Fili’s world
A different look at Asia, China and Taiwan
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Taiwan
Rare stamp : China’s “The entire nation is red” but Taiwan is white The Taiwan “Olympics” - Article for Israeli Calcalist Love Kaohsiung Music Festival at Sizihwan : A Night of Old Taiwanese Songs Taiwan’s street food : the “food trucks”
China
Rare stamp : China’s “The entire nation is red” but Taiwan is white Israel at the Beijing Olympics : What do the Chinese think of Jews? Our medallists : Taiwan’s Chen Wei-ling and Israel’s Shahar Zubari Chinese perception of Israeli media coverage of the China Olympics
Bangkok…. <yawn>
- The El-Al flight from Israel to Thailand has been as awful as I expected it to be. An ex-Israeli now-Australian elderly has been preaching to me the whole way why Brisbane is where I should be heading and why he had enough of Israel. They don’t have good Humus in Australia, though, he summarized.
- Bangkok has a new airport, they’re really improving. Thailand has a whole new cost of living for tourists. Stronger Baht (1US$ = ~33 Baht instead of ~40Baht a year ago) and high demand for just about everything Thai caused prices for tourists to go up between 10 to 50 percent since last year. Maybe the same thing happened in Israel with the Shekel, I’m not sure.
- Kao Shan Rd. is more commercial than ever before and - as far as my Israeli perspective allows - is dominated by Israelis, Korean and Japanese.
- Bangkok is unbearably hot. I was in the area during this season before, and I don’t remember anything quite like this.
- It’s scary how familiar everything is in Bangkok. I guess one doesn’t forget cities that fast, especially ones as traumatic as Bangkok. I wish I could have avoided stopping in Thailand for a day.
<Sigh>
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The Humanaught
| July 29th, 2007 at 5:14 am #
I was in Bangkok in February, and I agree that Khao San Rd., despite ALWAYS being quite commercial and crazy, it is now just a complete zoo. I’ve switched and now plan to stay down by MBK (more central), when I visit.
That new airport is a complete nightmare. I didn’t notice it on the way in (looked nice and shiny), but on the way out, what a completely stupid design.
Anyway, enjoy Thailand. It’s only been a couple months since my latest visit, and I already long to be back there. I think I’ll whip up some Tom Yam tonight.
fiLi
| August 5th, 2007 at 8:43 am #
When arriving in Thailand I found it’s best to completely skip Bangkok. MBK is more central, but with the skytrain on top, you can hardly breath and the pollution makes both my lungs and eyes aching with real pain.
Only stopped in Thailand for one day, and I’m sorry I did. Next time I come - I’ll head straight for the Islands/Pai area.
The Humanaught
| August 5th, 2007 at 9:38 am #
I’m with ya. As a rule, I hate Bangkok and have always tried my best to avoid it, other than I have friends on the outskirts that I love visiting.
I hear what you’re saying about the Skytrain, but we stayed at the far northern end of Soi Kasemsan 1 (#2 being where the Jim Thompson House is), a bit off the guesthouse row, and it was awesome.
Mind you, it was 1,000B/night, but for the price of a crap hotel in Shanghai we had a massive room, bar, fridge, and sat. TV. Considering we strained to find a guest house near Khao San Rd. for less than 600B/n (with AC and private bath), it was a godsend.
I’ll be staying there any time I go to Bangkok. Changed my opinion of the city. Central, a hop and skip from the Skytrain and easy access to everything. That’s what I always hated about Bangkok - it’s such a pain to get around. You can’t trust the taxis or tuk-tuks to save your life and if you’re out near Khao San, there’s bugger all to see once you’ve been to Wat Po and been turned away at the Palace for wearing shorts (three times in three years).
But yeah, still agree… Bangkok->Train Station->Islands is the best way to go.
fiLi
| August 5th, 2007 at 9:49 am #
Hmmm… actually, there are a few good option in the KaoShan rd. area for about 450 baht. Nothing too fancy, but has everything you might need as a single person.
But, the more important point to make is that although Bangkok has a very efficient new MRT underground and Skytrain operations, the best way to get around Bangkok is by boat. Next to the KaoShan there are two stops that will take you straight to Silom/Patpong, from which you can take the skytrain to just about anywhere. If you really like to do things different, try taking a boat to the airport (!) instead of taking the bloody airport bus.
If you want to get to the MBK, take a boat from the Golden Buddha Mountain temple and it will take you to the station within 2 minutes walk.
It’s fast, it’s convenient, it’s extremely cheap and it’s fun.
The Humanaught
| August 5th, 2007 at 9:55 am #
I’ve never taken a boat in Bangkok… shows how much time I spend in the place I guess. That does sound like a great alternative and I’ll make note to try it next time.
As for Khao San… no doubt there are reasonable(ish) places to stay, but when you arrive at 7-8 at night in the high season… and you are trekking around in the humidity with a heavy pack for 40 minutes going past endless “no vacancy” signs… you take what you can get
Much different then when I was there in 2004 and just walked into the first place I saw right on Khao San… got a cheap bed with fan (shared bathroom) for like 100b. Went back in 2005 and it was 200b for the same room. I can only guess it’ll continue to rise. The place is a zoo.
fiLi
| September 7th, 2007 at 11:12 pm #
Just so I won’t forget myself. If you’re looking for something very cheap and very comfortable in the Khao San area, I highly recommend Four Sons Place.
Israelis discovered this place recently, so there’s alot of Hebrew running around with Israeli food and breakfast sold when coming in, but other than that - it’s the best one in the area.