Southeast Asia II

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Back Early

My father is in the hospital and I am coming home early. I am waiting in the Bangkok airport for my flight now and will be back in Buffalo Wednesday Morning instead of Saturday morning. ThaiAir was nice and professional as usual and waived the change fee and the very large fare difference. Thanks ThaiAir! My hotel in Bangkok was a different story. I wasn't expecting them to be nice and refund the prepaid hotel charges. It would have been nice but I wasn't surprised. But what did surprise me is the "scam" they tried to pull on me. I monitor my credit card charges constantly in case and they have been charging me at an exchange rate of 28 Thai Baht to the Dollar instead of the actual rate of 34 Thai Baht to the dollar. Which is a huge difference. I complained and the politely said they would get back to me. And then when I settled my bill they tried to do it again. I will be reviewing the Novotel in Bangkok very negatively in hotel review sites. My flight leaves in four hours and I am off to do some shopping and have dinner.

Bangkok, Thailand

Here are some pictures from Bangkok. I missed the Royal Palace last time as it was closed for some reason written in Thai. Weather has been very hot and humid as usual in Bangkok. Usually a high in the mid to upper 90s with 80% humidity. You get used to it after awhile as long as you stay out of direct sunlight for too long. The sun cooks you here real fast. The nights are pretty comfortable though.

Wat Pra Kaew Hosted on Zooomr

The Grand Palace: Bangkok Hosted on Zooomr

Wat Pho Hosted on Zooomr

Last Days in Shanghai

Here are some pictures from my last day in Shanghai. The weather actually turned out to be very good and there was an incredibly clear day.

Shanghai, China Hosted on Zooomr

Friday, February 9, 2007

Shanghai, China

I arrived in Shanghai late Friday afternoon. The airport was jam packed with I assume people traveling for Chinese New Year. The arrivals hall was also surprisingly full of cigarette smoke! I thought it was smog that got inside at first. Undaunted I quickly went to the thing I have been waiting for: The Maglev train. Shanghai has the only operational Maglev train in the world. Maglev uses magnetic levitation to propel the train and therefore only has air friction. The train itself is not in contact with anything. The top speed for the trip from the airport to the city was 431 km/hr. It was awesome. The cars on the highway seemed to be crawling along. The taxi ride from the Maglev terminal to my hotel was more hair-raising. Drivers here are nuts. I thought Bangkok was crazy but in Bangkok they show a little more care and concern. Way too much horn honking too. My hotel is situated right on the Najing pedestrian shopping street. The street is full of neon and light and shoppers! Here are some pics.

Shanghai Maglev Hosted on Zooomr

Shanghai Neon Hosted on Zooomr

Last Day in Chiang Mai

My last day in Chiang Mai was uneventful and relaxing. I took in some last few temples and then found a comfortable outdoor coffee shop terrace and read book for the afternoon. The next morning I woke up early for my flight out of Chiang Mai to Shanghai via Bangkok. It took awhile to find a tuk-tuk but one finally showed up. I asked how much to the airport and he said 30 baht which was weird because the day before I took at tuk-tuk to the mall near the airport for 120 baht. 30 baht is slight less than a dollar and 120 baht is about 4 dollars. It is really difficult sometimes to figure out here when you are getting ripped off. And when you do get ripped off it is for for so little money in our terms you don't know what to think. One of the temples I went to this day had something very odd. I removed my shoes and entered and thought I saw an old monk in the standard saffron robes meditating. Upon closer inspection I saw it was his dead preserved body encased in glass! Here are today's pics!

Wat Chedi Luang Hosted on Zooomr

Bird Emancipation Hosted on Zooomr

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

More temples and wats: Buddhism , WOW!

I just got back from the Chiang Mai Night Market which is different from the Chiang Mai Sunday Night Market. The nightly market is outside the old city and is much much larger than the Sunday market. However, I thought the Sunday market was more interesting with more authentic items. The nightly market had lots of ripoffs and not as interesting street food. The Sunday market brings in craftspeople from the hill villages and is in the old city surrounded my temples. The most interesting temple so far was Wat Phra Singh. Great wood carvings, artists painting the wall murals and an emerald Buddha. There was some military brass getting a tour of the temple. They were from several countries and didn't seem to be above the rank of colonel. My guess is they were the embassy military attaches. I took a tuk-tuk to the mall to get some more clothes and look for a new bag. The tuk-tuk driver spoke half-way decent English. When he found out I was an American he asked what I thought of Bush. He seemed to be a fan. He also doesn't like the new military junta and wants deposed PM Thaskin back. Thaksin is from Chiang Mai so the city is almost universal in wanting his return. Martial Law was lifted in Bangkok but not in Chiang Mai. Not that you can tell from all the chaos. Here are my pictures from today's temple hopping. Tomorrow is my last day in Chiang Mai.