Apart from being hot ... and this is winter ! Temps in the 90's during the day, perhaps below 80 at night; it's the dry season, thank goodness.
Bangkok is very clean; however, out in the countryside, not so much. Outside of BKK, lots of trash along the roadway, mostly plastic trash that is. Plastic everywhere. I've never seen so much single use plastic. The Thai people are fastidious, everything is in plastic. The street food - soup in plastic; served in plastic; sauce in plastic; it all ends up somewhere. The street food is absolutely clean; no Montezuma's revenge here (or would that be some Siam revenge ?). It's cooked in front of you, everything very clean, bagged in plastic, everything washed. Water is drinkable but everywhere there are 5 gallon (or liter equivalent) bottles of water. Ice is safe too. The service economy is huge. I don't think that anyone eats at home. Street food is everywhere, sidewalks crowded with vendors - sausages, squid, veggies, fruit, noodles, rice, all clean, all safe to eat even for westerners, wok sauteed right in front of you. It's all incredibly inexpensive.
The people are friendly, the traffic is polite - walk out and they'll stop. All the time here I've never heard a horn blow. It's such a contrast with North America. In Japan they bow, all very formal. Here they join their hands in a prayer form and bow, greet you, wish you well. In and out of the hotel a hundred times at least, I never had to open a door. They rush to help you, greet you at the on ramp from the street, at the hotel door, at the front desk, call an elevator for you ...
For the most part, no one speaks any English, but somehow we got around. Restaurants often have picture menus, here in Bangkok. Outside of BKK, not so much. Point, waive hands, people help as best that they can. Money is fairly easy to manage, all in local currency. Mental math is 30 Baht per Dollar. Actual rate is closer to 31/USD. Prices are unbelievable. Hotel rooms on the ride, minimum $10, maximum $15. Ice cream bar, 30 cents. Two ice cream bars, water or other drink, $1.20. Bangkok is more expensive of course, running us about $140 per night including a huge buffet breakfast and cook for omelets etc. Tips are NOT expected, but I often left 10%. We had lunch today and I left a tip - the waitress caught up to us on the escalator to give us change ... no, I said, for you !
But it's hot; hard to get used to the heat. On the ride, I poured a lot of water on my head. Every 7-11 had ice, 8 Baht for a large kind-of big-gulp container. Think 25 Cents, to put it in perspective. During the ride, during the day, I ate at 7-11 a lot, California rolls with salmon, sometimes Ramen soup, sausage etc. Ice cream bars, Popsicle type bars, water, cold drinks. Fanta Orange, chocolate milk, a couple of Coke/Pepsi along the way; there was never a problem finding sustenance. At night I had dinner in restaurants a number of times.
I would come back to Thailand but life is rushing by. Will we get here again ? Hard to say. There are so many places left to see. Do we need to see China now that we've been here & Cambodia & Japan ? What about India ? Philippines ? Vietnam ? They're all a little different, customs, food, people, general "feel". We've seen much of Buddha. I don't need to see more temples. Each spin is a little different. I could learn more by doing some reading, but not by visiting more temples.
Speaking of temples, that architecture is everywhere - temples, shrines, public and private. On the ride, monks were everywhere, early morning accepting donations of food, walking the streets, accepting veneration (perhaps not the correct word) from the people. There was a Catholic church within about 15 minutes walking distance from our BKK hotel; I did daily mass a number of times. 6:30 in Thai; 7:00 in English; 7:30 in Thai .. you get the idea. 7-11's are sometimes two per block here in BKK; outside of BKK everywhere but not quite as frequent. Starbucks is everywhere in BKK, outside of BKK ... not. We did find one in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Naturally I added to my Starbucks Espresso Cup collection.
It's been fun but it's time to go home. I miss my dog :).
I have to do a ride blog; perhaps I'll do that while flying between snoozes. I'll crib from this impressions piece.
Westward.
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