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Things to Like about Thailand

The unrelenting Thai politeness. Most Thai's are overwhelmingly polite, not just with words but with actions.


24oz local beers. Order a beer and that's what you get. I guess the 12oz model just isn't enough in this tropical climate.


$2.90 hour long Thai massage. That was the best price I've seen so far, generally we dish out twice that much. It's a daily habit at this point.

200+ item menus! Many restaurants have menus 30 pages long. The only nuisance is that Thai's are so polite, once they hand you the menu, they stand right next to you until you order. Once, I tried telling the waiter to give us a few minutes. He politly agreed and then stayed right there and waited. I'm starting to get used to it.

Where's the Elephant!

While in Bangkok, we were at a nice outdoor restaurant in downtown across from our hotel, when all of a sudden a young elephant walks up right next to us, like within 10-12 feet! (It's really amazing just how quiet they are). Anyway, I noticed it first and said "Hey guys look an elephant". Syd and Barrett notice but Rylan had be looking down at his plate. When he looks up he says "where"!

I said "Right there"!

He stretched his neck so he could see around this big "grey wall" and again says "where's the elephant"? Again I say "right here". It didn't register for Rylan for another few moments, but when it did it was a great reaction of surprise and shock.

I think there is a joke about hiding elephants. Anyway, we laughed about it all night.

Some Funny Stuff:

Two ladies in full burka attire riding a moped. ( I don't know, I guess you just had to see it).

Road Rules:

As I see it the lines painted on the roads are for reference only, perhaps a form of measurement. What we would call two lanes, the Thai's call five; two for cars and 3 for mopeds OR 3 for cars and 2 for mopeds.

At the stoplights mopeds weave through the traffic until they are at the front. It is expected, if you don't the moped behind you will let you know.

Driving the wrong way on a street is okay, as long as you think you can make it. (Sidewalks are fine too).

Turning left on Red is expected even if your in the outside lane. Again only if you think you can make it.

3 persons per moped is fine, just put the baby on the handlebars.

If you see a car nosing in from a side street, expect them to go for it. (If they didn't they'd never get in).

Cell phone use while mopeding in traffic is common, no need to stop. I actually saw three on a moped, two of which were on the phone. I know unbelievable.

In the states we call all this DWA (Driving While Asian). Well we're living it. We rented two mopeds for the month, and today I performed my first left on red. But don't worry Moms, I haven't called anyone yet.

Bangkok turned out to be a very diverse, exciting city. Our hotel Lobby was generally filled with Indians, Arabs and Africans complete with traditional attire. Egyptian influences also seem to be abound in many restaurants, plenty of hookahs. Televisions in International Hotel lobbies and Restaurants are just as likely to be airing Al Jazeera as they are CNN. Women in full burka attire were a relatively common sight, much to the kids curiously. Barrett says she'd "just move if she lived where she had to wear that".

The lifestyle in Bangkok is addicting, things are cheap and the sites are many. I can see why there are so many ex pates here. Syd and I both can see we coming back at some point, maybe even this trip. We head to Chiang Mai now and look forward to making a more permanent base.

Hope to hear from you all.

The Grand Palace

Today we spent the day at the National Museum of Thailand and the Grand Palace, home of the King. As with so many museums the unfortunate overall theme is man's conflict with himself. War seems to be the one defining activity that all regions, worldwide, have in common. Unfortunately, Thai culture/history is no different. On the other hand the traditional architecture here is fabulous. The Grand Palace is a real visual delight. I can't even imagine the time and labor that must have gone into building the site. Whether paying reverence to The Buddha or creating awe for the masses, the Thai people have done a splendid job. The pictures really don't do it justice.

Bad Rap

Bangkok really has a bad rap. Its a much nicer city then I had expected. Sure it's busy, smoggy and full of traffic, but what city in a developing country isn't? Personally, I don't find it any dirtier then Buenos Aires, Beijing, or even parts of NYC for that matter. I've been surprised at how developed the city is. I think the well publicized Red Light District has created the bad rap that Bangkok gets, but we've been cruising the city for 4 days and haven't even run across it. The city really has much to offer.

The food is fantastic and cheap. Entrées at the better restaurants run about $8-12 and are super tasty. There are a ton of musems, shows and theater throughout the city. The nightlife is active, to say the least. The quality of the native crafts (not that I really like crafts) are twice that of what I've seen in China. The people are amazingly polite and helpful, not something you find in many cities.

Syd and I plan to stay a few extra days. Maybe we'll leave Thr or Fri. The kids have started a blog as well. You can find it here: http://rylanandbarrett.blogspot.com/

Medical Check-up

One of te reasons we decided to stay in Bangkok before we head North to Chaing Mai, was to take advantage of the quality and inexpensive medical services. Yesterday I spent the better part of the day at the Brumengard International Hospital getting my "mid-aged" check-up. I hate even sating those words! I wasn't really sure what to expect but when I got their I was very impressed from the get-go. The Hospital was as clean and modern as a 5 star hotel and the staff was extremely efficient. I was there for about 5 hours but within that time I received the following

• Blood Tests (Counts, Blood Sugar)


• Cholesterol Profile


• Gout


• Kidney Function Tests


• Liver Function Tests


• Thyroid Check


• Cancer Markers Tests


• EKG and Stress Test


• Chest X-ray


• Ultrasound of Whole Abdomen


• Eye Exam

All for the uninsured price of about $340. Yes $340.00 dollars, all in half a day. Compare that to the MRI and pain shot that Syd got just before we left. She had to have 5-6 appointments (referral, consultation, MRI, another consultation, then the shot) over 5 weeks (and that was short time frame, because I play tennis with the Doc). The total was over $4,000.00, $2,000.00 after insurance. Not that I'm down on the US medical system, but an MRI here is about $125.00. Syd is at the Hospital today, shes healthly. (Her results came in the same day. My results will be in Monday).