me she would see me again in August of next year when I return.

I got out of the dental office at 11:55, so I rushed one block to the Lido Theater to see a film I knew was starting at 12:00. It was a French film with the title Flanders. It won the Grand Prix at Cannes. (I think that is the audience prize for the film they liked the most in the competition.) It was a slow-moving film, but it was very well made and was an interesting story. It begins in the countryside with three young farmers who are leaving for military service and two girls who are their girl friends. (Two men like the same girl.) Then it moves to northern Africa with war scenes that are really remarkably filmed. Interspersed are scenes back at home where one of the girls is pregnant and has been unofficially diagnosed as a nymphomaniac. Finally, it returns to the village with only one of the men returning.

Bangkok has such a good selection of foreign and independent films showing all the time. And almost all the foreign films have English subtitles. There are definitely more showing here than make it to San Antonio. It's frustrating to see the previews of upcoming features knowing that I will be gone and unable to see them. One of the previews today was of a Danish film. I believe the Danish title is Kaerlighed; in English, they have given it the title A Soap.

I walked across the street after the film to explore a new shopping center called Paragon that has opened since I was here last year. It was almost finished last year, so it has now been open for a while. It is an upscale mall with about 6 floors. The bottom floor is all the big names in jewelry, clothing, and other accessories: Mont Blanc, Rolex, Patek _______, Chanel, D&G, Hermes, etc. On the second floor are well known stores a little down the rungs on the ladder: Zara, MNG, La Coste, etc. Further up there are floors with furniture (with over half the space filled with contemporary designs), home accessories, entertainment, etc. A section of one floor even had auto sales rooms for fancy autos such as Maseratis, BMWs, etc. The top floor has 14 cinemas, an IMAX, a bowling alley, a gym, etc. The basement of the mall has the largest aquarium in Asia. I didn't get to cover the whole mall. I will go back to check it out more and to see the remodeled Siam Center Mall next door (where I went to the dermotologist last year when I was here). This area about 1/3 mile (less than 1 km) from my hotel has about 6 malls and a street area with shops. Two of the malls are upscale. Three are more normal. And one is like a huge mini-mall with space rented out to small independently-owned businesses. The street area consists of about 12 square blocks that have the trendy shops that appeal to teenagers. When I first came to Bangkok in the 1970s, the street shopping area was new and there was nothing else around. It was the new trendy shopping district. It has remained the trendy shopping area, but with MANY more shops now coming in all formats.

I had to get back to business related to my new air ticket. I walked to the Thai Airways office. They had completed my ticket. They printed it, stampled it together, gave me itinerary sheets, booked my seat for Sunday's flight, etc. The tickets continue to increase in costs. Part of that is due to the oil prices, but I don't think the price I paid reflected the drop that has occurred during the past few weeks. Another big factor in the increase is the fees charged by airports. They used to be about 1/8 of the cost of the ticket; now they are about 1/4. Anyway, I paid 125,375 baht for the ticket for this coming year. That's about $3,350. The price is up to the level that I paid from the U.S. for my first ticket. In the U.S., my guess is that the ticket price must be reaching $5000 now. Anyway, I am good to go now. I will no longer be required to go through London and will know longer have to worry about picking up my new ticket there while trying to transfer between flights. I can skip London completely unless I want to go there. For instance, when I leave Copenhagen on Dec. 11 this year, I will fly straight to Washington, DC, and then head for San Antonio from there. Each year now, I will buy my tickets during my break here in Bangkok. So next August, I will be back to see the same people at the Thai Airways office here near my hotel.

Now I need to worry about finding a hotel in Chennai. I fly there on Sunday and do not have any idea where I will be staying! I'll research some while I am here on the computer, then I will find a place nearby for dinner tonight.