Final Days in Bangkok

Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008--Bangkok (Continued)

After posting in the morning, I took the bus out to the weekend market. It's a popular place for tourists, and I usually go out there for a while each time I am here. It's a good place to watch people. As usual, it was HOT there. I wandered the stalls for a while, but I wasn't really shopping. The most fun was going through the pets area where I could see (and touch) the dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, etc. It wasn't just me who was interested in them. That area consistantly has people stopping at the stalls to look and interact.

The bus back to town was slow as usual. It goes through the major shopping district of Bangkok, and traffic is so heavy going there on Sunday afternoon that it always stalls. Bangkok is known for its traffic jams anyway, and my return trip took about 2 hours vs. the 30-45 minutes it took to go out to the market along the same route in the morning.

I went to the Silom Sauna which is in the neighborhood behind my hotel. It's the same sauna I visited last year and is much better than the one I visited a couple of days ago. It has a bigger pool, more seating area, more personalized service, a wider range of ages among its clientelle, etc. I stayed for over three hours.

On the way home, I stopped at a street stall and had some HOT noodle soup. I didn't realize it was already so spicy, so I added some crushed red pepper. Wow! My nose was running and my eyes watering by the time I finished it.

Monday, Aug. 4, 2008--Bangkok

Turkish Airlines has an add on TV now that shows them rolling out a red carpet for individual customers. Well, I didn't find the red carpet when I went to their office today. I wanted to get a seat for my flight from Mumbai to Istanbul on Aug. 18, but I found out that they do not allow seat assignments until one week before a flight. Also, they do not offer economy extra or plus for customers who buy full-fare tickets and/or are classified as elite in the frequent flyer programs of the Star Alliance.

I also went to the offices of Lufthansa and Swiss. I got my seats with Swiss. But Lufthansa classifies its flight from Georgia to Munich as a European flight (even though Georgia is north of the Middle East and the flight is several hours long). Therefore, they would not let me reserve a seat. (Like most European airlines, they do not allow economy seats to be reserved in advance for non-international flights.)

While in the area, I went to the RCA Cinema, an additional complex that has foreign films. I seldom go there, because it is rather far away from where I usually am. Anyway, I saw the film A Year without Love. I had read the book, so I remembered much of the story.

I returned to the restaurant where I had such a good meal two days ago for my dinner. This time, I had a similar dish to what I had before, but it was with pork instead of with chicken.

Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008--Bangkok

I returned to the north side of Bangkok today to find the Center for the Blind. Sure enough, it was where I expected it to be. I had to go a bit out of my way getting there due to bad directions, but when I reached it, it was very near to where I had already decided it should be on the map.

The massages there are a bargain--120 baht for the fan room and 160 baht for the a/c room. That's for a 1 1/2 hour Thai massage--a massage that is mostly built on pressure points. The man who gave me mine was excellent. He paid close attention to what he was doing and was firm, but tender enough not to hurt. Because it is so far north of town, the trip took 6 hours including the massage.

I got off the boat at River Center Mall, the mall that specializes in Asian antiques here in Bangkok. It is just down the street from my former hotel and from where I like to use the Internet. Now that I am finished with the computer, I will eat in the neighborhood before heading back to my hotel for the night.

Tomorrow is my last full day in Bangkok. I've stayed very busy here this time, often being gone from my hotel whole days at a time. Tomorrow, I will return to the main shopping area to see one last film if all goes well.