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Krung Thep, City of Angels, is the Thai Name for Bangkok, Thailand. Bangkok is one of the world's most exciting & stimulating city. Bangkok is 24 hour excitement .. adventures, sights, sounds, tastes ..vivid technicolor memories. Bangkok is Environmental Stimulation .. Cultural Stimulation .. Culinary Stimulation Bangkok, Thailand: Where the 21st Century West has melded into the Ancient Far East.
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Bangkok is the 22nd largest city on the planet. A short trip from the congestion that dominates ultra modern Bangkok is a rural Thailand that is defined by the wonderful laid back traditional Thai
mai pen rai (don't worry, be happy & smile) lifestyle.
Ultra modern Bangkok has a population of over 10 million in a country of only 60 million.
Bangkok is where all aspects of Thai culture blossom.
You can wander in a day from luxury shopping districts to quiet temple compounds, bustling markets to tiny alleyways. Get lost and explore. Even in a city choked by traffic, pollution and acres of concrete, you can find moments of serenity and are sure to experience a warm welcome from the citizens of Thailand.
Bangkok is a 21st century city. Boingo ( the world leading network provider) alone has over 4000 Wi-Fi hot spots in Bangkok.
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Bangkok Train Station: Hua Lamphong
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Thailand Historical Maps (pre-colonial to WWII) Thailand Road Maps Thailand Train Routes w/ schedules
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The taxi que at
Suvarnabhumi
(pronounced 'Su - wanna - poom') Airport.
September 28, 2006: Bangkok's
new US$3 billion airport, Suvarnabhumi Airport opened It can handle over
75 flights per hour & 45 million passengers per year. Tourism
accounts for almost 15% of the Thai GNP & this new airport is designed to make
Bangkok the leading air hub & tourist destination in Asia.
A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients
to plant vines. Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)
Abandon it.~ Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959), asked how he would
improve Pittsburgh
.. cracks large enough to pose a safety risk.
More than 100,000 sq meters (1,000,000 sq feet) of runway are affected.
The the construction was bonded by Diphaya Insurance.
Suvarnabhumi airport is built on a drained swamp .. Cobra Swamp .. Suvarnabhumi
is known by locals
affectionately as Cobra Swamp Field..
Both domestic & international flights in January 2007 are being delayed
dues to runway safety.
January, 2007. Foundation problems are now being noted in Suvarnabhumi's
terminal .. & all is attributed to corruption in
former PM Thaksin's ousted government ..
The Suvarnabhumi runway cracks were reported in the Bangkok Post 2 years prior to the airport
opening. A lawsuit was threatened by the PM Thaksin's cronies
/ contractors. The
Bangkok Post published a retraction & the editor who uncovered the faulty
construction was fired!
24 August 2005, Bangkok Post news editor Chadin Thepaval was forced to
resign by ousted PM Thaksin because of his correct report about cracks in the runway of Thailand's new
Suvarnabhumi Airport. 
Repair costs are expected to be more than Bt1 billion,
Bangkok Hotels & Apartments w/Free WiFi Thai 10 digit dialing w/ "Thai time" Thailand Maps & Thai Road Maps
Avante guarde and ultramodern architecture, modern 5 star hotels, 5 star restaurants, decadent shopping centers, 21st century subways, elevated sky trains, and modern western staffed hospitals.
Ultra Modern architecture melded with elaborate Buddhist temples, extravagant palaces, huge open air markets, street vendors, floating markets & the canals / klongs.
The "looped pathway" of the Chao Praya River, through Bangkok, is known as an elephant ear.
I lub the klong tu mutt. Khun Tem
Lupini Park is an green oasis of serenity hidden in the bustle of Bangkok .. Lupini is perfect for a jog, skate, bike, walk
Transportation via ultramodern Sky Train & Sub Way & the klongs.. MBK Shopping Center has it's own sky train stop
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Lupini Park is an oasis of serenity hidden in the bustle of Bangkok
Direct links to over 200 Thai hotels & apartments .. 45 Bangkok Hotels with free WiFi Internet. Relatively young & modern Bangkok, founded in 1782, is surrounded by City State Archeological Sites |
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Tokyo Joe's, Bangkok's home to the Blues, has moved to a beautiful new home .. 3 months remodeling Jeff's new club + move! IT'S BEAUTIFUL! ... check it out .. Directions? 02 661-0359 25/9 Sukhumvit Soi 26 (1 long block past the Emporium, take a right on to Soi 26, Tokyo Joes is on your left 1 block, directly opposite the TARA Hotel)
give Big Jeff a "high
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Thailand Maps Thai Visas come in 4 flavors: Tourist, Work, Marriage & Retirement.
Thailand
Google " Bangkok Serviced Apartment " for Bangkok's best short term accommodation options:
The 'coolest hot rod', :-o)) ,
water taxis are on the Mekong, at the Golden Triangle.
Thailand Newspapers Bangkok Weather Bangkok Wi-Fi / Hotspots Medical Tourism Thailand Email Inquiry
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Perfect Thailand health souvenir: a professionally designed exercise program? Europeans, Aussies, Japanese, Chinese, Americans .. businessmen, entrepreneurs, tourists & expats all trying to meld into the uniqueness that is the Thai culture and the structured chaos that is unique to Bangkok. |
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Thailand History Thailand Home Page Bangkok Gyms Sky Train / Subway Map Thai Hotel & Apartment Bangkok is modern high rise office buildings surrounded by busy food cart vendors. The carts often have rice cooked in traditional 3" diameter section of bamboo.. way better than any rice pot.. + the bamboo serves as take away packaging
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Bangkok is famous for it night life: Thais, Europeans, Japanese, Americans, Aussies 'boogieing' together in modern discos.
There are 'international mix' night clubs / discos in Bangkok as well as Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Koh Samui.
Dance with 'international backpacker types' in Chiang Mai or Japanese & German Tourist on Phuket.
Cultural is displayed in dance / party style! :-)
Pool side parties with Aussies are not dull!
Bangkok is 'replica' watch vendor carts on the sidewalk of a world class jeweler.
To me, the 900 THB 'replica Rolak' looks identical to the jeweler's 900,000 THB Rolex.
3rd floor MBK, adjacent to Siam Square, is a replica watch shopper's dream.
Bangkok is traditional canal transportation and 21st century sky trains.
+ Bangkok has 4,442 moto-taxi stands & around 109,533 motorcycle taxis, ride on the back of a 90 cc motobike. Jump on the back of a 90cc motorbike & zip down the side Soi to the BTS .. quick easy & 20 THB.
Bangkok is monks in saffron robes on the sky train.
Bangkok is seeing the King's daughter riding the sky train with executives, students & tourists at Siam Sq.
Easy to find stops on Bangkok's most famous canal / klong, Klong San Saep
Klong San Saep is parallel to & between Sukhumvit - New Petchaburi.
Easy to find stops:
Ekkamia / Petchaburi: behind the green high rise w/ McDonalds, left side of the building. Between the green high rise & the bridge.
Soi 3, several blocks down the 6 lane section from Sukhumvit. ..at Suk & Soi 3 facing the 'Nana sky train
Chitlom: behind the Central Department Store .. from the sky train it's the opposite side from Silom Square & down Chitlom 2 blocks.
WTC: between the WTC ( facing WTC to your right ) & Petchaburi, cross the foot bridge, left to the Klong stairs.
The 'Main Klong Bus Route' ends at the Ratchada Bridge ( near the World Trade Center & Panthip Plaza ) & smaller Klong buses continue all the way to Wat Pho.
Exit the Klong Station stairs left, there is a food bridge over Ratchada. Exit the foot bridge & WTC is too your left & Pantip Plaza ( electronic wonderland ) is to your right past the fish market on the other side of the Klong.
The fish market has a quite fantastic selection of fresh fish ( beautifully arranged & displayed I must add ), pick your fresh / live seafood item & they cook.
The mixed natural colors of fresh seafood artistically displayed is quite beautiful. & the street hawker is a trip.
The new sky train is wonderful in certain sections of the city.
Purchase one of the multi trip or multi-day unlimited passes to avoid 'foolin' with' right change coins
A sub way system is under construction that will connect with the sky train.
Subway partially opens July 3, 2004.
International flights arrive at Bangkok's Don Muang. 30 minutes ( at midnight! ) the from city center.
Link to Don Muang's site ( w/ Thai airline Thailand domestic schedule )
The money exchange at the airport does not provide the best exchange rate .. BUT ,, you need Thai baht as soon as you exit the terminal!!
24 hour ATMs are 'everywhere' outside the airport, but you need Thb to leave the airport.
The Chatuchuck / JJ Market offers incredible shopping opportunities. Google Satellite Image of the market.
Located adjacent to BTS Mo Chit Station & the southern bus terminal.
Mo Chit is at the southern end of the sky train.
Mo Chit is also the southern bus terminal. For both cross town & cross country buses.
You cannot miss the market from the Mo Chit Sky Train Station.
All mass transit goes to Mo Chit.
& trust me it is a huge ( HUGE ) market! It covers 142,000 mē or almost 35 acres.
It can be incredibly warm in the crowded aisles.
Weekends process as many as 300,000 shoppers each day.
"I love JJ market .. it's quite the scene." Khun
Tem
15, 000 stalls.
Market is divided by 'category': luggage, furniture, leather, T-shirts, antiques, jewelry, semi precious stones .. pets ..
My friend's Yellow Lab from the market is named JJ ! (JJ Market) Great dog .. & only a few shoes never recovered!
Some really unusual items offered on the back isles.
The 'prime location vendors' are regular shop keepers, relatively consistent inventory, much same same as what stores in shopping centers stock .. in 'the back' are vendors that are not regulars & might have more unusual / severely discounted items.
My friend found a really nice leather backpack on a JJ back isle .. a "dress backpack" .. saw the identical pack at MBK for 300% markup!
It got her all way through Thammasat Law School .. she is the perfect lawyer, I never know what she is talking about!
.. or just tell a taxi driver on Saturday or Sunday the Mo Chit Station / Chatuchuck Market / JJ Market.
Most Bangkok & Pattaya hotels will arrange private limousine transport to your hotel. ..
600 THB, $15 US, 12 EU, 19.75 AUD. Double to Pattaya.200 - 300 THB more than taxi, but you will get out of the airport 30 minutes faster.
Go to the taxi stand, do not mess with hustlers with private cars for hire.
Most cab drivers speak some or little English, there are bilingual attendants at the taxi stand.
The 'attendant' at the taxi stand is 110% multi-lingual, tell HIM ( the attendant ) your desired location.
Do not wait for the taxi to get on the express way to determine if the driver really knows where you are going!
Once you learn your important street names & master pointing from the back seat .. getting around in Bkk is easy.
On my first trip I took a Bangkok city bus bus from the airport ( like the stupid guide book said I could! ), I saved 400 THB / $9.50 & was totally confused & lost. Take the taxi, if you can afford air fare you can afford the 500 THB/ $10. taxi to town!
Link to the Suvarnabhumi Airport site at Nong Ngu Hao, AKA "Cobra Swamp Field".
There are 2 Muay Thai / Thai Kick Boxing venues in Bangkok. They alternate nights so there is a Muay Thai event most evenings.
http://www.muaythai.com/ Rajadamnern Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand . 72 kg Muay
Thai
extravaganza comprises 8 invincible contenders all over the world.
The winner gets
1,000,000 Baht.More detail ... lots of pics of Thai Professional Muay Thai Boxers. Sit in the mid-priced seats. The cheapest seats are really really
really crowded. The rowdy Thais 'vigorous & enthusiastic
betting', :-),
in the cheap seats
is as much fun to watch as the kick boxing event. If there are no Thais betting it is a
tourist, WWF style, 'fixed' event!
The WWF style events in tourist areas
( Walking Street, Pattaya & Bangla Road, Patong Si ) are lots of
fun, but staged. There is more dramatic kicks &
blows in the scripted WWF type Muay Thai. Much like WWF has more
action than Olympic Greco Roman wrestling. In the mid 1970s 5 top Hong Kong Kung
Fu champions came to Bangkok for a martial arts face off.
None of the 5 Hong Kong Kung Fu
masters lasted 2 minutes! All 5 were carried out in less than 2
minutes of the 1st round. The blending of rural & urban life,
that is the prevalent in the west, is not present ( yet ) in
Thailand. Metro-Bangkok has 10% of the people & 99.99% of the traffic jams while the
rural areas comprise 99.99% of the geographic area. Khun Tem's
favorite places
.. & for each mentioned there are 100s that should have been mentioned.
The Buffet at the Baiyoke Tower hotel is
OK "kow" (Thai word for meal & rice = kow) ( I would not eat it at street level, but, it's not at street level), the night view from the top of the tallest hotel in Thailand
is spectacular.
Daytime view from Baiyoke Tower ..
Baiyoke nights are quite illuminating
Country Road , Sukhumvit Soi 19,
<66> 02 433 4828 near
Robinson's Department Store, is a favorite stop..
The first floor restaurant / club has Thai bands playing
hits from the 60's, 70's & 80's. Paul Simon to Jimi
Hendrix. Better than the Filipino Jazz bands at the fancy hotels.
Khun Bob is a world class
guitar slinger .. Request Hey
Joe or Wild Thing
for a Rock & Roll Performance to be remembered .. a 100 Tbt bill
accompanying the request will result in an immediate rendition. This same band has been playing at
Country Road since 1997. The second band each night is an Issan Lao Band ..
the dance floor gets real crowded when the Western rock is replaced
by Issan Rock ,, watch the Thai lasses from
Issan go wild! Tykeo Joe's On occasion there are elephant
handlers selling bananas to feed their elephants in the Country Road
/ Soi 19 parking area. Spring, 2004. The authorities have deemed
the elephant side walk acts to be hazardous to traffic & less than
There is a 'Lao Disco' on the 3rd floor that has Lao
bands all the time, more traditional Issan music The Thai
disco dancers
include a combination of the traditional Thai / Lao dance hand
movements with modern disco dancing is quite interesting.
The same hand movements used
in traditional Thai dance are integrated into pop dancing by the
crowd! Some serious "get down Traditional Thai dance"
.. funky Thai disco from the Issan lasses. Makes me smile big time to
attempt the combination of the 'classic Thai hand dancing' with
modern disco Traditional & full dress, Thai Classical Dance is
certainly worth at least one dinner theater type evening. The Nairi Hotel's lobby bar, on Silom Road, pours a
generous snifter of Martel XO for 300 baht. Non intrusive, Filipino
Pop Bands playing easy listening western pop
music.
The Nairi bartenders have proven
to be a wealth of information on several occasions.
Good information warrants a
good tip!
Check out some of the local bands. Players from all parts of the world playing music,
from jazz to hard rock, in a true world fusion form.
Listing of
live music in Bangkok ( Bangkok gig guide ) There is quite a Jazz scene in Bangkok. Check
out the Bangkok Post for bands. There is a developing Blues scene.
Soi Dog Blues Band, plays a good selection of John Lee Hooker / Stevie
Ray Vaughn blues. The Dutch lead guitar player, Jeff, & Thai
players do play the blues .. Khun Toy, bass, has the biggest smile in
Bangkok!
2004: Jeff has opened a blues club
of his own, along with Danish Iggy. Tokyo Joes, 3 blocks past the Emporium on Soi 24. 25/9 Sukhumvit Soi 26
(1 long block past the Emporium, take a right on Soi
26, Tokyo Joes is on your left 1 block,
directly opposite the TARA Hotel) Tel 02 661 0359 Bargain food & drink ... some
interesting Thai culinary adaptations to assorted western & Japanese
dishes. It's located in a mostly 'Japanese
Area' ( Tokyo Joes ) & is about 30 meters off the street.. small sign..
real hard to see from a taxi on your first visit. taxi coming from Suk ..
.. 3 long blocks down .. right side coming from Suk .. a
convenience store like grocery mart on right is 2/3 way down ..
..it's on the right ..( & not the 7-11 just past the Emporium that's on on
the left ) .. after passing the 'convenience grocery mart' 1.5 long
blocks.. 200 meters from Suk .. start repeating slow ..
slow with hand motions over the front seat back, from the back seat
hands in front seat pushing down as repeating slow .. over &
over .. or get out & walk the last 50 meters .. The
Sunday blues jam is a blast. Catch
Georgia & The Blues Coolies on Tuesdays in 2006 Big Jeff did the 'voice over' for
our weight lifting video featuring
Mr. Thailand & Ms. World Figure. Big Jeff is quite knowledgeable regarding
weight lifting, down to detailed Kinesiology. The 9 piece(!) house band at the
Siam Square Hard Rock puts out some jams that are hard to sit to
..
high energy classic rock boogie dancin' .. a close packed enthusiastic
crowd... cover + pricy drinks..
Experienced Hardened Rockers
station them selves under the ceiling mount A/C ducts.. The open air
Tuk Tuks are an adventure & the drivers
know many interesting & the out of the way shopping opportunities.
Tuk Tuks are often more expensive than taxis! They get a 'commission' for taking
you to a tourist trap shopping venue. Agree to 'view products' in
several tourist retail shops & a smart tuk tuk driver will drive
you around for FREE! Just ridin' & lookin' for the
sake of ridin' & lookin'! Major & organized "Gem Rip-off" scams are possible.
DO NOT BUY ANYTHING ON A
TUK TUK JEWELRY TOUR .. guaranteed
rip-off. The street vendors are often over priced but
interesting.
Angelic Audio .. Manufacturers of Audiophile Tube
Amplifiers. Call Kris ..
<66> (02) 661-2853 - 4
.. or stop
in, 220VOLTS on Sukhumvit near Soi 30 .. just down from the Emporium. Bring in your favorite CD / DVD to
find out what it should sound like. . 220VOLT has a plush audition
room!
Thailand Newspapers in English
Bangkok is Shopping Paradise!
well done"
(it's Jeff's voice on our videos)
