Lost In Translation

Bangkok Chinatown

Bangkok's Chinatown is near the historic Hua Lamphong Railway Station.

The Chinatown gate.

San Chao Poy Sien shrine.

Shark's Fin soup is quite popular here.

Dried snakes.

Also dried sea horses, scorpions, and rats.

Birds of a feather.

Colonial style.

Seafood.

Food: Bangkok 2009

Mix noodles from a food court-still awesome.

Lebanese food in Bangkok-a great bargain.

Never had this before-ham and cheese deep fired roll ups? Delicious.

More great noodles.

Som Tum=Papaya salad=spicy freshness...

Did I mention noodles were cheap and delicious?

Singha is always a good choice.

These are not nachos, but very tasty anyway.

Spicy chicken basil stir fry with rice-my favorite Thai dish.

Morning glory in oyster sauce-a;ways tasty.

LeFenix

This time in Bangkok I stayed at a boutique hotel, LeFenix on the trendy Sukhumvit Soi 11. It is directly across from Q-Bar and down the road from Bed Supper Club (guests of the hotel can get free entry at both since they belong to the same group). It also has a very cool rooftop bar of its own, Nest.

I believe it came out to $67 a night for a single room.

This couch is in the lobby between the 8th floor rooms (where I was staying) and the entrance to Nest.

Why Bangkok?

I have been to Bangkok/Thailand more than any other country. Why? I usually earn a free flight from miles every year and Bangkok is one of the destinations that are available. I have a friend who has been living there for 3 years and has a spare room for me to stay in when I visit. But there several other reasons I like to visit every year.

Transportation: taxis and train are expensive in Japan. I usually avoid taxis on principal, but in Bangkok they are rarely more than $2 per trip. Other options include the Metro and Sky train, or motorbikes. These are all inexpensive efficient and well run.

Food: I love Thai food and there are inexpensive street stalls everywhere, but also tasty food court options. It is a major tourist destination, so there are many different options from abroad: Mexican, Americana and English breakfasts, Italian, Indian, German, etc.

Film: There are great huge air-conditioned theaters that cost a fraction of what they do in Tokyo ($5 compared to $18). However, the potions are unfortunately limited to the 5 or 6 major Hollywood blockbusters, but there is usually a couple I am interested in seeing. (Later I’ll review Public Enemies and The Hangover. Then there are all the pirated movies and TV series available for sale. There are usually a couple films that I haven’t seen and want to see on the flights from Tokyo to Bangkok as well.

Shopping: The shopping needs are catered to the needs of foreign tourists so they carry my sizes in shoes and clothes. Everything form expensive brand named goods in the air conditioned shopping malls all over Bangkok to the cheap knock offs sold on the streets.

Prices: Generally speaking you get more value for your money. Better hotels, clothes, etc… You can choose to pay as little as $4 a day for food or you can go for a trendy restaurant and still not make too much of a dent in the wallet.

Ashan Manzil

This is a former factory built in the late 19th century that was made into a residence by a wealthy land owner.

Lalbagh Fort

The construction of this fort began in 1677 by Prince Mohammed Azam but was halted after the death of his daughter Pari Bibi. This complex is located in Old Dahka.

Bangladesh Food

Here's a jack fruit before being split open-it's the first time I've eaten one if my memory serves me correct-it tastes something like a cross between pineapple and cantaloupe.

There's a lot of flesh to these massive fruits.

There are seeds in each of these nodules.

This traditional dessert was called Misti I believe.

Fennel seeds? Similar to what you get after an Indian meal.

Dhaka: Street Life

These little taxis are known as CNGs (they run on compressed natural gas) and bear a striking resemblance to Thai tuk-tuks. I didn't ride a rickshaw but there are literally thousands in Dhaka.

The next series of pictures were taken on "Hindu Street" near Ahssan Manzil (aka "The Pink Palace"-which will get its own post later).

There narrow streets are bordered by open sewer gutters and people were selling all sorts of goods, produce, fruit, and meats in shops and on the streets.

Afternoon In Sreepur

We gathered with members of BELTA and staff from AIUB at their weekend retreat in Sreepur on Friday. We had a buffet lunch and walked the grounds which had deer, tropical birds, emu, a duck pond, a basketball court, a gazebo, and many other features. It was nice to get out of the big city for a day.

I made some new friends from Teachers Helping Teachers as well. Below deer in captivity.

We were treated to some music: traditional Bengali folk songs as well as some western favorites. Faheed, the gentleman playing keyboards, sang a haunting version of Joan Baez's song "Bangladesh," my first exposure to an arresting song about the civil war between East and West Pakistan that resulted in the modern state of Bangladesh-the flag is shown below.

Some karaoke enthusiasts from THT get in the act.

Osaka Mizushobai

Like every city in Japan, Osaka has lots of pubs, snack bars, and cabarets. I like the convenience store parody of Mini-Stop below.