Fit to be in Thailand

Bowler Hat guy at the Ministry of Finance

Opposite sits the two Buddhist shrines for Finance employees.

Tuk tuks waiting for business near the hotel

The busy Chao Praya river.

Morning rush.

Off to the airport in luxury.

My plane arrives!

Hanging in the Biz Class lounge.

I did a very quick trip to Bangkok this week. I think it was about my 5th time there. It has become one of my favorite cities in Asia.


Why do I like it? The Thai people are very friendly and proud of their country (in spite of it's crazy political climate). It is not sanitized and "Disneyized" like Singapore. Great food. Nice hotels. Really good shopping for everything from Antiques to clothes. Dirty and chaotic but not dangerous feeling. The Cho Prya river is amazing to look at as it is jammed with boat traffic 24/7. The historical sites and temples are beautiful and located all over town. I also like that there is a King and he is revered by the population.


On my trip this week I had a meeting with the Thai Finance Ministry and also was looking at a hotel where we may have a conference later this year.


The meeting went well because I had some good news to report to the Finance Ministry people. They were happy to hear that we were able to resolve a trade issue in the Philippines that affected one of our plants in Thailand. The interesting part of the visit to the ministry was the grounds and the workers. The walled compound is accessible by a large open gate. Security is evident with a number of armed military people on the grounds but it is not intrusive or overwhelming. Just inside the grounds are three shrines - 2 look to be Buddhist and one is a statue of what must be a famous Thai leader. He looks dapper in his bowler hat. Employees of the Mintstry almost all put their hands together (for prayer) and bow to the shrines as the walk into the complex. I walked over to see the statues - one is a gold deity and the other is the model of a temple or palace. There are flowers and burning insence and candles placed around the statues. Similar offerings are placed near the bowler hat guy as well.



Last year was the celebration of the King's 60th (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5062534.stm) and as a result Thai's were asked to sport bright Royal yellow shirts in his honor. that practice has carried on and has extended to most every day. I would say 60% of Thai's wear yellow shirts to work. Many also wear yellow "We HEART our King" wrist bands, at least I think that's what is says because other then the heart it's in Thai. All over town their are pictures of the King and of the royal seal. It's kind of nice. And by the way - the King seems to be a great guy and he in no way resembles Yul Brenner!


I also stayed at the lovely Sheraton Royal Orchid hotel. It is pretty nice and is located right on the river. I had the chance to watch all the boats - long barges, bus/ boats carrying people to and from work, crossing boats taking people from one side to the other, party boats, hotel boats, police boats, longtail tour boats and more. The Chao Praya is about as busy as the DC freeways during rush hour. http://www.hasekamp.net/river.htm




After a nice lunch at the hotel I headed back to the airport. On the way I stopped at the big Jim Thompson store. http://www.jimthompson.com/retail_shops.asp Sophia and I visited the museum and house on our first Bangkok trip and always like to see the fine things they have in their stores.


The new Bangkok airport,Suvarnabhumi, is mired in controversy. http://www.bangkokairportonline.com/ It's big and beautiful but very flawed. It has been open less then a year and had big problems from day one. They found cracks in the runways but that does'nt bother me. what does is the layout and the other quirky issues. It's huge but they have no good system to get people from one side to the other. Sophia and I had to walk at least a mile between gates when connecting from LA to Singapore a few weeks ago. I'm not kidding. It is all glass and in the tropics that is not a good thing. the temperature swings from the 90s to the 60s depending upon where you are. A few steps can take you from tee shirt weather to heavy sweater weather. There is also a shortage of bathrooms and the ones they have are almost hidden. One this they do have is an abundance of retail. You can get just about anything to wear, collect or eat. Anyway - my trip home was easy and uneventful and I still recommend a visit to Bangkok!